Nakota / Nakoda // Îyârhe[1] "ally / friend" // "mountain" | |
---|---|
Person | Îyethka[2] |
People | Îyethkabi (Îyethka Oyade) |
Language | Îyethka Îabi / wîchoîe Îyethka Wowîhâ[3] |
Country | Îyethka Makóce |
The Nakoda (also known as Stoney, Îyârhe Nakoda, or Stoney Nakoda) are an Indigenous people in Western Canada and the United States.
Their territory used to be large parts of what is now Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Montana,[4] but their reserves are now in Alberta and in Saskatchewan, where they are scarcely differentiated from the Assiniboine.
They refer to themselves in their language as Nakoda, meaning 'friend, ally'. The name Stoney was given to them by anglophone explorers, because of their technique of using fire-heated rocks to boil broth in rawhide bowls.[citation needed] They are very closely related to the Assiniboine, who are also known as Stone Sioux (from Ojibwe: asinii-bwaan).
The Nakoda First Nation in Alberta comprises three bands: Bearspaw, Chiniki, and Goodstoney.[5]
The Stoney were "excluded" from Banff National Park between 1890 and 1920.[6] In 2010 they were officially "welcomed back".[7]