ASSINIBOINE INDIANS IN CANADA

ASSINIBOINE INDIANS ARE SPEAKERS OF A SIOUAN LANGUAGE OF THE PLAINS. SO DESPITE ITS SIMILARITY TO STONEY LANGUAGE THEY CAN'T UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER. ABOUT 200 PEOPLE IN MONTANA AND SASKATCHEWAN.

THEIR NAME IS RECEIVED FROM AN OJIBWA WORD FOR THEIR PRACTICE OF BOILING FOOD BY DROPPING HEATED ROCKS INTO WATER. PRIOR TO 1640 THEY SPLIT OFF FROM THE SIOUX. FROM A HOMELAND AROUND THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER THEY MOVED NORTH TO THE LAKE OF THE ROADS TO WINNEPEG. AT THE PEAK OF THEIR TERRITORY THEY RANGED AROUND SASKATCHEWAN IN CANADA.

THEY WERE FIRST CONTACTED BY SETTLERS CALLED HENRY KELSEY IN THE 1690'S WHO HUNTED THE BUFFALO. KELSEY MET ASSINIBOINE TRADING PARTIES FROM THE JAMES BAY PAST WEST ALONG THE CANOE ROUTE INTO PRESENT DAY SASKATCHEWAN. THEY INSURED THAT THE FUR PELTS WENT TO THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY IN TRADE FOR METAL UTENSILS, FIRE, ARMS, BEADS, CLOTH, TOBACCO, AND LIQUOR.

IN 1730'S OTHER TRADERS CONFIRMED THE LOCATION OF THE ASSINIBOINE THROUGHOUT THE WESTERN PRAIRIES. THEIR CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE WAS RECORDED BY THESE EARLY TRADERS. THEIR TRAILS BECAME MAJOR TRAIL ROUTES. THE ANGLOS VALUED THEM FURTHER AS THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO TRAP FUR BEARING ANIMALS. THEIR TRADITIONAL CAMPSITES BECAME CENTERS FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF TRADE GOODS AND TRADING POSTS ON THE NETWORK OF RIVERS FROM ROCKY MOUNTAINS TO THE HUDSON BAY.

BY THE LATE 17TH CENTURY THEY WERE NOTED FOR PEMMICAN PRODUCTION. THEY TRADED EUROPEAN GOODS TO DISTANT PLAINS GROUPS. AFTER 1730'S WHEN THEY GOT HORSES THE ASSINIBOINE ALSO HAD ASSESS TO GUNS, METAL TRADE GOODS AND ENHANCED THEIR ROLE IN THE FUR ECONOMY. THEY WERE ALLIED WITH THE CREE IN THE 1800'S.

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