Description
The Bannock tribe were originally Northern Paiute but are more culturally affiliated with the Northern Shoshone. They are in the Great Basin classification of Indigenous People. Their traditional lands include northern Nevada, southeastern Oregon, southern Idaho, and western Wyoming. Today they are enrolled in the federally recognized Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation of Idaho, located on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. The Northern Paiute have a history of trade with surrounding tribes. In the 1700s, the bands in eastern Oregon traded with the tribes to the north, who by 1730 had acquired the horse. In the mid-18th century, some bands developed a horse culture and split off to become the Bannock tribe. Shortly after non-Indian travelers began to enter their territory, the Bannock began to attack them. During the 1840s thousands of U.S. settlers went west through Bannock territory along the Oregon Trail.
Language
Northern Paiute also known as Paviotso, is a Western Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family, which according to Marianne Mithun had around 500 fluent speakers in 1994. It is closely related to the Mono language.
Culture
Like the Plains Indians, the Bannock developed a way of life that revolved around two animals of the horse and the buffalo. Yhey followed the great herds of buffalo in the Yellowstone area of present-day Wyoming and Montana. The Bannock spent most of the fall and winter during the hunting season they lived in tepees made out of a frame of wooden poles covered with buffalo hides. The Bannock lived in dome-shaped houses covered with grass. In the summer fished for salmon, and in spring gathered seeds and roots. The root of the camas plant was an important food for the tribe. Bannock social organization was based upon independent bands, and the autumn hunting expeditions allowed band chiefs to acquire power over one sector of hunting and subsistence activities. These trips traversed Shoshone territory, requiring a good deal of cooperation with that tribe.