Description
The Nakoda (also known as Stoney, Îyârhe Nakoda, or Stoney Nakoda) are an Indigenous people in Western Canada and the United States. They used to inhabit large parts of what is now Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Montana, 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. They are very closely related to the Assiniboine, who are also known as Stone Sioux. The Nakoda First Nation in Alberta comprises three bands: Bearspaw, Chiniki, and Goodstoney.
Language
The Assiniboine language also known as Assiniboin, Hohe, or Nakota, Nakoda, Nakon or Nakona, or Stoney) is a Nakotan Siouan language of the Northern Plains.
Culture
The Nakoda bands, commonly composed of extended families, lived and continue to live along Alberta's Rocky Mountain foothills from the headwaters of the Athabasca River south to Chief Mountain in Montana. These forest and foothill people hunted bison and other big game animals. With the establishment of Edmonton House (1795) and Rocky Mountain House (1799), they traded furs, hides and fresh meat, and were invaluable guides to traders, explorers, surveyors and missionaries. They were introduced to Christianity by Methodist missionaries after 1840.