Description
The Nez Perce call themselves Nimiipuu which means “The People.” The name nez percé (“pierced nose”) came from French Canadian fur traders in the 18th century, an erroneous identification as nose piercing was never practiced by the tribe. Prior to first contact with European colonial people the Nimiipuu were economically and culturally influential in trade and war, interacting with other indigenous nations in a vast network from the western shores of Oregon and Washington, the high plains of Montana, and the northern Great Basin in southern Idaho and northern Nevada. The Nez Perce had many allies and trading partners among neighboring peoples, but also enemies and ongoing antagonist tribes.
Language
Members of the Sahaptin language group
Culture
The semi-sedentary Nez Perces were Hunter-gatherer without agriculture living in a society in which most or all food is obtained by foraging (collecting wild plants and roots and pursuing wild animals). They depended on hunting, fishing, and the gathering of wild roots and berries. Nez Perce people historically depended on various type of fish in cluding salmon, whitefish, suckers, and trout.Prior to contact with Europeans, the Nez Perce's traditional hunting and fishing areas spanned from the Cascade Range in the west to the Bitterroot Mountains in the east. n 1994 the Nez Perce tribe began a breeding program, based on crossbreeding the Appaloosa and a Central Asian breed called Akhal-Teke, to produce what they called the Nez Perce Horse.