Dictionary:
Nez Perce (nĕz' pûrs', nĕs') 
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[French Nez-Percé : nez, nose + percé, past participle of percer, to pierce.]
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Nez Percé |
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| US Military Dictionary: Nez Percé |
A North American Indian tribe of Shahaptian located in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. In 1877, the Nez Percé, led by the great Chief Joseph, engaged the U.S. Army in a series of running battles as they sought refuge in Canada. At last forced to surrender at Bear Paw Mountain, the Nez Percé were confined in the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) until 1885 when they were allowed to go to a reservation in Washington.
See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.
| US History Encyclopedia: Nez Perce |
The Nez Perces speak of themselves as Nimiipuu, "the real people, " and are one of several Sahaptian branches of the Penutian language group found in the Pacific Northwest. They were called the Nez Percé or "Pierced Nose" Indians by early French and Anglo explorers because some of the tribe pierced the septum of their noses with dentalium, a custom more common along the Northwest Coast. Numbering between 6,000 to 8,000 when first contacted by Lewis and Clark in 1805, the Nez Perces located themselves at a crossroad between Plains and interior Plateau tribes, and thus had already been introduced to many material items of white origin by 1800.
The Nez Perces were friendly to white trappers. Some Nez Perce women married white or mixed-blood fur traders following the construction of Fort Nez Perce (later Walla Walla) in 1818 by the North West Company. After missionaries Eliza and Henry Spalding arrived in 1836 to live among the Nez Perces, nearly all continued to practice traditional religion and foodways, which integrated salmon fishing and camas gathering into a seasonal ceremonial calendar. These resources were supplemented with hunting of local game, especially deer and elk, and with procuring buffalo hide on biannual trips to the plains of Montana.
At the time of their first treaty with the United States in 1855, the Nez Perces were considered among the more cooperative people in the entire region. That atmosphere changed in the 1860s after whites trespassed on Nez Perce Reservation lands, establishing illegal gold mining camps and the supply center of Lewiston, Idaho, in violation of treaty provisions. This led to the Treaty of 1863, or the "Steal Treaty, " signed in 1863 by one faction of the tribe, thereafter known as the "Treaty Band, " under the United States' designated leader, Hallalhotsoot, "The Lawyer, " who gave further concessions in 1868, reducing a land base of 7.5 million acres under the 1855 treaty to 750,000 acres.
Non-treaty Nez Perces remained scattered in the former reservation area under various headmen, among them Tuekakas (Old Joseph) in the Wallowa Mountains of eastern Oregon. Following Tuekakas's death in 1871, Non-Treaty Nez Perces were pressured to move on to the diminished Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho. Violence escalated and when the murder of several Nez Perces went unpunished, young warriors determined to avenge the loss of their kinsmen, killing several whites in the Salmon River country. This led to an unofficial "war" in 1877 that escalated and eventually involved over 2,000 federal and territorial troops in pursuit of bands of Nez Perces not on the reservation. Led by warrior chief Looking Glass and guided by Lean Elk (also called Poker Joe), the non-treaty survivors were stopped after a heroic 1,500-mile trek through Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. Only a few miles short of their goal of the Canadian border, the survivors stopped to rest and were confronted with superior numbers of U.S. troops. Upon Looking Glass's death in the final battle of the Nez Perce War at Bear's Paw, leadership was assumed by Hinmahtooyahlatkekht (Young Joseph), who surrendered, along with 86 men, 184 women, and 147 children, expecting to be returned to the Nez Perce Reservation. Instead, they faced incarceration on the Ponca Reservation in Indian Territory (later Oklahoma), remembered to this day as "the hot place" where all suffered and many died. A few, who had refused to surrender with Joseph, escaped into Canada with Chief White Bird, where they joined Sitting Bull's band of Sioux in political exile following victory at Little Bighorn the previous year.
In 1885, survivors of 1877 who agreed to convert to Christianity were allowed to return to Idaho; those who refused went to the Colville Reservation in Washington State. Struggling to the end for restoration of a reservation in the Wallowas, Joseph died on the Colville Reservation in 1904. By then, the official Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho had been allotted under the Dawes Severalty Act, which opened up "surplus lands" to non-Indian farmers in 1895.
During the twentieth century, Nez Perce men and women served in the U.S. Armed Services; many followed the lead of tribal member Dr. Archie Phinney and became professionals. Those in Idaho rejected the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, approving their own constitutional system in 1948 with an elected General Council that meets semi-annually. A nine-member elected body known as the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee (NEPTEC) makes day-to-day decisions and serves as the liaison with all federal agencies.
Enrolled Nez Perces numbered around 3,200 in the 2000 census. In Idaho, their political economy has benefited recently from the return of college graduates, tribal purchase of former lands lost during the Allotment Era, casino revenues, and an aggressive program in language revitalization.
Bibliography
Gulick, Bill. Chief Joseph Country: Land of the Nez Percé. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton, 1981.
Josephy, Alvin M., Jr. The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1965.
Slickpoo, Allen P., Sr., and Deward E. Walker Jr. Noon Nee Me-Poo (We, The Nez Percés): Culture and History of the Nez Perces. Lapwai, Idaho: Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho, 1973.
Stern, Theodore. Chiefs and Chief Traders: Indian Relations at Fort Nez Percés, 1818–1855. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 1996.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Nez Percé |
In 1805, when visited by Lewis and Clark, they were occupying a large region in W Idaho, NE Oregon, and SE Washington. In the 1830s the Nez Percé, then numbering some 6,000, attracted national attention by sending emissaries to St. Louis to ask for books and teachers. Their request attracted to the Pacific Northwest missionaries, who played an important role in opening the region to settlement. The Nez Percé ceded (1855) a large part of their territory to the United States. The gold rushes in the 1860s and 1870s, however, brought large numbers of miners and settlers onto their lands, and a treaty of cession was fraudulently extracted (1863) from part of the tribe, confining the Nez Percé to a reservation in NW Idaho. A band of the tribe living in Oregon refused to relocate, leading to the uprising under Chief Joseph in 1877. Following their defeat, many of the survivors ended up at the Colville Reservation in Washington, where some of their descendants still live. However, many more Nez Percé live on their reservation in Idaho, earning their living as farmers. In 1990 there were some 4,000 Nez Percé in the United States.
Bibliography
See H. J. Spinder, The Nez Percé Indians (1908, repr. 1974); T. Mathieson, The Nez Percé War (1964); M. D. Beal, I Will Fight No More Forever (1965); A. M. Josephy, Jr., The Nez Percé Indians and the Opening of the Northwest (1965, abr. ed. 1971); M. H. Brown, The Flight of the Nez Percé (1966, repr. 1972); D. Walker, Conflict and Schism in Nez Percé Acculturation (1968); D. S. Lavender, Let Me Be Free: The Nez Percé Tragedy (1992).
| Wikipedia: Nez Perce |
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| Total population |
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| 2,700 |
| Regions with significant populations |
 United States (Idaho) |
| Languages |
| Religion |
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Christianity, other |
| Related ethnic groups |
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other Penutian peoples |
The Nez Perce (pronounced /ˌnɛzˈpɜrs/) are a tribe of Native Americans who live in the Pacific Northwest region (Columbia River Plateau) of the United States. An anthropological theory says the tribe descended from the Old Cordilleran Culture, which moved south from the Rocky Mountains and west in Nez Perce lands.[1] The tribe currently governs and inhabits a reservation in Idaho. The Nez Perce's name for themselves is Nimíipuu (pronounced [nimiːpuː]), meaning, "The Real People."[2]
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The most common self-designation used today by the Nez Perce is Nimíipuu.[2] "Nez Perce" is also used by the tribe itself, the United States Government, and contemporary historians. Older historical and ethnological works use the French spelling "Nez Percé," with the diacritic.
In the journals of William Clark, the people are referred to as Chopunnish (/ˈtʃoʊpənɪʃ/). This term is an adaptation of the term cú·pʼnitpeľu (the Nez Perce people) which is formed from cú·pʼnit (piercing with a pointed object) and peľu (people).[3] Nez Perce oral tradition indicates the name "Cuupn'itpel'uu" meant “we walked out of the woods or walked out of the mountains" and referred to the time before the Nez Perce had horses. Nez Perce is a misnomer given by the interpreter of the Lewis and Clark Expedition at the time they first encountered the Nez Perce in 1805. It is from the French, "pierced nose." This is an inaccurate description of the tribe. They did not practice nose piercing or wearing ornaments. The actual "pierced nose" tribe lived on and around the lower Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest and are commonly called the Chinook tribe by historians and anthropologists. The Chinook relied heavily upon salmon as did the Nez Perce and shared fishing and trading sites but were much more hierarchical in their social arrangements.
The Nez Perce area at the time of Lewis and Clark was approximately 17,000,000 acres (69,000 km2). It covered parts of Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho, in an area surrounding the Snake, Salmon and the Clearwater rivers. The tribal area extended from the Bitterroots in the east to the Blue Mountains in the west between latitude 45°N and 47°N.[4]
In 1800, there were more than 70 permanent villages ranging from 30 to 200 individuals, depending on the season and social grouping. About 300 total sites have been identified, including both camps and villages. In 1805 the Nez Perce were the largest tribes on the Columbia River Plateau, with a population of about 6,000. By the beginning of the 20th century, the Nez Perce had declined to about 1,800 because of epidemics, conflicts with non-Indians, and other factors.[5]
The Nez Perce, as many western Native American tribes, were migratory and would travel with the seasons, according to where the most abundant food was to be found at a given time of year. This migration followed a predictable pattern from permanent winter villages through several temporary camps, nearly always returning to the same locations year after year. They were known to go as far east as the Great Plains of Montana to hunt buffalo, and as far west as Celilo Falls to fish for salmon on the Columbia River. They relied heavily on quamash or camas gathered in the region between the Salmon and Clearwater River drainages as a food source.
The Nez Perce National Historical Park includes a research center which has the park's historical archives and library collection. It is available for on-site use in the study and interpretation of Nez Perce history and culture.[6]
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The Nez Perce split into two groups in the mid-19th century, with one side accepting coerced relocation to a reservation and the other refusing to give up their fertile land in Washington. On October 5, 1877, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Nation surrendered to units of the U.S. Cavalry near Chinook in the north of what is now Montana. Before this surrender, the Nez Perce fought a cunning strategic retreat toward refuge in Canada from about 2,000 soldiers. This surrender, after fighting 13 battles and going about 1,700 miles (2,740 km) toward Canada, marked the last great battle between the U.S. government and an Indian nation.[7] After surrendering, Chief Joseph stated his famous quote: "Hear me, my chiefs, I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." The flight path is reproduced by the Nez Perce National Historic Trail.[8] The annual Cypress Hills ride in June commemorates the Nez Perce people's crossing into Canada.[9]
The Nez Perce tribe began a breeding program in 1995 based on crossbreeding the Appaloosa and a Central Asian breed called Akhal-Teke to produce the Nez Perce Horse. This is a program to re-establish the horse culture of the Nez Perce, a proud tradition of selective breeding and horsemanship that was destroyed in the 19th century. The breeding program was financed by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the Nez Perce tribe and a nonprofit group called the First Nations Development Institute (based in Washington D.C.), which promotes such businesses in Indian country.
Fishing is an important ceremonial, subsistence, and commercial activity for the Nez Perce tribe. Nez Perce fishers participate in tribal fisheries in the mainstem Columbia River between Bonneville Dam and McNary Dam. The Nez Perce also fish for spring/summer Chinook salmon and steelhead in the Snake River and its tributaries. The Nez Perce tribe runs the Nez Perce Tribal Hatchery on the Clearwater River as well as several satellite hatchery programs.
The current tribal lands consist of a reservation at 46°18′27″N 116°24′25″W / 46.3075°N 116.40694°W, comprising parts of four counties in northern Idaho, primarily in the Camas Prairie region. In descending order of surface area, the counties are Nez Perce, Lewis, Idaho, and Clearwater. The total land area is 1,195.1 square miles (3,095 km2), and the reservation's population at the 2000 census was 17,959 residents.[10] Its largest community is the city of Orofino, near its northeast corner. Lapwai, the seat of tribal government, has the highest percentage of Nez Perce people, at 81.39%.
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| US Military Dictionary. The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| US History Encyclopedia. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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