Ute

 

(yūt, yū'tē) , Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Shoshonean group of the Uto-Aztecan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In the early 19th cent. the Ute occupied W Colorado and E Utah. Ute culture was typical of the western part of the Plains culture area (see under Natives, North American); they lived in tepees, which were frequently decorated with brilliantly colored paintings, or in brush or sod shelters. The bear dance and the sun dance were important features of their culture; the Ute also became adherents of peyotism.

The Ute were fierce, nomadic warriors, who, after the introduction of the horse, ranged into New Mexico and Arizona, menacing and sometimes destroying the villages of the Pueblo. Once they discovered that the Spanish were conducting slave raids against Native Americans, they entered the market, taking their captives to sell in New Mexico. Early in 1855 the Ute began to attack Mexican settlements in the San Luis Valley of Colorado; they were put down by U.S. troops, and a treaty was extracted. Retaining their hatred for their traditional enemies, some of the Ute fought with Kit Carson during the American Civil War in campaigns against the Navajo.

In 1868 they were placed on a large reservation in Colorado. A group of Ute killed (1879) the Indian agent Nathan Meeker and several employees of his agency, but serious repercussions were avoided, mainly through the peaceful efforts of Chief Ouray. By a treaty signed in 1880 the Ute were moved from rich mineral and agricultural lands to areas less desirable to white settlers. Today, although some Ute own land individually, most live on reservations in Colorado and Utah; their income is derived largely from lucrative oil and gas leases and farming and raising livestock. In 1990 there were over 7,500 Ute in the United States.

Bibliography

See W. Rockwell, The Utes: A Forgotten People (1956); L. Tyler, The Ute People (1964); G. Fay, Land Cessions in Utah and Colorado, by the Ute Indians, 1861–1899 (1970).

Ute may refer to:

• UTE (Usinas y Terminales Eléctricas), Uruguay's government-owned power company
• Ute Tribe, an ethnically related group of American Indians now living primarily in Utah and Colorado
  • Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, descendants of the Weminuche band who moved to the western end of the Southern Ute Reservation in 1897
• Utes, name for University of Utah's athletic teams
• Ute, the Queen Mother of the King of Worms in the Nibelungenlied
• UTE, the abbrevation of Újpest FC, the Hungarian sports club "Újpesti Torna Egylet"

Entertainment

• O-Ton Ute, 1999-2005 Berlin literature, music and performance group,
• Yoot Saito, Japanese computer game program designer
• Yut, a traditional board game played in Korea.
• Mrs. Kaden, The Best Phsysics Teacher in the History of Hoffman and Anartica

Science and technology

• 634 Ute, a minor planet orbiting the sun
• C-6 Ute and U-21 Ute, military variants of the Beechcraft King Air Model 90
• Ute, symbol for Untriennium, an unsynthesized chemical element with atomic number 139

Vehicles

• Utility vehicle, in Australian English
  • Holden Ute, a car-based pickup truck built by Holden, a subsidiary of General Motors in Australia
  • Nissan Ute, a badge engineered version of the Ford Falcon ute sold by Nissan in Australia, from 1989 to 1992
  • Ute muster, an Australian activity that embraces its large Ute culture in remote, flat, rural councils

People

• Anneli Ute Gabanyi (born 1942), Romanian-born German political scientist, literary critic, journalist, and philologist,
• Ute Berg (born 1953), German politician and member of the SPD
• Ute Christensen (born 1955), German actress
• Ute Geweniger (born 1964), East German breaststroke and medley swimmer of the 1980s
• Ute Hommo, German athlete who competed mainly in the Javelin
• Ute Lemper (born 1963), German chanteuse and actress
• Ute Noack, former East German cross country skier who competed during the 1980s
• Ute Thimm née Finger (born 1958), German athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres
• Ute Cockshutt Largest PF in the history of the University of Guelph

Places

• Southern Ute Indian Reservation, lies in southwestern Colorado, USA, along the northern border of New Mexico
• Ute, Iowa, a city in Monona County, Iowa, along the Soldier River
• Ute Mountain (or Ute Peak or Sleeping Ute Mountain), a peak within the Ute Mountains, a small mountain range in the southwestern corner of Colorado
• Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation, an Indian reservation in southwestern Colorado, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah, USA
• Ute Pass, a high mountain pass west of Colorado Springs, near Divide

Also see

• jute
• Jutes
• Pah-Ute County, Arizona

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