The Nez Perce's Place In The Late 18th Century

The name Nez Perce was given to them by French Canadian fur traders who regularly visited the area in the late 18th century. Today the Nez Perce are referred to as Niimíipu in Sahaptin. They live in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. They speak their own language Niimiipuutímt. The Nez Perce territory at the time of Lewis and Clark was 17,000,000 acres. It covered parts of present-day Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho. In the early 1800s, the Nez Perce had more than 100 permanent villages, varying from 50 to 600 people in each, depending on the season. The Nez Perce would travel in seasonal rounds to where food could be found. They nearly always returned to the same place every year. The Nez Perce believed in spirits called weyekins, which they believed that it would offer "a link to the invisible world of spiritual power". …show more content…
government taking the land.The Nez Perce lived in villages scattered near west of the Rocky Mountain. They owned the largest horse herd on the continent. What made them stand out was they lived without guns or ammunition; making the them easy targets to enemies. The hunters would cross over a treacherous mountain to hunt buffalo.
One day when three young boys spotted a cluster of men, now known as Captain William Clark, walking near the Nez Perce lodges. Quite frightened the boys hid but Clark found them and offered a ribbon, showing they were not there to harm. Nez Perce were not frightened and treated them as there own people. Chief described him as “a cheerful man with apparent