The name Gros Ventre, pronounced grow VAHN-truh, means “big belly” in French. Early French fur traders on the northern plains gave this name to two different tribes, the Atsina and the HIDATSA, because of the hand motions used to designate both tribes in the sign language of the PLAINS INDIANS. In this sign language, invented by the Indians so that they could communicate with each other despite their many different spoken languages, each tribe had a particular hand sign. In the case of the Atsina, the sign was a sweeping pass in front of the abdomen with both hands to show that they were big eaters. In the case of the Hidatsa, an early sign was a similar gesture in front of the abdomen, to indicate their custom of tattooing parallel stripes across the chest. Therefore, to the French the Atsina were the Gros Ventre of the Plains, and the Hidatsa were the Gros Ventre of the River. Yet in modern usage only the Atsina are called Gros Ventre, with the Hidatsa referred to by their actual name.
The Gros Ventre Native name is A’aninin (or Ah-ah-nee-nin), meaning “white clay people.” In their creation myth, the Creator shaped them out of clay to keep himself company.
The Gros Ventre, or Atsina, an Algonquian-speaking people, lived for most of their history on the Milk River branch of the Missouri River in territory that is now northern Montana. They also ranged into southern Saskatchewan as far north as the Saskatchewan River. Language similarities indicate that the Gros Ventre split off from the ARAPAHO, other ALGONQUIANS. For much of their history, the Gros Ventre were part of the Blackfoot Confederacy; the BLACKFEET, also Algon-quians, lived to their northwest.
On acquiring horses and guns, the Gros Ventre became a typical Plains tribe. They depended on buffalo more than any other game for sustenance and lived in camps of tipis. They also conducted raids on other tribes for horses.
In the mid-1800s, the Gros Ventre joined the CROW in a fight with their former Blackfeet allies. They suffered a major defeat in 1867. Disease brought to the northern plains by non-Indian traders also killed many of their people.
In 1888, the surviving Gros Ventre were placed on Fort Belknap Reservation in northern Montana, where their descendants live today. They share the reservation with the ASSINIBOINE. The economy of the reservation is primarily agricultural-based, with tribal members earning income through farming, ranching, and the leasing of lands. The Fort Belknap Casino also provides revenue for the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine.
Gros Ventre pouch
The elders among the Gros Ventre are currently working to preserve the tribe’s language and traditional culture for future generations. Their traditional religion involves rituals surrounding their sacred pipes, the Feathered Pipe and the Flat Pipe, given to the Ah-ah-nee-nin by the Creator. At their annual powwows traditional dances, such as the Clown Dance, are performed.
An issue that has come to concern the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine, as well as other Native peoples, is cyanide leach gold and silver mining, a process that has polluted waterways, as on Spirit Mountain in the Little Rocky Mountains, a sacred site for the tribes. It has also destroyed tribal burial grounds. Mining companies are seeking to repeal a ban on the process.
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World History
