ARAPAHO

The Arapaho originally called themselves Inuna-ina, meaning “our people.” To their CHEYENNE allies, they were hitanwo’iv for “people of the sky” or “cloud people.” Some tribes also called them “dog-eaters” in their various languages. Arapaho, pronounced uh-RAP-uh-ho, now the official name of the tribe, is probably derived from the PAWNEE word tirapihu or carapihu, meaning “trader.” It is also close to the KIOWA name for the tribe: Ahyato.

It is thought that the Algonquian-speaking Arapaho once lived in the Red River region of what is now Minnesota and North Dakota, one people with other ALGONQUIANS, the GROS VENTRE (ATSINA). Other Algonquian tribes who eventually settled in the West, the BLACKFEET and the Cheyenne, might also have been relatives of the Arapaho.

The Arapaho and the Gros Ventre are believed to have migrated westward to the headwaters of the Missouri River sometime in the 1700s, possibly as far west as territory now in Montana. At some point, a split occurred. The Gros Ventre migrated to the north to what is now northern Montana and southern Saskatchewan. The Arapaho headed southward.

At some point in the 1800s, the tribe again divided into the Northern Arapaho and the Southern Arapaho. The northern branch of the tribe settled in the vicinity of the North Platte River in what is now Wyoming. The southern branch settled along the Arkansas River in what is now Colorado. The two groups stayed in close contact with each other, however.