Editing Nez Perce (section)

{{Short description|Indigenous peoples of North America}}
{{Other uses|Nez Perce (disambiguation){{!}}Nez Perce}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Nez Perce Tribe<br /> Nimíipuu
| native_name      = nimíipuu
| image            = No Horn on His Head.jpg
| caption          = No Horn on His Head, a Nez Perce man painted in 1832 by [[George Catlin]]
| native_name_lang = nez
| flag             = 
| flag_caption     = 
| total            = 3,500+
| total_ref        = <ref name="tribe"/>
| total_year       = 
| popplace         = [[United States]] ([[Idaho]])
| rels             = [[Native American Religions#Waashat Religion|Seven Drum (Walasat)]], [[Christianity]]
| langs            = English, nimipuutímt aka [[Nez Perce language|Nez Perce]]
| related          = [[Sahaptin|Sahaptin peoples]]
}}

The '''Nez Perce''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|n|ɛ|z|_|ˈ|p|ɜr|s|,_|ˌ|n|ɛ|s|_|-|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Nez Perce.wav}}; [[Exonym and endonym|autonym]] in [[Nez Perce language]]: {{lang|nez|'''nimíipuu'''}}, meaning 'we, the people')<ref>Aoki, Haruo. 1994. ''Nez Perce Dictionary''. Berkeley: University of California Press.</ref> are an [[Indigenous people of the Plateau]] who still live on a fraction of the lands on the southeastern [[Columbia River Plateau]] in the [[Pacific Northwest]]. This region has been occupied for at least 11,500 years.<ref name="Ames 1980">Ames, Kenneth and Alan Marshall. 1980. "Villages, Demography and Subsistence Intensification on the Southern Columbia Plateau". ''North American Archaeologist'', 2(1): 25–52."</ref>

Members of the [[Sahaptian languages|Sahaptin language group]],<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.britannica.com/topic/Plateau-Indian#ref931682| title = Map: Distribution of North American Plateau Indians}}</ref> the Nimíipuu were the dominant people of the [[Columbia Plateau]] for much of that time,<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nez-Perce-people| title = Encyclopædia Britannica: Nez Perce People}}</ref> especially after acquiring the horses that led them to breed the [[Appaloosa]] horse in the 18th century.

Prior to first contact with [[European colonial]] people the Nimíipuu were economically and culturally influential in trade and war, interacting with other indigenous nations in a vast network from the western shores of [[Oregon]] and [[Washington (state)|Washington]], the high plains of [[Montana]], and the northern [[Great Basin]] in southern [[Idaho]] and northern [[Nevada]].<ref>Hunn, Eugene and James Selam. 2001. ''Nch’i-wána, 'the Big River': Mid-Columbia Indians and Their Land.'' Seattle: University of Washington Press. p. 4.</ref><ref>"Stern, Theodore. 1998. 'Columbia River Trade Network,' Pp. 641–652 in Handbook of North American Indians: Volume 12, Plateau. Deward E. Walker, Jr., Volume Editor. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution."</ref>

French explorers and trappers indiscriminately used and popularized the name "Nez Percé" for the Nimíipuu and nearby [[Chinookan peoples|Chinook]]. The name translates as "[[Nose piercing|pierced nose]]", but only the Chinook used that form of body modification.<ref name="Slickpoo, Allen P. 1973">Slickpoo, Allen P., Sr. 1973. ''Noon Nee-Me-Poo (We, The Nez Perces): Culture and History of the Nez Perces, Vol. 1''. Lewiston, Idaho: The Nez Percé Tribe of Idaho.</ref>

Cut off from most of their horticultural sites throughout the [[Camas Prairie]]<ref name="Ames 1980"/> by an 1863 treaty (subsequently known as the "Thief Treaty" or "Steal Treaty" among the Nimíipuu),<ref>{{cite web |title=The Treaty Period |url=https://www.nps.gov/nepe/learn/historyculture/the-treaty-era.htm |website=Nez Perce National Historical Park |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=June 9, 2021}}</ref><ref name="Slickpoo, Allen P. 1973"/> confinement to reservations in Idaho, Washington and Oklahoma [[Indian Territory]] after the [[Nez Perce War]] of 1877, and [[Dawes Act of 1887]] land allotments, the Nez Perce remain as a distinct culture and political economic influence within and outside their reservation.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://boiseplanning.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/nezperce.jpg| title = Map: Shrinkage of the Nez Perce lands after 1855}}</ref><ref>Colombi, Benedict. 2005. "Dammed in Region Six: The Nez Perce Tribe, Agricultural Development, and the Inequality of Scale". ''American Indian Quarterly'', 29(3&4): 560–589.</ref><ref name="Colombi, Benedict 2012">Colombi, Benedict. 2012. "Salmon and the Adaptive Capacity of Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) Culture to Cope with Change". ''American Indian Quarterly'', 36(1): 75–97.</ref><ref>Colombi, Benedict. 2012. "The Economics of Dam Building: Nez Perce Tribe and Global-Scale Development". ''American Indian Culture and Research Journal'', 36(1): 123–149.</ref><ref>Hormel, Leontina M. 2016. "Nez Perce Defending Treaty Lands in Northern Idaho". ''Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice'', 28(1): 76–83.</ref>

As a [[federally recognized tribe]], the '''Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho''' govern their [[Indian reservation|Native reservation]] in [[Idaho]] through a central government headquartered in [[Lapwai, Idaho|Lapwai]] known as the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee (NPTEC).<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.nezperce.org/| title = Nez Perce Tribe official website}}</ref><ref name="Edmunds">R. David Edmunds, "[http://www.americanheritage.com/content/nez-perce-flight-justice The Nez Perce Flight for Justice]", ''American Heritage'', Fall 2008.</ref> They are one of five federally recognized tribes in the state of Idaho. The Nez Perce only own 12% of their own reservation and some Nez Perce lease land to farmers or loggers. Today, hatching, harvesting and eating salmon is an important cultural and economic strength of the Nez Perce through full ownership or co-management of various salmon fish hatcheries, such as the [[Kooskia National Fish Hatchery]] in [[Kooskia, Idaho|Kooskia]] or the [[Dworshak National Fish Hatchery]] in [[Orofino, Idaho|Orofino]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nptfisheries.org/ |title=Nez Perce Tribe Department of Fisheries & Resources Management |access-date=December 8, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226202231/http://nptfisheries.org/ |archive-date=December 26, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Landeen, Dan and Allen Pinkham. 1999. ''Salmon and His People: Fish and Fishing in Nez Perce Culture''. Winchester, Idaho: Confluence Press.</ref><ref name="Nez Perce Tribe 2003">Nez Perce Tribe (2003). ''Treaties: Nez Perce Perspectives''. The Nez Perce Tribe Environmental Restoration & Waste Management Program, in association with the United States Department of Energy. Lewiston, Idaho: Confluence Press.</ref>

Some still speak their traditional language. The Tribe owns and operates two casinos along the [[Clearwater River (Idaho)|Clearwater River]] (in [[Kamiah, Idaho|Kamiah]] and east of [[Lewiston, Idaho|Lewiston]]),<ref name=cactdn>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SrZeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TjAMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5182%2C1339865 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho) |last=Abrams |first=Joan |title=Casino countdown is on |date=August 21, 1996 |page=1A}}</ref><ref name=atcrptt>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=BtfE7wd9KvMC&dat=19980310&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho) |last=Tuchscherer |first=Tara |title=Nez Perce at a crossroads (part 2) |date=March 10, 1998 |page=1A}}</ref> health clinics, a police force and court, community centers, salmon fisheries, radio station, and other institutions that promote economic and cultural [[self-determination]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nezperce.org/|title=Official Home of the Nez Perce Tribal Web Site|website=www.nezperce.org|access-date=December 20, 2017}}</ref>