Paiute

Paiute (pīt`), two distinct groups of Native North Americans speaking languages belonging to the Shoshonean group of the Uto-Aztecan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). The Northern Paiute ranged over central and E California, W Nevada, and E Oregon. The Southern Paiute occupied NW Arizona, SE California, S Nevada, and S Utah. The Northern Paiute were more warlike than their southern relatives; they fought the miners and the settlers during the 1860s, and a considerable part of them joined the Bannock in the war of 1878. The Southern Paiute are often called the Diggers because they subsisted on root digging. In general the Paiute of the Great Basin area subsisted by hunting, fishing, and digging for roots. They lived in small round huts (wickiups) that were covered with tule rushes. It was among the Paiute that the Ghost Dance religion, which was to be of much significance on the frontier in the 1890s, first appeared (c.1870). The Native American prophet Wovoka was a Paiute. In 1990 there were over 11,000 Paiute in the United States, many of them living on tribal lands in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah. The name is also spelled Piute.

Bibliography

See J. H. Steward, Ethnography of the Owens Valley Paiute (1933); O. C. Stewart, Northern Paiute Bands (1939); M. M. Wheat, Survival Arts of the Primitive Paiutes (1967).

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Paiute

Either of two distinct American Indian groups living mostly in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, U.S. Their languages belong to the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan family. Their name for themselves is Numa. The Southern Paiute occupied southern Utah, northwestern Arizona, southern Nevada, and southeastern California. The Northern Paiute occupied east-central California, western Nevada, and eastern Oregon. Both groups were primarily food collectors who subsisted on wild plant foods supplemented by small game. They occupied temporary brush shelters, used rabbit-skin clothing, and made baskets for food gathering. Most Paiute were organized in loosely knit bands with fluid membership; those in areas with plentiful water organized more formally. Most Paiute were directed onto reservations in the 19th century. Early 21st-century population estimates indicated approximately 17,000 individuals of Paiute descent. See also Ute; Wovoka.