Nez Percé is an exonym given by French Canadian fur traders who visited the area regularly in the late 18th century, meaning literally "pierced nose". English-speaking traders and settlers adopted the name in turn. Since the late 20th century, the Nez Perce identify most often as Nimíipuu in Sahaptin. [ 23 ] . This has also been spelled Nee-Me-Poo.

Nez Percé, North American Indian people whose traditional territory centred on the lower Snake River and such tributaries as the Salmon and Clearwater rivers in what is now northeastern Oregon, southeastern Washington, and central Idaho, U.S.

Jan 23, 2025 · Today, the Nez Perce Tribe is a federally recognized tribal nation with more than 3,500 citizens. For the Nimiipuu people, traditional lifeways are the foundation of Nez Perce culture today. As a sovereign nation, the Nez Perce Tribe offers a …

Historically, the Nez Perce Tribe functioned as a self-governing nation. Later, treaties with the federal government preserved the tribe’s status as a sovereign nation within the United States.

Jan 30, 2025 · The Nez Perce lived in over 70 permanent villages ranging from 30 to 200 people, depending on the season. They were semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers, and their homes included communal lodges covered in reeds or skins.

Apr 2, 2014 · Chief Joseph was a Nez Perce chief who, faced with settlement by whites of tribal lands in Oregon, led his followers in a dramatic effort to escape to Canada.

The Nez Perce Tribe is a federally recognized tribe in north-central Idaho with more than 3,500 enrolled citizens. Headquartered in Lapwai, ID, the Nez Perce Reservation spans about 770,000 acres. The current governmental structure is based on a constitution adopted by the tribe in 1948.

Our understanding is that this is a general Nez Perce term meaning “the people” or “Nez Perce people.” Before contact, the Nimiipuu and their Plateau Indian cousins lived across a wide area of what is now NE Oregon, Idaho, and Eastern Washington.

For the nimíipuu, or Nez Perce, the story of their people begins at the landmark near present day Kamiah, Idaho called timʼné•pe, or Heart of the Monster, where Iceye'ye (coyote) killed a monster who was eating all of the animals.

The Nez Perce people—we have two names for ourselves. We call ourselves Ni-mee-poo, which means “The People.” We also call ourselves Tsoopnitpeloo, and Tsoopnitpeloo means “The Walking-Out People”—people from the mountains come to the plains, to hunt buffalo. And that was our old-time name.