Crow Nation

BiographyThe Crow nation is part of the Plains Indian grouping, having been situated alongside the Yellowstone River for over three hundred years. The modern day reservation is located in Montana. Known as “Apsaalooke,” meaning “children of the large-beaked bird,” the term
was mistranslated to crow, resulting in the name today.

Originally, the Crows were a division of the Hidatsas. Migration to the game rich land around Yellowstone brought prosperity for a time, as well as the addition of horses, acquired from the Spanish colonists in 1680 and dispersed throughout the plains by the 18th century. Horsemanship drastically changed the Crow method of life, allowing for diverse hunting and migrating strategies. Early iconography, thus, focused on the horse and its properties, only later involving human representation.

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