The Real People: the Kiowa
The Kiowa were a powerful Native tribe who ranged throughout the southern Great Plains in search of the buffalo. Oral tradition places their origin near what is now Glacier National Park in Montana, just south of the border of Canada. They drifted southward down the Rocky Mountains into Colorado by the 17th and 18th centuries. Pressure from other tribes brought them to the southern plains by the 19th century. The Kiowa name for themselves translate to principal people or real people. During their time in Colorado, they shared land with the Arapahoe, who referred to them as the People by the River. Their language is part of the Kiowa-Tanoan language grouping and they were also proficient in the sign language used on the Plains. Traditional Kiowa society is patrilineal. They were semi-nomadic hunters and gatherers, supplementing their diet by trade with more sedentary tribes who practiced agriculture. Like all the plains tribes, they were ...