School of Art

Contact Details

School of Art
Aberystwyth University
Buarth Mawr
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion
SY23 1NG

Tel: +44 (0)1970 622460

Fax: +44 (0)1970 622461

Email: artschool@aber.ac.uk


Display artist/maker:

Nez Perce tribe

Born: USA

The Nez Perce tribe originally covered much of the Pacific Northwest of the United States, an area of about 17 million acres over what is now Washington, Oregon and Idaho. While the Nez Perce were skilled warriors, they were noted by Lewis and Clark as an extremely peaceful and helpful tribe - not only did they supply the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804, but they supplied that of Captain Benjamin Bonneville in the 1830s. They were finally moved from their ancestral homelands in the Wallowa Valley by the United States Government in the aftermath of the Nez Perce War of 1877. Despite having no formal military training, the Nez Perce held off the United States Army in over 13 battles between July and October while travelling north towards Canada. However, after a journey of 1,600 miles Chief Joseph (1840-1904) surrendered at Bear Paw Mountain. He famously stated "From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever," and it is said that he died of a broken heart on the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington. Many Nez Perce were finally allowed to return to the Wallowa Valley in the mid-1880s, and today about 4,000 Nez Perce people remain in the Pacific Northwest.

Objects in the collections associated with this artist/maker

[bag] Ba7 Baskets




 
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