Юта, Шошон және басқа да үнді тайпаларының тарихы мен мәдениеті

Native American people in the United States
It is believed that this Numic group originated near the present day border of Nevada and California, then spread North and East. By about 1000, there were hunters and gatherers in the Great Basin of Uto Aztecan ethnicity that are believed to have been the ancestors of the Indigenous tribes of the Great Basin, including the Ute, Shoshone, Hopi, Paiute, and Chemehuevi peoples. The Southern Numic speaking tribes—the Utes, Shoshone, Southern Paiute, and Chemehuevi—share many cultural, genetic and linguistic characteristics. The Ute occupied much of the present state of Colorado by the 1600s. The Comanches from the north joined them in eastern Colorado in the early 1700s. In the 19th century, the Arapaho and Cheyenne invaded southward into eastern Colorado. The Utes came to inhabit a large area including most of Utah, western and central Colorado, and south into the San Juan River watershed of New Mexico. Some Ute bands stayed near their home domains, while others ranged further away seasonally. Winter camps were established along rivers near the present day cities of Provo and Fort Duchesne in Utah and Pueblo, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs of Colorado. The mineral springs at Manitou Springs were also sacred and Ute and other tribes came to the area, spent winters there, and "share[d] in the gifts of the waters without worry of conflict." Artifacts found from the nearby Garden of the Gods, such as grinding stones, "suggest the groups would gather together after their hunt to complete the tanning of hides and processing of meat." The old Ute Pass Trail went eastward from Monument Creek (near Roswell) to Garden of the Gods and Manitou Springs to the Rocky Mountains. From Ute Pass, Utes journeyed eastward to hunt buffalo. They spent winters in mountain valleys where they were protected from the weather. Cañon Pintado, or painted canyon, is a prehistoric site with rock art from Fremont people (650 to 1200) and Utes. The Fremont art reflect an interest in agriculture, including corn stalks and use of light at different times of the year to show a planting calendar. Then there are images of figures holding shields, what appear to be battle victims, and spears. These were seen by the Domínguez–Escalante expedition (1776). Utes left images of firearms and horses in the 1800s. The Crook's Brand Site depicts a horse with a brand from George Crook's regiment during the Indian Wars of the 1870s.

Public land surrounding the Bears Ears buttes in southeastern Utah became the Bears Ears National Monument in 2016 in recognition for its ancestral and cultural significance to several Native American tribes, including the Utes. Members of the Ute Mountain Ute and Uintah and Ouray Reservations sit on a five tribe coalition to help co manage the monument with the Bureau of Land Management and United States Forest Service. The Ute appeared to have hunted and camped in an ancient Ancestral Puebloans and Fremont people campsite in near what is now Arches National Park. At a site near natural springs, which may have held spiritual significance, the Ute left petroglyphs in rock along with rock art by the earlier peoples. Some of the images are estimated to be more than 900 years old. The Utes petroglyphs were made after the Utes acquired horses, because they show men hunting while on horseback.

The culture of the Utes was influenced by the invasion of neighboring Native American tribes. The eastern Utes had many traits of Plain Indians, and they lived in tepees after the 17th century. The western Utes were similar to Shoshones and Paiutes, and they lived year round in domed willow houses. Weeminuches lived in willow houses during the summer. The Jicarilla Apache and Puebloans influenced the southeastern Utes. All groups also lived in structures 10–15 feet in diameter that were made of conical pole frames and brush, and sweat lodges were similarly built. Men and women wore woven and leather clothing and rabbit skin robes. They wore their hair long or in braids.

The Uinta and Ouray Indian Reservation is the second largest Indian Reservation in the US – covering over of land. Tribal owned lands only cover approximately 1.2 million acres (485,623 km2) of surface land and of mineral owned land within the 4 million acres (1,618,744 km2) reservation area. Raising stock and oil and gas leases are important revenue streams for the reservation. The tribe is a member of the Council of Energy Resource Tribes. The tribe also owns the Red Willow Production Company, which began as a natural gas production company on the reservation. It has expanded to explore for and produce oil and natural gas in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and in the deep water in the Gulf of Mexico. Red Willow has offices in Ignacio, Colorado and Houston, Texas. The Sky Ute Casino and its associated entertainment and tourist facilities, together with tribally operated Lake Capote, draw tourists. It hosts the Four Corners Motorcycle Rally each year. The Ute operate KSUT, the major public radio station serving southwestern Colorado and the Four Corners.

The Southern Ute Tribes include the Muache, Capote, and the Weeminuche, the latter of which are at Ute Mountain. The Ute Mountain Tribal Park abuts Mesa Verde National Park and includes many Ancestral Puebloan ruins. Their land includes the sacred Ute Mountain. Utes were forced to perform manual labor, relinquish their horses, and send their children to American Indian boarding schools. There was a dramatic reduction in the Ute population, partly attributed to Utes moving off the reservation or resisting being counted. The annual fasting and purification ceremony Sun Dance is an important traditional spiritual event, feast, and means of asserting their Native American identity. Native Americans have been using ceremonial pipes for thousands and years, and the traditional pipes have been used in sacred Ute ceremonies that are conducted by a medicine person or spiritual leader. The pipe symbolizes the Ute's connection to the creator and their existence on Earth. They conduct pipe ceremonies during events were different people come together. For instance, they conducted a pipe ceremony at an Interfaith event in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Uncompahgre Ute Indians from central Colorado are one of the first documented groups of people in the world known to use the effect of mechanoluminescence. They used quartz crystals to generate light, likely hundreds of years before the modern world recognized the phenomenon. The Ute constructed special ceremonial rattles made from buffalo rawhide, which they filled with clear quartz crystals collected from the mountains of Colorado and Utah. When the rattles were shaken at night during ceremonies, the friction and mechanical stress of the quartz crystals banging together produced flashes of light which partly shone through the translucent buffalo hide. These rattles were believed to call spirits into Ute ceremonies, and were considered extremely powerful religious objects.

Medicine women used up to 300 plants to treat ailments. Pine pitch or split cactus was used to treat sores or wounds. Sage leaves were used for colds. Sage tea and powdered obsidian for sore eyes. Teas were made from various plants to treat stomachaches. Grass was used to stop bleeding. The Ute use the roots and flowers of Abronia fragrans for stomach and bowel troubles. Cedar and sage were used in purification ceremonies conducted in sweat lodges. Yarrow was also used as a medicine by the Utes. There were many plants found in Provo Canyon that were used by Utes as medicine.

When the Legends Die (1963), a book by Hal Borland, is a story about a Ute boy growing up on a reservation after his parents die, and becoming a rodeo sensation. A film adaptation by the same name was released in 1972. The University of Utah's athletic teams are known as the Utes and have received explicit permission from the Ute tribe to continue using the name. In the television series Resident Alien, based on the comics of the same name, health center assistant Asta Twelvetrees (played by Sara Tomko) is a member of the Ute Nation. In Cold Pursuit (2019), a gang formed by Utes play a prominent role in the film as a rival cartel to the main antagonists.

The Ute were estimated at 6,000 in New Mexico in year 1846 (and also 6,000 in 1854), 7,000 in Colorado in year 1866 and 13,050 in Utah in 1867, for a total of around 26,050 in the mid 19th century. In 1868 it was reported that 5,000 Ute lived on the Colorado reservation. Later Ute population declined rapidly. The census of 1890 counted only 2,839 (1,854 in Utah and 985 in Colorado), Indian Affairs 1900 reported 2,694 (1,699 in Utah and 995 in Colorado) and in 1910 there were about 2,658 (1,472 in Utah, 815 in Colorado and 371 in South Dakota). Ute population has rebounded during the 20th and 21st centuries, the census of 2020 counted 15,119.