Kutenai People - History

History

The Ktunaxa people today live in southeastern British Columbia, Washington State, Idaho, and Montana. In Montana they are known as Ksanka. Ktunaxa is the term that these tribes call themselves, which is pronounced Ta-na-ha, with a barely perceptible ‘k’ sound at the beginning of the word. Traditionally these people have been known as Kootenay or Kootenai, which is an anglicisation of the Blackfoot word used to refer to the Ktunaxa, so in some of their tribal organizations and activities, the Ktunaxa refer to themselves as Kootenay, or in Montana, Kootenai.

There is a cultural distinction between Upper Kootenay, those bands based around Invermere and Windermere, British Columbia, and Lower Kootenay, those based around Creston, Grasmere, and Cranbrook, British Columbia, Bonners Ferry, Idaho, and the Ksanka of Elmo, Montana. This history focuses on the Creston Band of the Lower Kootenay, who call themselves the Yaqan Nu’kiy Ktunaxa, or the marsh or water people of the Ktunaxa, also situates this group in the broader context of all the Ktunaxa tribes.