Ute people

The Utes () are an Indigenous people of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau in present-day Utah, western Colorado, and northern New Mexico. Historically, their territory also included parts of Wyoming, Nevada, and Arizona. Their Ute dialect is a Colorado River Numic language, part of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Historically, the Utes belonged to almost a dozen nomadic bands, who came together for ceremonies and trade. They also traded with neighboring tribes, including Pueblo peoples. The Utes had settled in the Four Corners region by 1500 CE. The Utes' first contact with Europeans was with the Spanish in the 18th century. The Utes had already acquired horses from neighboring tribes by the late 17th century. They had limited direct contact with the Spanish but participated in regional trade. Sustained contact with Euro-Americans began in 1847 with the arrival of the Mormons to the American West and the gold rushes of the 1850s. Utes fought to protect their homelands from invaders, and Brigham Young convinced U.S. President Abraham Lincoln to forcibly remove Utes in Utah to an Indian Reservation in 1864. Colorado Utes were forced onto a reservation in 1881. Today, there are three federally recognized tribes of Ute people: Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Utah Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Colorado