Beneath the Backbone of the World : Blackfoot People and the North American Borderlands, 1720–1877

For the better part of two centuries, between 1720 and 1877, the Blackfoot (Niitsitapi) people controlled a vast region of what is now the U.S. and Canadian Great Plains. As one of the most expansive and powerful Indigenous groups on the continent, they dominated the northern imperial borderlands of North America. The Blackfoot maintained their control even as their homeland became the site of intense competition between white fur traders, frequent warfare between Indigenous nations, and profound ecological transformation. In an era of violent and wrenching change, Blackfoot people relied on their mastery of their homelands' unique geography to maintain their way of life.

With extensive archival research from both the United States and Canada, Ryan Hall shows for the first time how the Blackfoot used their borderlands position to create one of North America's most vibrant and lasting Indigenous homelands. This book sheds light on a phase of Native and settler relations that is often elided in conventional interpretations of Western history, and demonstrates how the Blackfoot exercised significant power, resiliency, and persistence in the face of colonial change.

"This book bridges the typical geographic divide that has parceled up Blackfoot history into its Canadian and U.S. components, tracing it across the fur trade era, and portrays the Blackfoot people as key players in some of the biggest events in Western history. Hall narrates the compelling story with graceful focus." - Michel Hogue, Carleton University

"Ryan Hall's brilliant exploration of the history of the Blackfoot people reveals a creative and supremely dynamic Indigenous nation that rose, against the odds, to control the vast northwestern plains in the midst of two colonial empires. How they achieved such dominance is astonishing, and how they lost it will push readers to think hard about the legacies of conquest. This is a history full of drama and vital lessons." - Pekka Hamalainen, University of Oxford

"Beneath the Backbone of the World is a singular achievement, not just for the story Ryan Hall tells but also for the way he tells it. The research is remarkable. The prose sparkles. So too do Blackfoot characters like Bull Back Fat, Medicine Snake Woman, Mountain Chief, and Heavy Runner, who drive the narrative forward. What a powerful book this is." - Elizabeth Fenn, University of Colorado Boulder


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