Nez Percé

Nez Percé, North American Indian people whose traditional territory centred on the lower Snake River and such tributaries as the Salmon and Clearwater rivers in what is now northeastern Oregon, southeastern Washington, and central Idaho, U.S. They were the largest, most powerful, and best-known of the Sahaptin-speaking peoples. They call themselves the Nimi’ipuu but were known by various names by other groups. The French called them the Nez Percé (“Pierced Nose”), having mistakenly identified individuals...