The Nez Perce were never pierced-nosed, despite what French explorers mistakenly named them.

Cultures · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Known as the Nimíipuu, or 'we, the people,' this Indigenous nation of the Columbia Plateau has inhabited their ancestral lands for over 11,500 years. Their famous exonym, Nez Perce, was a misunderstanding by French fur traders who confused them with the Chinook, who actually practiced the body modification.

The Nimíipuu have long been a dominant cultural and economic force on the Columbia Plateau. Before the arrival of European colonialists, they maintained a vast trade and warfare network stretching from the Pacific coast to the high plains of Montana. Their society was deeply connected to the landscape, moving through seasonal villages to hunt, fish, and gather resources. By 1805, they were the largest tribe on the plateau, with a population of approximately 6,000 people living in over 70 permanent villages.

The name 'Nez Perce' originated in the late 18th century from French Canadian fur traders. Anthropologist Alice Fletcher noted in 1889 that the confusion stemmed from Lewis and Clark’s expedition, where an interpreter’s wife—a Shoshone woman—identified the tribe using a generic term for Plateau peoples that meant 'people of the pierced noses.' While the Chinook practiced this, the Nimíipuu did not. Despite the inaccuracy, the name persisted in official U.S. government documents and historical records, though the tribe has increasingly reclaimed their autonym, Nimíipuu, in recent decades.

The 19th century brought immense upheaval. An 1863 treaty, often called the 'Steal Treaty' by the tribe, stripped them of vital horticultural sites along the Camas Prairie. Following the Nez Perce War of 1877 and the Dawes Act of 1887, the tribe faced forced confinement and land allotments. Today, the Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho governs from Lapwai, managing a reservation where they own only 12% of the land. Despite these pressures, they maintain cultural self-determination through salmon hatcheries, casinos, and the preservation of their traditional language, Nimiipuutímt.

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