This map, defining tribal locations after 1800, shows the Arapaho and Cheyenne in the Plains region, and the Ute as part of the Great Basin. These two regions are part of present-day Colorado."When Columbus arrived, the land the natives had known for millennia was ''discovered” by the Europeans. Thus began a three-hundred-year effort…to push the Indian from his land and to occupy it in the name of God, progress and nation."&nbsp;“…[In] the beginning of westward expansion, America saw the country's natives largely in terms of an "Indian problem” and went about separating the Indian from the land so coveted-and necessary-for the growing young nation.”&nbsp;<blockquote>Ben Nighthorse Campbell, U.S. Senator, Foreword: The Ute’s Must Go!: American Expansion and the Removal of a People, by Peter Decker</blockquote>

Colorado Events

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Can you find the Arapahoe and the Cheyenne on the map? 
What region are they in?

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Can you find the Ute?  What region are they in?

Before the arrival of non-Natives or European explorers, North America was the homeland of many Native tribes. They lived in every region from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. But the arrival of European immigrants to North America beginning in the late 1500s forced many tribes, including the Arapaho across the Mississippi River to the Great Plains in the 1600s; and later, the Cheyenne in the early 1800s. The Arapaho and Cheyenne nations formed an alliance with each other around 1811.

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Events Pre-1776: Native American Homeland

The Arapaho and Cheyenne shared the same language, belief system, and customs making them close allies or friends. Their tribes were divided into bands or smaller groups that lived and traveled together.As part of the Great Plains nomadic culture, Cheyenne and Arapaho followed bison herds as they migrated across the short-grass prairie, hunting them from horseback. The bison was very important to these tribes as their main source of food, shelter, and clothing. They used every part of the bison. Their tipis or temporary homes and clothing were made from bison hides. A tipi with a diameter of fifteen to sixteen feet required thirteen to sixteen bison hides to stretch around the tipi support poles.

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Yes! Water, grass for grazing their horses, bison, and wild game.

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What natural resources on the Great Plains did the Arapaho and Cheyenne people rely on for their survival?

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The word buffalo is often used in Western history texts as the name of the shaggy animal that roamed the Plains. It is, however, an incorrect term for the American Bison. (We use the correct word, bison, throughout this site.)

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Bonus points:&nbsp; Do you know the difference between the word buffalo and bison?

The Cheyenne lived and hunted in two regions near two waterways in what is now Colorado: The Northern Cheyenne along the North Platte River and the Southern Cheyenne along the Arkansas River with their allies, the Arapaho.

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Events 1800s: Hinono’ei and Tsistsistas — The Arapaho and Cheyenne 

Individual chiefs represented a “band” or groups of 10 to 50 people and families. As the leader, a chief was concerned about the well-being of each person in his band as well as the well-being of the whole tribe.  Chiefs decided when to move camp and to hunt bison.  Chiefs also settled disputes.
Chiefs decided when to move camp and to hunt bison.  Chiefs also settled disputes.

Colorado Leadership

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When asked in a survey what qualities defined a leader, fifth graders said that leaders needed to be:(a) Trustworthy (b) Brave (c) Honest (d) Strong (e) Adventurous (f) PerseveringAre there others you want to add?

Yes—to be a successful, Arapaho or Cheyenne leaders needed to have all the qualities listed.

Which qualities do you think were most important for Arapaho and Cheyenne leaders?

The Cheyenne people organized themselves into tribal councils of chiefs or leaders. A tribal council of all the chiefs came together to make decisions about war with other tribes and to make alliances with other tribes.

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Leadership 1800s: Hinono’ei and Tsistsistas – The Arapaho and Cheyenne

“Nuche” or Ute people traveled throughout their homeland on trails that crossed the western slope and eastern slope of the Rocky Mountain ranges of present-day Colorado. Several Ute bands of families and friends lived in territories defined by rivers as you can see on the map.


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Yes! Water, grass for grazing their horses, elk, deer and fish.

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What natural resources in the Colorado mountains did the Ute people rely on for their survival?

The western and eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains provided all the resources the Ute needed to live and thrive: elk, deer, antelope, and bison. River valleys provided ﬁsh as well as plants for food, medicine, and tools. For example, the yucca plant was used to make baskets, rope, mats, and even sandals.

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Events Pre-1776: Nuche — The Ute Nation 

By the 1860s as more and more European Americans trespassed in their territory, a successful Ute leader had to be able to understand the European American culture and negotiate in several languages. As Sondra G. Jones notes in On Being and Becoming Ute, “A knowledge of the Other became more important than knowledge of natural resources or skill with weapons.”

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When asked in a survey what qualities defined a leader, middle school students identified these qualities:(a) the ability to make good decisions in difficult times (b) staying true to ideals and beliefs (c) inspiring others to see a vision, ideal, or belief (d) showing creativity and inventiveness (e) being unique in one’s time and cultureAre there others you want to add?

Yes—All of the qualities apply. But if you chose one—Ute leaders needed to be unique in their own time and culture to be able to understand and communicate with European Americans..

Which of these qualities do you think was most important for Ute leaders?

Ute chiefs held their positions by their physical abilities, personality, assertion of authority, and “puwá”—the powers they brought to their people.

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Leadership Pre-1776: Nuche — The Ute Nation

While fighting to free themselves from British rule in the American Revolution (1775-1783), the Colonial government signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. Thirteen colonies declared themselves a new nation, independent of Great Britain. As you can see from the map, most of the colonies were states where slavery, the system of owning people as property and using their free labor, was legal.In a Forbes Magazine article, Four Leadership Lessons from The Founding Fathers, writer Geoff Loftus writes that the founders of the United States: “…believed Americans needed their own country. They knew it was unprecedented; they knew their opponent was much stronger than they; they understood the military, financial, and diplomatic difficulties of what they were undertaking. They did it anyway. Every single man who signed the Declaration of Independence believed that he was signing his own death warrant, but each man signed anyway.”

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Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as a nation independent of Great Britain.

”Inspiring others to see a vision, ideal, or belief” is one of the qualities of leadership cited by students. What was the vision of European Americans in 1776?

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Yes—bravery was important because the founding fathers knew that, in fighting Britain, they were fighting an opponent much stronger than they were, but believed Americans needed their own country.

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The qualities of leadership have been defined by students as:(a) Trustworthiness (b) Bravery (c) Honesty (d) Strength (e) Adventurousness (f) PerseveranceIs there one quality here that you think was most important for the founders of the United States?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”&nbsp;&nbsp;<blockquote>Preamble to the Declaration of Independence, 1776&nbsp;</blockquote>

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Event 1776: Declaration Of Independence

In the European American culture of permanent settlement, agriculture and trade were necessary for the growth of our new nation. Leaders believed Americans were “destined” or had the right to expand the borders of the United States.This growth required natural resources—land, water, timber, and new trade routes. During the 1790s, the Spanish-led Dominguez Escalante Expedition left Santa Fe in Mexico to search for a trade route to Spanish settlements in California. A twelve-year-old Ute boy guided the expedition through present-day southwest Colorado.

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Do you know a Colorado landscape or place well-enough to guide people through it? If so, what place?

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Continued growth required natural resources for agriculture and trade. European American leaders believed it was their “destiny” or their future to expand the borders of the United States.

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Why did the leaders of the United States feel they needed to expand the nation’s borders?

Through the 1790s, new states and territories expanded to the Mississippi River. This expansion pushed native tribes living in these regions westward across the river. This land was already inhabited or lived in by other tribes. France, Great Britain, and Spain, ignoring the Native tribes’ right to their homeland, claimed the territory for their countries.

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Events 1790s: Reaching the Mississippi River

“I know that the acquisition of Louisiana has been disapproved by some ... that the enlargement of our territory would endanger its union... in any view is it not better that the opposite bank of the Mississippi should be settled by our own brethren and children than by strangers of another family?”<blockquote>President Thomas Jefferson&nbsp;</blockquote>Looking at the map, you can see this ripple of expansion included the regions where the Arapaho and Cheyenne lived and a portion of the Rocky Mountains where the Ute lived. Both regions are in present-day Colorado. In the next three decades, from 1803–1833, the impact of the Louisiana Purchase would collide with the lives of Colorado’s Native tribes as fur trappers and traders of beaver pelts and animal hides hunted and traded in their homeland.

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More and more non-native or European Americans began to immigrate or travel into Native American land.

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President Thomas Jefferson believed that land west of the Mississippi River should be settled by European Americans. How would this impact the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute?

Having expanded as far as the Mississippi River, the United States wanted more land and resources. In 1803 the U.S. bought territory claimed by France in the Louisiana Purchase. This purchase doubled the size of the United States.

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Events 1803: Louisiana Purchase 

“The time seems to have arrived when our policy toward [Native people] should undergo an important change…Our views of their interest, and not their own, ought to govern them.”<blockquote>U.S. Secretary of War, John Calhoun, 1818&nbsp;</blockquote>The Oregon Trail to the Northwest cut through Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute hunting grounds. In the 1840s, pioneering settlers and merchants made the four- to five-month overland journey in covered wagons, seeking better lives in the West. They believed their way of life—permanent settlements and agriculture—was the destiny or future of the United States.

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European American leaders felt their way of life, permanent settlements and agriculture, and not the nomadic lifeways of the Native American tribes, was the “destiny” or future of the United States.

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European American leaders believed they had the right to expand the United States westward. How do you think this impacted the Native Americans?

The Louisiana Purchase opened vast lands to trade and travel. European American beaver-trappers and traders began crossing the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains on the 2,000-mile long horse and mule-path called the Oregon Trail. 

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Events 1810s–1840s: Oregon Trail 

The trail, used by Native Americans, Mexican people, and European Americans, served as a two-way international trade route between the United States and Mexico.Near the end of the 1820s the Old Spanish Trail from Mexico to California crossed into and through the southwestern territory of the Ute. The main item of trade was beaver pelts which were sought after for men’s hats in both the United States and Europe.

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By the early 1800s, European fur trappers, lured by abundant wildlife, began trapping in the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute’s territory. In 1821 trappers forged the Santa Fe Trail.

Events 1820s: A Network of Trails 

The Governor's Residence Preservation Fund

Three Centuries of Colorado Leadership

The Governor's Residence Preservation Fund

Three Centuries of Colorado Leadership