Get to Know the Land You Live On

Thanksgiving is a unique holiday — it’s secular, doesn’t involve buying much, except for food, and has an undeniably positive outlook: practicing gratitude is good for everyone.

But it does have a sinister tie with violence and colonization, which is why the day after Thanksgiving is now Native American Heritage Day, and November is Native American Heritage Month.

So who did live here before modern-day Boiseans? When you’re on a road trip, do you ever cross land and wonder who lived there originally? If so, you can download the Native Land app, which has an interactive map that shows the migratory boundaries of the people Indigenous to this land.

The Treasure Valley was home to the Shoshone-Bannock tribes, although that’s a rather new name — previous to colonization, the Shoshone and Bannock tribes were mostly separate entities.

Next Wednesday, I’ll have a timeline of how the Boise Valley was colonized, and what’s happened to the people who lived here before European settlers attempted genocide on them. Chime in with tips, information you know, or questions you have at boise@citycast.fm.