Moapa Band of Paiute Indians
The Moapa Band of Paiute Indians of the Moapa River Indian Reservation are a federally recognized tribe of Southern Paiute, who live in southern Nevada on the Moapa River Indian Reservation. They were in the past called the Muappa / Moapat and the Nuwuvi.
Southern Paiute women at Moapa
Moapa Indian Reservation welcome sign
Rocks in the southern part of the reservation, immediately west of Valley of Fire State Park
The Southern Paiute people are a tribe of Native Americans who have lived in the Colorado River basin of southern Nevada, northern Arizona, and southern Utah. Bands of Southern Paiute live in scattered locations throughout this territory and have been granted federal recognition on several reservations. Southern Paiute's traditionally spoke Colorado River Numic, which is now a critically endangered language of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family, and is mutually intelligible with Ute. The term Paiute comes from paa Ute meaning water Ute, and refers to their preference for living near water sources. Before European colonization they practiced springtime, floodplain farming with reservoirs and irrigation ditches for corn, squash, melons, gourds, sunflowers, beans and wheat.
Southern Paiute people
Southern Paiute woven hat from 1876 at a Harvard University museum.
Koosharem Southern Paiute people in Koosharem, Utah 1905.
Young men in Reno, Nevada, circa 1870