Members of the Sahaptin language group, the Nimíipuu were the dominant people of the Columbia Plateau for much of that time, especially after acquiring the horses that led them to breed the Appaloosa horse in the 18th century.
This region has been occupied for at least 11,500 years. The Nez Perce ( / ˌ n ɛ z ˈ p ɜːr s/ autonym in Nez Perce language: nimíipuu, meaning 'we, the people') are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who still live on a fraction of the lands on the southeastern Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest.
No Horn on His Head, a Nez Perce man painted in 1832 by George Catlin
