Native American languages of Wyoming facts for kids
Wyoming is a state in the western United States. It sits where the Rocky Mountains meet the Great Plains. For a long time, many Native American tribes lived here. These included the Shoshone, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Crow people.
Later, during a time called "Westward Expansion" (in the late 1800s and early 1900s), many tribes were moved. The Crow people went north to Montana. The Cheyenne were split between Montana and Oklahoma. Only the Shoshone and Arapaho tribes mostly stayed in Wyoming. Some of them moved to the Wind River Indian Reservation. Others went to different western states or Oklahoma.
Today, two Native American languages are still spoken in Wyoming: Shoshone and Arapaho.
Native American Languages in Wyoming
There are two main Native American languages spoken in Wyoming today. We can estimate how many people speak them using information from Ethnologue and U.S. Census data.
Here is a table showing these two languages:
| Language | Family Group | Number of Speakers | Total Tribal Population | Tribe(s) | Main Location in Wyoming | Other Places Spoken |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shoshone | Uto-Aztecan: Numic | 2,000 | 12,300 | Eastern Shoshone | Wind River Indian Reservation | Idaho, Utah, Nevada |
| Arapaho | Algic: Algonquian | 250 | 9,000 | Northern Arapaho | Wind River Indian Reservation | Oklahoma |
