Sarsi
Sarsi
(sär`sē), Native North Americans whose language belongs to the AthabascanAthabascan, Athapascan,
or Athapaskan
, group of related Native American languages forming a branch of the Nadene linguistic family or stock. In the preconquest period, Athabascan was a large and extensive group of tongues.
..... Click the link for more information. branch of the Nadene linguistic stock (see also Native American languagesNative American languages,
languages of the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere and their descendants. A number of the Native American languages that were spoken at the time of the European arrival in the New World in the late 15th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. ). They are also known as the Sarcee. At the beginning of the 19th cent., their hunting grounds were on the upper Saskatchewan River. Attacks by the Cree and other tribes caused the Sarsi to ally themselves with the BlackfootBlackfoot,
Native North Americans of the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They occupied in the early 19th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. for protection. Although their customs were greatly modified by association with this Plains tribe, their language remained unaffected. In 1877 they ceded their lands to the Canadian government and in 1880 moved to a reserve at Calgary, Alberta. There were some 800 Sarsi in Canada in 1991.