They were a collection of bands, each with its own leadership, its own territory, its own patterns of life.

The bands were connected by language, by kinship, by shared traditions, by the seasonal rounds that brought groups together at camas root prairies and salmon runs and other places where food was abundant.

They were expert horsemen — they had been breeding the Appaloosa horse, distinguished by its spotted coat, for generations — and skilled hunters and fishers whose territory included some of the most productive salmon rivers in North America.

The nimíipuu had relationships with European and American traders and explorers going back to Lewis and Clark, who passed through their country in 1805.