The Ute people live in the western part of the United States. They once lived in the mountains and plains of Colorado, Utah and in northern New Mexico. The state of Utah was actually named after the Ute. The name Ute means "the land of the Sun".
There were originally seven Ute tribes located in and around the Rocky Mountains. These were the Uintah, Yampa, Grand River, Tabaguache, Mouache, the Capote, and the Weeminuche. These tribes were scattered over an area of 150,000 square miles. .
The Ute built cone-shaped houses of brush, reeds, and grasses and teepees of buffalo skins. The Utes were both forest dwellers as well as nomadic desert people. The forest dwelling Utes lived on wild game and fish, whereas the desert Utes would travel to find their food and resources. They hunted animals like antelope, buffalo, elk and other deer. Women gathered berries, nuts, roots, and seeds with baskets that they would weave themselves. .
The language that the Ute spoke was a language shared by most of the Great Basin tribes. They spoke a Shoshonean language, which belongs to the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan.
The Utes are very religious. They practice an animalistic type of worship. The major events of their spiritual calendar are the Bear Dance, which is held annually in the springtime and The Sun Dance, which is held annually in the middle of summer. This ceremony involves a four day fast, during which the participant is housed inside the Sundance Lodge. The participant undergoes a quest for spiritual power that involves some physically challenging tasks. If he is successful in going through these tests, he will receive his "medicine bundle." .
In the 1600's they traded for horses with Spaniards. The horses made it easier to hunt and also to move around. They became great warriors. Many tribes feared the Ute. They fought such tribes as the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Comanche tribes.
Eventually, Mormons settled in with the Ute Indians.