A-ca-oo-mah-ca-ye

Ackomokki or A-ca-oo-mah-ca-ye (syllabics ᖳᖿ ᖱᒍᑊᖿᔪ), which translates from Blackfoot as Old Swan)[1], was the name of three Siksiká chiefs between the late 1700s and 1860.[2]

Ackomokki/Old Swan (I)

The first Ackomokki (d. January 1795) was known as a peacemaker who was open to trade with Europeans.[1] By the time Ackomokki was chief, the Blackfoot/Plains Confederacy had consolidated power throughout he plains of what is modern-day Montana, Alberta, and western Saskatchewan.[3]

Ackomokki/Old Swan (II)/Feathers

Ackomokki's son was known to fur traders as "Feathers" (or "Painted Feathers"). After his father's death he adopted the name Ackomokki, although Europeans continued to call him "Feathers" or "Many Swans" to distinguish him from his father. The younger Ackomokki (d. 1814), like his father, worked to preserve peace among his people and the neighboring Cree and Assiniboine peoples, as well as with European traders.[4] In 1800, Ackomokki allowed the Hudson's Bay Company to establish the Chesterfield House trading post within the Blackfoot's wintering grounds at the confluence of the Red Deer and South Saskatchewan Rivers.[1][5] However, changes in the balance of power between the Blackfoot and neighboring tribes brought on in part by westward expansion of U.S. traders lead to increasing conflicts and military decline for the Siksika.[3][5]

Around 1801, the younger Ackomokki drew for Hudson Bay Company surveyor Peter Fidler a detailed map of the lands around the Upper Missouri, including names of rivers, mountains, and peaks and travel time between them and information about 32 tribes populating the region.[6] These drawings were later incorporated into the 1802 edition of Aaron Arrowsmith's map of the Interior Parts of North America.[7][8] Ackomokki's maps included significant details about the topography and inhabitants of the area, which proved helpful in expanding the Hudson's Bay Company activities in the region.[7]

Ackomokki/Old Swan (III)

A third Old Swan (d. 1859/1860), possibly a son or nephew of the younger Ackomokki, assumed leadership of what was called by Europeans "Old Feathers' Band" by 1822.[2] He was described in 1858 by Dr. James Hector as one of the principal chiefs of the Blackfoot Confederacy, and, in July 1859, the Palliser Expedition were guests at his encampment on the Red Deer River.

References
  1. Binnema, Theodore (2001). Common and Contested Ground: A Human and Environmental History of the Northwestern Plains. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 174–175, 223. ISBN 978-0-8061-3361-4. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  2. "A-ca-oo-mah-ca-ye". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2016.
  3. Judy, Mark A. (1987). "Powder Keg on the Upper Missouri: Sources of Blackfeet Hostility, 1730-1810". American Indian Quarterly. 11 (2): 127–144. doi:10.2307/1183693. JSTOR 1183693.
  4. Bradford, Tolley (2008). "Home, Away from Home: Old Swan, James Bird and the Edmonton District, 1795–1815". In Marchildon, Gregory P. (ed.). The Early Northwest. Regina, Saskatchewan: University of Regina Press. pp. 147–170. ISBN 978-0-88977-207-6. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  5. Binnema, Theodore (2001). "How Does a Map Mean?". In Foster, John Elgin; Macleod, R.C.; Binnema, Theodore (eds.). From Rupert's Land to Canada. Edmonton, Alberta: University of Alberta Press. pp. 201–227. ISBN 978-0-88864-363-6. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  6. Beattie, Judith Hudson (1985). "Indian Maps in the Hudson's Bay Company Archives: A Comparison of Five Area Maps Recorded by Peter Fidler, 1801-1802" (PDF). Archivaria. 21 (Winter): 166–175. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
  7. Chiarello, Michael Cesare (2014). Mapping the Liberal Impulse: The Primacy of Cartography in the Hudson's Bay Company's Imperial Project, 1749–1857 (MA). Carleton University.
  8. Litalien, Raymonde; Palomino, Jean-François; Vaugeois, Denis (2007). La mesure d'un continent: atlas historique de l'Amérique du Nord, 1492-1814 (in French). Paris, France: Presses Paris Sorbonne. pp. 206–207. ISBN 978-2-84050-550-1. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
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