The Gros Ventre Tribe of Montana is a tribe of the Northern Plains Indigenous group, located in North central Montana. They live on the Fort Belknap Reservation, which is shared with the Assiniboine tribe. The Gros Ventre live primarily in the south end of the reservation, near the Little Rocky Mountains.
The Gros Ventre call themselves "AH-AH-NE-NIN" meaning the White Clay People. They believed they they were made from the White Clay that is found along the river bottoms in Gros Ventre country. Early French fur trappers and traders names this tribe "Gros Ventre because other tribes in the area referred to them as "The Water Falls People." The sign for water fall is the passing of the hands over the stomach and the French though the Indians were saying big belly so they called them "Gros Ventre" - meaning "big belly" in the French language.
