Shoshoni Indians, a North American tribe of the Shoshonean division of the Uto-Aztecan language family. They lived originally in the Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, where they subsisted on the meager resources of their largely barren land. After 1700 some Shoshoni acquired horses and moved eastward onto the Great Plains, where they became buffalo hunters. In the early 19th century, they numbered about 8,000. Friendly to the white settlers, the Shoshoni were given reservation land of their own choosing. Today they live on reservations and tribal lands in Idaho, Nevada, and Wyoming and number around 7,700. Some members of other tribes have intermingled with them.