original_query: What is the significance of the Ute tribe in the Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin?
query: What is the significance of the Ute tribe in the Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin?
answer: The Ute are an Indigenous people of the Great Basin, residing in present-day Utah and Colorado.  They are part of the Numic-speaking branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family, and their ancestors are believed to have originated near the Nevada-California border before spreading north and east.