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**[[Powhatan]] New Jersey |
**[[Powhatan]] New Jersey |
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**[[Ramapough Mountain Indians]] New Jersey |
**[[Ramapough Mountain Indians]] New Jersey |
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**[[Hopewell]] Ohio and [[Black River]] region |
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**[[Shawnee]] Ohio, Pennsylvania [most ended up in Oklahoma] |
**[[Shawnee]] Ohio, Pennsylvania [most ended up in Oklahoma] |
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**[[Shinnecock]] New York |
**[[Shinnecock]] New York |
Revision as of 11:35, 8 July 2003
Native Americans, also called American Indians or Amerindians, form the indigenous peoples who already lived in the Americas before European colonization, and who still survive.
Canadians now generally use the term "First Nations" to refer to Native Americans. In Alaska, because of legal use in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANSCA) and because of the presence of the Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut peoples, the term Alaskan Native predominates. (See further discussion below.)
Native Americans officially make up the majority of the population in Bolivia and Guatemala and are significant in most other Hispanic American countries, with the possible exception of Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Uruguay.
History
Based on anthropological evidence, at least three distinct migrations from Siberia across the Bering Land Bridge occurred. The first wave of migration came into a land populated by the large mammals of the late Pleistocene epoch, including mammoths, horses, giant sloths, and wooly rhinoceroses. The Clovis culture provides one example of such immigrants. Later the Folsom culture developed, based on the hunting of bison.
The second immigration wave comprised the Athabascan people, including the ancestors of the Apache and the Navajo; the third wave consisted of the Inuit, the Yupik, and the Aleut, who may have come by sea over the Bering Strait. These last are so ethnically distinct from the remainder of the aboriginal inhabitants of the Americas that they are not usually included in the terms "American Indian" or "First Nations".
The Athabascan peoples, late migrants, generally lived in Alaska and western Canada but several tribes migrated south as far as California and the American Southwest.
In recent years, anthropological evidence of migration has been supplemented by studies based on molecular genetics. The provisional results from this field suggest that four distinct migrations from Asia occurred; and, most surprisingly, provide evidence of smaller-scale, contemporaneous human migration from Europe. This suggests that the migrant population, living in Europe at the time of the most recent ice age, adopted a life-style resembling that lived by the Inuit and Yupik in recent centuries.
In the Mississippi valley of the United States, in Mexico and Central America, and in the Andes of South America Native American civilizations arose with farming cultures and city-states.
See archeology of the Americas.
The Arrival of Europeans
In the 15th century Spaniards and other Europeans brought horses to the Americas. Some of these animals escaped their owners and began to breed and increase their numbers in the wild. Ironically, the horse had originally evolved in the Americas, but the last American horses died out at the end of the last ice age. The re-introduction of the horse, however, had a profound impact on Native American cultures in the Great Plains of North America. This new mode of travel made it possible for some tribes to greatly expand their territories, exchange goods with neighboring tribes and to more easily capture game.
Europeans also brought diseases against which the Native Americans had no immunity. Sometimes they did this intentionally, but often it was intentinal. Common and rarely fatal ailments such as chicken pox and the measles often proved fatal to Native Americans, and other more deadly diseases, such as smallpox, were especially deadly to Indian populations. It is difficult to estimate the percentage of the total Native American population killed by these diseases, since waves of disease oftentimes preceded White scouts and often destroyed entire villages. Some historians have argued that more than 80% of some Indian populations may have died due to European-derived diseases. [See Jeffrey Amherst]
The first reported case of white men scalping Native Americans took place in New Hampshire colony on February 20, 1725.
In the 19th century the United States forced Native Americans onto marginal lands in areas farther and farther west as white settlement of the young nation expanded in that direction. Numerous Indian Wars broke out between US forces and many different tribes. Authorities drafted countless treaties during this period and then later nullified them for various reasons. The fighting climaxed with the Native American victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn and with the massacre of Native Americans at Wounded Knee. Then on January 31, 1876 the United States government ordered all Native Americans to move into reservations or reserves. This effectively ended the Prairie Culture that developed around the use of the horse for hunting, travel and trading.
Military defeat, cultural pressure, confinement on reservations and (especially) slavery have had deleterious effects on Native Americans' mental and ultimately physical health. Contemporary problems include alcoholism and diabetes: see New World Syndrome.
Classification
Ethnographers commonly classify the native peoples of the United States and Canada into ten geographical regions with shared cultural traits. The following list groups peoples by their region of origin, followed by the current location. See the individual article on each tribe for a history of their movements. The regions are:
- Alaska Native (incomplete)
- Arctic
- West coast
- Achomawai California
- Atsugewi California
- Chukchansi California
- Chumash California
- Costanoan California
- Esselen California
- Hupa California
- Kato
- Klamath California, Oregon
- Kumeyaay-Digueno California
- Luiseno California
- Maidu California
- Me-wuk California
- Mission Indians California
- Miwok California
- Modoc Oklahoma [originally from California]
- Mohave (Mojave) California
- Mono California
- Nomlaki California
- Pit River Indians California
- Pomo California
- Shasta California
- Tache California
- Tachi California
- Tolowa California
- Tongva California
- Wailaki California
- Wintun California
- Wiyot California
- Yocha Dehe California
- Yokut California
- Yuki
- Yurok California
- Eastern Woodlands
- Abenaki (Wabenaki) Vermont
- Accohannock Maryland
- Algonquian lower Saint Lawrence River
- Delaware Oklahoma [originally near Delaware]
- Huron north and east of Lake Ontario
- Iroquois New York
- Lenni-Lenape New Jersey
- Maliseet Maine and New Brunswick, Canada
- Mashantucket Pequots Connecticut
- Micmac Maine and Nova Scotia
- Mingo Pennsylvania, Ohio
- Mohican (Mohegan) Connecticut
- Montaukett New York
- Narragansett Rhode Island
- Nipmuc Massachusetts
- Paugusset Connecticut
- Passamaquoddy Maine
- Penobscot Maine
- Poospatuck New York
- Powhatan New Jersey
- Ramapough Mountain Indians New Jersey
- Hopewell Ohio and Black River region
- Shawnee Ohio, Pennsylvania [most ended up in Oklahoma]
- Shinnecock New York
- Wampanoag Massachusetts
- Great Basin
- Cayuse Oregon [Confederated Tribes: (Cayuse, Umatilla, Walla Walla) ]
- Cupeño
- Diegueño
- Paiute California, Nevada, Oregon [Burns-Paiute], Arizona [Kaibab]
- Shoshone (Shoshoni) Nevada, Wyoming, California
- Umatilla Oregon [Confederated Tribes: (Cayuse, Umatilla, Walla Walla) ]
- Walla Walla Oregon [Confederated Tribes: (Cayuse, Umatilla, Walla Walla) ]
- Wasco Oregon [Confederated Tribes: [Warm Springs (Paiute, Wasco, Walla Walla) ]
- Washoe Nevada, California
- Northwest Coast
- Achomawi
- Chehalis Washington
- Chemakum
- Chinookan
- Clayoquot
- Coast Salish
- Coquille Oregon
- Cowichan
- Cowlitz Washington
- Duwamish Washington
- Hesquiat
- Hoh Washington
- Karok
- Klallam (Elwha band) Washington
- Klikitat
- Koskimo
- Kutenai
- Kwakiutl
- Lummi Washington
- Makah Washington
- Muckleshoot Washington
- Nespelem
- Nooksack Washington
- Nisqually Washington
- Nootka (Nuu-chah-nulth) Vancouver Island
- Puget Sound Salish Washington
- Puyallup Washington
- Quileute Washington
- Quinault Washington
- S'Klallam Washington
- Salishan
- Sauk-Suiattle Washington
- Shoalwater Bay Tribe Washington
- Siletz Oregon
- Siuslaw Oregon
- Skokomish Washington
- Squaxin Island Tribe Washington
- Stillaguamish Washington
- Suquamish Washington
- Swinomish Washington
- Tlakluit
- Tualalip Washington
- Tulutni
- Umpqua Oregon
- Upper Skagit Washington
- Yakama
- Plains - Prairies
- Alabama-Coushatta Texas
- Arapaho Wyoming, Oklahoma
- Arikara North Dakota
- Assiniboine Montana [Ft. Peck Indian Reservation: Assiniboine and Lakota (Sioux) ]
- Atsina
- Brule
- Caddo Oklahoma
- Cheyenne Montana, South Dakota; Oklahoma
- Chickasaw Oklahoma
- Chipewyan
- Commanche (Comanche) Oklahoma
- Cree
- Hidatsa North Dakota [Three Affiliated Tribes - Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara]
- Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) Wisconsin; Oklahoma
- Huron Potawatomi (Nottowaseppi) Michigan
- Illinois (Illiniwek) Illinois
- Iowa (Ioway) Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma
- Kaw (Kansa) Oklahoma
- Kickapoo Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas
- Kiowa Oklahoma
- Lakota (Dakota, Sioux) South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota
- Mandan North Dakota [Three Affiliated Tribes - Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara]
- Menominee Wisconsin
- Miami Indiana; Oklahoma
- Oglala
- Omaha Nebraska
- Ojibwe (Chippewa) Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin
- Osage Oklahoma
- Otoe-Missouria Oklahoma
- Ottawa Michigan; Oklahoma
- Pawnee Oklahoma
- Peoria Oklahoma
- Piegan
- Ponca Nebraska, Oklahoma
- Potawatomi Oklahoma, Wisconsin
- Quapaw Oklahoma
- Sarsi
- Sauk (Sac and Fox) Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa
- Siksika
- Teton
- Tonkawa Oklahoma
- Wichita Oklahoma [Affiliated Tribes - Wichita, Waco, Tawakoni, Keechi]
- Wyandot Oklahoma, Kansas
- Rocky Mountains
- Blackfeet Montana
- Chippewa Cree Montana
- Coeur d'Alene Idaho
- Colville Washington
- Crow (Absaroka or Apsáalooke) Montana, South Dakota
- Goshute Utah
- Gros Ventre Montana
- Kalispel Washington
- Kootenai Idaho
- Nez Perce Idaho
- Salish Montana, Washington [Okanagan]
- Spokane Washington
- Ute Utah, Colorado
- Yakima Washington
- Southeast
- Catawba South Carolina
- Cherokee North Carolina; Oklahoma
- Chickahominy Virginia
- Chitimacha Louisiana
- Choctaw Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama; Oklahoma
- Creek Alabama; Oklahoma
- Coushatta Louisiana
- Coharie North Carolina
- Haliwa-Saponi North Carolina
- Houma Louisiana
- Lumbee North Carolina
- Mattaponi Virginia
- Meherrin North Carolina
- Miccosukee Florida
- Monacan Virginia
- Nansemond Virginia
- Pamunkey Virginia
- Rappahannock Virginia
- Seminole Florida; Oklahoma
- Timucua (Utina) Florida
- Topachula Florida
- Tunica-Biloxi Louisiana
- Waccamaw North Carolina
- Southwest
- Acoma
- Ak Chin Arizona
- Apache Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma
- Cahuila (Cahuilla) California
- Chemehuevi California
- Cochiti
- Cocopah Arizona
- Havasupai Arizona
- Hohokam Arizona
- Hopi Arizona
- Hualapai Arizona
- Isleta
- Jemez
- Keresan
- Laguna
- Maricopa
- Mohave
- Navaho Arizona, New Mexico
- Pima Arizona
- Pueblo New Mexico
- Qahatika
- Quechan Arizona
- Taos
- Tewa
- Tigua
- Tohono O'odham (Pagago) Arizona
- White Mountain Apache
- Yavapai Arizona
- Yuma
- Zuni
- Subarctic
Indians of Central and South America are generally classified by language, environment, and cultural similarities.
- Caribbean
- Mesoamerican
- Andean
- Sub-Andean
- Western Amazon
- Central Amazon
- Eastern and Southern Amazon
- Southern Cone
Languages
For a general discussion, see Language families and languages
- Algonquin
- Athabascan
- Mobilian
- Taíno language (Arawak)
- Uto-Aztec
- Languages of the Pueblo: Keres, Towa, Tewa
- See http://users.cybercity.dk/~nmb3879/indian0.html
See also: Native American mythology
External Resources:
- http://www.anthro.mankato.msus.edu/cultural/newworld/index.shtml
- http://www.nativeweb.org/resources/
- http://www.dickshovel.com/trbindex.html (List of North American Tribes)
- http://www.indianlife.org/reserves/ (Canadian reserves)
- statcan.ca (Aboriginal peoples of Canada: A demographic profile)
Further Reading
- Discover Indian Reservations USA: A Visitors' Welcome Guide, Edited by Veronica E. Tiller, Forward by Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Council Publications, Denver, Colorado, 1992, Trade Paperback, 402 pages, ISBN 0-9632580-0-1
- Arlene B. Hirschfelder, Mary Gloyne Byler, and Michael Dorris, Guide to research on North American Indians, American Library Association, 1983, (ISBN 0838903533)
- Indians in the United States & Canada, A Comparative History, Roger L. Nicholes, University of Nebraska Press, 1998, Trade Paperback, 393 pages, ISBN 0-8032-8377-6
See European colonization of the Americas, Indian Territory, The Indian Trade, Indian Massacres, and Indian Removal.
What name best identifies this group of people?
The term "Native American" originated with anthropologists who preferred it to the former appelations of "Indian" or "American Indian", which they considered inaccurate, as these terms bear no relationship to the actual origins of Aboriginal Americans (or American Aborigines), and were born of the misapprehension on the part of Christopher Columbus, arriving at islands off the east coast of the North American continent, that he had reached the East Indies. The words "Indian" and "American Indian" continue in widespread use in North America, even amongst Native Americans themselves, many of whom do not feel offended by the terms. "Red Indian" is a common British term, useful in differentiating this group from a distinct group of people referred to as East Indians.
One minority view has advocated the name "Asiatic Americans" as a more accurate term because of the popular theory that such peoples migrated to the Americas from Asia across an ice bridge covering the Bering Straits some 20,000 years ago. Competent fossil evidence supports the case for such a migration. The strong tradition among archaeologists and anthropologists, however, is to indicate the geographic origins of a people as relating to the region where researchers first encountered them or their remains.
One difficulty with the term "Native American" as a substitute for "American Indian" lies in the fact that there exist several groups of people indisputably indigenous to the Americas, but who fall outside the classification of "American Indians", for example the Innu people of the Labrador/Quebec peninsula and the Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut peoples of the far north of the continent.
Another difficulty is that many Native American groups migrated (or were displaced) to their current locations after the start of European colonization, and therefore it can be argued that they have no more "native" ties to their current locations than do the Europeans.
See also List of Native Americans