13,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
Call them Native Americans, American Indians, indigenous peoples, or first nations -- a vast and diverse array of nations, tribes, and cultures populated every corner of North America long before Columbus arrived. Native American History For Dummies reveals what is known about their pre-Columbian history and shows how their presence, customs, and beliefs influenced everything that was to follow. This straightforward guide breaks down their ten-thousand-plus year history and explores their influence on European settlement of the continent. You'll gain fresh insight into the major tribal nations, their cultures and traditions, warfare and famous battles; and the lives of such icons as Pocahontas, Sitting Bull and Sacagawea. You'll discover: * How and when the Native American's ancestors reached the continent * How tribes formed and where they migrated * What North America was like before 1492 * How Native peoples maximized their environment * Pre-Columbian farmers, fishermen, hunters, and traders * The impact of Spain and France on the New World * Great Warriors from Tecumseh to Geronimo * How Native American cultures differed across the continent * Native American religions and religious practices * The stunning impact of disease on American Indian populations * Modern movements to reclaim Native identity * Great museums, books, and films about Native Americans Packed with fascinating facts about functional and ceremonial clothing, homes and shelters, boatbuilding, hunting, agriculture, mythology, intertribal relations, and more, Native American History For Dummies provides a dazzling and informative introduction to North America's first inhabitants.
Sie lesen das E-Book in den Legimi-Apps auf:
Seitenzahl: 528
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011
Ähnliche
Native American History For Dummies
by Dorothy Lippert, PhD and Stephen J. Spignesi
Native American HistoryFor Dummies®
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River St. Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, 317-572-3447, fax 317-572-4355, or online at http:// www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.
For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.
For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2007936464
ISBN: 978-0-470-14841-9
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Authors
Dorothy Lippert, PhD: Dorothyis Choctaw and an archaeologist. She received her BA from Rice University and her MA and PhD from the University of Texas at Austin. She works in the Repatriation Office of the National Museum of Natural History. Dorothy serves on the Executive of the World Archaeological Congress and on the Board of Directors for the Society for American Archaeology. Her research interests include the development of Indigenous archaeology, repatriation, ethics, and the archaeology and bioarchaeology of the Southeastern United States.
Stephen J. Spignesi: Stephen Spignesi is a best-selling author of more than 40 books, including his highly-acclaimed debut novel, DIALOGUES (Bantam). His latest book is George Washington’s Leadership Lessons (Wiley) written with James Rees, the Executive Director of George Washington’s Mount Vernon. He is also the co-author of Second Homes for Dummies (Wiley). His book, JFK Jr. (Citadel), was a New York Times best-seller.
Dedication
Stephen J. Spignesi: For Adrienne, who was with me in spirit all the way through this, and who never failed to say the exact right thing at the exact right moment.
Authors’ Acknowledgments
Dorothy Lippert: I was privileged to work with Stephen Spignesi in the production of this book. His energy and hard work were what made the book what it is. I would also like to thank Phil Konstantin whose research and writing were such an invaluable part of the process.
Stephen J. Spignesi: Five people deserve all the thanks in the world for their help, support, and above all, friendship:
Dorothy Lippert, PhD, the co-author of this book, has my gratitude for her insights, patience, and for teaching me about not only her tribe, the Choctaws, but also about all of Native American history and culture. Thanks, Dorothy, for taking me on a classic journey of discovery and enlightenment. It was an honor to work with you.
Jennifer Connolly, our Project Editor, for her smarts, wit, grace, sense of humor, forbearance, and charm, and for her good nature when providing the answers we needed — even when the questions were staggeringly convoluted and had “from left field” written all over them! Thanks, Jenn.
Mike Lewis, our Acquisitions Editor, for putting everything together, overseeing it all, and maintaining a placid and controlled manner that was always encouraging, even when I knew circumstances warranted anything but unruffled calm! Thanks, Mike.
Phil Konstantin, a Cherokee who is also a real paesan. Phil, your help was of enormous value and immeasurable excellence, and your performance made the dictionary makers rewrite the definition of prompt! Thanks, Phil.
John White, my literary agent, a man of integrity and great moral strength who has been an inspiration and role model for me for over two decades now. Thanks, John.
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development
Project Editor: Jennifer Connolly
Acquisitions Editor: Mike Lewis
Copy Editor: Jennifer Connolly
Technical Editor: Phil Konstantin
Editorial Managers: Jennifer Ehrlich,Michelle Hacker
Editorial Supervisor: Carmen Krikorian
Editorial Assistants: Erin Calligan Mooney, Joe Niesen, Leeann Harney, David Lutton
Cover Photos: © Swift/Vanuga Images/Corbis
Interior Photos: © Florida Center for Instructional Technology
Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)
Composition Services
Project Coordinator: Erin Smith
Layout and Graphics: Carl Byers, Melissa K. Jester, Laura Pence, Christine Williams
Proofreaders: Laura Albert, Glenn McMullen
Indexer: Glassman Indexing Services
Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies
Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies
Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies
Kristin A. Cocks, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies
Michael Spring, Vice President and Publisher, Travel
Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel
Publishing for Technology Dummies
Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User
Composition Services
Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services
Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services
Contents
Title
Introduction
About This Book
Conventions Used in This Book
What You’re Not to Read
Foolish Assumptions
How This Book Is Organized
Icons Used in This Book
Where to Go from Here
Part I : America Before It Was “America”
Chapter 1: The Rich, Troubled Past of the American Indian
The Price of Greatness
In the Beginning . . .
The Tribes of Then and Now
Unexpected Visitors
A Plethora of Persistent Personalities
War Stories
Dysfunction Junction
Daily Life
Home Is Where the Hearth Is
Family First
Language Lab
Pray Tell
Rituals
Christian Indians
The Indian Population Decline . . . and Hope for the Future
Native American Identity Today
A Bright Future
Chapter 2: The Great Migrations
How’d Everyone Get Here Anyway?
The Three Immigration Waves
The Stages of the Earliest Americans
Chapter 3: The Development of the Ancient Cultures
Clovis, Folsom, and Plano (11,500 b.c. )
Adena and Hopewell (1000 b.c. – a.d. 1000)
Hohokom and Mogollon ( a.d. 200 – 1450)
Chapter 4: Hardly a Vast Wasteland: America before 1492
Taking Advantage of Vast Resources
Cultural Diversity That Was Hardly Primitive
Debunking Pre-Columbian Stereotypes
Chapter 5: Settling Down: Tribal Settlements after the Great Migrations
The Major Culture Areas
The Arctic and the Subarctic
The Eastern Woodlands
The Southeast
The Plains
The Southwest
The Great Basin and Plateau
The Pacific Northwest
California
Chapter 6: The Five Civilized Tribes
What’s in a Name — a Tribal Name
Choctaw: The First Code Talkers
Cherokees and the Trail of Tears
Chickasaw: They Were Called Warriors
Creek
Seminole: The Unconquered People
Chapter 7: A Tally of Important Tribes
Navajo: “The People”
Lakotas, Nakotas, and Santee
Chippewa: We are Anishinabe
Pueblo: The First Apartment Buildings
Apache: Uncertain Origins
Iroquois: Call Us Haudenosaunee
Alaska: The Tlingit
Part II : Interacting with Others
Chapter 8: “Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue”
Sifting through Fact and Fiction
Columbus’s First Voyage (1492–1493)
Wiping Out the Welcoming Arawaks
Columbus’s Three Other Voyages
The Impact of Christopher Columbus
Chapter 9: The Spanish and French Stake Their Claims
John Cabot: England’s First Steps in the New World
Amerigo Vespucci: America’s Namesake
Pónce de León: Conquering the Tainos
Hernándo Cortés: Conquering the Aztecs
Jacques Cartier: Discovering Canada and the Great Lakes
Hernando De Soto: Creating Hostile Relations with Southeastern Natives
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado: Exploring the Southwest
Marquette, Jolliet, and La Salle: Charting the Mississippi
Leaving the Native People Reeling
Chapter 10: Native American Chiefs and Notable Women
Men of the 16th and 17th Centuries
Men of the 18th Century
The 19th Century
Notable Indian Women: Not Stay-At-Wigwam Ladies
Chapter 11: Battle Cries and Peace Pipes
Weapons of Choice
War Parties Weren’t No Parties
The Colonial Era from 1621–1775
The American Revolution (1775–1783)
The Indian View of the American Revolution
The Louisiana Purchase
The War of 1812
Native Americans in the Civil War (1861–1865)
The Indian Wars
Native Americans in America’s 20th-Century Wars
Chapter 12: Delving into the Details of U.S.-Indian Relations
Tribal Sovereignty
Treaties (1608–1830)
Removal (1830–1850)
Reservations (1850–1871)
Assimilation (1871–1928)
Reorganization (1928–1942)
Termination (1943–1968)
Self-Determination (1961–present)
Major Recent Acts of Congress Concerning Indians
Part III : Working for a Living
Chapter 13: Mother Love
A Mother Feeds Her Children
Food on Four Legs
Making Good Use of Rich and Fertile Land
Seeking Seafood
Skins: The Lucrative Fur Trade
Chapter 14: Dressing for Purpose and Pride
Native Garb
Ceremonial Garb
Native American Accessories
Traditional Dress Today
Chapter 15: Home, Native Home
Wooden Homes
Tipis
Other Indian Dwellings
The Earliest Apartment Buildings
Native American Housing Today
The Mohawk Steelworkers
Chapter 16: Tools and Transportation
Hunting and Trapping
Carrying the Load
Travel Plans
Part IV : All in the (Native American) Family
Chapter 17: Tribes, Clans, and Bands
Coming to Terms in Indian Society
Men Ruled the Roost? Hardly
The Role of Women
Children
Chapter 18: Native Languages
An Impossible Question?
The Slow Extinction of Native Languages
Sign Language
Little Written Down?
Language As (the White Man’s) Weapon
Language As (the Native American) Weapon
Chapter 19: The Faith of Their Fathers . . . And How Native Americans Worship Today
In the Beginning . . . Native Peoples’ Creation Myths
The Elements and the Deities
Tools of the Spiritual Trade
The Totem Pole
Christian Indians? Not a Contradiction!
Part V : In a Modern World Not of Their Making
Chapter 20: The Slow Dwindling of Native Americans
Too Much to Defend Against
Defenseless Against Dastardly Diseases
Fighting
Starvation
Extermination
Today’s Challenges
Chapter 21: What’s a Tribe, Who’s an Indian, and What’s the BIA Got to Do With It
The Evolution of Indian Agencies
What It Takes to Be a Tribe
Chapter 22: Native Americans: Today and Tomorrow
An Indian By Any Other Name . . .
Repatriation: Resting in Peace
Native American Stats
Alcoholism and the Native American
Mineral Wealth and Offshore Banking: Native American Economic Bright Spots
The Top Ten Tribes Today
How Native Americans Ended Up in the Casino Business
Part VI : The Part of Tens
Chapter 23: Ten Native American Museums and Cultural Centers
The National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian Institution; Washington, D.C., New York, Maryland)
The Indian Museum of North America (South Dakota)
The Museum of Indian Culture (Pennsylvania)
The Plains Indian Museum (Wyoming)
The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (New Mexico)
The Anasazi Heritage Center (Colorado)
The Museum of the Cherokee Indian (North Carolina)
The Iroquois Indian Museum (New York)
The Mid-America All-Indian Center (Kansas)
The Wounded Knee Museum (South Dakota)
Also Worth Noting . . .
Chapter 24: Ten (Plus) Worthy Movies and Documentaries about Native Americans and Their History
Little Big Man (1970)
Powwow Highway (1989)
Dances with Wolves (1990)
The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Christmas in the Clouds (2001)
Atanarjuat (2001)
The Native Americans (Documentary, 1994)
500 Nations (Documentary, 1995)
Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery (Documentary, 1997)
Smoke Signals (1998)
Skins (2002)
Images of Indians: How Hollywood Stereotyped the Native American (Documentary, 2003)
The Journals of Knud Rasmussen (2006)
Introduction
The history of Native Americans is, ultimately, the history of America. They were, after all, here first, right?
And we cannot truly know who we are today without looking back at the first occupants of this land and understanding how their presence, cultures, and beliefs influenced and shaped everything that was to follow.
The indigenous people who were here hundreds of years before Columbus arrived are now known by several terms, including the most common:
Native American
American Indian
Indigenous peoples
First Nations (in Canada)
In this book, we basically use them all, mainly selecting which identifying term to use based on clarity and historical accuracy. For example, we often use “indigenous people” when referring to a time hundreds of years before European contact. Why? Because there was no “America” at the time and referring to the native peoples of that period as “Native Americans” or “American Indians” is just plain silly.
“Indian” is the legal term for all tribal people in the U.S., including Alaska, so even though it’s a misnomer (this ain’t India, folks), the term has become part of American law, and so we use it freely.
“Native American” is the more popular term these days, but even that one has its opponents. Why? Because it’s technically inaccurate. Anyone born in America is native to America. Thus, your second-generation Italian-American next-door neighbor can logically (albeit ludicrously) refer to himself as a Native American. But we use it anyway, because it’s part of the American lexicon.
About This Book
Native American History For Dummies is a general interest reference work that presents much of what you might want to know about Indians in America, from the earliest migration theories, to the newest techniques for identifying remains for repatriation.
Plus, the organization of this and every other For Dummies book makes it perfect for either reading straight through, selective browsing, or the reading of individual, self-contained chapters. Each chapter is like a mini-book unto itself. And within each chapter, the content is organized by headings for ease of reading and for continuity. Unto itself.
You can even skip material in each chapter — specifically, the sidebars — and still absorb the info of the chapter with no problem.
Conventions Used in This Book
When this book was printed, some Web addresses may have needed to break across two lines of text. If that happened, rest assured that we haven’t put in any extra characters (such as hyphens) to indicate the break. So, when using one of these Web addresses, just type in exactly what you see in this book, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist.
Also, because this book is about Native American history, you will find some rather challenging proper names and tribal names. In every case we’ve gone with the most traditional and accepted spelling, but have omitted pronunciation guides, mainly because on a page with several names and tribes mentioned, we’d be devoting an awful lot of page space to parenthetical pronunciation information. It’s not necessary, since we assume you’re not going to be reading this aloud and so you can scan over the names and still understand the material.
What You’re Not to Read
Like we said, you don’t have to read the sidebars if you don’t want to or don’t have the time. They’re second-tier material but, in all honesty, you’ll really enjoy them if you read them anyway! (Prejudiced much?)
What we mean is that sidebars are often used for ancillary material that, while it isn’t critical to know, can certainly be fun to know! And what’s wrong with that, right?
Foolish Assumptions
What we assume about you, oh dear For Dummies reader, is that, for one thing, you know how to read. (Sorry. Little joke.)
Seriously, though, this For Dummies book assumes that you have a basic foundation in simple American History: “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue . . .” and so forth and so on.
We also assume that if you bought this book, you are more than a little interested in the history of pre-Columbian peoples on the North American continent. And that you are open to having stereotypes exploded, myths debunked, and sacred assumptions de-sacredized. (De-sacredized is probably not a word, but we think you know what we mean.)
How This Book Is Organized
This book is structured into parts, chapters, and headings:
Parts are all-encompassing, single-theme, topic-based collections of chapters grouped together.
Chapters zoom in on specific topics and look at these topics in detail.
Headings and subheadings are how chapters are organized and they zoom in on the material even closer.
Let’s put it this way: imagine you’re the Hubbell telescope. (C’mon, just play along, okay?) As you read through the book and move from part, to chapter, to heading, it’s sort of like you’re turning the thing that makes the Hubbell zoom in on a planet, a star, a UFO, or the guy in the apartment building across the street playing the oboe in his underwear.
Here’s a look at the individual parts of the book and what they cover.
Part I: America Before It Was “America”
These chapters look at how the people who were here before October 12 became Columbus Day got here, the different cultures and peoples, where they settled, what America looked like thousands of years ago, and how the tribes formed and where they migrated.
Part II: Interacting with Others
These chapters talk about what happened after the first Indian said, “Honey, we’ve got company!” Plus, they look at great leaders and warriors, how the Spanish and French explorers often made a mess of things, the fighting that went on and still goes on, and how Indians have interacted with the U.S. from the nation’s earliest days up through today.
Part III: Working for a Living
Food, shelter, clothes, and travel. These chapters look at these basic needs of all Indians and how they provided them.
Part IV: All in the (Native American) Family
Tribal structures, families, how languages developed, and how signs and pictures served as communication tools. Also, this part looks at the religious beliefs and creation myths of tribes and talks about how artifacts like peyote and totem poles are used in ritual and worship.
Part V: In a Modern World Not of Their Making
This part looks at the often grim picture of Native American life today. But it also points out how things are getting better and highlights Indian endeavors like gaming, offshore mineral rights, forestry, coal mining, and individually owned businesses.
Part VI: The Part of Tens
This fun section looks at Native American museums and cultural centers, movies and documentaries, and great books about Native American history.
Icons Used in This Book
An icon is a visual symbol that tells you you’re about to learn something cool.
This one is commonly a piece of advice about Indian culture or protocol, or a tip on how to make use of Native American resources to continue your learning and study.
This is information you should try to remember, if possible. The fact that we’re saying “remember” (this) should be a tip-off that it’s valuable and worth learning.
Remember Lost in Space? “Danger, Will Robinson!” No, this icon doesn’t really warn you against dangerous stuff. It’s more like “watch what you say” or “don’t do this” type info.
This is ignorable info, mainly because it’s usually highly specialized technical information that we felt obligated to include (to show off for our mothers, mostly) but which most of you probably won’t be too concerned about knowing.
Where to Go from Here
You can read this book anyway you want to. Start anywhere and go anywhere.
Part III, “Working For a Living” is probably a good place to start, since it’s a “daily life” kind of chapter and will immediately acclimate you to the whole Native American mojo, to boldly mix cultural references.
Remember, For Dummies books are meant to be fun to read and to make finding out more about a topic easy. The entire series is a unique blend of both discovery and entertainment.
So go explore. And be entertained while so doing, okay?
Part I
America Before It Was “America”
In this part . . .
The United States is just over two hundred years old, yet the land the country occupies has been here for millions of years, and there have been people living here for tens of thousands of years.
The debate as to how the Native peoples arrived here is ongoing, and include both overland and “by water” theories. The point is, the North American landmass has a lengthy history, and in this part we will look at what the land was like eons ago, how the first people arrived here, how tribes developed cultures, and where they all settled.
Chapter 1
The Rich, Troubled Past of the American Indian
In This Chapter
Getting a new perception of the American Indian
Checking out their ancient beginnings
Sorting through struggles and successes
Looking toward a bright future
All Americans need to know the undeniably wonderful, oftentimes troublesome, commonly awe-inspiring, sometimes regrettable history of our country. Economic miracle and global influence? Great. Slavery and the near-extinction of the Native American peoples? Not so great.
The “American identity” is multifaceted and has been forged in a cauldron of countless influences, one of the most important being the fact that the Indians were here first. Why is that important? For the same reason that many states have passed resolutions apologizing for slavery. The Indians were here when European explorers arrived and claimed the land as their own, using authority they believed was given to them by God himself.
That’s pretty powerful validation, when you think about it, and it helps explain how European settlers had zero qualms about taking what they wanted and eliminating Native peoples at will. They were doing God’s work.
The Price of Greatness
Knowing and understanding the genesis of what many believe is the greatest country in the history of civilization is important because it puts this achievement known as the United States in perspective. It illustrates that greatness often comes with a price, and that price is commonly the exploitation or elimination of others.
But don’t get me wrong: This is not a diatribe against the great American success story. It is simply a reminder that one of the signs of a truly evolved society is its willingness to admit the travails of its past, which America consistently does with dignity and grace.
The history of the American Indian is the story of ancient civilizations, ancient cultures, glorious rites and rituals, and evolved societies that were fully developed and functional when they first met the European explorers and settlers.
In Native American History For Dummies, you look at who Indians were, what happened to them, and who they are now. You can find out more about:
Their homes
Their hunting, trapping, fishing, and other survival practices
Their rites of passage
Their battles, both with Anglos and each other
Their creation myths
Their cultural practices
You will hear from great warriors and leaders, and hopefully gain that aforementioned perspective on how the creation of America impacted an entire race of people.
In the Beginning . . .
The first part of this book discusses the many theories put forth to explain how the Native peoples who were here when the first Europeans arrived got here.
Some say by land, some say by sea, but the bottom line and the undeniable historical and scientific fact is that there were certainly hundreds of thousands, and more likely millions of indigenous people already inhabiting the North American landmass when it was “discovered.”
The theories
A few theories as to how this huge population came into being in North America are looked at, including:
The migration across the Bering Sea theory via the Beringia land bridge
The arrival along the western coast by boat
The theory that the Chinese may have been here first
A similar theory that the Celts may have stopped by earlier
Why should you care about how the people we now know as Indians, Inuits, and Aleuts got here in the first place? Why is this important?
Because their history is your history, and it is critically important that science pinpoints the genetic ancestry of as many of the earth’s populations as possible. Such information has consistently been used to pinpoint important genetic and medical facts that have been used in the battle against disease and ethnic-specific medical problems.
Plus, it can’t be denied that even though Santayana’s reminder about those who don’t know their history are bound to repeat it is now something of a cliché, there is a huge amount of truth in it, and the reason history is studied is to not make the same mistakes over and over and over again.
The stages and waves
While studying Native American history, it is also of value to identify and discuss the different stages of cultural development and the geographical migration waves of Indian tribes and ethnic groups.
You will look at:
Clovis and Folsom cultures
Na-Dene culture
The Inuits and the Aleuts
You also journey through the development stages that have come to be known as:
Archaic
Plano
Pueblo
And don’t forget the K-Man
The discovery of the Kennewick Man was a huge step forward in . . . well, in making scientists and tribal peoples even more confused about the Paleoindian Period and who lived where, and when.
The K-Man was not supposed to be where they found him. Or it could actually be the other way around: The K-Man was not who scientists expected to find where they found him.
Controversy has raged ever since the remains of the indigenous male known as Kennewick Man was discovered in 1996. As many as five tribes initially claimed ownership of the remains of someone they believed was their ancestor, and it took a court ruling rejecting their claims for kinship to get them to drop their suits.
So who owns the Ancient One?
Right now, we do. Yeah, that’s right. I’m talking to you. The American people own the remains of Kennewick Man. Well, more accurately, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a federal agency, owns the remains because they were found on land controlled by the Corps. (See Chapter 2 for more on Kennewick Man.)
The Tribes of Then and Now
The tribal migration patterns resulted in Indian settlements all across North America, from the northwest forests and western shores, to the plains, the southeast and southwest, and the northern woodlands.
Some tribes were enormous; many were very small. An overwhelming number of tribes are now extinct.
The Five Civilized Tribes were the tribes that had the largest populations, inhabited the most land, and had the most influence, both among other tribes and with the white man. The Five Civilized Tribes are the tribes the Anglos negotiated with, and did business with.
They consisted of:
The Cherokee
The Choctaw
The Seminole
The Chickasaw
The Creek
Other important tribes included the Navajo, the Lakotas, Nakotas, and Santee, the Chippewa, the Pueblo, the Apache, the Iroquois, and the Arctic tribes.
Native American History For Dummies provides concise “biographies” of these varied tribes, with emphasis on how and where they lived, what they were known for, and what their status is today.
Unexpected Visitors
Once the Europeans arrived, the Indian tribes had to deal with them.
Whether they liked it or not. Whether they wanted to or not.
Columbus was first to come in contact with tribal peoples, specifically the Arawaks on the Bahamas, and later Haiti, and that intercourse didn’t go all that well for the Natives. Columbus put them to work as slaves, sent many back to Spain as slaves, and, as the historical record unequivocally shows, treated them . . . well, let’s just say it was as though the Golden Rule didn’t exist for the Italian explorer and his men.
Spanish and French explorers soon followed Columbus. After all, the so-called “New World” was like a bottomless treasure chest of natural resources, fur-bearing wildlife, game, fish, and other riches that were absolutely irresistible to Europeans.
Soon to follow were such explorers as:
John Cabot
Amerigo Vespucci
Ponce de Leon
Hernando Cortez
Jacques Cartier
Hernando De Soto
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado
Marquette and Jolliet
La Salle
A Plethora of Persistent Personalities
Tribes always were, and still are, the foundation and cornerstone of Native American life and culture. (See Chapter 17 for more on the familial and organizational structures of American Indian societies.)
Indians identify themselves by their tribe. “I’m Choctaw. I’m Navajo. I’m Cree.” Tribal identity is as important to American Indians as national ethnicity is to European-descended people of America: “I’m Italian American. “I’m African American. I’m Polish American.”
Yet it is commonly the fascinating people of the tribes, specific tribes’ memorable individuals, that are spoken of most often these days. Native American leaders and warriors have permeated white culture. Their names have truly become household names:
Geronimo
Cochise
Sitting Bull
Crazy Horse
Pocahontas
Tecumseh
Chief Seattle
Sacagawea
From the 16th century through today, Indian tribes have produced great leaders who have often been visionaries working diligently to maintain the aforementioned tribal identity and not allow their pasts to fade away into the annals of time.
Their aspirations have not always been fulfilled, and many iconic American Indian leaders have watched sadly as their tribes were dispersed, or their land was taken, or their past was forgotten.
Things are somewhat better these days.
Native American culture is thriving and many tribes have Web sites and historical foundations and museums working to educate people — both tribal and Anglo — about Indian history and the roles tribes have played before, during, and currently in the history of America.
The U.S. government, through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, strives to support Native American community efforts, and laws have been passed to protect rights that have been commonly trampled on in the past.
The Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of the American Indian also works diligently to chronicle Indian history and culture.
War Stories
The history of Indians in America has been violent.
But not always.
Treaties were signed and peace did exist for great lengths of time between tribes and the white, as well as between rival tribes.
But warfare was one of the main causes for the devastating population losses tribes suffered through in the 16th through 19th centuries. Interestingly, both the whites and the Indians had advantages and disadvantages. Whites had superior firepower, but Indians were incredibly skilled at surreptitious movement and attacking from concealment.
Some of the more important battles — meaning influential and impacting both the Indians and the Europeans (see Chapter 11 for more on our violent past) — in chronological order, covered in this volume include:
King Philip’s War
The French and Indian Wars
Pontiac’s Rebellion
Also, Indians fought — on both sides — in the major wars as well:
The American Revolution
The War of 1812
The Civil War
Many battles with Indians have now become an iconic part of our history and their names have morphed into having more meaning than simply identifying where the conflict took place.
Movies are made, books are written, and even people who have limited knowledge of history have heard of “Little Big Horn” and “Wounded Knee.”
Dysfunction Junction
Relations between the United States government and American Indians have been troubled from the start. That’s an undeniable historical fact. This reality resonates throughout the Native American community today, and permeates the Indian culture and zeitgeist.
The U.S. was formed at the expense of the indigenous peoples, yet great effort has been consistently made to remedy the wrongs and repair the damage.
Treaties were broken; tribes were “relocated”; children were taken from their parents and placed in government schools. Reservations were offered as a trade-off for land grabs, yet they were often inferior in all ways.
Sovereignty works
There’s still a lot of catching up to do, but Indian self-determination is, as Harvard professor Joseph P. Kalt, author of a 2005 Harvard Ameri- can Indian Project survey, says, “the best policy in 100 or 200 years for solid progress in taking the tribes out of poverty.”
“‘Self-rule,” Kalt wrote, “brings decision making home, and local decision makers are held more accountable to local needs, conditions and cultures than outsiders.”
The seven ways
Over the centuries of U.S.-Indian relations, the United States has implemented seven specific approaches to “dealing with” the Indians.
They were/are:
Treaties (1608–1830)
Removal (1830–1850)
Reservations (1850–1871)
Assimilation (1871–1928)
Reorganization (1928–1942)
Termination (1943–1968)
Self-determination (1968–present)
Currently, self-determination is the official policy of the United States government. Indian tribal nations are sovereign entities, and the U.S. deals with them like individual countries. They make their own laws, impose and collect their own taxes, and yet are still an important part of America.
Stepping up
The U.S. has not shirked from remedying wrong. In the last 35 or so years, many acts, bills, and programs have been passed and launched to benefit the Native American community, including:
The Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act (1975)
The Indian Health Care Improvement Act (1978)
The American Indian Religious Freedom Act (1978)
The Indian Child Welfare Act (1978)
The Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (1990)
Daily Life
The history of any ethnic group is also told by how it lived and continues to live on a day-to-day basis.
A group’s living arrangements, its eating habits, the clothes it wears, the games its children play, its religious beliefs, its parenting practices, its art and music . . . all these elements combine to paint a rich and textured portrait of a people.
Regarding sustenance, Native Americans relied for food on
Hunting
Trapping
Fishing
Crops
Trading also played a huge role in the daily lives of many Indian tribes. The Indian’s talent for trapping and skinning fur-bearing animals created an economic dynamo to satisfy the European demand for North American animal furs.
Natives also made their own clothing from deer and buffalo hides, which included footwear in the form of boots, moccasins, and snowshoes.
All parts of the animals were used, plus Indians made use of the other bounties of the natural world including:
Shells
Stones
Bark
Feathers
Home Is Where the Hearth Is
Native American tribes were markedly different in how and where they lived. It often comes as a surprise to people that Indians employed many more types of homes and domiciles than just the tipi.
Some of these included
Plankhouses
Longhouses
Hogans
Chickees
Tipis
Wigwams
Lean-tos
Igloos
Earth homes
Prey tell
The white man introduced the Indian to the rifle and that enormously changed the way Native peoples hunted.
Prior to the use of firearms, Indians used bows and arrows for distance hunting, knives for close-up killing, and traps for prey that they couldn’t spend time stalking. They would set the traps and return days later, usually to find an animal snared.
All aboard
Traveling on foot was de rigueur for tribal peoples, although they were also very adept at figuring out labor- and time-saving other ways of traveling. Waterways were especially useful for covering long distances in a short period of time, and some of the vehicles they used included:
Dugout and bark canoes — water
Kayaks and umiaks — water
Balsa boats — water
Bull boats — water
Snowshoes — snow
Plank boats — water
Travois — land
Sleds and toboggans — snow
Family First
An important facet of Native American societies is the family, which forms the core unit of the tribe. In Chapter 17 the family structure of American Indians is discussed, including the difference between patriarchal and matriarchal family types.
A woman’s work
The role of women in Native American culture was an enormous surprise to the Europeans, who were quite literally shocked at the authority women wielded in both the family and the tribe.
Tribal women in the 16th through 19th centuries were enormously important in terms of tribal solidarity and the continuing maintenance of a sense of community, and their duties included:
Keeping the household supplied with whatever it needed
Constructing the home
Cooking for the family
Monitoring and restocking the water supplies
Having almost total responsibility for and oversight of the family’s children
Maintaining the vegetable garden
Tanning the hides, if the tribe was in the fur business
The kids are alright
In the pre-reservations era for Native Americans, children were somewhat indulged, yet also expected to contribute to the welfare of the tribe, and achieve certain ritualistic milestones in order to officially move into adulthood.
Puberty and first menses were epic transitions into adulthood for tribal children, and for males this commonly required some type of fasting, isolation, or physical endurance tests (or all of the above) for “graduation” into the world of tribal adults.
Language Lab
There were almost as many Native American languages as there were tribes prior to contact with the Europeans explorers and settlers.
There was very little written down, and tribes both communicated and passed down tribal traditions and legends through the use of sign language, the spoken word, and pictographic symbols.
Language groups
The Native American language families included these groups:
Algic (Algonquin)
Iroquoian
Muskogean
Siouan
Athabaskan
Uto-Aztecan
Salishan
Today, there are approximately 175 Native American languages, yet a staggering 90 percent of them are what is known as “moribund.” This means they are not being used enough, or passed down enough to younger generations, to survive much longer.
More than words . . .
Indians did, in fact, use smoke signals to communicate among tribes.
They also used pictures when communications needed to be recorded on paper or bark. The Native American pictographic symbols and drawings illustrate the validity of the old adage about a picture being worth a thousand words. A simple line drawing could easily recount a history, give instructions, chronicle the change of a season, and provide at a glance detailed information that would take lots of words (even if, perhaps, not a thousand), to write or speak.
Words as weapons
Language is a tool that can be used to educate, communicate, and do damage.
The historical record is awash with racist essays and diatribes against Native Americans by white writers, and today there exists Indian literature that not only counters such stereotypical hogwash, but paints a rich and multifaceted portrait of Indians.
If you want to know what real Indians are like, then it is critical that you read literature by real Indians, like:
Louise Erdrich
Leanne Howe
Susan Power
Wendy Roses
Pray Tell
Native American spirituality is a topic that can, and has, filled many, many books.
And as with Indian languages, there are almost as many tribal belief systems and creation myths as there are/were tribes.
Although it has become something of a cliché to describe Native American religious beliefs as “nature based,” it is true that the natural world informed and validated tribal beliefs in a nature spirit (commonly called Wakan Tanka) that was, in one sense, the manifestation of God and the spirit of life in the world.
Animal spirits
Animals play a large role in Indian spirituality and have their own spirits as well as having participated in the creation of the universe.
Animals and birds that appear in Indian creation myths include
Beavers
Buzzards
Coyotes
Crows
Deer
Dogs
Ducks
Eagles
Foxes
Geese
Hummingbirds
Mountain lions
Parrots
Serpents
Tarantulas
Turtles
Water beetles
Wolves
Water
Many Indians believe that all life comes from the water. Many creation myths are very specific: Before there was anything, there was water. Some creation myths state that all of reality was beneath the water at the beginning of time. This sacred belief has been validated by science, which uncovered the secrets of how life sprang from the sea and moved onto dry land.
Indians also have creation myths revolving around:
A first man and a first woman
The wind
The underworld
See Chapter 19 for details on these and other tribal deities.
Rituals
Native American spirituality commonly employs rites, ceremonies, and rituals to focus the percipient’s spirit and enhance the experience.
These include
Chanting
Dancing
Meditation
Prayer
Singing
Sweat lodges
Vision quests
A church where drugs are legal?
The Native American Church is the only religious establishment in the United States in which members that can legally use the drug peyote in their religious ceremonies.
Some of the “tools” used for these rituals include
Drums
Foods
Musical instruments, especially flutes
Peyote
Prayer beads
Rattles
Sacred garments
Stone and wood fetishes
Christian Indians
Many Native Americans today are practicing Christians who strive to incorporate traditional Indian beliefs and practices into Christian dogma and rituals.
Some crossover practices include
Using “holy water” and crosses in ceremonies
Saying Christian prayers during tribal ceremonies, like sweats
Calling peyote a “sacrament,” a common Christian term
Incorporating sacred Indian pipes into Masses and other Christian ceremonies
Christian ministers and Catholic priests participating in sacred Sun Dances
The Indian Population Decline . . . and Hope for the Future
It is estimated that nine out of ten Native Americans died in the period between initial European contact and the end of the 19th century.
The causes for this enormous number of deaths were
Exposure to diseases for which they did not have immunity
Violent conflict with Anglos
Violent internecine conflicts among tribes
Starvation and death from illness from forced relocation
See Chapter 20 for details on the staggering population loss experienced by Indians in North America during the period of European exploration and settlement.
Native American Identity Today
Today, tribes must be federally identified as an official tribal nation in order to avail members of government programs, as well as establish and implement sovereignty regarding laws and official policies.
Not every tribe that requests federal recognition gets it.
And not every person who wishes to claim membership in a particular tribal nation is granted “citizenship.” There are “blood quantum” requirements that effectively determine whether or not someone is officially Cree, or Cherokee, or Navajo, and so forth.
Don’t all tribes own casinos?
There is a pervasive misconception in America today that all tribes own casinos and all tribes are getting rich from owning casinos. Would that this were true, eh?
The truth is somewhat different.
Of the over 560 federally recognized tribal nations, only around 200 or so own and operate casinos. There are currently around 360 Indian casinos in the United States, and the overwhelming majority of them are nowhere near as successful as the ones we read about in the papers all the time, like the Mashantucket Pequot and Foxwoods casinos in northeastern Connecticut.
It’s been estimated that of the 360 casinos, around 10 percent of them — maybe 30, 35 establishments — generate three-quarters of all the tribal casino revenue in the country. Obviously this means that the 90 percent of the remaining casinos share a very small piece of the gaming pie.
Problems and solutions
The American Indian in today’s U.S. has problems, although the progress being made in education, income, health, life expectancy, and entrepreneurship is encouraging and ongoing.
Education
Educational levels are improving steadily. In 2000, almost 71 percent of all Native Americans had earned a high school degree.
This was around 15 points below the national U.S. average, but this was a marked improvement over this same statistic in 1990.
Alcoholism
The trend in Native American communities is toward reversing the devastation alcoholism has wreaked upon their people. Alcohol abuse is a huge problem among American Indians, yet as they say, knowing you have a problem is the first step toward correcting it.
And today, there are programs and a new attitude about alcohol that bodes well for the future and for Native American children who currently abuse alcohol at ten times the average national rate among other children.
Offshore banking
Some Indians are in the international banking business these days and they’re making serious money at it, too.
The Blackfeet Tribe of Montana, for example, led the way in 1999 with the formation of their groundbreaking endeavor, the Glacier International Depository.
Mineral rights
Many tribal nations now look to the mineral rights on the lands they own as a source of income to the tune of $245 million in the U.S. in the year 2000.
What minerals are Indians selling for profit? Here’s a breakdown:
Gas: 45 percent
Coal: 27 percent
Oil: 22 percent
Other: 6 percent
Tribes are also into wind farms, biodiesel, hydroelectric plants, and biomass (logging and mill residue).
A Bright Future
Native Americans have suffered in the past, and it has taken decades to begin the process of turning around the headlong rush into poverty, lack of education, and dependence on the government.
Today, a new generation of Native Americans are PhDs, doctors, lawyers, accountants, computer designers, and every other profession in America. College is now considered very important for young Indians (although for many, it is still an unattainable dream) and the number of Native American self-owned businesses climbs annually.
In Native American History For Dummies, you’ll find out about not only the rich and troubled past of the American Indian, but also about the opportunities and achievements taking place today, and the ones that will assuredly take place in the future.
Chapter 2
The Great Migrations
In This Chapter
Exploring how American Indians arrived in the Americas
Checking out the three waves of immigration
Uncovering early periods of development
The following key questions regarding the origin of the Indian population of the North American continent have still not been answered with absolute certainty:
Who was here?
How’d they get here?
How many people were there?
Although valiant efforts have been made to accurately account for the creation of the Indian population of North America, no theories to date have answered everyone’s questions with certainty, nor can scientists, historians, and Native Americans agree to the validity of one theory over another.
In this chapter, you get a glimpse at some of the wide-ranging and varying theories as to how the people now who are now known as American Indians, Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and First Nations in Canada got here in the first place. You can also discover details on their culture, tools, and how their way of life evolved during the early periods of their civilization on the American continents.
How’d Everyone Get Here Anyway?
The most commonly accepted scientific theory on how American Indians came to be in the Americas is that they came from Asia. Sure, this is now being challenged (like, on a daily basis) but many historians and scholars still consider the “from Asia” theory the most likely explanation.
How they got here exactly, is subject to some debate. In fact, some people believe they came by another route, or even originated here. Some of the artifacts found in North America contradict different theories. The following sections explore these theories and the evidence to support them.
Crossing a bridge to somewhere: Beringia
The standard scientific theory on how North America was populated is that groups from Asia migrated into Alaska (sometimes referred to as the overland migration theory). The waters in the Bering Strait are relatively shallow. During some of the occasional ice ages, sea levels dropped as much as 200 feet around the world. This lowering of the level of the ocean exposed this section of land between the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea of the north Pacific.
This land bridge is often called Beringia. It stretched from the eastern point of modern-day Siberia to western Alaska. Experts believe this area could have covered as much as 1,000 miles from north to south.
When did Beringia appear and when did people start moving across it from Asia? That answer is up for debate. This is just one of the many controversies surrounding the origins of the Native people of the Americas. Many experts agree that during several of the short ice ages during the last 100,000 years, land was exposed in Beringia.
Does DNA divulge any details?
Research in mitochondrial DNA has suggested that people were in North America at least 25,000 years ago. This research is based on DNA mutations found in people of American Indian ancestry. The current theory is that mutations occur in DNA at a fairly regular interval. By looking at the differences between two different groups, you can tell when they split off from each other. The 25,000-year figure is derived by comparing certain American Indian groups and other groups that remained in Asia.
The general consensus is that the major exodus along this route took place between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. There is evidence to show there were several waves of migration into North America.
Even CSI would be stumped
Why is there such a discrepancy in the dates of the migration? Very few ancient artifacts made by humans have been found in this area. The constant advance and retreat of the glaciers of the polar ice cap have scraped much of the land clean. Many of these areas are still under ice or sedimentation. Without artifacts that can be dated, it is difficult for scientists to accurately determine when people first appeared here.
Another commonly accepted part of the land bridge theory is that during the ice ages northern Alaska and Canada were covered by glaciers that were many hundreds of feet thick. This was also believed to be the case along the coastal areas or the northeastern Pacific. However, there was a wide central area that might have been clear of ice. This area ran along the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains into the Great Plains. Soil core samples of some sections of this part of North America have shown there were areas that were free of ice during these short ice ages. This would have left a wide path open for migrating groups to follow in a general southeasterly direction.
Why’d they come?
Why would people leave Asia and travel through unknown areas into North America?
The most commonly held belief is that these people were nomadic in nature. They would often follow the large herds of migrating animals. These animals were their main source of food. Humans often made their clothing, shelter, and the simple tools they had from these animals. With fresh pastures opening up because of the creation of the land bridge, some herds migrated to the east. As the herds moved east, the human nomads followed them.
It is also possible that some animals that originated in North American might have moved west into Asia. Some groups might have moved east to find their source. Some anthropologists think part of the reason for the migration might have also been due to conflicts with other groups in Asia. Some tribes might have traveled east to look for lands of their own, or were pushed that way by more powerful groups.
Some scientists debate whether the Dyuktai Culture of Siberia and/or the Ainu people of Japan were some of the earliest explorers into North America by way of Beringia.
The first noted documentation of the Beringia theory of the peopling of North America was by José de Acosta. De Acosta was a Jesuit who lived from 1540 to 1600. He wrote a great deal about the agriculture, culture, and geography of the Americas.
Arriving by water
Another theory regarding the arrival of people in North America from Asia is that they took a water route. These explorations are thought to have taken place between 15,000 and 10,500 years ago. There is evidence that many of the people who lived along the northwestern shores of the Pacific during this time period had boats. Some scientists believe these groups could have followed the shoreline across the northern Pacific until they found areas that were not covered in ice.
This theory is not as widely held as the overland migration theory. Many scientists feel that too much of the Alaska and British Columbia coastline was completely covered by glaciers. Any groups traveling along this route would not have been able to find any anchorages. There would have been no place to go ashore in order to repair boats or get needed supplies. With much of the coastal shelf now under the ocean, it has been hard for researchers to find artifacts to support this theory.
Other theories
That people traveled along the Bering landmass is not the only theory on how people first came to North America. In the following sections, you can check out the other possibilities that have been suggested.
Many scientists have found reasons to believe that people from Africa, Asia, and Europe settled in North America. Many of these theories propose that the peoples of the Americas all found their origins in other continents.
The Chinese
Some scientists have suggested that Chinese sailors might have helped to first populate the coastal areas of North America. Chinese junks were able to endure long ocean voyages. Whether their eastward travels were intentional, or as the result of encountering storms at sea, it is not beyond the realm of possibility for Chinese to land in North America and thrive. Some scholars have made the same proposal for Japanese sailors as well.
This bulleted list shows you some of the reasons supporting the possibility of Chinese visits to the Americas:
A few researchers have found many artistic similarities between the ancient Chinese and cultures in Central America.
There have long been stories told of a Chinese treasure fleet that might have visited Mexico in the 1420s.
To some researchers, some ancient Olmec graphics appear to be similar to ancient Chinese texts.
Fifth-century Chinese explorer Hui-Shen described his travels to the land of Fu-Sang. One of the plants there is very much like the corn — maize — that only grows in Central America. Was Fu-Sang Central America?
The Solutreans
There is another theory about Europeans traveling to North America that has been gaining some supporters of late. This involves people whose archaeological culture has been called Solutrean. Solutrean people had established themselves in areas of Spain and France. They had some distinctive methods of fashioning arrowheads and lance points.
And here’s the interesting part: Points that look similar can be found in eastern parts of the United States. The time range on these discoveries is about 16,000 years ago. The scientists who put forward this theory have also discovered some genetic similarities between certain American Indian groups and those of certain modern-day Europeans. These similarities are not found among Asian groups. Like most of the other theories, this one is not yet widely accepted. Scientists are continuing to search for evidence to bolster this idea.
The Africans
Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl mounted several expeditions to show that the Americas could have easily been reached by seafaring groups from Africa. Heyerdahl sailed from Morocco to North America. Heyerdahl never seriously suggested North America was populated by Africans, but he did show that people might have been capable of going between the two continents. To date, no substantial evidence has been located to back up the idea of African colonists.
And we can’t forget Atlantis
There are also the old theories of explorations of the world by ancient mariners such as the Phoenicians. These theories can also be found in “new age” stories that ancient explorers were people from Atlantis. While scholars acknowledge the possibility of Phoenicians reaching North America, Atlantis remains the substance of myth in academic circles.
Indigenous theory
Finally, there is the indigenous theory of the origins of the people of North America. Some American Indian groups do have oral histories of there being very long travels before they finally came to the lands they occupied at the time of the onset of the organized European explorations of the 15th and 16th centuries.
However, many more indigenous groups have creation stories that say they originated in North America. Many tribal traditionalists say they were created here, and they stayed here. The Nez Perce tribe point to the “Heart Of The Monster” in Kamiah, Idaho, as their place of origin. Similar stories are told by many other tribes.
According to a 1995 United States Census Bureau survey, 49 percent of indigenous people preferred being called American Indian, 37 percent preferred Native American, 3.6 percent preferred “some other term,” and 5 percent had no preference. The common phrase used in Canada is First Nations or First People.
The Three Immigration Waves
Most scientists believe there were several waves of immigrants moving into North America over the Bering Land Bridge.
One theory says there were three major waves of immigrants into North America. These different migrations can easily be divided into three groups:
Clovis, Folsom, and Plano
Na-Dene
Inuit and Aleut
The two significant differences between these groups are the dates when they first moved into North America and their basic language.
The dates associated with each of these groups vary considerably from scholar to scholar.
Clovis, Folsom, and Plano
According to the most widely held theory, the first significant group to migrate into North America crossed Beringia sometime around 15,000 to 20,000 years ago.
As they traveled along the ice-free corridor east of the Rocky Mountains, they eventually spread across the Great Plains. Most of these groups moved to areas south of modern-day Canada. Continuing cold weather made these areas too harsh to merit long-term habitation. Many scientists believe these original groups are the basis for most tribal groups south of Canada.
By the end of the last ice age, around 12,000 years ago, they came into the eastern parts of North America. At the same time, they traveled south through Central America into South America.
Cultural linguists believe that most of the languages of North and South America, south of Alaska and Canada, developed from this initial group of immigrants.
