A Century of Change Native peoples lived throughout North America for thousands of years before European settlers arrived Westward expansion by new settlers in the 1800s changed the lives of the Native nations forever µ US buys French territory µ Jefferson aims to develop the West In the early 1800s France and Spain owned much of the land west of the Mississippi In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson bought the vast Louisiana Territory from France for 15 million The purchase almost doubled the size of the United States Jefferson hoped to profit from resources in the West such as land minerals and fur US expansion however was a threat to Native peoples in the West They faced the prospect of losing their traditional lands did you know In 1845 the newspaper editor John O’Sullivan used the phrase manifest destiny to describe a belief that it was the right of the United States to take ownership of land in the West Supporters of manifest destiny believed that the white government would benefit Native peoples But it did them terrible harm Go West µ Shaping the nation µ Across the continent In 1812 Americans went to war with Britain their former colonial ruler The United States wanted to remove any foreign influence from their country The war made Americans think about what sort of country they wanted to live in Many began to believe they should impose their government across North America and over the Native nations who already lived in the West 4 Right Although there was no clear winner in the War of 1812 Native nations fought for both sides Despite their help they were left out of land negotiations after the war
µ Work the land for five years µ Build a home and it’s yours The US and Canadian governments were eager to encourage settlers to move to the West especially to farm the Great Plains In May 1862 President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act to make moving west more attractive The act allowed any US citizen or immigrant to claim 160 acres 65 ha of government land in the West for free In Canada the Dominion Lands Act of 1872 promised the same amount of land However these acts ignored that these lands were already occupied by First Nations µ Transcontinental railroad completed µ Lines meet in Utah In 1869 the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads met in Utah completing the first transcontinental railroad Settlers built farms near the tracks and towns grew up Native peoples called the railroad the iron horse For them it was an unwelcome sign of change The track crossed prime hunting lands Native peoples including the Northern Cheyenne Sioux and Arapaho fought to try to defend their territory Right Workers and company officials celebrate the completion of the transcontinental railroad at Promontory Summit Utah on May 10 1869 5
Ways of Life Many different Native peoples lived in the West from the Blackfoot in the North to the Navajo in the Southwest Their lifestyles were shaped by their natural environment µ Versatile animal µ Herds are key to survival On the plains the buffalo was central to life According to the beliefs of some Plains nations the animal gave itself to the people The people held ceremonies to celebrate the way it sacrificed itself for them Every part of the buffalo was used including its meat for food and skins for making clothes Its bones were used to make tools and its sinews to make thread Left Native hunters use horses and bows and arrows to hunt buffalo µ Traditional territories µ US government imposes borders Native peoples had traditional territories Some groups shared hunting lands but others fought over territory In the 1800s the US government imposed borders on the West In 1834 it set up Indian Territory modern Oklahoma for Native peoples The nations already living there resented the arrival of new groups of Native peoples The new arrivals resented being moved there against their will 6 Right Piegan Blackfoot tipis next to a pond on the northern plains
µ Horse introduced by Spanish µ Expert Native riders The Spanish brought the first horses to North America from Europe in the 1500s By the late 1700s many Native nations had horses Some including the Comanche and Apache were excellent horsemen This made it easier to travel and some tribes became more nomadic Plains peoples used horses to hunt buffalo and in warfare By the 1800s the horse had become essential to some nations ways of life Right The Kiowa warrior Elk Tongue sits on his war pony wearing a headdress traditionally worn into battle From Place to Place µ Pack up and go µ Moving with the buffalo µ Southern nations tend crops µ Use traditional techniques Not all Native peoples were nomads The Hopi for example built stone and adobe homes They grew crops such as squash corn and beans which grow well when planted together Farther to the east the Choctaw farmed in fertile river valleys Families had small gardens but also helped to tend large communal fields They dug the soil and planted the corn in rows They planted squash sunflowers and watermelon between the rows of corn 7 did you know Some Plains nations followed the herds of buffalo that they hunted for food The buffalo moved to different parts of the plains in summer and winter The Plains nations could move their belongings easily They could dismantle their cone-shaped tents or tipis They strapped the tents and other goods to an A-shaped wooden frame called a travois The travois was pulled by a horse to the new hunting ground Europeans called the wild animal of the plains the buffalo because it looked like the European water buffalo In fact the animal is a bison It has short horns a large head and a thick mane
