Encyclopedia Of American Indian History and Culture
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK The The Encyclopedia of American Indian History and Culture takes a tour of the United States and Canada with a chapter for each of eight major regions of the area the Arctic and subarctic the Northeast the Southeast the Plains the Southwest the Great Basin and Plateau the Northwest Coast and California You can read the book from cover to cover or choose a region or tribe that interests you Each chapter begins with an introduction and a map of ancestral lands You’ll discover how people came to inhabit the region in the first place and how they developed ways of life that depended on the natural resources available to them You’ll also learn about the impact that white settlers had on tribal life during the decades following first contact These were turbulent times during which many Native people suffered from disease brutality and relocation The introduction concludes with a short account of tribal life today and the ways in which indigenous indigenous peoples have managed in recent years to right some of the past wrongs inflicted on them The tribes included in each chapter are based on where those tribes live today For this reason not every tribe in each section appears on the map at the start of the chapter The maps show ancestral lands to give readers a sense of how much area each tribe once occupied Following each chapter introduction is a time line with 15 to 20 key dates in the region’s tribal histories You can turn to this when reading about the tribes to see how the major events unfolded in a particular region Significant conflicts acts of legislation and cultural or political milestones are all listed here Next from that region the chapter tells the stories of tribes from their origins thousands of years ago to the lifeways and achievements of their people in the present day There is an emphasis on the traditions that have shaped the indigenous peoples of the United States and Canada traditions that remain at the heart of their culture You’ll find the tribes organized organized alphabetically within each chapter according to the names by which they are best known While a given tribe might have lived in more than one region during the course of its his tory each is featured in the chapter for the region in which the majority of its people live today Interspersed with the tribal stories you’ll find biographies of leading native figures past and present and special features on many cultural aspects of tribal life including clothing transportation transportation ceremonies and crafts Turn to the end of each chapter for a traditional story from one of the region’s tribes An introduction to each chapter tells the story of its people including how environ mental factors and historic events shaped their lives A map shows the tribes ances tral lands The larger the letters in the labels and the wider the spacing between them the more land the tribe occupied A time line offers an instant history of the region A short introduction summarizes the ways in which tribal life has changed over the centuries A map key shows the labeling used to identify each tribe on the regional map A locator map shows where the region lies within North America Working from the earliest times to the present day the time line highlights the dates and events that had the greatest impact on tribal life 6
Special features and In the Know panels focus on cultural themes that are specific to a given tribe or to the tribes of the region as a whole The text is richly illustrated with photographs illustrations illustrations and paintings paintings that capture the spirit of each tribe and its unique culture All chapters end with a traditional story from one of the featured tribes These stories have been passed down through many generations Key facts include a pronunciation guide for the tribe’s name and information on its location both pre and post contact A language guide includes tribal words for a greet ing and thank you Most are written phonetically phonetically and can be spoken just as they appear Each chapter includes a Did You Know photo feature that focuses on one specific event or cultural theme The photographs that accompany the stories reflect on the important role that nature continues to play in tribal culture 7
PUBLISHER’S NOTE The National Geographic Encyclopedia of American Indian History and Culture is an introduction to the rich histories and cultures of the native peoples of North America featuring more than 160 tribes in the United States and some of the First Nations Inuit and Métis indigenous peoples in Canada Currently there are 573 federally recognized tribes in the United States Having federal recognition means that a tribe may form its own government and that its land and various other rights are protected In Canada there are 634 First Nations groups and numerous groups of Inuit and Métis peoples Métis are those with both indigenous and European ancestry To see a listing and for more information about the native and indigenous peoples of the United States and Canada please refer to the websites and listings at the back of this book The following terms and notes help provide critical context for readers of this encyclopedia 8 Tribal Sovereignty Before European settlement in what is now the United States and Canada the indigenous people of this region had sovereignty or the right of self-government As Europeans took over more territory the Native populations began to decrease due to disease conflict with settlers and disruption of their traditional ways of life At the time tribes also lost their sovereignty and many were forced to live on reservations Today Native Americans in the United States are recognized recognized by the federal government as domestic dependent dependent nations This means Native American tribes have a unique sovereign status Tribes have sovereignty to govern govern themselves but federal law and the Constitution put limits on their ability to fully self-govern Unlike any other minority group in the United States indigenous communities have legal rights because of their sovereign sovereign status and special relationship to the federal government Naming Conventions The encyclopedia uses Native Native American and American Indian interchangeably to refer to the indigenous indigenous peoples of the United States The term Indian is used when referring to a proper name As much as possible the book uses the tribally specific terminology With origins among the tribes of the Plains region powwows are still a part of the lives of many North American tribes as a celebration of their culture A Sioux powwow is pictured here to refer to individual tribes Canadian indigenous peoples peoples are referred to as First Nations Inuit or Métis based on the group to which they belong Edward Curtis Photos Most available photography of Native American people between 1900 and 1930 is by Edward Curtis Curtis photographed Native American life at the beginning of the 20th century after many Native Americans had been forcibly removed from their traditional homelands and were now living on reservations adjusting to a way of life they neither understood nor wanted Although Curtis captured beautiful and meaningful images of Native people controversy surrounds his work Some believe he romanticized his subjects showing an idealized version version of Native life that no longer existed Indian Removal Act Readers will also find information on the Indian Removal Act of 1830 The law was created to authorize then U S president Andrew Jackson to remove Native Americans from their homelands After the passage of the act many Native people tried to resist but their efforts were unsuccessful and they were forcibly removed from their lands and made to walk west During these removals Native people suffered greatly from starvation disease and exposure to harsh weather and many lost their lives The indefensible government removal policy formed the basis for continued continued European expansion onto Native lands for the remainder of the 19th century Native Americans Today This encyclopedia shows different aspects of Native life culture and history Readers will notice there are a vari ety of images of Native peoples in regalia as well as in contemporary everyday clothing Many Native peoples dress in regalia for certain festivals or other occasions such as powwows that are discussed and pictured in this book Powwows are an important part of modern Native American life in which tribes come together through dance music and song to honor their veterans their families and their cultures and traditions In addition addition though reservations still exist as established com munities Native peoples are no longer forced to live on them and most do not We hope readers find this encyclopedia to be an informative reference that acknowledges the significance significance of the history culture identities and ways of self-governance of Native peoples We also hope it helps readers to realize the impact that the history of settlement still has on Native peoples today
INTRODUCTION When When the explorer Christopher Columbus first reached South and Central America in 1492 he had traveled there from Spain in Europe He and his men met people unknown to Europeans Thinking he had reached India Columbus called these people Indians a name we Native peoples of the Americas share to this day The Truth About Native Peoples The misnaming of Native people is but one of many misconceptions and misunderstandings about us Another error that persists is to speak of the American Indians as though they are one collective people In truth with regard to language clothes crafts traditions and lifestyle the Native peoples of the United States and Canada were and still are as different from one another as are the peoples of Europe There were so many distinct groups in North America at the time of Columbus’s first encounter that up to one hundred different languages were spoken in California alone That is why an encyclopedia such as this one can only hope to feature a selection of the many tribes that represent the cultures and lifestyles to be found in the various geographical regions of the United States and Canada Another common misconception is that true Native Americans those who practice ancient traditions have vanished In a sense Native Americans did vanish because once settled on reservations in the late 19th century they were largely forgotten about They did not disappear however nor did their traditions despite the efforts of the federal government missionaries and various organizations to force Native Americans to give up their languages and cultures to become part of mainstream society Many Native cultures did change but they were not destroyed Threads of traditional life survived to be reawakened in the cultural resurgence of recent years One of the most important factors in retaining traditional culture involves keeping the original language alive This is why bilingual programs are so prominent in the Native community with as many as 150 different indigenous languages being spoken across North America today In reading this book you will discover that instead of being a feature of the past we Native Americans are still very much here and continue to cherish our traditional values ceremonies songs and great love of the natural world The histories presented in this book are based on both Native and non-Native sources Native peoples of this region did not have a written language Their histories were not recorded in writing but in pictures or as the memories of tribal members In many instances their stories were passed down through a succession of specially trained individuals who were selected in their youth and given the responsibility of retaining their people’s history Over the centuries such stories have been recorded by others in the diaries of the explorers who first encountered Native peoples and by historians wanting to preserve a record of North America’s past for example Cultural Diversity Whether called nations tribes or bands the groups that occupied the United States and Canada presented a rich variety of lifestyles From the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean the differences between Native peoples were many and extreme This makes sense considering that perhaps as many as six hundred different cultures shared North America before the Europeans first made contact more than five hundred years ago My people are the Northern Cheyenne They lived on the Great Plains a vast area that stretched from central Canada in the north to the Mexican border in the south and was bounded on the west by the Rocky Mountains and on the east by the Missouri River From the earliest times the Plains territory was home to few tribes on a full-time basis because it was difficult for hunters to travel such vast distances on foot and with only dogs as pack animals Most people living in the region were seminomadic making occasional trips in search of buffalo and other large game to hunt but also living in permanent camps Children’s dolls were often modeled on the adults of the tribe as in this Cherokee example The hair was often made from animal fur or was taken from the hair of a child’s mother 9
