Encyclopedia Of American Indian History and Culture
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
where they planted corn beans squash and other crops In the early 1500s the Spanish introduced horses to Mexico and horse populations grew and spread across North America during the following centuries Once my people and our neighbors the Lakota Arapaho Crow and other Plains tribes had horses we became full-time nomadic buffalo hunters Over the years the Plains tribes created a culture that came to symbolize all North American Indians for people of the world To this day no aspect of the American West has captured the imagination more universally than the image of our fiercely independent nomadic ancestors with their flashing eagle-feather war bonnets and painted ponies Their distinctive lifestyle and militancy enabled Plains tribes to hold Totem poles are associated with the tribes of the Northwest Coast region particularly the Haida and the Tlingit Painted in bright colors colors the striking carvings represent aspects of a tribe’s family history history such as which clan it belongs to This totem pole was carved in honor of Tlingit Chief Johnson in 1901 European invaders at bay until well into the 19th century Indeed were it not for the loss of the buffalo and the inability of Plains tribes to put aside intertribal grievances and conflicts to unite against the invaders from the east the U S Cavalry might well have been chasing them into the 20th century A Cultural Reawakening Now in the 21st century I am pleased to report that the Native peoples of North America have not only survived their long ordeal but are also reasserting their pride in themselves and their traditions They continue to represent a minority in the United States but their numbers are steadily growing their landholdings are increasing and they are building a professional class Just a few decades ago Native Americans were denied U S citizenship and were not allowed to vote in state or national elections Today we not only vote we can hold public office I am a prime example of this remarkable transition In 1987 the people of Colorado elected me to 10
During the 1800s several artists painted scenes of tribal life across North America such as this Pikuni encampment near Fort McKenzie on the Musselshell River Montana The Pikuni were one of three main bands of the Blackfeet tribe the U S House of Representatives and then in 1992 to the U S Senate I am but one Native American to hold public office in cities and states across this great country Moreover despite the injustices American Indians have endured we remain among the nation’s most patriotic citizens Native Americans have served in the armed forces of the United States in each of our nation’s conflicts and today we serve at a higher rate than any other ethnic group Why In the past we served to reaffirm treaty alliances with the United States or to honor the warrior tradition that is inherent to most Native American societies Nowadays most like me who served in the Korean War do so for sheer love of home and country Looking Forward Because Native Americans straddle two societies our own and that of the more mainstream United States challenges and concerns remain One such area is the future of our reservations Even though the majority of Native Americans perhaps 75 percent now live off their reservations they still consider them home Reservations are viewed as havens from the stress and distractions of the outside world Reservations are a place where tribal peoples can practice their traditional ceremonies and ways of living without interference from others How long will the federal government continue to give reservations special status when they serve so few people The Northern Cheyenne Reservation is in Montana but I live in Colorado Nonetheless when I visit Lame Deer the tribal headquarters I feel like I have come home I am surrounded by friends and relatives people for whom my position in the white world is secondary to our shared ancestral roots Another concern is the survival of our cultures Like all young people our youths are distracted by the attractions of a world that places little value on tradition Our challenge now is to ensure that the non-Native world knows our history and recognizes the need to preserve our homes our cultures and our religions so that future generations of Native Americans will hold firmly the legacy that has been ours since ancient times That is why books like this one are so important After reading it dig deeper into the histories and cultures of American Indians A good place to begin is in one of the many local museums that celebrate our lives or at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D C Here you can see the artistic creations of Indian craftspeople from previous generations and can experience our songs and foods Everyone is welcome Ben Nighthorse Campbell Ben Nighthorse Campbell Northern Cheyenne served in the House and in the Senate representing the state of Colorado for two terms A rancher and trainer of quarter horses he is an award-winning jewelry designer having learned the skill from his father In 1991 he led and won the effort to change the name of the Custer Battlefield Monument to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument legislation that honors American Indians who died in battle 11
