THE NATIVE AMERICAN INDIANS
THE NATIVE AMERICAN INDIANS
THE NATIVE AMERICAN INDIANS
The Native Americans are the first inhabitants of the Americas.
They view nature as Mother Earth.
To them the spirit world is embodied in every part of the natural world, whether animal, vegetable, or mineral.
They became our first environmentalists and horticulturists.
Native Americans first survived as big-game hunters and as fishermen.
The Indians were excellent fishermen and invented the birch-bark canoe. It was not long before they became agricultural, adapting to climate changes and the discovery of the plant maize (corn). First harvesting wild plants with edible seeds, they gradually developed hybrids to increase productivity.
Soon, maize, squash, and beans became major agricultural products.
The history of the Native Americans is a fascinating subject.
Did they originate here, or did they migrate with the seafarers of Phoenicia, or from Siberia across Beringia, a land mass once connecting Siberia with Alaska, or perhaps a combination of the above?
The oral tradition of the Native Americans must be respected along with the archaeological, linguistic and scientific studies of pre-Columbian history.
An ancient civilization has been discovered in Caral in the Supé Valley of Peru.
The Inca of Peru, the Olmecs and Mayans of Central America,
and then the Toltecs and Aztecs of Mexico were early Native American civilizations.
The earliest peoples within our national borders were the Southwest Ancestral Puebloans, identified at sites such as Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, and the Mississippian Mound Builders at places such as Cahokia on the Mississippi River.
The Native Americans settled in different regions in the country and formed independent tribes with distinct Indian cultures, such that by 1492 there were over 300 separate native american languages!
When Christopher Columbus landed on October 12, 1492, he thought he had reached India, and called the native people Indians, a name which native americans have come to appreciate, as the term gave them a collective identity.
The following table includes mainland tribes of both historical and current interest.
MAJOR NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES OF THE USA
MidAtlantic/Northeast
Great Lakes
Great Plains
California/Great Basin
Northwest/Plateau
Piscataway
& Rappahannock &
& Chemehuevi &
Narragansett
& Puget Sound Salish &
& Tohono O'odham &
& Miccosukee &
Potawatomi
Native American Indians welcomed us to these shores in Florida, Virginia, and Massachusetts, and eventually the entire East coast.
The first Mass of Thanksgiving on American soil was actually celebrated by the Spanish with the Timucuan Indians from Seloy village in attendance on September 8, 1565 in St. Augustine, Florida.
The , who sought religious freedom and crossed the Atlantic in the Mayflower in 1620, were treated kindly by the Wampanoag tribe in Massachusetts. Samoset and Squanto showed the Pilgrims how to plant corn, beans, and pumpkins, and where to hunt and fish.
William Bradford and the sachem Massasoit made a treaty which they honored as long as both were alive.
The image of the first
at Plymouth in 1621 with the Pilgrims, Massasoit of Pokanoket and the Wampanoag Nation is forever etched upon the American conscience.
The Pilgrims in Massachusetts, Roger Williams and the Baptists in Rhode Island, Leonard Calvert and the Catholics in Maryland, and William Penn and the Quakers in Pennsylvania began their religious settlements buying the land and treating the Indians with mutual respect.
For example, Father Andrew White SJ, who was one of the first settlers to arrive in
on March 25, 1634, worked patiently with the Piscataway Indians of Maryland and prepared a grammar dictionary and catechism in their native tongue:
this was the first time an Indian language was distilled into grammatical form. The Missionary Reverend John Eliot in Massachusetts translated the entire Bible in 1649 into the Algonquin language, the dialect of the Massachusetts Indians.
Indians who did convert lived mainly on Cape Cod and were known as Praying Indians.
However this harmonious relationship was short-lived.
First, Native Americans had no immunologic protection against such European diseases as smallpox, typhus, and measles.
For those in frequent contact with European settlers, the effects were devastating:
it is estimated that
up to 90% of native Americans,
perhaps numbering in the millions, died during the first century of contact with the Europeans.
Second, Native Americans had different spiritual beliefs than Europeans.
They saw the land as a living being, as a mother who nurtured her children.
The thought of buying and selling land was unthinkable to them.
The Indians saw the offers from Europeans for land to build and farm as joining an existing relationship, not to transfer ownership.
Misperception ensued.
Some tribes resented the attempts of the Europeans to convert them to Christianity.
And third, the Indian tribes, with the exception of the Five Nation Iroquois, lacked unity, and, as most of the European nations at the time, were often rivals with each other.
This made them vulnerable to the Europeans with their superior weaponry.
The Virginia Company was the first to establish a permanent English colony in 1607 at Jamestown, named after King James I of England.
The Anglicans barely survived the first winter, but antagonism quickly developed with the Powhatan Indians.
The first of three Anglo-Powhatan Wars ensued as early as 1609, and did not resolve until the
of Pocahontas and John Rolfe in 1614. Tobacco brought survival to the English colony.
The first meeting of the House of Burgesses in a Jamestown church on July 30, 1619 was the first representative government in the English colonies.
Atrocities between Indians and colonists happened everywhere and were committed by both sides.
Five Spanish Franciscans who attempted to introduce monogamous marriage to the Guale Indians were martyred in Darien, Georgia in September 1597.
Five hundred Pequot Indian men, women, and children were burned alive in May 1637 at Mystic River, Connecticut by a vengeful Puritan militia in the name of divine retribution.
Isaac Jogues and seven French Jesuits were martyred by the Mohawks at Auriesville, New York in October 1646.
Metacomet, known as King Philip, the son of the Pokanoket sachem Massasoit, tried to preserve Native American presence against the unprincipled land grab of colonial expansion in New England, and led the June 1675 - August 1676 King Philip's War, but died August 12, 1676.
But the worst devastation began in 1702, when James Moore, the English Governor of South Carolina, wrote his own Black Legend when he, his soldiers, and Yemassee Indians swept through Georgia to Florida and annihilated the Franciscan missions and massacred the Timucua and Apalachee Mission Indians of Florida, some by impaling them on stakes or burning them alive.
He then attacked St. Augustine, but the townsfolk retreated to St. Mark's Castle.
Moore bombarded the castle for 50 days, but, unsuccessful, Moore finally gave up, but not before he torched most of the town. By his own writings, Moore captured several thousand Indians and reduced them to slavery.
Disgraced, he stepped down as governor upon his return, not because of his extreme cruelty, but because of his failure to capture St. Augustine!
What began peacefully ended in aggression and conflict.
European settlers subsequently drove the Indians from their lands as settlers moved westward.
Treaties were often drawn up after Indian leaders were plied with alcohol.
Whether through intimidation, war, treachery, or outright fraud, the Native Americans were systematically dispossessed of their lands.
An Indian known as the Prophet advised the Shawnee to give up alcohol and the ways of the white men and return to their traditional ways.
He founded a peaceful community in Prophetstown, Indiana.
His brother Tecumseh organized surrounding Indian tribes into a Confederation to resist the incursions of white settlers.
In the Treaty of Fort Wayne in 1809, William Henry Harrison
negotiated with only three of the many Indian tribes and bought 3 million acres in Indiana and Illinois for less than one cent an acre!
When an Illinois tribe raided a small village, Harrison took advantage of the situation and headed to Prophetstown, even though the Shawnee had nothing to do with the raid.
Harrison defeated the Confederation at Tippecanoe on November 11, 1811.
The peak of disenfranchisement occurred with the enforcement of President Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act of 1830.
Four of the five "Civilized Tribes" were driven from their lands.
These acts left the once proud and resourceful Indians a dispirited, heart-broken race.
The Choctaws in Mississippi and Alabama were the first to be resettled in 1832, followed by the Creeks (1836) and the Chickasaws (1837).
But it was the resettlement of Cherokees by Jackson's Federal troops in
from Georgia to lands west of the Mississippi that left 5000 Cherokees dead on the Trail of Tears.
The fifth tribe, the only one to maintain presence in their native territory, were the Seminoles of Florida.
In spite of three Seminole Wars, the Seminoles wisely never signed a treaty with the Federal Government and survived in Florida!
The Indians of the Great Plains and those resettled from the East faced a similar fate from the Western expansion of the Nation.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition from 1804 made it to the Pacific Ocean because of the hospitality of the Mandan Indians and their Shoshone guide Sacajawea.
Once again, this kindness was not returned.
Two different cultures would face off on the Plains for nearly a century: the "Manifest Destiny" of white settlers heading west versus the Plains Indians protecting their heritage.
In an effort to confine Indians to reservations, Federal agents would sign treaties such as the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, granting extensive territory to the Indians, only to have other Federal agents break the treaties in support of the Homestead Act of 1862, which granted land to predominantly white settlers from the East.
But the Indians put up incredible resistance under such figures as Red Cloud, the only Indian to have defeated the U. S Army in Red Cloud's War of . In reaction to the US breaking the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse defeated George Custer and the Seventh Cavalry in Custer's Last Stand at Little Big Horn on June 25, 1876.
Using justified resistance as an excuse, Federal troops eventually drove the Nez Perce, Crows, Apache, Sioux, and other Plains Indians from their lands. In response to the Ghost Dance, the final defeat occurred at Wounded Knee in December 1890, with the death of Sitting Bull, Big Foot, and a band of Lakotas.
The ultimate absurdity occurred on June 2, 1924 when the American Indians, the natives of America, were granted citizenship by the very people that drove them off their lands.
The Navajo Nation played an invaluable role in the Pacific theater during World War II.
When the Japanese had broken American codes and launched the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the U. S. Marines turned to the Navajo nation to develop a code based on their language, a code which the Japanese never could decipher.
The Navajo code talkers were instrumental to our victory in Iwo Jima in March of 1945.
A Franciscan priest founded the Southwest Indian Foundation in Gallup, New Mexico in 1968.
A memorial to the Navajo Code Talkers has been completed and is situated in the Gallup Cultural Center.
Fortunately, during the latter half of the twentieth century, beginning with President John F. Kennedy, long-overdue respect and concessions have been given to our Native Americans.
U. S. CENSUS
There has been a flourishing of the Native American Indian population: in 2010, 5.2 million people in the United States identified themselves as American Indian or Alaska Native, either alone or in combination with one or more different races.
Out of this total, 2.9 million people identified themselves as American Indian/Alaska Native alone.
The Native American Indian population experienced an increase of 39%, the greatest growth of any population group since 2000.
41% of American Indians live in the West, and 33% in the South.
The 2010 Census indicated that the five states with the largest Native American Indian population in order are California, Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
Alaska, Florida, North Carolina, and South Dakota experienced the greatest growth.
The following chart lists the Top 25 American Indian Tribes by population in the year 2010.
These are the original U. S. Census Bureau figures, which indicate those listing one tribe only.
Whereas the Cherokee tribe has the largest overall population, the Navajo tribe has the largest population reporting one tribe only.
2010 TOP 25 NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES
Population
&nbsp Mexican American Indian &nbsp
Alaskan Inupiat
South American Indian
Potawatomi
Tohono O'Odham
Central American Indian
Alaskan Athabascan
Alaskan Tlingit-Haida
Puget Sound Salish
REFERENCES
American History.
Class Lectures & Notes,
Franciscan University, Steubenville, Ohio, 2001.
Berkin C, Miller CL, Cherny RW, Gormly JL. Making America.
Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2006.
Waldman C.
Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes.
Checkmark, New York, 2006.
Morison, Samuel Eliot.
Oxford History of the American People.
Oxford University Press, New York,
Waldman C, Braun M. Atlas of the North American Indian.
Checkmark Books, New York, 25-50, 2000.
Census 2010, United States of America.
Florida - A Short History.
University Press of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 2003.欢迎你， 　 　
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本文为正在紧张复习的同学准备了一篇，希望大家多加练习。　　Art is considered by many people to be little more than a decorative means
of giving pleasure. This is not always the case, at times, art may be
seen to have a purely functional side as well. Such could be said of the
sandpaintings of the Navaho Indians of the American S these have a
medicinal as well as an artistic purpose.　　According to Navaho traditions, one who suffers from either a mental or a
physical illness has in come way disturbed or come in contact with the
supernatural—perhaps a certain animal, a ghost, or the dead. To counteract this
evil contact, the ill person or one of his relatives will employ a medicine man
called a “singer” to perform a healing ceremony which will attract a powerful
supernatural being.　　During the ceremony, which may last from 2 to 9 days, the “singer” will
produce a sandpainting on the floor of the Navaho hogan. On the last day of the
ceremony, the patient will sit on this sandpainting and the “singer” will rub
the ailing parts of the patient’s body with sand from a specific figure in the
sandpainting. In this way the patient absorbs the power of that particular
supernatural being and becomes strong like it. After the ceremony, the
sandpainting is then destroyed and disposed of so its power will not harm
anyone.　　The art of sandpainting is handed down from old “singer” to their students.
The material used are easily found in the areas the N brown, red,
yellow, and white sandstone, which is pulverized by being crushed between 2
stones much as corns is ground into flour. The “singer” holds a small amount of
this sand in his hand and lets it flow between his thumb and fore-finger onto a
clean, flat surface on the floor. With a steady hand and great patience, he is
thus able to create designs of stylized people, snakes and other creatures that
have power in the Navaho belief system. The traditional Navaho does not allow
reproduction of sandpaintings, since he believes the supernatural powers that
taught him the craft however, such reproductions can in
fact be purchased today in tourist shops in Arizona and New Mexico. These are
done by either Navaho Indians or by other people who wish to preserve this
craft.　　1.The purpose of the passage is to ___.　　A.discuss the medical uses of sandpaintings in medieval Europe.　　B.study the ways Navaho Indians handed down their painting art.　　C.consider how Navaho “singer” treat their ailments with sandpaintings.　　D.tell how Navaho Indians apply sandpainting for medical purposes.　　2.The purpose of a healing ceremony lies in ___.　　A.pleasing the ghosts　　B.attracting supernatural powers　　C.attracting the ghosts　　D.creating a sandpainting　　3.The “singer” rubs sand on the patient because ___.　　A.the patient receives strength from the sand　　B.it has pharmaceutical value　　C.it decorates the patient　　D.none of the above　　4.What is used to produce a sandpainting?　　A.Paint　　B.Beach sand　　C.Crushed sandstone　　D.Flour　　5.Which of the following titles will be best suit the passage?　　A.A New Direction for Medical Research　　B.The Navaho Indians’ Sandpainting　　C.The Process of Sandpainting Creation　　D.The Navaho Indians’ Medical History　　答案：DBACB
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四级公开课相关词典网站：Navajo Indians | Navajo Indian Tribe | Navajo Nation
The Navajo Indians are the largest federally recognized Native American Indian tribe in the United States. Their reservation is spread out through out the four corners of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.
The Navajo use the name Dine because it refers to a term from the Navajo language that means people. The first Navajo Indians lived in the western part of Canada a little over a thousand years ago. They belonged to an American Indian group called the Athapaskans. The Navajo Indian tribes began to travel south, and most settled along the Pacific Ocean. Their tribe today is called the Northwest Coast Indian Tribe.
The Navajo Indians who settled in southern Arizona and New Mexico then became the different Apache tribes. When they reached the Southwest, they began to learn a lot of things from the Pueblo Indians. They learned weaving, how to make clothing, and art. By the 1600s the Navajo had become capable of raising their own food, and making their own blankets, clothes etc. The Navajo Indians lived in homes called hogans, which were made from wooden poles, tree bark, and mud. The hogans were always made to face the east for sunlight. The Navajo Indian tribes made summer and winter hogans. The summer hogans would have one side of the home completely open. The winter hogans were built more weatherproof with mud, and partly stone.
Around 1610, Santa Fe, New Mexico was founded and became the most important town in the New Mexico colony. In 1851, the Americans built Fort Defiance, to stop the Navajo raids that took place between 1849 and 1851. General James Carleton became the commander of the American Troops in 1862. He had the plan to build a fort for the Navajo Indians and force them all to a reservation.
The fort became quite popular by the name of Fort Sumner.
The Navajo Indians decided not to surrender, so by March of 1864 more than five thousand Navajos were being held by the soldiers as prisoners. They were forced to walk 300 miles to Fort Sumner in eastern New Mexico. This walk became a very important part of
and is famously known as “The Long Walk.” The famous treaty of 1868 was signed giving them their own territory and freedom. Later in 1869, Fort Sumner was abandoned, and purchased by a rancher.
The Navajo Indian were hunters and gatherers until they came in contact with the Pueblos, and the Spanish. They then learned the techniques from the Pueblos and the Spanish to grow corn, beans and squash. They eventually got into trade, trading blankets they made from wool, clothing, and cattle.
Navajo Indian men were the political leaders, hunters, and the warriors. The Navajo Indian wo they tended the livestock, did most of the cooking and took care of the children.
The Navajos base their way of life on a belief that the physical and spiritual world blend together, and everything on earth is alive and their relative. They worship the winds, sun, and watercourses. The Navajo are also cautious about death, and rarely talk about it. The Navajo Indians have two big one is the Blessing Way, which keeps them on the path of wisdom and happiness. The second major kind of ceremony is the Enemy way. The Enemy Way is to discourage evil spirits and eliminate ghosts.
The Navajo reservation is currently the largest reservation in the United States, with over 200,000 people throughout their 27,000 acres. The
is closely related to the Apache tribes. The Navajo Indian tribes are currently located in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. Most of the tribes are still currently living in their traditional territory today. Today the capital of the Navajo Nation is located at Window Rock in Arizona. Window Rock currently contains the World War II memorial.
In the , shirts were not used. Men wore breechcloths, and women wore Yucca fiber woven skirts. Also, deerskin ponchos and cloaks of rabbits were worn by both men and women to keep them warm. And in the later days they wore clothes woven from the wool of sheep. In the colder weather, the Navajo Indians wore slippers that were called moccasins. The Navajos were very big into jewelry and weaving. The blankets they woven were often called Chief’s blankets because of their value. After the 1900s the Navajo silversmiths began to create Native American Indian Jewelry. Soon after, the silversmiths introduced turquoise into their jewelry making process. This process made
much more sought after by jewelry collectors. The primary source of silver for jewelry was American coins until about 1890. The American coins then got substituted for Mexican pesos in 1930.
The most common language spoken in the southwestern United States by the Navajo’s is Athabaskan. Athabaskan is the most spoken Native American language in the United States. Most Navajo Indians speak English because the Navajo language is very difficult to learn. The language was so hard to learn that it was used as a secret code in World War II. Athabaskan is conventionally divided into three groups based on geographic distribution: Northern Athabaskan, Pacific Coast Athabaskan, and Southern Athabaskan. Navajo and the five Apache languages are in the Pacific Coast category.}