American Indians Essay

The people now known as Indians or Native Americans were the first people to live in the Americas. They had been living there for thousands of years before any Europeans arrived. The Vikings explored the east coast of North America around A. D. 1000 and had some contact with Indians (Watson & Howell 1980). But lasting contact between Indians and Europeans began with Christopher Columbus’s voyages to the Americas. In 1492, Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain. He was seeking a short sea route to the Indies, which then included India, China, the East Indies, and Japan. Europeans did not then know that North and South America existed. When Columbus landed in what is now known as the West Indies, he did not realize he had come to a New World. He thought he had reached the Indies, and so he called the people he met Indians. Almost every Indian group had its own name. Many of these names reflected the pride of each group in itself and its way of life. For example, the Delaware Indians of eastern North America called themselves Lenape, which means genuine people. Today, many Indians refer to themselves as Native Americans. The first Indians came to the New World from Siberia, in Asia. Most scientists think they arrived at least 15,000 years ago. At that time huge ice sheets covered much of the northern half of the earth. The Bering Strait, which today is a narrow area of water that separates Asia and North America, was easily walked across by the Indians who were following the animals that they were hunting. Much later this ice sheet melted and the land bridge became covered with water. By then, Indian groups had already spread throughout the New World, all over North and South America. These Indian groups developed different cultures because of the different climates and landforms in the regions in which they settled. Body Anthropologists, scientists who study human culture, classify the hundreds of North and South American Indian tribes into groups of tribes that are alike. These groups are called culture areas. Some of the cultures of North America are the Arctic; the Northeast, or Eastern Woodlands; the Plains; and Southwest. The Indians spoke hundreds of different languages and had many different ways of life. Some groups lived in great cities and others in small villages. The Aztec and the Maya of Central America built large cities. Some of the Aztec cities had as many as 100,000 people. The Maya built special buildings in which they studied the moon, the stars, and the sun. They also developed a calendar and a system of writing. Many of the Indians of Eastern North America lived in villages. They hunted and farmed, growing such crops as beans, corns and squash (Bains, 1985). Most of the Indians were friendly at first and taught the newcomers many things. The European explorers followed Indian trails to sources of water and deposits of copper, gold, silver, turquoise, and other minerals. The Indians taught them to make snowshoes and sleds and to travel by canoe. Food was another of the Indians’ important gifts. The Indians grew many foods that the newcomers had never heard of, such as avocados, corn, peanuts, peppers, pineapples, potatoes, squash, and tomatoes. They also introduced the whites to tobacco. The Indians, in turn, learned much from the whites. The Europeans brought many goods that were new to the Indians. These goods included metal tools, guns, and liquor. The Europeans also brought cattle and horses, which were unknown to the Indians. The Europeans and the Indians had widely different ways of life. Some Europeans tried to understand the Indians’ ways and treated them fairly. But others cheated the Indians and took their land. When the Indians fought back, thousands of them were killed in battle. At first, they had only bows and arrows and spears, but the Europeans had guns. Even more Indians died from measles, smallpox, and other new diseases introduced by the whites. As the Europeans moved westward across North America, they became a greater threat to the Indian way of life. Finally, most of the remaining Indians were moved onto reservations. Most daily activities of an Indian family centered on providing the main necessities of life such as food, clothing, and shelter. Men and women usually had separate tasks. For example, both men and women were often involved in providing food. But they did so in different ways. In some areas, the women gathered wild plants for food, and the men hunted. In the Northeast and Southeast culture areas, the men hunted, and the women farmed the land. In parts of what are now Arizona and New Mexico and in Middle and South America, the men did the farming. The women gathered plants. In all areas, women were generally responsible for preparing the food. Many Indians married at an early age, the girls between 13 and 15 and the boys between 15 and 20. In some Indian tribes, the parents or other relatives chose the marriage partners for the young people. In other tribes, especially those of North America, a young man could select his own mate. He had to convince the girl and her parents that he would make a suitable husband. In many cases, he offered them valuable gifts to win their approval. Throughout most of the New World, marriage was a family affair and not a religious ceremony. The boy’s family usually gave presents to the bride’s family. Many newly married couples lived with the girl’s family and the husband worked for her family until the birth of a child. Then the couple might establish their own home. But they generally did not move to a new home in a new area. Many other newly married couples joined an existing family group or lived close to one. Some of the couples moved in with other relatives of the woman or with the relatives of the man. This extended family shared with the daily work of the household, including the raising of children. Many Indian groups allowed men to have more than one wife. But this practice was common only among rich or powerful men. After a man died, his wife would often live with his brother as husband and wife even if the brother was already married. Similarly, if a woman died, her family would probably be expected to give her husband another unmarried daughter to replace her. Most Indian families were small because many children died at birth or as babies. Indian children were praised when they behaved well and shamed when they misbehaved. Only the Aztec and Inca tribes had regular schools. Boys and girls of other tribes learned to perform men’s and women’s jobs by helping their parents and older brothers and sisters. After most boys reached their early teens, they went through a test of strength or bravery called an initiation ceremony. Many went without food for a long period or lived alone in the wilderness. In some tribes, a boy was expected to have a vision of the spirit that would become his lifelong guardian. Some groups also had initiation ceremonies for girls. A teenager who successfully completed an initiation ceremony was considered an adult and ready to be married. Food that Indians ate depended on where they lived. Indian tribes that lived on the plains of the United States, where buffalo and other game were plentiful, ate mainly meat. Meat was also the principal food of those Indians who inhabited the woodlands and tundra (frigid treeless plain) of Alaska and Canada. The Pueblo of the Southwest and other farming groups lived chiefly on beans, corn, and squash. Potatoes were an important crop among the Inca. MacNeish (1992) stated that Indians in the tropical areas of South America made bread from the roots of bitter cassava, a small shrub. Tribes that lived near water caught fish and gathered shellfish. Most Indian groups ate berries, nuts, roots, seeds, and wild plants. They also gathered salt and collected maple sap wherever they could. Indians made a kind of tea from such plants as sassafras and wintergreen. Many Indians drank a mild beer that was known as chicha. They made this beer from corn, cassava, peanuts, or potatoes. Indians who ate mostly meat cooked it by roasting, broiling, or boiling. Farming Indians and others who ate chiefly vegetables developed various methods of boiling or baking. They often made pit ovens by lining holes in the ground with hot stones. Indians preserved meat by smoking it or by drying it in the sun. North American Indians mixed dried meat with grease and berries to make a food called pemmican. Most Indians ate with their fingers, but some used spoons made from animal bones, shells, or wood. Indians built many kinds of homes because they lived in different climates and had different building materials available to them (Brandt & Guzzi, 1985). Those who moved about a great deal had simple shelters they could carry easily, or they built temporary shelters. Indians who stayed in one place built larger, more permanent homes. Some groups built large houses where many families lived together. Others had simple dwellings that housed only a few people. In some cases, shelter changed with the season. Some Indians in Canada built snow houses during the winter. But in the summer, they lived in tents made of animal hides. In the United States, these Indians are sometimes called Eskimos. In other areas, the Indians covered their tepees with animal skins or with tree bark. Indians at the southern tip of South America also used skins to cover shelters called windbreaks, which were open on one side. Some tribes of the Northwest made cloth of bark and reeds, and the Pueblo wove cotton cloth. The Aztec, Inca, Maya, and some Caribbean tribes wove beautiful cotton and woolen cloth. Indians in the hot South American areas often wore no clothing at all. In many tribes, a man wore only a breechcloth, a narrow band of cloth that passed between the legs and looped over the front and rear of a belt. Women wore simple aprons or skirts. Indians in colder climates wore leggings, shirts, and robes. Some wore sandals or moccasins to protect their feet. Travel by water was the most common means of transportation. Many Indians used bark canoes, which were light and easy to carry. Some large dugout canoes carried as many as 60 people. The Plains tribes used dogs and, later, horses to pull a load-carrying frame called a travois. Andean Indians used alpacas and llamas as beasts of burden. But these animals could not carry heavy loads, so the people themselves carried most of their goods. People often supported a heavy load on their back with a pack strap called a tumpline. Indians of the Arctic and the Northwest Coast and some other areas hunted or fished for most of their food. They also hunted some birds only for the feathers, and they prized the fur of beavers and certain other animals. Indians in the West got most of their food by gathering wild seeds, nuts, and roots. Even in the Southwest and other farming areas, hunting, gathering, and fishing were important. The most important game animals of North and South America included deer; rabbits and other small game: ducks, geese, herons, seals, sea lions, whales, turtles, and snakes. Bear, buffalo, caribou, elk, and moose lived only in North America. Animals that were hunted mainly in South America included the guanaco, jaguar, peccary, rhea, and tapir. Indians hunted with the same kinds of weapons they used in war. Many bows and arrows, spears, and clubs had special features for hunting. For example, some Indians used unsharpened arrows to shoot birds in trees. These arrows stunned the birds so that they fell to the ground. The Hopi stunned small game with a kind of boomerang. The Indians caught fish with harpoons, hooks and lines, spears, and traps and nets. Tribes of the Northwest Coast also used long poles called herring rakes. These poles had jagged points and could catch a number of herring at one time. In tropical South America, Indians stood on river sand bars and shot fish with bows and arrows. Both North and South American Indians used drugs to catch fish. In one method, Indians chopped up certain plants and threw them in the water. These plants stunned the fish. Then the Indians could easily scoop them out of the water. Indians of the Northeast and the Tropical Forest used slash-and-burn farming methods. They cut down a number of trees and burned them. Then they planted their crops among the trunks. The ashes from the burned trees served as fertilizer. Indians in Mexico and the Southern United States raised turkeys. Wars occurred from time to time among the tribes of the Americas. But not all tribes took part in warfare. Many tribes opposed fighting, and others were so small that they did not have enough warriors to fight a war. Many of the Indian leaders who tried to defend their tribes and land against the white people became famous warriors. They included King Philip, a Wampanoag; Pontiac, an Ottawa; Tecumseh, a Shawnee; Osceola, a Seminole; Crazy Horse, of the Sioux; and Geronimo, an Apache. The bow and arrow was probably the most common Indian weapon throughout North and South America. Some South American tribes put poison on their arrowheads. Many Indians fought with spears and war clubs (Steele & Galdone 1992). The Indians of eastern North America developed a special type of club known as the tomahawk. A weapon of the Aztec consisted of pieces of obsidian (volcanic glass) stuck into a wooden club. South American Indians used blowguns and slings. Warfare gave Indians a chance to achieve high rank in their tribes. On the Plains, it was considered braver to touch a live enemy and get away than to kill the enemy. This act was known as counting coup â€Å"koo†. Warriors on the Plains carried a coup stick into battle and attempted to touch an enemy with it. Those warriors who counted coup wore eagle feathers as signs of their courage.