The first people to inhabit the Americas were the Indians. Their settlements ranged across the Western Hemisphere and were built on many of the sites where modern cities now rise. They hunted deer, buffalo, and other game and cultivated land where today crops are still grown. Their hunters, warriors, and traders used paths now followed by roads and railroads. Indian words dot the map of the United States. Twenty-seven states and large numbers of cities, towns, rivers, and lakes bear names from the languages of the first Americans.

Native American farmers were the first in the world to domesticate potatoes, tomatoes, and many other food plants that help feed the peoples of the world today. The Native Americans were also the first to raise turkeys. They found uses for such native American plants as rubber, tobacco, the sugar maple, and the cinchona tree (for quinine).

The Native Americans had lived in America for thousands of years when the first European explorers set foot on their land. When Christopher Columbus landed in the New World, he called the native people indios (Spanish for Indians) because he thought he had reached India.

Because of European colonization of North and South America since 1500, Native Americans have been greatly reduced in numbers and largely displaced. In Central and South America a large percentage of the modern population is of mixed Indian and European ancestry, and in the Caribbean and parts of South America a portion of the population is of mixed American Indian and African descent.

Native Americans belong to the American Indian geographic race. Characteristics include medium skin pigmentation, straight black hair, sparse body hair, and a very low frequency of male pattern balding. In addition to a marked absence of blood type B and the Rh-negative blood type among Native Americans, several other characteristics of their blood types set them apart from the Mongoloid peoples, with whom they were sometimes classed in the past. (See also Race and Ethnicity.)

WELCOME TO THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF THE NATIVE AMERICANS

A GREAT VERY SPIRITUAL PEOPLE
THAT IS DEEPLY CONNECTED TO MOTHER NATURE

"This Page is only a short resume of the history and culture of the Native Americans. The N.A. Nations are the ones who suffer most with the discoveries. England, Spain, Portugal and France are the European Nations that "destroyed" and conquered the American Continent with devastating effects to the native people, due to the ignorance, diseases (brought from Europe) and the selfish politics that the europeans had. All this provoqued the extermination of many native nations, and the killing of hundreds of thousand Native Americans. The Native Americans were welling to share the American Continent with the europeans, but the europeans wanted it all, they were not satisfied...

Today in North America, a great number of the Indian population lives in reservations. Reservations with little conditions to live on, with nearly no funds from the USA governments to help them develop, to increase the employment and decrease the poverty levels. This situation on the reservations are not due to the uncapability of the Native Americans to manage ther own governments and land resources, this is only due to the fault of the USA government that does not care for the situation they have created in the past and still are creating now...

The Native Americans have lost many things since the arrival of the white man like their homes, lands and freedom, but they still continue to fight with courage and persistence, and because of that they still have their culture and way of live. They may have lost their homelands (American Continent) among other things as well, but they are triumphant in a spiritual and inspiritional perspective.

There are so many things that is possible to learn from the N.A. due to their rich spiritual concepts, fitted to the provide protection and respect for all the nature and other Human Beings (all peoples from all over the world). Some native nations used to call themselves Human Beings, before the arrival of the white man.

I identify my self very much with this culture in the spiritual and natural (nature) sence, and it's with this page that I'm trying to help them by teaching and alert other peoples from other cultures to this problem. I really hope you can learn something from all this to stop ignorance and racism. That's my objective..."

By P. Daniel (help of Eugene D. Little Coyote)

WHERE DID THE INDIANS COME FROM?

Like the white settlers, the first Indians were immigrants. Anthropologists say they came from northeastern Asia. They resembled the early Mongoloid people of that region. Nobody knows when or how they came. They probably arrived when ice sheets covered much of northern North America (see Ice Age). This may have been 20,000 to 30,000 years ago.

They may have come because they were wandering hunters, like most people of that era. They crossed the Bering Strait to Alaska, seeking new hunting grounds. Bridges of land existed then, making passage easy. There seem to have been ice-free land and game in Alaska and open land east of the Rocky Mountains, leading into the heart of North America. Perhaps the Indians moved along this area as they needed new hunting grounds. Gradually the ice melted, and the Indians spread to most parts of both Americas. They did not fill this vast area. It has been estimated that only about 1,025,000 were living north of Mexico when the first white men came to America.

Differences in Ways of Living

The Indians lived in different ways in various parts of the country. When a roaming band of Indians found a place with good hunting and plenty of seeds and berries, they settled down. Gradually they learned to utilize the area's trees and plants, its animals, fish, and birds, and its stones and earth.

The vast American continents have many kinds of land and climate. In each area nature provided special plants, animals, and raw materials. Thus Indians of various areas had different food, clothing, and shelter. They worked out different ways of life.

Since the Indians depended upon nature, they studied its ways. They knew the habits of the animals. They found out which plants were nourishing and which poisonous. They knew signs that foretold the turning of the seasons and the changes in the weather.

They had no science to explain nature, and they believed the sun, rain, and other forces were controlled by spirits. In religion they worshiped animals, plants, the sun, rain, and wind. In ceremonies and prayers they tried to gain the favor of these gods.

CULTURE AREAS IN NORTH AMERICA

Scholars give the name culture to the way of life of a people, including its arts and crafts. In studying Indian cultures north of Mexico, they found seven great culture areas in the region. The Indians of each area shared similar natural surroundings and had much the same kind of culture. Peoples who lived along the border between two culture areas often reflected the two ways of living.

The pictures throughout the article illustrate ways of life in some of the areas. They show that in each area the Indians had special ways of acquiring clothing, food, houses, and utensils.

One thing they had in common was the use of stone tools. All made a variety of hammers, scrapers, knives, arrowheads, and spear points from stone. They were handicapped by the lack of sharp metal tools.

Indians of the Eastern Forests

The Indians who made their homes in the eastern part of North America had a region with plentiful rainfall. Forests spread over mountains and valleys. There were many lakes and streams. The Woodland tribes largely depended upon the trees, the animals that lived in the woods, and the fish and shellfish from the streams and the sea. They used tree bark and branches to make their houses, many of their weapons and utensils, and the canoes in which they skimmed over the waters. They made clothing from the skins of game.

They did not have to wander seeking wild food. Since they knew how to grow crops, they could live in villages. The women planted corn, pumpkin, squash, beans, tobacco, and gourds. The plants flourished in the warm, rainy summers.

Wanderers of the Plains

The Plains Indians lived on a vast rolling plain. There was enough rain for a thick carpet of grass but not enough to grow many trees. Trees grew only beside the rivers. Huge herds of grazing animals fed on the grass. The most important of these was the buffalo, or bison. Indeed, the buffalo has been called "the Plains Indians' galloping department store." This animal gave the Indians almost everything they needed. The flesh supplied food. From the skin they made tents, called tepees, boats, utensils, baggage, and some of their clothing. These Indians moved about the plains following the herds. They also hunted other plains animals, notably elk, deer, and antelope.

After Spanish settlers in the southwest brought horses to America, the Plains Indians became famous as expert hunters. With their swift ponies they could overtake a herd of buffalo and kill all the animals they needed. Hunting was usually a tribal activity, and it involved driving large numbers of buffalo off a cliff or into some type of encirclement.

Dancing and Ceremonials

Most of the Indian dances and ceremonies were held for religious or superstitious reasons.By honoring their spirits, or gods, the Indians hoped to gain help and favor. Medicine men, or religious leaders, danced to seek aid for the sick. Hunters danced the deer dance or the buffalo dance to attract abundant game. Farming tribes staged ceremonials to bring rain or to make the corn grow or ripen. Certain dances dramatized stories from the history or mythology of the tribe. Other ceremonies were held when children arrived at manhood or womanhood or to initiate them into the religious secret societies of the tribe.

Although the purpose of a dance was serious, the Indians usually made it the occasion for fun and sociability. In many tribes, there were clowns or other fun makers among the musicians or dancers. In the evening or at the end of a festival, social dances were sometimes held. The squaw dance of the Navajos was a social dance in which both men and women took part. Originally it came at the end of elaborate ceremonials to welcome the braves at the end of a war.

Songs and Musical Instruments

Singing accompanied every public ceremony as well as the important events in an individual's life. Both the tune and the rhythm seem strange to the white man's ears. Religious songs passed down from generation to generation, as they were an important part of the ceremonies. Women sang songs not only to ease the burden of their own activities, such as spinning and grinding, but also to encourage the warrior as he went forth. Every mother, of course, sang lullabies. Birds or animals, in folk stories, were supposed to sing their own quaint songs, which were imitated by the storyteller. On the northwest coast there were spirited song contests between tribes. Certain songs were the exclusive property of clans and societies. Individuals in the clan, however, could sell their songs or even give them away.

A variety of instruments accompanied dance and song. These included drums, rattles, whistles, flutes, bull-roarers, and notched sticks rasped on bones. The Indians made them of materials at hand. Plains drums had painted horsehide heads. Northwestern tribes used wooden boxes, and their rattles were made like masks from wood or native copper. The Pueblos and other farming tribes made gourd rattles. The Iroquois used a turtle shell and a pot or water drum.

Tales of the Old People

Every tribe had its legends--some more fanciful than true--of the history of the tribe.When the day's work was done, the old people would tell these tales. There were also many stories of animals and mythical beings which could assume human form and yet retain some of their own particular traits. Children were thrilled by these stories. The Indian stories and myths were passed by word of mouth from one generation to another. This is known as the oral tradition.

Woodland Indians of the Eastern Wilderness

The Indians of the eastern forests were the first ones the American colonists met. In the beginning, the settlers from Europe looked upon the Indians as ignorant savages. Then they found that there was much the Indians could teach them. They learned to grow corn and to bury a fish in each hill for fertilizer. They adopted the Indian's swift, graceful bark canoe for water travel. They found out how to hunt and make war--Indian style.

Indian ways were valued because they were suited to the wilderness of forests, rivers, and lakes. The Indians had to convert the things around them into food, clothing, shelter, weapons, tools, and utensils. There were no stores in the wilderness to sell a family what it could not get or make for itself.

From the beginning, the American people have used Indian methods and equipment when living in the forests of the east. The fur traders patterned their lives on the Indian way of life. They traveled in canoes and on snowshoes, wore moccasins and other clothing of deerskin, and ate Indian foods. Later, the pioneer settlers often wore buckskin too, and housewives followed many Indian recipes in their cookery.

Kinds of Houses in the East

All the Eastern Woodland Indians lived in much the same way. But from place to place there were differences in climate and in available plants and animals, and the tribes differed in housing and clothing styles, in food habits, and in means of transportation.

Pictures in this section show houses from different parts of the Eastern Woodland. Perhaps the most widely used was the bark-covered wigwam. Sometimes it was shaped like a cone, and sometimes it was more of a dome. The Indians made a frame for this hut of small, flexible trees, or saplings. They stuck them firmly in the ground in a circle, then bent them overhead in an arch and tied them together with tough bark fibers or with rawhide. Next, other slender branches were wrapped in circles around the bent poles and tied to them. Slabs of bark were tied to this frame to form the roof and walls. Space was left vacant for a door and a smoke hole. Platforms inside served as beds, chairs, and shelves.

The Iroquois and certain other New York tribes built the larger longhouse. Its shape was similar to that of the arched metal Quonset hut built during World War II. Five to a dozen families might live together in the longhouse.

In the warm southeast, certain tribes raised bigger crops and had a more involved culture than the northeast tribes. They had winter houses of clay plastered on a framework of poles and woven twigs, with a domed or cone-shaped roof. The Seminoles in Florida used palmetto-thatched shelters without sidewalls. These people still live in this type of house.

All the houses were crowded, by modern standards, but the Indians did not mind. Every family spent most of its time outdoors. In good weather the women cooked at an open fire and did much of their work sitting outside.

Preparing Food and Making Clothing

The women planted corn, beans, pumpkin, squash, tobacco, and gourds in the gardens.They harvested the crops and prepared the food. It was not difficult to roast green corn in a pit with hot rocks or to broil meat or fish on a grill of green twigs over a fire. But most jobs were harder. To grind the dry corn into meal they pounded it in a mortar made of a hollowed log, with a small log for a pestle. They made hominy by soaking the grains in a solution of wood ashes that loosened the tough hull of the kernel. They parched, or toasted, corn for warriors on the march. They dried corn, squash, berries, meat, and fish for the cold months. They stewed corn and beans into succotash and made soups of corn with meat or fish in pottery jars.

Some areas offered special things to eat. In the forests of the northeast, the Indians tapped the sugar maples and boiled the sap to make sugar. The Ojibwa and other tribes of the northern Great Lakes area had plenty of wild rice for their grain supply. They did not need to raise garden crops. The seashore and many rivers offered shellfish. Heaps of discarded shells mark the sites of many ancient camps.

Many days of work were required to make the buckskin garments the Indians wore. Tanning deer hides called for many processes--scraping off flesh and hair, washing the hide, drying and stretching it, treating it with a deer-brain mixture, and sometimes smoking it to waterproof it.

Tailoring the garments meant cutting the skins with shell or flint knives and sewing them with animal sinews. Awls and needles were made of bone and horn. Indian women added beautiful colored porcupine-quill embroidery They created designs of the flowers, leaves, and vines they saw in the woods. They decorated ceremonial costumes richly.

At work the women wore a wraparound skirt, the men a breechcloth. The men usually shaved their heads, leaving only a scalp lock. Their headdresses were of dyed deerhair or a few feathers. (The forest would have been a poor place for the warbonnet of the Plains Indian. Tree branches would have torn off its feathers.) Winter's fur robes left one shoulder bare.

Baskets, Pottery, and Boats

Women of many eastern tribes knew how to weave mats, baskets, and belts from shredded bark, wood splints, and other fibers. Most tribes of the region made pottery jars for cooking and storing foods. Boxes and dishes were fashioned from bark and wood.

The Eastern Woodland Indians traveled fastest by water. The northern tribes made bark canoes in which they skimmed swiftly and silently over the lakes and rivers. Southeastern tribes made dugout canoes.

They hollowed out a log by burning the inside and scraping away the charred wood. The Indians used their canoes in hunting and fishing. From their canoes they could readily shoot the fleet deer and moose when the animals were wading or swimming.

On land the Indians traveled on foot and carried burdens on their muscular backs. They had no draft animals to haul loads, and their roads were only narrow paths. The dog was their only domestic animal. In winter the northern hunters could move after their prey swiftly on snowshoes.

Hunters of the Broad Plains

Today the word Indian is usually symbolized by the Plains Indian brave--a majestic figure with strong, sharp features, a dignified manner, and a colorful costume of beaded and fringed buckskin.

He was a splendid horseman, hunter, and mounted warrior who took pride in defending his hunting grounds against the invasion of white settlers. In war, the eagle feathers of his long-tailed warbonnet streamed in the breeze as he galloped over the plains.

A Land of Abundant Game

Game was plentiful on the plains. Buffalo and antelope grazed over the grassy land. In the hills and mountains nearby lived deer and elk, grizzly bears, mountain sheep, and mountain goats. The buffalo were the most valuable game animals. But the big herds moved about constantly seeking pasture, and the Indians had a hard time catching them when they had to hunt on foot. After horses were brought to North America from Europe, the Plains tribes became successful mounted hunters and spent their lives following the herds. Spanish settlers first brought horses to the Southwest. Between 1650 and 1750 they spread to the plains.

Before the coming of the horse this splendid hunting ground contained but few Indian tribes. Most people there lived in the river valleys where they could raise corn. Their homes were villages of earth huts.

At buffalo-hunting time, a tribe moved after the feeding herds on foot. They had invented a dwelling they could carry--the tepee. They made an A-shaped drag, called a travois, on which their dogs hauled the tepee cover of buffalo hides and other gear. The tents were small because the dogs could not pull heavy loads.

Buffalo Hunting Without Horses

Before they gained the benefit of horses, the hunters had, over the centuries, worked out cunning methods by which they could kill enough buffalo to supply the tribe with meat and hides. If the herd was scattered, a few hunters might move softly among the animals and shoot several without scaring the others. In snowy weather, Indians would encircle a herd and kill many of the animals before they could flounder away in the drifts or get lost in a blizzard.

Another effective method was to drive the herd over a cliff. One man, draped in a buffalorobe, would move ahead of the herd toward the cliff. Then other Indians would jump behind the animals, shouting and waving robes. The buffalo would begin to trot, then gallop in terror, the animals in the rear pushing those in front. The decoy leader would dodge to safety at the last minute, and the crazed herd would pour over the precipice. Many were killed in the fall. The injured were disposed of with spears or clubs.

After the hunt, the work of the women began. They skinned the carcasses and cut up the meat. The meat might be hung on green branches over the fire to cook. Or it could be boiled by dropping hot rocks into the cooking pot. The pot too came from the buffalo. A buffalo stomach or a piece of hide was fitted into a hole in the ground and used for cooking.

Most of the meat was cut into thin strips and jerked. Jerking meant hanging the strips on a rack in the dry wind that swept the plains. This dried meat would keep for a long while. Sometimes it was pounded fine and mixed with melted fat and dried berries, then stored in containers of skin or membrane. Called pemmican, this was an excellent concentrated food for warriors or hunters.

Plains Indian Homes and a "Ferryboat"

After following a herd until they had a good supply of meat and hides, the hunters would return to their permanent village. Among the early Plains tribes that lived in earth lodges were the Mandan, Hidatsa, Pawnee, Arikara, Omaha, and Osage. Other tribes on the eastern fringe of the plains blended the plains and woodland ways of life. Among those who lived in bark-or mat-covered wigwams were the Kansa, Missouri, Iowa, Quapaw, and some of the Osage. Others, such as the Caddo, Wichita, and Waco, used grass houses. These tribes grew corn and other crops and made pottery cooking vessels.

Village tribes along the Missouri River used a bowl-shaped bullboat. They made it by stretching a buffalo hide over a wooden frame. It was too clumsy for water travel, but it could be used to ferry people and gear across a river.

How Horse-Owning Tribes Moved

Many Plains tribes gave up permanent villages after they got horses. Among the tribes which changed were the Sioux (or Dakota, Lakota, Oglala, etc), the Blackfeet, the Crow, the Cheyenne, the Arapaho, the Comanche, and the Kiowa. Each tribe knew where the buffalo should be from month to month and moved as necessary for convenience in hunting.

To get horses, the Indians were willing to trade their most valuable goods. They also raided the camps of other tribes and white traders and roped any wild ponies they found. On a big hunt, the many bands in a tribe gathered in a huge camp. Their tepees were much larger after the Indians had horses to haul the heavy covers on the travois.

Buffalo runs were wild, exciting affairs. First scouts located a herd. Then the long line of mounted hunters rode forward. Sometimes fantastically dressed medicine men trotted ahead, chanting and shaking rattles. At a signal the hunters charged among the buffalo at a gallop. Guiding his trained buffalo horse by knee pressure, the hunter pulled alongside his quarry and drove an arrow into its body. He gripped a pair of arrows in the left hand, which held the bow, and held another in his mouth. A quiver with spare arrows hung from his shoulder. A brave, skillful, and lucky hunter might kill four or five animals during a run. The number increased after the Indians got guns from traders.

Celebrations and Honors for Bravery

Almost as exciting as the hunt itself was the feast that followed. It was an event the whole tribe took part in. Happy and filled with good red meat, the Indians would sing and dance and recite war chants. Boasting at such times was not considered bad manners. When getting ready for a hunt or a war party, or upon returning, a brave would get up and tell how strong and courageous he was.

No Indians honored bravery, daring, endurance, and other warlike qualities more than did the Plains hunters. They held huge religious ceremonials to arouse enthusiasm and to win the help of the gods.

Each tribe had its secret societies in which young men passed from rank to rank to win high honors. the men withdrew from the camp for fasting and for purification to evoke a guardian spirit which would give them magic powers. They painted their visions of the spirits on shields and tepees.

The tribe rewarded warriors for bravery. For a courageous deed an Indian was given the right to wear one or more feathers in a headdress. Most prized were the feathers of the eagle. It was in this way that the famous warbonnet came into being.

Each brave kept track of his heroic deeds by counting coup. (Coup is a French word meaning "stroke," "blow.") Among the deeds that counted as coups were killing or scalping an enemy, touching a living enemy's body without killing in or an enemy tepee, and stealing a horse from an enemy.

Contrasting Work of Men and Women

Each tribe had a division of labor. The exciting, glamorous life of the men makes that of the women seem dull and hard. There was, however, a good reason for making the women do the work of moving camp. The men had to be armed and ready to fight at a moment's notice. Enemy raiders might appear at any time, trying to capture the precious horses.

Some of the tribesmen guarded the camp. Others were scouts who rode ahead and signaled the appearance of game or the enemy. Signals included riding in a certain pattern, waving a buffalo robe, sending up puffs of smoke by day, and using fire by night.

The women became so expert that they could set up the tepees or take them down in a few minutes. They packed all equipment and lashed it onto the travois. The mother usually rode a horse, with the baby on its cradleboard hanging beside her.

In camp the women spent hour after hour scraping flesh and hair from the buffalo hides and tanning them. From the hides they made all sorts of things--robes, bedding, rawhide utensils, and carrying cases, called parfleches. The horns were carved into spoons and ladles, the hooves cooked to make glue.

When it was time to make a new tepee cover, a woman invited friends to help her sew the big white hides together. They used buffalo sinews for thread. Later the man painted designs on the tent.

The chief skill of the men lay in making weapons. They whittled bows from Osage orange or other tough wood and shaped them in a double curve. They made arrows with a sharp stone head.

They lashed feathers to the arrow butt to make it fly straight. Each hunter had his design in the feathers to show which animals he had killed in a big hunt.

Clothing and Crafts

The women used the softer, finer skins of deer and antelope for most garments. They embroidered the ceremonial costumes with dyed porcupine quills and painted the carrying cases and the tepee linings. In the designs, they drew triangles, diamonds, and other geometrical figures. They beaded the costumes after beads were brought in by traders.

Women's dresses and men's shirts were made of a pair of skins fastened together at the top, except for a neck opening. Often the women covered the yoke and belt of their ceremonial dresses with beads.

The men wore breechcloths and thigh-length leggings in addition to shirts when they were dressed up. The legging seams ran down the sides. (The Woodland leggings had a front seam.)

Men's Ornaments and War Paint

Plains warriors loved ornaments. They decked themselves with trophies of war and the hunt. Locks of hair from the scalp of an enemy and soft white ermine tails dangled from the seams of the ceremonial shirt. Grizzly-bear claws and buffalo teeth were strung on otter skin for necklaces. Quivers, tobacco pouches, and medicine bags were made from pelts of panthers, otter, and beaver. Eagle quillswere used in their headdresses and decorated their shields, dance bustles, ceremonial pipes, and lances. On his robes of young buffalo skin, the warrior often painted sketches showing the battles he had fought during his life.

The braves painted their bodies for dances and for battle. The designs might be special "medicine," or magic, to protect their lives, or they might be drawn to make the men look more ferocious. For paint the Indians used red and white clays, black charcoal, and yellow pigment from bullberries or moss. They first smeared their bodies with buffalo or deer fat, then rubbed on the color.

The practice of using animal grease or fish oil on the skin to clean and soften it was common among Indians. The resulting odor was frequently unpleasant to white people. An Indian method of bathing in use throughout the country was the sweat bath. The Indians built an airtight hut for this purpose. Hot stones were placed in the hut and sprinkled with water to make them steam. The Indians stayed inside until they were perspiring freely. Then they rushed out and plunged into a cold stream. This treatment was used for purification before ceremonials and as a cure for disease.

Love of ornament was a spur to trade among the Indians and, later, between the Indian and the white man. Shells and coral from the seacoasts, native copper from the Great Lakes region, turquoise from the Southwest, pipestone from Minnesota, and bear claws from the Rocky Mountains were passed from tribe to tribe, long before Columbus discovered America. The Plains tribes had buffalo hides and fur pelts to trade. Their region was the scene of bitter rivalry among French, English, and American traders. The Indians there used glass beads, needles, steel knives, copper kettles, and other manufactured wares long before white settlement.

How the Bands Traveled and Camped

Bands of relatives traveled together. Each band had its own territory and would fight to keep out intruders. In the autumn several bands might meet in the pinon forest and camp together until they had picked and eaten the nut supply. The whole tribe gathered for the fall hunt. The medicine man worked his magic to make the antelope come. If the hunt was successful, there was food for a celebration. The older men made speeches. In the evening came ceremonials and dances and the songs telling tribal legends.

The weather was hot and dry most of the year, and there was no need for substantial shelter. Sometimes campers in the Great Basin would throw together a windbreak of sagebrush. At times a family would set up a rough frame of boughs and cover it with twigs and brush. Scattered marshy places in the basins and valleys grew cattails and bulrushes, called tule. Mats, or fringes, made from their stems were used to cover some houses.

Bundles of long, coarse grass were used like shingles on others. Usually the builders dug a pit about two feet deep under the house. This saved wall building and kept drafts off the floor. Storage baskets woven of twigs were set on platforms to keep animals out of the seeds.

For the winter camp, the Indians of southern California heaped earth over the huts to make them warm. The tribes of northern California could get redwood and split it with wedges of elk or deer antlers. They tied these slabs to frames and built better houses than did tribes to the east and south.

In the hot, dry climate there was little need for clothing. Children wore none at all. Men usually went unclad, though they might wear breechcloths if they had deerskin or rabbit fur to make them. The women made fringed double aprons from the fibers of sagebrush bark, milkweed, or Indian hemp.

Both men and women tattooed designs on their skin. Stripes on the chin were fashionable among the women. These marks were tattooed on a girl's chin as part of the ceremony celebrating coming of age. Necklaces and earrings were made of bones, deer hooves, berries, and seashells.

Thick sandals for travel were made of yucca fiber. People who could get hides wore moccasins. Tribes that had buckskin learned to make clothing similar to that of the Plains Indians. In winter a man was lucky if he had a furry pelt to wrap around his shoulders or several skins tied together with thongs. In some tribes, the old men found time to twine blankets from strips of rabbitskin.

The Seed Gatherers found baskets ideal as containers during their constant moving. They were light and not easily broken like pottery. The Seed Gatherer women wove them so closely that they would hold tiny seeds and even water. There was a basket for every use--from the big gathering basket slung by a net over the forehead, to bottle-shaped water jars, covered with pine pitch to keep them from leaking.

Cradleboards were made of wickerwork. In some tribes women wore caps of basketry. The baskets were beautiful, with graceful shapes and designs in color.

Variations in Indian Languages

The separation into small groups was emphasized by differences in language. The Indians of North America spoke approximately 600 dialects in many different languages--several times as many as are spoken in Europe. The differences were great enough to hamper understanding only a short distance from home. These differences handicapped white explorers who were trying to get information. When Lewis and Clark met the Flathead Indians in 1805, their questions had to be interpreted through six languages before the Flatheads understood them.

Both Indians and white traders tried to overcome communication difficulties by creating trade jargons combining words from Indian and European languages. Among them were the Chinook Jargon of the northwest and the Mobilian of the southeast.

Indians of the Great Plains worked out a sign language for communicating with each other. They could convey much information with hand gestures. Some of the gestures were so graphic they could be understood by persons who did not know the signs.

An Indian gave his loyalty first to his village or hunting group. Such a group might have less than 50 adults. Neighboring village groups might act together in war and exchange other help if they spoke the same language and if their hunting ground provided enough for all. This large group could be a tribe.

The map shows the larger and more important tribes in the localities where English-speaking explorers and settlers first found them. A multitude of smaller tribes with less than 2,000 people lived among the larger. Only about 10 percent of all the tribes are named on the map, but they included about two thirds of the Indian population.

Rich Vocabularies and Exact Meanings

North American Indian languages are rich in words and intricate in structure. Their vocabularies differ with the need for words to convey important distinctions in meaning. For instance, the Eskimos in the Arctic have words to distinguish many kinds of snow. One means "snow on the ground," another "falling snow," and so on. Similarly the Plains horsemen used many words to describe horses.

Indians have been adept at coining names for articles introduced by white traders. A translation of the Blackfoot name for pork is "squealing meat," and the name for candy is "long white man berries." The settlers, in turn, adopted many Indian words which have remained in the English language.

Indian languages may employ sounds not in English while lacking sounds common in that language. Many Indian tongues combine into one word ideas needing a whole sentence in English. Indian grammatical structures often differ from those of English.

Language Relationships and Families

Scholars have studied the Indian languages, seeking relationships between them. In 1891 Maj. J.W. Powell of the Bureau of American Ethnology classified the languages spoken by the tribes north of Mexico into some 56 distinct stocks, or language families. He grouped those tribes with markedly similar vocabularies into language families.

He made a map showing their geographical location. In naming each language family he generally selected the native name of a major group speaking that language and added to the name the ending -an. Thus the Caddoan language is derived from the Caddo tribe, the Iroquoian from the Iroquois.

The fact that two languages or dialects were placed in the same language family did not mean that persons speaking one of these dialects could understand the other dialect, any more than Germans and Italians understand each other's language.

For example, many tribes of the Central Plains spoke dialects of the Siouan language, but members of one tribe could seldom understand the speech of their neighbors.

Later studies have revealed far-reaching resemblances among families which Major Powell considered distinct. Some linguists have suggested the reduction of North American Indian languages to six primary stocks. These are:

1. Eskimo and Aleut, of the Far North.

2. Algonquian and related languages, spoken by many tribes of the Eastern Woodlands, the Blackfeet and Cheyenne of the Plains, and the Salish and neighboring tribes of the Far West.

3. Athabascan and related languages, used by all the tribes of the Mackenzie-Yukon Basin, by the Navajos, and by some west coast peoples.

4. Uto-Aztecan and related languages, of the Shoshonean tribes in the Great Basin and Rocky Mountains area, the Kiowas of the Plains, the majority of the Pueblos, and the Aztecs of Mexico.

5. Chinookan and related languages, spoken by a number of scattered Far Western tribes, especially in what is now Oregon and Washington.

6. Siouan and related languages, including the tongues of such widely separated peoples as the Iroquois of the northeast, the Creeks and their neighbors in the southeast, the Sioux and Caddos of the Plains, the Keresan Pueblos, and the Pomos of northern California.

Seeking Regions Where Languages Originated

The languages of the same primary stock are probably related historically and they may even have descended from a common language. But scholars have not yet been able to trace in detail the lines of descent or to locate the region in which any ancestral language originated.

Indians north of the Rio Grande had no written language. They managed, however, to keep alive traditions of important events and many beautiful folktales by handing them down by word of mouth. Some of the tales in this oral literature were passed from tribe to tribe, translated into many tongues.

Picture writing helped aid memory and communicate ideas. On the plains, a sort of calendar known as the winter count was kept in the form of a series of pictures painted on buffalo hides.

Widely scattered over the continent are picture writings painted or pecked on rock cliffs, on walls of caves, and on huge boulders. These petroglyphs doubtless carried a message when they were made.

Differences in Appearance Among Indians

Certain racial characteristics are shared by nearly all pureblood Indians, since it is likely that all of the tribes developed from an original ethnic stock in the Far East many centuries ago. They generally have straight, black hair. Their skin color ranges from yellowish brown to reddish brown. Their cheekbones are usually more prominent than those of white or black people. These characteristics are more closely related to those of the Mongoloids of Asia than to any other of the world's races.

In other features there is great variety among Indians. There are great differences in shape of head (relative proportions of length, width, and height), in prominence of jaw, in size and shape of nose, and in total standing height.

The head of the Plains Indian resembles the Indian head on the reverse side of the buffalo nickel. Their clear-cut features are generally marked by a sloping forehead, bold nose, thin lips, and firm, heavy jaw.

The Eskimo of the Arctic generally has a yellowish skin tone and a flat, fleshy face, with a short, spreading nose. He is short and sturdy. The Pueblo Indians are generally shorter than the Plains people and possess more delicate features.

Anthropologists study these differences in efforts to trace common ancestries. Since combinations of head shape, stature, and features tend to occur in certain regions, it may be that America was populated by a series of peoples who differed in appearance and came in widely spaced migrations. It is known that the Eskimos were relatively late arrivals. Some scholars say that environmental influences, as in diet and climate, may lie at the root of regional differences.

Indian Religion, Government, and Social Practices

Like other people who live close to nature, the Indians were concerned largely with day-to-day problems on which their survival as a people depended. They were interested mostly in whether there would be enough food, whether the tribe would avoid illness, and whether they would win in war. They gave little thought to notions of reward or punishment after death that are common in other religions.

Indians believed in a supernatural force which pervaded all nature. To the Algonquin, this force was manitou. The Iroquois called it orenda, and the Dakota, wakanda. Indians also thought that animals, plants, rocks, the sun, the winds, and other natural objects had spirits (or souls) just like men. The Indians thought these spirits helped those they liked and injured those who offended them.

When an Indian faced a critical problem or decision, he sought help from the spirit forces. To make himself worthy, he cleansed himself, fasted, prayed, and sometimes underwent severe tortures. He sought a vision, hoping a friendly spirit would appear and promise him aid. In many tribes, this guardian spirit became the Indian's sacred totem animal. A Plains Indian might paint its picture on his tepee. The Northwest wood-carvers put the sacred animals on totem poles.

Ceremonials to Bring Spirit Help

Villages and tribes used dances and other ceremonials to seek spirit help. In general, the men conducted these activities. Usually they had a house where secret societies met, sacred objects were kept, and ceremonials were taught to the young.

Important ceremonials lasted for many days and were preceded by periods of fasting and prayer. As a rule, the aid sought was rain for the crops, game for the hunters, or success in war. The most spectacular Plains ceremonial was the Sun Dance. This included self-inflicted tortures by some of the warriors.

Corn dances were held by all farming tribes and are still a feature of Pueblo Indian life. One of the most elaborate corn festivals was the busk held by the Creeks. After feasting on the new corn, dancing, drinking the "black drink," and carrying on ceremonies for several days, the tribe began a new year by destroying old equipment and getting new. They extinguished fires and lit new ones from a ceremonial flame. Old enmities were forgotten and evildoers forgiven.

Healing and Medicine Men

Believing that diseases were caused by evil spirits, the Indians used charms and magic to remove the evil influence. The magical procedures were usually performed by those supposed to have the power to control spirit forces. Indians might call them such names as "mystery man," "singer," or "the wonderful." White people called them medicine men. The magicworkers also served somewhat as priests in leading ceremonials and in preserving sacred objects.

Charms and ceremonies varied from tribe to tribe. The Navajos made sand paintings. Iroquois False Face Society members wore masks carved from a living tree. In spring and fall they went from house to house shaking turtle-shell rattles and chanting to drive away the demons of disease.

Some treatments included the use of herbs and roots as medicines. Men and women other than magicworkers could prepare medicines and nurse the sick.

Tribal Organization and Women's Role

Since most Indians lived in small communities, they based their government and social organization upon loyalty to the family and to the tribe. In most tribes families were linked in a third group, called a clan or a gens. In a clan, inheritance and relationship traced through the female line; in a gens, through the male line. Families in a clan frequently lived together in community houses. Here children looked upon their cousins as brothers and sisters and regarded their aunts and uncles as parents. Men and women were required to marry outside their own clan.

Women's influence was greatest in such tribes as the Iroquois, whose descent was through the mother. Marriage customs differed from tribe to tribe. As a rule they were the result of mutual agreement by the husband- and wife-to-be. Often the bridegroom gave some sort of present to the bride's family to compensate for the loss of her help.

Divorce was usually easy if a couple could not agree, but the children did not suffer from the breakup of the home. They continued to live in the clan group and could look to uncles and aunts for attention.

Indians were universally kind to children. Discipline was strict, yet never enforced by whipping or any other physical punishment. Children were expected to help with the family duties. The first time a boy brought home an animal shot with his own bow, his proud father might celebrate with a feast. Ceremonials marked the date when youngsters reached 13 or 14 years of age and were considered men and women.

How Indians Buried the Dead

Methods of disposing of the dead varied among the tribes. Burial in the ground was most commonly practiced. Mounds were constructed for burial among certain prehistoric Indian peoples. In the southwest, bodies were sometimes placed in caves where they dried, or mummified, in the dry air. On the northern plains a common practice was to place the dead in trees or on scaffolds. On the northwest coast they might be laid in canoes set high on posts.

Cremation was practiced by various tribes from the Pacific coast to Florida. Usually the ashes were buried in pottery vessels. Almost invariably, domestic utensils, food, and the ornaments, implements, and other personal belongings of the departed were placed with the remains.

Leadership and Government

Government was generally extremely simple and democratic among the Indian tribes. The chief was not an autocratic ruler. He was usually chosen because of his ability and wisdom, though in a few tribes the office was hereditary. He advised the people and attempted to settle their disputes. A war chief was selected to lead a raid or campaign.

Tribal and village councils discussed and acted upon important matters. A council might consist simply of the adult men of a village or of chiefs of clans. Among the Iroquois, matrons took part in grand councils.

Peopling the Americas

Tribes of hunters are believed to have migrated from Asia and eventually peopled the entire hemisphere. No single person made any large part of the long journey from Alaska down the continents. One group after another continued the march over many centuries, traveling in small bands.

Archaeologists have dug into their camping places. They have found the ashes of their fires, bones and shellfish shells, and primitive tools and weapons. The findings indicate that the first American Indians lived by hunting, with some fishing and gathering of seeds and other wild foods. They had lances or spears tipped with stone points. Perhaps they hurled them with a throwing stick, called an atlatl. The bow and arrow were probably invented or brought to America later. These early Indians knew how to make rough stone tools. They had fire-lighting methods and may have had one domestic animal, the dog. They had no knowledge of farming, pottery, or metals.

Centuries of Struggle Between Indians and Whites

None of the Indian cultures in the Americas developed a system of private landownership. Unlike the European settlers, who came from countries where land was individually owned, the Indians practiced communal landownership. Within the boundaries of each tribe's territory, the land was used by all members of the tribe. No individual owned any of the land, and no one person, not even the tribal leader, could dispose of it. When European settlers obtained permanent title to Indian lands by purchase, they bought something which by Indian custom could not be sold from leaders who had no right to sell it. It was this difference of attitudes over ownership of land that was a major cause of conflict between the Indians and the Europeans. Differences in race, language, religion, and life-style only sharpened and sometimes obscured this basic conflict.

Another source of conflict was that the Europeans did not consider themselves to be under the sovereignty of the Indian tribes on whose land they had settled. Instead, they claimed the land in the names of their mother countries. The European settlers began to mark off boundaries and to assert their land claims by the force of superior weapons and, eventually, of far greater numbers.

The Indians met the first Europeans with curiosity and friendship. But friendship was rarely returned. During their explorations of South America, Central America, and Mexico in search of gold, silver, and precious stones, early Spanish conquistadores plundered the Indian villages and enslaved and murdered the inhabitants. Spanish colonists later forced Indians to labor in mines and on large estates to produce commodities for export to Spain. Early French colonists mainly traded for furs with the Indians in the St. Lawrence Valley and around the Great Lakes. Rivalry for a monopoly of the fur trade led to warfare among the tribes. Intermarriage between the Indians and the French was frequent.

The Indians along the Eastern seaboard of North America helped the early English colonists establish settlements, raise crops, and adjust to living in a wilderness. Powhatan (Wahunsonacock), leader of an Algonquian-speaking confederacy in Virginia, and Massasoit (Wasamegin), leader of the Wampanoag Indians in New England, established generally peaceful trade relations with the English.

Indians generally had bitter experiences with the Europeans. Traders often made them drunk to take advantage of them, and European diseases like smallpox and tuberculosis wiped out whole tribes. Many Indian skills and much of Indian tribal identity was lost through the gradual adoption of European ways and increasing dependence on European goods.

Indian Wars in the English Colonies

One of the earliest violent clashes between Indians and whites took place in 1636 in Connecticut when colonists attacked the principal village of the Pequots. About 600 Indians were killed, and the Pequot tribe was virtually destroyed. In 1675 various Indian tribes in New England formed an alliance to resist white settlement. It was led by Massasoit's son Metacomet, who was called King Philip by the colonists. But in about a year Metacomet's forces were defeated (see King Philip's War).

By the end of the 1600s, the Indians' struggles for their land became caught up in a series of wars between England and France for dominance in North America. Some Indians aided the English, while others helped the French. In 1763, the final year of the French and Indian War, Pontiac, an Ottawa chief and ally of the French, led attacks on British outposts in the Great Lakes area. When the French made peace with the English in that year, Pontiac concluded a peace treaty with them also. (See also French and Indian War.)

During the American Revolution many Indian tribes, under such leaders as the Mohawk known as Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea), fought for the British, who posed as defenders of Indian land against the colonists. Although Indian aid was of questionable value to the British, it did provoke retaliatory campaigns by the Continental Army like that of Gen. John Sullivan on the Iroquois of New York.

Indian Wars of the United States: The East

After the American Revolution the new United States government hoped to maintain peace with the Indians on the frontier. But as settlers continued to migrate westward they made settlements on Indian lands and demanded and received protection by the Army. Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief, organized several tribes to oppose further ceding of Indian lands. But they were defeated in 1811 by Gen. William Henry Harrison at the battle of Tippecanoe. (See also Tecumseh.)

During the War of 1812 many of the Indians again sided with the British. Afterward, with the victorious United States secure in its borders, federal policy turned to one of removal of the Indians west of the Mississippi River--to the so-called Great American Desert, where, supposedly, no white man would ever want to live. To implement this policy, the Indian Removal Act was signed into law on May 28, 1830. It gave President Andrew Jackson, a dedicated foe of the Indians, the power to exchange land west of the Mississippi for the southeastern territory of the Five Civilized Tribes--the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles.

The removal policy led to a clash between Jackson and the United States Supreme Court, which had ruled in favor of the right of the Cherokees to retain their lands in Georgia. Jackson refused to enforce the Court's decision, and in 1838 and 1839 the Cherokees, like the other tribes before them, were forced westward to Indian Territory (later Oklahoma). Their bitter trek during the dead of winter has become known as the Trail of Tears.

In 1832, Sauk and Fox Indians under Black Hawk in Wisconsin had been defeated after refusing to abandon their lands east of the Mississippi (see Black Hawk). In the 1830s and 1840s, Seminoles under Osceola unsuccessfully resisted removal from their homes in Florida (see Osceola). By the end of the 1840s, except for small segments of tribes who had fled to the wilderness, the "Indian problem" had ended in the East.

Indian Wars of the United States: The West

Along with the Eastern tribes, the tribes of the North and the Southwest were pushed from their homelands to the land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. By the 1840s the United States Army and the various Indian tribes in that region were in a continual state of war. As white settlers encroached on Indian land, war would break out. Either the Indians would be defeated and transported elsewhere, or a treaty would be made in which the Indians lost part of their lands in exchange for peace. Sometimes the United States government would promise food, financial aid, and schools to the Indians, but these promises were often unfulfilled.

Thousands of white settlers poured into the Oregon Territory after it was acquired from Great Britain in 1846. Numerous clashes erupted with tribes in the Northwest. In the 1850s, wars broke out around Puget Sound after several small tribes were deceived into signing treaties in which they gave up most of their land. But they were quickly defeated and confined to reservations.

In other areas of the Northwest, war continued into the late 1870s. In 1877, the Nez Perce Indians, led by Chief Joseph (Hinmaton-yalatkit), were defeated after refusing to agree to treaties ceding nearly all their land in the Pacific Northwest to the United States. Privations from loss of land, lack of food, and disease led to an unsuccessful uprising of the Bannock Indians of Idaho in 1878.

The Southwest came under United States control as a result of the Mexican War. In 1847, Pueblo Indians rose up against settlers at Taos (later in New Mexico) and were defeated. But relations between settlers and the Pueblos, Pimas, and Papagos were usually peaceful. The Navajos and Apaches retaliated when settlers seized their lands and destroyed their animals and gardens. The Navajos were overpowered in the 1860s and forced onto a reservation. But the Apaches fought on. Even after they too were restricted to reservations, small bands continued to mount raids. When the Apache leader Geronimo (Goyathlay) finally surrendered in 1886, Indian resistance in the Southwest ended.

Around 1850 the tribes of the Great Plains had begun attacking wagon trains carrying settlers westward. They were angered by ill-treatment from the settlers and by the driving away of buffalo herds on which they were dependent for food, clothing, and shelter. Efforts by the Army and the government to preserve peace led to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. The Plains tribes promised to confine themselves to designated hunting grounds, and the government agreed to keep settlers out. But when the government violated the treaty in 1865 by starting to construct forts and a wagon road to mining camps in Montana Territory, the Oglala Sioux under Red Cloud (Mahpiua Luta) attacked and destroyed several forts. By the terms of a new peace treaty in 1868, the government stopped the road construction, dismantled the forts, and again guaranteed the Indian reserve.

In 1871 Congress decided that Indian tribes were no longer to be recognized as sovereign powers with whom treaties must be made. Although existing treaties were still to be considered valid, violations continued to occur. The treaty of 1868 had made the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory part of a large Sioux reservation. The discovery of gold there in 1874 started a stampede of gold seekers. In 1875 the Sioux refused to sell the land to the government, which then ordered them out of the area and onto reservations. When the Sioux refused, the Army, including troops under Lieut. Col. George A. Custer, was sent to enforce the order. The main body of Indians, under the Sioux leaders Sitting Bull (Tatanka Iyotake) and Crazy Horse (Tashunke Witko), wiped out Custer's men on June 25, 1876 (see Custer).

But this was the last major military victory by the Indians. Gradually they were rounded up and confined to reservations. In a final, futile rebellion, Sitting Bull and other Sioux joined a new supernatural cult that predicted the white man would be wiped out and the Indian way of life preserved if enough Indians would perform the ceremonies known as the Ghost Dance. But the Ghost Dance movement was crushed in 1890 with the arrest and murder of Sitting Bull and the massacre by the Army of several hundred Indians at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota. This event ended the conquest of the American Indian.

Historic Relations with Government

The first federal agency to oversee governmental promises under Indian treaties was placed under the secretary of war by Congress in 1789. A Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was created within the War Department in 1824 and was transferred to the new Department of the Interior in 1849.

The BIA enforced the restrictions on Indian lands and prevented their illegal loss. The BIA helped the Indian sell or lease his land when it was legal to do so. It kept track of land inheritance when the owner died. Money deposited in the United States Treasury to the credit of Indian tribes in payment for land was administered on behalf of the Indians by the BIA.

Forcibly restricted to reservations, and finding it difficult to make them productive, the Indians came to depend on the government for the necessities of life. Many whites, regarding ownership of land as the basis of success, hoped that by owning their own farms the Indians would become independent farmers. Other whites, hungry for land, thought that too much land had already been reserved to the Indians.

Both groups of whites urged the passage of the Indian General Allotment Act of 1887. This act provided for dividing reservations, which had been held in common by the tribes, into parcels to be allotted to individual Indians. The "surplus" land, in at least one case a larger area than that divided among the Indians, was eventually sold to white homesteaders. Provisions of the act also granted citizenship to the Indians receiving parcels of land and to any other Indians who agreed to give up tribal life for "civilized" ways.

The Indian General Allotment Act resulted in the loss of tens of millions of acres of Indian land. Many Indians were unused to the idea of individual ownership of land and had little understanding of money values. They sold their allotments at absurdly low prices, spent the money, and became destitute. Where land was retained, the amount possessed by each Indian became smaller as the land was divided through inheritance. Although the solidarity of the Indian tribes was thereby endangered, the traditional tribal values and customs persisted.

Eventually it became apparent to government officials that the programs forcing Indians to adopt an alien way of life had been largely unsuccessful. In 1934 Congress enacted the Indian Reorganization (Wheeler-Howard) Act, which ended the allotment policy. The new law's most important provisions reestablished tribes as political entities and partially restored their internal sovereignty. A revival of Indian culture and religion was promoted.

Under the new law many of the tribes set up governments patterned after that of the United States. The tribes wrote constitutions and bylaws, set up executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and proceeded to elect tribal officials by secret ballot. The new law appropriated money for buying back some of the "surplus" land that had passed out of Indian ownership. Money was also provided for better educational and medical facilities and for general economic development.

The tribes used the powers granted in 1934 to remove white men from their land and to assert their legal rights to its natural resources. But growing attacks on the Indian Reorganization Act finally bore fruit when in 1953 Congress declared that all federal relations with Indian tribes should be terminated as soon as possible. Congress also permitted the state governments to assume civil and criminal jurisdiction over Indian reservations without the consent of the tribes occupying them. The tribes fought strenuously against termination laws in court actions and in appeals to the public. By the 1960s, termination as a national Indian policy was dying. But in the meantime, federal responsibility for a number of tribes, such as the Klamath of Oregon and the Menominee of Wisconsin, had been terminated. Many tribes also fought to regain jurisdiction over their reservations from the state governments. Some tribes pressed claims to land taken in the 19th century and earlier.

The Indian Reorganization Act had not given the tribes control of the federal funds that were spent on reservations. But the Indians took advantage of government programs for the poor created by the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. The success of the Indian programs developed under this act spurred other agencies aiding the Indians, including the BIA, to let the tribes assume greater control over the funds given them. Indians also took advantage of the civil rights movement to press their cause.

Indian Life in Modern America

The American Indian population in the United States was about 1,400,000 in 1980. It had increased sharply from 343,000 in 1950, 524,000 in 1960, and 800,000 in 1970. California, Oklahoma, and Arizona--each with Indian populations of more than 150,000 in 1980--led the states.

Other states with large numbers of Indians were New Mexico, North Carolina, Alaska, Washington, and South Dakota.

Government Control of Indian Affairs

The United States Congress has complete authority over Indian affairs. It can disband the Indian tribes as it did under the Indian General Allotment Act of 1887 and the termination legislation of the 1950s, or it can permit them to organize as it did under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Congress can overrule court decisions dealing with Indian tribes.

Congress exercises its authority over Indian affairs through the Indian Affairs subcommittees of the Interior and Insular Affairs committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Congress also controls Indian affairs through appropriations. Money to support the tribal organizations, to pay for social services and education, and to provide development capital is appropriated through the House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees on Interior and Related Agencies.

In 1924 all the Indians in the United States were made citizens. They now possess the same citizenship rights in the states where they reside as do other citizens of those states. However, those Indians who are members of federally recognized tribes or who live on individually owned restricted or trust land enjoy a special status. Their tribes are political entities which generally are outside the jurisdiction of the individual states in which they are located, and their treaty rights are still valid.

Most of these tribes were formed under the provisions of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. They have the power to tax their membership and make certain laws, to issue charters, to regulate marriage and divorce, and so forth. This authority is recognized by the federal government and by the individual states. Those tribes that were not put under state civil and criminal jurisdiction have full civil jurisdiction on their reservations and jurisdiction over all but major crimes--such as murder, arson, and larceny--which are under federal jurisdiction.

Title to tribal land and to restricted land belonging to individual Indians is held in trust for the Indians by the United States government. These trust lands and the proceeds therefrom are tax-exempt. Indians residing on their tribal reservations or on restricted land are eligible for services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the Department of the Interior and from the Indian Health Service of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The BIA also serves Indians living in the cities.

Prior to the restoration of tribal governing bodies under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the Department of the Interior, acting through the BIA had complete control of the Indian reservations. The Department of the Interior still legally controls many aspects of Indian life, such as regulating tribal attorney contracts and authorizing the leasing of Indian land. In addition, the approval of the secretary of the interior must be obtained before any Indian land in trust status--either tribal or individual--can be alienated from Indian ownership.

The Department of the Interior is also responsible for the protection of Indian interests. Often, however, the department has been indifferent to its responsibility, has substituted its judgment for that of the Indians, or has worked actively against what the Indians wanted. Cases in point were the Indian General Allotment Act of 1887 and the termination legislation of the 1950s.

The Interior Department's difficulties in meeting its responsibility also stem from internal conflicts of interest. The BIA is under the Interior Department's assistant secretary for public land management. It is almost inevitable that situations will arise, for example, in which Indian interests will conflict with those of the Bureau of Reclamation, also in the Interior Department. In most cases the Indians do not have enough political influence to force a resolution of such conflicts in their favor.

Conflicts also arise with the Justice Department, on which the Interior Department must rely to bring suit on behalf of the Indians. Often the Justice Department will fail to bring suit, especially if the suit is against the United States.

The Indian Claims Commission

Congress enacted the law establishing the Indian Claims Commission in 1946. Until then it had been necessary for the tribes to secure a jurisdictional act from Congress before they could sue the United States for land and money losses in the Court of Claims.

Under the Indian Claims Commission Act, the Indians were given a statutory limit of five years in which to file their claims. By 1951, about 600 claims had been filed. By 1970, half of the claims were still pending and one fourth had been dismissed. Awards totaling about 330 million dollars had been made on the other fourth.

The awards were based on the value of land at the time it was taken from the Indians. This meant mostly 19th-century land prices. Indians were thus being paid, in some instances, at the rate of only 50 cents an acre for land that was later worth up to 30 dollars an acre. After an award has been made in such cases, any past federal expenditures, or offsets, are deducted. Because funds from the awards are held in trust by the federal government, they are tax-exempt. Money is usually paid out on a per capita basis or is put into tribal development programs.

The Indian Claims Commission, like the Court of Claims generally, is permitted to make only money judgments. Sometimes the Indians do not want the money but rather want the return of the land. The Taos Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, for example, refused a money judgment awarded by the Indian Claims Commission. In 1970 the tribe secured Congressional passage of a bill returning the Blue Lake area of New Mexico to them.

In 1971 Congress approved the largest single land settlement--44,000,000 acres (17,800,000 hectares)--with an award of almost 1 billion dollars to the Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos of Alaska to clear the way for construction of the oil pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. In the 1980s land settlements for land in excess of several hundred thousand acres were being sought by various tribes throughout the United States. In many cases, a critical issue in the court battles over land is the fact that much of it was bought by individuals and corporations without knowledge of Indian claims.

Other Government Involvement

Until the mid-1950s, when Indian health services were detached from the BIA and placed under the United States Public Health Service in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the BIA had sole responsibility for the provision of services to the federally recognized tribes. However, the Indians did participate in some of the federal New Deal programs of the 1930s. They also receive such benefits as old-age assistance from programs under the Social Security Administration. Besides the services connected with the execution of its trust function, the BIA provides services in the areas of education, welfare, and economic development.

Indians were equally eligible with non-Indians for an array of federal programs created for the benefit of the poor during the 1960s. The Departments of State, Treasury, and Defense also developed major programs to help the Indians. Among the independent agencies with programs that benefited Indians were the Environmental Protection Agency, the Commission on Civil Rights, and the Small Business Administration. In 1968 the National Council on Indian Opportunity was created to coordinate the federal programs, but it was discontinued in 1974.

The Administration for Native Americans, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, is concerned with the social and economic development of all Native Americans. This administration coordinates legislative proposals, develops social and economic policy, and administers a grant program on behalf of Native Americans. In November 1989 United States President George Bush signed legislation to establish a new National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., as part of the Smithsonian Institution. The legislation included a promise by the Smithsonian to return thousands of Native American human remains from its collection to modern tribal groups. Many of the new museum's artifacts will be contributed by the Heye Foundation's Museum of the American Indian in New York City.

The Modern Indian Reservation

An Indian reservation appears much like the surrounding countryside. It resembles a small town, and sometimes a town has grown up around it. Unless a motorist were to leave the main highway and drive by a small Indian community or catch sight of a pueblo or a hogan, only a sign giving the name of the reservation would reveal that the vehicle was in Indian country. The Indian agency, or local headquarters of the various federal offices on the reservation, may be on farming, grazing, or forest land. Here also are the tribal office, schools, stores, and churches.

Until the 1960s most tribes subsisted on the natural resources of their reservations. Farming, ranching, logging, and fishing were the usual kinds of occupations. Other Indians received small royalties from mineral rights; eked out a living as seasonal workers in orchards and as part-time workers on railroads, roads, or farms; or worked for local federal agencies or merchants. In some areas Indians made a living by making and selling their own handmade products.

Specialized Indian Education

Many of the treaties provided for the establishment of schools. Congress also provided schools for Indian children where other educational facilities were not available. In 1979 the BIA operated more than 200 schools for Indian children and 15 dormitories for children attending public schools. In 1979 there were about 44,000 Indian students enrolled in boarding, day, and dormitory schools that were operated by the BIA. There were about 6,400 Indian students enrolled in private, mission, and tribal-operated schools. Increasingly, as fewer Indian families live on reservations, more children are attending the public schools in their local school districts.

Congressional education appropriations to the BIA are limited to the education of children who are one-fourth or more Indian and of native children in Alaska. An exception is the Cherokee agency, where children who are less than one-fourth Indian may also attend federal schools. Less than half of the BIA budget is used for education, and there are supplemental funds from other agencies.

The Navajo Community College in Arizona, which was established in 1969, is the oldest chartered tribal community college. There are now more than a dozen tribal community colleges. There are also vocational-technical schools above the high-school level.

Economic Development

Before the 1960s the only alternatives for those Indians unable to find work on their reservations were accepting welfare assistance or migrating to the cities. When the federal Indian policy changed from tribal termination to tribal self-determination, large sums of government money began to pour into the reservations. In 1967 the Economic Development Administration began a program to assist Indians residing on trust lands. The program's direction has been largely in the field of planning and technical assistance, with funding for the construction of community and commercial projects. The Office of Minority Business Enterprise also helps to promote expansion of Indian businesses.

Some of the industries created were electronic parts assembly plants on reservations in Nevada, North Dakota, and New Mexico; prefabricated home manufacturing plants on reservations in North Dakota and Montana; furniture plants on reservations in Utah and New Mexico; and a semiconductor plant on the Navajo reservation at Shiprock, N.M.

Tribes were also working to expand their tourist industries. New Indian-owned campgrounds were set up in Arizona and South Dakota. The Cheyenne River Sioux of South Dakota owned the telephone system on their reservation. The Navajos operated the public utilities on their reservation. One of the long-range benefits of these developments was that such arrangements enabled the tribes to tax their membership and opened the way to economic self-sufficiency for their tribal government operations.

Indian Activism

One of the first modern Indian political organizations to be formed was the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI). Established in 1944, the NCAI sought to act as representative for the Indian tribes at the national level. Its membership included delegates from each of its member tribes as well as individual Indians. The NCAI was active in influencing legislation.

Many tribes have also organized politically at the state and local levels. The United Sioux of South Dakota was formed in an attempt to prevent the state from assuming jurisdiction over the Indian reservations in South Dakota. The Sioux were successful in securing enough signatures on a petition to have the assumption-of-jurisdiction law submitted to the voters, but the measure was defeated.

In the 1960s Indians in the state of Washington began agitating to maintain their traditional right to fish in the streams in Washington free from state regulation. By the provisions of century-old treaties, the Indians had given up most of their land along the rivers but had inserted articles in the treaties specifying that their people could continue to fish in their "usual and accustomed places" along the rivers. In 1964 the newly organized Survival of American Indians Association began to dramatize the issue of Indian fishing rights by staging demonstrations, or fish-ins. Shots were exchanged when a group of armed Indians staged a fish-in on the Puyallup River in 1970; 54 Indians were arrested for violating state fishing regulations. The Indians also carried their fight into the courts, but the various decisions that were rendered were vague and contradictory.

In 1966 a more militant organization, the American Indian Movement (AIM), was founded to force reorganization of the BIA in order to make it more responsive to the needs of native Americans. It also supported tribal demands for the return of Indian lands. In 1973 about 200 armed AIM supporters, led by Russell Means and David Banks, occupied a South Dakota reservation in a 71-day siege that became known as the second battle of Wounded Knee. They declared it the Independent Oglala Sioux Nation. The area was the site of a bloody massacre of Indians by the United States Army in 1890. During the takeover, hostages were seized and government blockades cut off supplies.

Urban Indians

During World War II many Indians left the reservations to seek work in the war industries of the big cities. This start of Indian urban migration coincided with the government's efforts to get the Indians off the reservations and curtail its responsibilities.

In the early 1950s the BIA launched a relocation program to speed the migration. The Indians, who could find little work on the economically depressed reservations, were eager to take advantage of the program. But as the decade progressed, participants in the relocation program came to include many who were poorly educated and thus ill-equipped to succeed in an urban environment. But the newcomers were refused social services in the city because they were "BIA Indians." At the same time the BIA refused them services on the grounds that they were no longer living on or near a reservation. The BIA relocation program failed because the Indians either returned to the reservations or remained in the cities and made unsuccessful adjustments to urban life.

In 1969 the Office of Indian Affairs in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare sponsored an all-Indian study group called the Task Force on Racially Isolated Urban Indians. It was to investigate the urban Indian problem and develop a program leading to its solution. The study group found that the needs common to urban Indians were: (1) more effective systems of social-service delivery; (2) expanded programs for Indian youth; (3) better physical facilities to house Indian centers; (4) additional staff to work in those centers; (5) training for staff and board members of the centers; and (6) improved techniques for informing urban Indians of programs and resources available to them. The task force recommended the creation of a model Indian center demonstration project. Some centers were funded in 1971. Enactment of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act in 1973 was another attempt to help urban Indians by providing grants for manpower programs, including vocational training, to the unemployed, underemployed, and disadvantaged.

Native Alaskans

There are more than 85,000 Inuit (Eskimo), Indians, and Aleuts in Alaska. Most live in towns and villages. The Inuit live on the western and northern coasts along the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. The Indians live in southeastern, interior, and south-central Alaska. The Aleuts live in the southwest, along the Alaska Peninsula and on the Aleuti