Native Americans or American Indians are the Indigenous people and cultures of the United States and

were the original settlers.

We usually refer to Native Americans as American Indians, this is because when Columbus had first landed

in America, he thought he had sailed all the way to the country of India. He called the locals Indians and the

name stuck for some time.

GOING THROUGH BERING STRAIT...

According to the most generally accepted theory of the settlement of the Americas, migration came from

Eurasia through Bering Strait (a land bridge that used to join Siberia to Alaska during a period of glaciations /

between 60,000 – 25,000 years ago), the numbers of migration are unknown but it is believed that it has

stopped for about 12,000 ago when Bering land bridge flooded. In 1986 there was a study made by linguist

Joseph Greenberg which claims that were three major waves of migration happened according to genetic

data and language differences, this theory was full approved in 2012.

Availability of unobstructed routes for human migration southward from Beringia

during the ice age (summarized)

Dates BCE Beringia "Land Bridge" Coastal route Mackenzie Corridor

38,000–34,000 accessible (open) open closed

34,000–30,000 submerged (closed) open open

30,000–22,000 accessible (open) closed open

22,000–15,000 accessible (open) open closed

15,000–today submerged (closed) open open

SOCIETY, REGIONS AND LANGUAGE

After the migration or migrations, it was several thousand years before the first complex civilizations

arose, at the earliest emerging 5000 BCE. Paleo-Indian inhabitants of the Americas were hunter-gatherers.

Many Arctic, Subarctic, and coastal peoples hunted and gathered, while agriculture was adopted in

appropriate regions. Within this timeframe, roughly pertaining to the Archaic Period,

numerous archaeological cultures have been identified.

Due to the vastness and variety of the climates, ecology, vegetation, fauna, and landforms, ancient peoples

migrated and coalesced separately into numerous separate peoples of distinct linguistic and cultural

groups. According to the oral histories of many of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, they have been

living there since their genesis, described by a wide range of traditional creation stories.

The Native Americans developed individual groups or nations. It is estimated that when the first Europeans

arrived in 1492 there were 15 to 20 million Native Americans living in the land. They lived throughout North

and South America. In the United States there were Native Americans in Alaska, Hawaii, and the mainland of

the United States. Different tribes and cultures lived in different areas. Sometimes smaller tribes were part

of a bigger tribe or nation. As best as historians can tell, these tribes were fairly peaceful prior to the arrival

of Columbus and the Europeans. There were hundreds of tribes throughout the United States when

Columbus first arrived. Many of them are well known such as the Cherokee, Apache, and the Navajo. They

spoke over 1,000 languages. The Native Americans throughout North America had a number of similarities.

Each group or nation spoke the same language, and almost all were organized around an extended clan or

family. They usually descended from one individual. Each group had a series of leaders, in some cased the

leaders inherited their rolls in others they were elected.

The regions they were organized were:

Arctic/Subarctic - These Native Americans survived some of the coldest weather on the planet. They include the Inuit people of Alaska who l ived primarily off of whale and seal meat.

Californian - Tribes living in the area that is today the state of California such as the Mohave and the Miwok.

Great Basin - This is a dry area and was one of the last to have contact with Europeans. The Great Basin tribes include the Washo, Ute, and Shoshone.

Great Plains - One of the largest areas and perhaps most famous group of American Indians, the Great Plains Indians were known for hunting bison. They were nomadic people who lived in teepees and they moved constantly following the bison herds. Tribes of the Great Plains include the Blackfoot, Arapahoe, Cheyenne, Comanche and Crow.

Northeast Woodlands - Includes the Iroquois Indians of New York, the Wappani, and the Shawnee. Northwest Coast/Plateau - These Native Americans were known for their houses made of cedar

planks as well as their totem poles. Tribes include the Nez Perce, Salish, and the Tlingit. Southeast - The largest Native American tribe, the Cherokee, lived in the Southeast. Other tribes

included the Seminole in Florida and the Chickasaw. These tribes tended to stay in one place and were skilled farmers.

Southwest - The southwest was dry and the Native Americans lived in tiered homes made out of adobe bricks. Famous tribes here include the Navajo Nation, the Apache, and the Pueblo Indians.

Major Groups organized by language:

Algonquian - A large group of over 100 tribes that speak the Algonquian languages. They spread across the entire country and include tribes such as the Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Mohicans, and the Ottawas.

Apache - The Apaches are a group of six tribes that spoke the Apache language. Iroquois - The Iroquois League was a grouping of five Native American Nations: the Seneca,

Onondaga, Mohawk, Oneida, and Cayuga. The Tuscarora nation joined later. These nations were located in the Northeastern part of the United States.

Sioux Nation - The Great Sioux Nation is a group of peoples generally called the Sioux. They are divided into three major groups: Lakota, Western Dakota, and Eastern Dakota. The Sioux were Great Plains Indians.

WHAT DO WE EAT?

Depending on the tribe and the area they lived in, Native Americans got their food by different methods

including farming, hunting, fishing, and gathering. Most tribes used a combination of these four ways to get

their food, but many specialized in one area such as farming or hunting.

- Many American Indian tribes grew crops for food, but the

experts in farming tended to come from the southern states like the

Southeast and the Southwest. Tribes like the Navajo and the Cherokee

grew large crops and employed advanced farming procedures such as

irrigation to bring water to dry areas and crop rotation to keep the

ground fertile over many years. They would grow enough extra food so

they could store it and survive the winter. The main crop that the Native

Americans grew was corn, which they called maize. Maize was eaten by many of the American

Indian tribes because it could be stored for the winter and ground into flour. Maize was eaten nearly

daily by many tribes and was a major part of much of American Indian culture. All of the maize plant

was used including the husks for crafts and the cob for fuel in fires. Although maize was the primary

crop, many other crops were cultivated by the tribes including squash, beans, pumpkins, cotton, and

potatoes.

- Many tribes got most of their food from hunting. Hunting was a big part of Native American culture.

- Native Americans in the Great Plains area of the country relied heavily on the buffalo, also called the

bison. Not only did they eat the buffalo as food, but they also used much of the buffalo for other

areas of their lives. They used the bones for tools. They used the hide for blankets, clothes, and to

make the covers of their tepees. They even made rope from bison hair and used the tendons as

thread when sewing. Almost every part of the buffalo was used. The bison is a big and powerful

animal that travelled in large herds. In order to hunt them the American Indians had to

be clever and work together. They would often get the buffalo to stampede off a cliff or

into a pit.

- In other areas of the country the American Indians hunted using weapons such as the

bow and arrow or using snares and traps. They hunted deer, ducks, rabbits and other

animals.

- In the coastal areas or near large lakes, tribes would specialize in fishing. They often

used spears or nets to catch fish. Fish could be smoked or dried to be stored for the winter. In the

north, some Native Americans would ice fish. This is where they would cut a hole in the ice and fish

using spears.

- Gathering is when people get their food from the environment around them. Native Americans

would gather food such as berries, nuts, or other fruit from naturally growing trees and berry

bushes. Most Native Americans used gathering to get some portion of their food.

HOME SWEET HOME

Since North America is such a big continent, different tribes had very different weather to contend

with. In the Arizona deserts, temperatures can hit 120 degrees Fahrenheit, and in the Alaskan tundra, -

50 is not unusual. Naturally, Native Americans developed different types of dwellings to survive in these

different environments. Also, different American Indian tribes had different traditional lifestyles. Some

tribes were agricultural-- they lived in settled villages and farmed the land for corn and vegetables. They

wanted houses that would last a long time. Other tribes were more nomadic, moving frequently from

place to place as they hunted and gathered food and resources. They needed houses that were portable

or easy to build. Here are descriptions and pictures of some of the Native American house styles the

people developed over the years to fit these needs:

Wigwam Homes: used by Algonquian Indians in the woodland regions.

Wigwams are small houses, usually 8-10 feet tall. Wigwams are made of

wooden frames which are covered with woven mats and sheets of

birchbark. The frame can be shaped like a dome, like a cone, or like a

rectangle with an arched roof. They were easy to build.

Longhouses: Their structure is similar to Wigwams but they’re longer. Mats and

wood screens divided the longhouse into separate rooms. Each longhouse housed

an entire clan-- as many as 60 people! The Iroquois were farming people who lived

in permanent villages.

Tepees: Tepees were tent-like American Indian houses used by Plains tribes. Like

modern tents, tepees are carefully designed to set up and break down quickly. As a tribe

moved from place to place, each family would bring their tipi poles and hide tent along

with them.

Grass Houses: Grass houses are good homes for people in a warm climate. In the northern

plains, winters are too cold to make homes out of prairie grass. But in the southern plains

of Texas, houses like these were comfortable for the people who used them.

Wattle and Daub Houses (or Asi): are permanent structures that take a lot of effort to build.

Like longhouses, they are good homes for agricultural people who intended to stay in one

place, like the Cherokees and Creeks. Making wattle and daub houses requires a fairly warm

climate to dry the plaster.

Chickees: Chickee houses consisted of thick posts supporting a thatched roof and a flat

wooden platform raised several feet off the ground. They did not have any walls.

Chickees are good homes for people living in a hot, swampy climate. The long posts

keep the house from sinking into marshy earth, and raising the floor of the hut off the

ground keeps swamp animals like snakes out of the house. Walls or permanent house

coverings are not necessary in a tropical climate where it never gets cold.

Adobe Houses (aka as Pueblos): Adobe pueblos are modular, multi-story houses

made of adobe (clay and straw baked into hard bricks) or of large stones cemented

together with adobe. Each adobe unit is home to one family, like a modern

apartment. Adobe houses are good homes to build in a warm, dry climate where

adobe can be easily mixed and dried. These are homes for farming people who have

no need to move their village to a new location.

Earthen Houses: Earthen house is a general term referring to several types of Native

American homes including Navajo hogans, Sioux earth lodges, subarctic sod houses,

and Native American pit houses of the West Coast and Plateau. Earthen houses made

by different tribes had different designs, but all were semi-subterranean dwellings --

basement-like living spaces dug from the earth, with a domed mound built over the

top. Earthen houses are good for people who want permanent homes and live in an area that is not

forested. Living partially underground has several benefits, especially in harsh climates-- the earth offers

natural protection from wind and strong weather.

Plank Houses: Plank houses are made of long, flat planks of cedar wood lashed to a

wooden frame. Native American plank houses look rather similar to old European

houses, but the Indians didn't learn to build them from Europeans-- this style of

house was used on the Northwest Coast long before Europeans arrived. Plank houses

are good houses for people in cold clim ates with lots of tall trees. Only coastal tribes,

who make their living by fishing, made houses like these.

Igloos: Not all Inuit people used igloos -- some built sod houses instead, using

whale bones instead of wooden poles for a frame. Igloos are good houses for the

polar region, where the earth is frozen, the snow cover is deep, and there are few

trees. Snow is a good insulator, and dense blocks of ice offer good protection

against the arctic winds.

Brush Shelters: are temporary Native American dwellings used by many tribes. Brush

shelters are typically very small, like a camping tent. Most Native Americans only made a

brush shelter when they were out camping in the wilderness. But some migratory tribes

who lived in warm dry climates, such as the Apache tribes, built brush shelters as homes

on a regular basis. They can be assembled quickly from materials that are easy to find in

the environment, so people who build villages of brush shelters can move around freely

without having to drag teepee poles.

WHAT TO BELIEVE IN? ...

Native American religion is hard to explain. This is because there were very many tribes the religious

principles were passed down verbally. Many of these groups had their own beliefs though many of them

were similar in the major aspects. The religion and spiritual beliefs of Native Americans played an

important role in their everyday life. Each tribe and peoples had their own unique beliefs, legends, and

rituals, but they all believed that the world was filled with spirits.

To most of us the mention of religion brings to mind notions of God, a supreme over ruler, and

decidedly personal being. Nothing just like this is found among the Indians. Yet, they seem to have

formulated rather complex and abstract notions of a controlling power or series of powers pervading the

universe.

Native American religion tends to focus

around nature. The landscape, animals,

plants, and other environmental elements

play a major role in the religion of Native

Americans. Many of the legends passed

down were an attempt to explain events

that occurred in nature.

Most Native American tribes have a long

tradition of telling stories about their

history and beliefs. These stories and

legends weren't written down, but were passed down orally from generation to generation. A lot of their

stories had to do with nature and how certain things came to be. Most tribes had a story about how the

earth and people were created called creation myths.

Native American religion includes a number of practices, ceremonies, and traditions. These

ceremonies may be in honour of a number of events. The practice of taking certain hallucinogens was

commonly used to gain greater insight or communicate with the gods. Ceremonies may include feasts,

music, dances, and other performances.

Symbolism, especially with animals, is often a common part of Native American religion. Animals were

used to represent certain ideas, characteristics, and spirits. Some Native American tribes used animals to

tell the story of creation. Some creation stories, one by the Tlingit Indians, were centered on a raven.

In the past, Native American religion was not classified as a religion. Their beliefs were not understood

and the complexity of their religion was not seen. This was partly the result of not having a written set of

guidelines.

In the place of preachers and clergymen were shaman and medicine men.

These men were sometimes said to communicate with the gods. They were

wise and experienced and they enjoyed a higher level of status among their

groups. They had important roles in decisions, ceremonies, and traditions.

Native American religion is something that is hard to define. To gain a full

understanding you really need to grow up submersed in the beliefs, practices,

and traditions of a tribe.

Some facts of their beliefs:

- GUARDIAN SPIRITS

The Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest believed that all living things were watched over by

guardian spirits. This included animals, trees, people, and even some inanimate objects like the

wind, storms, and water. Young boys would have to discover their own personal guardian spirit

before they could become men. Each boy would venture off alone to commune with nature lo oking

for a sign from his guardian spirit. Once found, this spirit would bestow a special characteristic or

power on the boy and he would return to the tribe a man.

- THE GREAT SPIRITS

The Great Spirit was a supreme being that watched over everything including the other spirits of

the world. There were different versions of the Great Spirit. Both the Sioux and the Algonquian

Nations had the concept of a Great Spirit. The Blackfoot people believed in the "Old Man" who

created all things and taught the Blackfoot how to gain spiritual wisdom.

- MEDICINE MEN AND WOMEN

The spiritual leaders of the Native American Indians were the medicine men and women of the

village or tribe. These men and women often used herbs to help heal sick people. They also calle d on

the spirits to help the tribe asking for assistance in areas such as healing, good weather, and help in

battle. Sometimes the medicine man or woman was a respected elder who was known for being

wise and who others went to for advice.

- THREE WORLDS

Some of the Indian tribes in the Southeastern United States believed in the

"three worlds" including the Upper World, the Lower World, and This World.

The Upper World was considered perfect and pure. The Lower World was scary

and chaotic. In between the two was This World where man lived. The spirits

were able to travel between the different worlds and man was responsible for

maintaining a balance between the three worlds.

- RITES OF PASSAGE

One of the most important times in any Native American's li fe was their coming of age. This was

when they went from being considered a child to being an adult. Different tribes had different ways

of celebrating this moment. In some tribes the boy or girl had to undergo an ordeal to prove they

were worthy. Young men who passed the ritual would often be given a new name to indicate their

status.

- VISION QUESTS

In order to get closer to the spirits, some men went on vision

quests. They would go off into the wilderness alone. Usually they

would fast (not eat) and sometimes they would take drugs or inflict

wounds on their bodies. In the end, they hoped to gain a vision

from the spirits that would guide them or help them make an

important life decision.

- KACHINAS

Indian tribes in the Southwest called their spirits kachinas. They

made special decorated kachina dolls that represented the

different spirits. They also made kachina masks that helped them

to channel the spirits.

Creation Myth:

~ There were five main gods in the world. The leader of the gods was the Great Hare. The

other four gods were the winds from each corner of the earth.

One day the Great Hare created people. He made a number of people and animals. He wasn't

sure what to do with them so he put them into a large bag. He wanted to make a place for them

to live, so he made the forests, rivers, and lakes. He created deer to live in the forests.

The other four gods, however, weren't happy with what the Great Hare had made. They went

into the forests and killed the deer. When the Great Hare found the dead deer, he was

saddened. He tossed the skins of the deer throughout the forest and many more deer sprang to

life. He then let the people out of the bag and spread them around the forest to live together

with the deer.

How People Got Different Languages Myth (According to Blackfoot Tribe beliefs)

One day a great flood moved through the land of the Blackfoot covering everything. All the

people gathered at the top of the tallest mountain. The Great Spirit, or "Old Man", appeared on

the mountain and turned the water into different colours. He had each group of people drink a

different colour of water. They all began to speak different languages. The Blackfoot drank the

black water and spoke the Blackfoot language.

IT’S A FASHION

The clothing of Native Americans was closely related to the environment in which they lived and their religious beliefs. Ranging from tropical and desert regions, to woodlands and mountains, to Arctic tundra, Native Americans developed diverse styles of cl othing. Native American clothing was made from natural resources and materials, and was dependent of the resources available in the region; materials included large mammals; buffalo, bear, deer, elk, moose, wildcats, small mammals; otters, rabbits, beavers, weasels, bird-feathers, fish-skin and snake-skin. The costumes and clothing of Native American people varied from tribe to tribe. Different tribes would be recognized by their clothing and by how their costumes were decorated.

They used to combine Animal skins, plant fibers & woven cloth (sheep wool,

cotton, feathers and even human hair). When the Europeans arrived many of the

American Indian tribes were forced into contact with each other. They began to see

how others dressed and took the ideas that they liked. Soon many tribes began to

dress more alike. Woven blankets, fringed buckskin tunics and leggings, and

feather headdresses became popular among many tribes.

AFTER STRANGERS’ ARRIVAL...

Religion

Many groups of colonists went to the Americas searching for the

right to practice their religion without persecution. The Protestant

Reformation of the 16th century broke the unity of Western

Christendom and led to the formation of numerous new religious

sects, which often faced persecution by governmental authorities. In

England, many people came to question the organization of the Church of England by the end of the 16th

century. One of the primary manifestations of this was the Puritan movement, which sought to "purify" the

existing Church of England of its many residual Catholic rites that they believed had no mention in the Bible.

A strong believer in the notion of rule by divine right, Charles I, King of England and Scotland, persecuted

religious dissenters. Waves of repression led to the migration of about 20,000 Puritans to New

England between 1629 and 1642, where they founded multiple colonies. Later in the century, the

new Pennsylvania colony was given to William Penn in settlement of a debt the king owed his father. Its

government was set up by William Penn in about 1682 to become primarily a refuge for persecuted English

Quakers; but others were welcomed. Baptists, Quakers and German and Swiss Protestants flocked to

Pennsylvania. The lure of cheap land, religious freedom and the right to improve themselves with their own

hand was very attractive.

Slavery

Slavery existed in the Americas, prior to the arrival of Europeans, as the Natives often captured and held

other tribes' members as captives. Some of these captives were even forced to undergo human

sacrifice under some tribes, such as the Aztecs. The Spanish followed with

the enslavement of local aborigines in the Caribbean. As the native

populations declined (mostly from European diseases, but also and

significantly from forced exploitation and careless murder), they were

often replaced by Africans imported through a large commercial slave

trade.

By the 18th century, the overwhelming number of black slaves was such that Native American slavery was

less commonly used. Africans, who were taken aboard slave ships to the Americas, were primarily obtained

from their African homelands by coastal tribes who captured and sold them. The high incidence of disease

nearly always fatal to Europeans kept nearly all the slave capture activities confined to native African tribes.

Rum, guns and gunpowder were some of the major trade items exchanged for slaves.

Diseases and population loss

The European and Asian lifestyle included a long history of sharing close quarters with domesticated

animals such as cows, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, and various domesticated fowl, which had resulted

in epidemic diseases unknown in the Americas. Thus the large-scale contact with Europeans after 1492

introduced novel germs to the indigenous people of the Americas.

If we were to compare the overall health of American Indians in North America with that of Europeans in

1500, we would find that Indians were generally healthier. There are a number of reasons for this.

First, Indians had better diets and they were less likely to face starvation and hunger. The first Europeans to

reach North America often commented on the large size of the Indians. American Indians were larger than

the Europeans simply due to better diets and less starvation. Unlike the Europeans, Indian political leaders

did not store their wealth but accumulated prestige by giving food to those in need. No one in an Indian

village or an Indian band starved unless all did so.

Secondly, American Indian populations did not have many of the infectious diseases that were endemic in

Europe. A number of reasons have been suggested for this lack of disease. Some scientists have suggested

that Indian people came to this continent through the cold, harsh climate of the north and that this acted as

a germ filter which screened out infectious diseases. Others have suggested that Indians were disease -free

because of the lack of domesticated animals. Measles, smallpox, and influenza are among the diseases which

are closely associated with domesticated animals. Lacking the large domesticated animals, there were

comparatively few opportunities in this hemisphere for the transfer of infections from animal reservoirs of

disease to human beings.

European Diseases:

The diseases brought to this continent by the Europeans included bubonic plague, chicken pox, pneumonic

plague, cholera, diphtheria, influenza, measles, scarlet fever, smallpox, typhus, tuberculosis, and whooping

cough. The diseases introduced in the Americas by the Europeans were crowd diseases: that is, individuals

who have once contracted the disease and survived become immune to the disease. In a small population,

the disease will become extinct. Measles, for instance, requires a population of about 300,000 to survive. If

the population size drops below this threshold, the virus can cause illness and death, but after one epidemic,

the virus itself dies out.

Another important factor in the European diseases was the

presence of domesticated animals. The source of many of

the infections was the domesticated animals which lived in

close proximity with the humans.

Overall, hundreds of thousands of Indians died of European

diseases during the first two centuries following contact. In

terms of death tolls, smallpox killed the greatest number of Indians, followed by measles, influenza, and

bubonic plague.

Epidemics of smallpox (1518, 1521, 1525, 1558, 1589), typhus (1546), influenza(1558), diphtheria (1614)

and measles (1618) swept ahead of initial European contact, killing between 10 million and 20

million people, up to 95% of theindigenous population of the Americas. The cultural and political instability

attending these losses appears to have been of substantial aid in the efforts of various colonists to seize the

great wealth in land and resources of which indigenous societies had customarily made use.

Such diseases yielded human mortality of an unquestionably enormous gravity and scale – and this has

profoundly confused efforts to determine its full extent with any true precision. Estimates of the pre-

Columbian population of the Americas vary tremendously.

Others have argued that significant variations in population size over pre -Columbian history are reason to

view higher-end estimates with caution. Such estimates may reflect historical population maxima, while

indigenous populations may have been at a level somewhat below these maxima or in a moment of decline

in the period just prior to contact with Europeans. Indigenous populations hit their ultimate lows in most

areas of the Americas in the early 20th century; in a number of cases, growth has returned.