Native Americans

Dear students,

Yesterday we started reading an article about Native Americans. I would like you to get more information about this subject, so I'm posting something else here. Read, watch, enjoy!

Irena

Writing assignment: 

     You read the post about Native Americans. Think about this subject and write 2 or 3 paragraphs about what you think. Don't be afraid to express yourselves. Write your opinion in a Post a Comment section under the post. 

     I'm giving you some questions to make your writing easier. You don't have to answer them, but you can use them as some ideas for your writing. 

     Think about Native Americans. Who are they? Where did they come from and why? Why did they settle here? How was their life from the beginning and later? How did they start? Was it easy for them? Think about their lives before and after the Europeans came to North America. How do you think the Europeans changed the lives of Native American? Is history of Native Americans important to us?

Irena

I'd like to start with the following. This is a Native American Meditation Music video. There is nothing to watch here, just listen, so you can listen to it and read the post.

Who are Native Americans? 

In the United States, Native Americans are considered to be people whose pre-Columbian ancestors were indigenous (local or native) to the lands within the nation's modern boundaries. These peoples were composed of numerous distinct tribes, bands, and ethnic groups, and many of these groups survive intact today as sovereign nations.




First, I'd like to give you some general facts:

• American Indians are also called Native Americans or Indians.


• Indians lived in the Americas (North and South) long before people from Europe arrived.


• Scientists believe they may have traveled from Asia and Europe to the Americas by crossing the Bering Strait - the small piece of land that connected 2 continents - Asia and America.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
  
  
  
    
• The name Indian was given by Christopher Columbus who thought he had reached East India.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
  
  
  
                                                                   


• Most Indians lived in tribes. A tribe is a group of people who share the same ancestors, customs, beliefs, and leaders.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
• Some tribes built cities, and nations; others remained independent.
• Tribes lived by gathering food, growing food, fishing, or hunting.

    
• There were several types of Indian homes: tipis or teepees, wigwams or wickiups, and cliff dwellings or caves.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
  
        

• Millions of Indians were killed by European and African diseases and wars with American settlers and other countries.


• The disease that killed the most Indians was smallpox.


• The arrival of Europeans in the Americas brought about the end of most Indian populations and cultures.


• Here is a list of some American Indian tribes:

1. Cherokee
2. Navajo
3. Sioux
4. Pueblo
5. Apache
6. Blackfoot
7. Crow
8. Huron
9. Hopi

and more.

If you need more information about the tribes and languages they speak, here is a link - CLICK HERE 

Watch the video about Squanto, Native American boy.

Here are some civics facts:

1. November is National American Indian Heritage Month.

2. States with the largest American Indian populations are: California, Oklahoma, Arizona, and New Mexico.

3. An Indian reservation is land that is managed by a Native American tribe. It is overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Laws on reservations can be different than the laws in the surrounding areas.

4. There are over 300 Indian reservations in the United States.

5. A little less than half of all American Indians live on reservations.

        So, basically, many thousands of years before Christopher Columbus’ ships landed in the Bahamas, a different group of people discovered America: the nomadic ancestors of modern Native Americans who hiked over a “land bridge” from Asia to what is now Alaska more than 12,000 years ago. 

        In fact, by the time European adventurers arrived in the 15th century A.D., scholars estimate that more than 50 million people were already living in the Americas. Of these, some 10 million lived in the area that would become the United States. 

       At the beginning of the 1830s, nearly 125,000 Native Americans lived on millions of acres of land in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida–land their ancestors had occupied and cultivated for generations. By the end of the decade, very few natives remained anywhere in the southeastern United States. Working on behalf of white settlers who wanted to grow cotton on the Indians’ land, the federal government forced them to leave their homelands and walk thousands of miles to a specially designated “Indian territory” across the Mississippi River. This difficult and sometimes deadly journey is known as the Trail of Tears. 

       If you want to get additional information about Native Americans, here is a video about them before Columbus.

Native American Food

What do Native American eat? The three mail kinds of Native American food are corn, squash, and beans. Other foods that have been used widely in Native American culture include greens, deer meat, berries, pumpkin, squash, and wild rice.

Native Americans were resourceful and very good at using what was available to them. Food was no exception. Wherever a tribe was located, they learned what plants would grow there and how to hunt the animals in the area.

Many tribes survived mostly hunting and fishing. In the Arctic and extreme northern parts of North America, most tribes relied entirely on hunting and fishing. The reason for this was simple - nothing would grow there! Other tribes hunted mostly big game, like buffalo or caribou. 

Those tribes moved frequently in order to follow the herds. Almost all tribes hunted at least part of their food. Most tribes hunted deer and rabbits, and caught fish in rivers and lakes. Native Americans felt very strongly that they should not waste food, so they were careful to eat all of an animal that they killed.

Agriculture or farming, was very common among native tribes. Farming was most common among settled tribes who did not move around very often. It was most advanced in the Southern United States, where the warm climate created a long growing season. The tribes of the Southeast developed special methods for growing their food. They used irrigation, crop rotation and planted windbreaks to ensure their crops.

The main crops that were grown by Native Americans were corn, beans, and squash. Corn, in particular, was a very important part of the diet of Native Americans. It was referred to as maize by many Native Americans. Most Americans of today are used to corn in shades of yellow. But Native Americans grew a wide variety of corn in many different colors. They grew red, green, blue, and even black corn! Over the years, corn has been bred to be much sweeter than it was when Native Americans grew it.

Unfortunately, it’s far less healthy now than it was then. In addition to food crops, many native tribes also grew medicinal plants, cotton, and tobacco. Believe it or not, it is estimated that as much as 3/4 of the world’s foods today are food that were originally cultivated by Native Americans!

Native Americans also added to their diets by gathering foods. This meant that they gathered plants that grew wild, such as berries, nuts, and herbs. Over time, they learned which herbs could be used to cure sickness or help heal an injury.

Native American meals were prepared simply. Their food was usually eaten fresh, with little seasoning. Most food was cooked over an open fire. Corn was prepared and eaten in many different ways. They ate corn-on-the-cob, hominy, popcorn, and even baked cornbread. Many of these foods are still eaten in the areas where Native Americans passed along their foods and cultures.

Here is a video about the Wampanoag tribe.

Here is a link about Native American culture. If you'd like to read about it, please, click here - Native American Culture Link

12 Facts I Did Not Know About Native Americans

Here is a video about Native American homes. Watch it.

If you want to know these 12 things, HERE IS A LINK for you. Click on it and read, please.

You can look at oldest Native American pictures in this video.