usa 7 native americans

“melting pot” idea of America

a metaphor for immigrants from diverse backgrounds blending into one, cohesive, unified national identity, shedding old cultures to form a new, American one

the Iroquois Confederacy (Haudenosaunee-people of the Longhouse)

a powerful alliance of six indigenous nations (tribes) formed for peace and cooperation; have the oldest, continuous democracy in the world; women play an important role (every individual inherits their clan through their mother)

Pre-European Settlement of the Americas

evidence suggests first migrations occured over 11,000 years ago

Native Americans

a broad term to describe hundreds of different indigenous cultures each with their own languages, cultural and religious practices, and civil orders

contact

European settlers from Portugal, Holland, Spain, England, France, and Russia first encountered the indigenous populations of the Americas; indigenious populations were faced with European exploration, trade, and settlement from all directions

habitation

despite earlier (Puritan) narratives of “wilderness”, the Americas had long been settled and well-populated

disease

more so than war, lack of immunity (through generations of exposure) to European diseases decimated the Americas (millions died)

1775-1819

in 1775, most of the US was still Indian land; 200 years of land transfers made lands previously inhabited by Indians become official property of non-Indians; the Native population was gradually confined to small areas within the US

1820-1864

by 1820 settlers had moved into the Midwest; by 1834, starting in 1850 nearly the entire west coast of the US transferred from Indian to American hands; the only state still almost entirely in Native hands was New Mexico

1865-1894

between 1865 and 1879 vast areas of land transferred out of Indian hands, including one-third of Texas, Kansas, most of North Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, and nearly all of Nevada

1895-2013

from 1895 to 1988, Native Americans lost another two-thirds of their land to non-Natives; lost nearly half of Oklahoma, previously known as Indian Territory; major source of losses was the Dawes Act (a law that broke up communal tribes into individual plots for Native American families, resulted in catastrophic land loss)

the Indian Removal Act (1830)

a law signed by President Andrew Jackson that allowed the federal government to force Native American tribes east of the Mississippi River to move west (white settlers wanted Native land for farming); greatly affected the Five Civilized Tribes

“Trail of Tears”

the forced migration of the Cherokees, Choctaw, Creeks, Chickasaw, and Seminoles and other peoples; named due to the nature of the forced removal and because of the number of deaths during or just after the relocation to the Oklahoma Territories (likely over 10,000 dead)

Manifest Destiny

the expansionist belief which grew increasingly popular in the 19th century that Americans ought to spread its territories West of the Mississippi River

the expansion of the US

its territories, population, and infrastructure directly came at the cost of the territorial integrity of the indigenous tribes of NA

US government and settler dealings with nearly all tribes

relied on aggression, lies, and coercion

by the end of the 19th century…

the US effectively held all the territory we now refer to as the Continental US, or, the 48 states excluding Alaska and Hawaii