Historical+Culture+Overview

= History of Native Americans = media type="custom" key="3899367"

It is not known when the first Native Americans arrived in America. There are native legends that say they have always been here, and there are estimates that many came by foot over a land bridge between 10,000 and 50,000 years ago. This migration of people lasted until the land bridge became covered with water (now known as the Bering Strait) (Martz, Croddy, and Hayes, p8). These native peoples had their own societies, languages and cultures. While some societies were highly sophisticated, others were "comparatively simple, making them highly vulnerable to conquest by white Europeans" (Aguirre and Turner, p135). Historically, the cultures of the different tribes were greatly varied. After many years of discrimination, many tribes have joined together in a form of pan-Indianism or ethnogenesis "whereby subgroups who have certain common traditions and have experienced similar patterns of discrimination seek to form a new kind of ethnic identity" (Aguirre and Turner, p167). These new cultures mix elements of their traditional cultures and beliefs. media type="custom" key="3899691"

The population size of the Native American people is also highly disputed. Estimates range from 2 million up to 40 million. One of the reasons this data is so subjective is due to the source of this data. These numbers are based on explorers impressions and first contacts with villages and settlements. After the arrival of Europeans, Native peoples faced what can only be described as genocide. Between 1600 and 1850, their population declined from 2.5 million (estimate) to only 200,000. While the population of Native Americans is currently on the rise, they have been subject to much discrimination over the past 150 years. The graph below shows the exponential growth of Non-Indian populations and the corresponding decline in native populations between 1800 and 1900.



There have been many stereotypes of Native Americans since the arrival of the Europeans. "The early European explorers and settlers described the Native Americans as innocent, ingenuous, friendly and naked" (Aguirre and Turner, p152). These descriptions made the indigenous people seem almost like children. When the Europeans started grabbing the land from the native Americans, other stereotypes and discrimination came into play. The became known as "savages" to white settlers, and the increasing genocide was accepted as whites became convinced of the danger that these native people posed. Currently, Native Americans are still fighting stereotypes. They are seen now as rich casino owners and "fat cats" who are making money off of the mineral-rich land upon which the reservations sit.

Between 1800 and 1971, many treaties were put into place that greatly affected the Native American Culture. Most of these treaties were adopted to either relocate to recently established "Indian Territories" west of the Mississippi River or assimilate and live within the United States like "civilized Americans." Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act of 1830 forced the mass movement of many eastern tribes west. The newly relocated tribes often ran into disputes with the plains tribes that already resided in these lands. All of the treaties that were passed "increasingly undermined the promises of the 1787 Northwest Ordinance: The utmost faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their land and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; ...but laws founded in justice and humanity shall from time to time be made, for preventing wrongs being done unto them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them" (Aguirre and Turner, p154).