Native Americans: their struggle and contribution to the American nation

Native Americans

Today the people once called American Indians, prefer to be called Native Americans.

First settlers – 20,000-30,000 years ago from Siberia, Asia came to Alaska across a land bridge where the Bering Strait is today.

1492 – Columbus, 1,5 mln NA lived in America – Indians (mistaking the place where Columbus landed). English explore new territories: motive vs other colonists.

Indians: concept of private property; attribute to environment; wars between English & NA; kidnapping (похищение людей) for slavery; European diseases.

17-18 century: control over vast territory, “middle ground” – neither supreme rules, coexistence, cooperation;

18-19: wars w/Europeans, “tray of tears” – unexplored areas, intertribal conflicts.

19: a tightening circle (British+Europeans wars), poor management of reservations, poor supplies; diseases.

20: assimilation of NA into mainstream America; vanishing race; 1924 – granting citizenship, modern reservation: about 300 jurisdictions of Indian tribes – no taxes on land; each tribe = sovereign nation; since 1824 – Bureau of Indian Affairs.

21: 300 federal reservations – 2,5% of US territory (mostly west of the Mississippi river); 200 american indian languages. 2,5 mln American Indians + Alaska Natives.

Indians gave settlers food, taught them planting (corn, potatoes, tomato banana, pineapple: cacao, tobacco),hunting and fishing, introduce them cloths, methods of transportation. The influence of Indian culture: mount-s, lakes, rivers, cities have Indian names (Chicago, Ohio, Montana, Michigan, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri).

The US government began setting aside special territories (reservations) for the Indians. They were pushed into these lands which was the worst lands. There reser-s were mostly in the s w & the n w of the US. 19th- they were kept in the reser-s and forbidden to leave them without permission. Today-270 reser-s for the Native Indians. By 1890, as the result of white cruelty, poverty and poor living conditions the Indian population in the US had decreased to about 240th.

The Indians began to protest against such treatment receiving more and more support from the American public. As the result, American treatment of I-ns began to improve. Today, there are about 2.5 mln Native Am-ns living in the US. The majority live in or near the federal reservation, but they are free to leave. Most of them – s w (Arizona, California). On the reserve-s traditional Indian customs, languages have survived. But nevertheless they are unhappy. To improve the quality of life for Indians, the US government established the Bureau of Indian Affairs – better life of Indian (free schools, hospitals). But in comparison with most other Americans, the Indians on the reservations live a poor life.

Native Americans: their struggle and contribution to the American nation

The first American immigrants, beginning with more than 20 000 years ago, were intercontinental wanders: hunters and their families following animal herds from asia to north America, across a land bridge where the Bering strait is today. Around the year 1000 a party of Icelandic Vikings under leif ericson sailed to the eastern coast of north America. They landed at a place they called vinland. They failed however to establish any permanent settlements and they soon lost contact with the new continent.

When Christopher Columbus discovered the new world in 1492 about 1.5 million Native Americans were already living in what is now the continental United states./9by 1890 as a result of white cruelty, poverty and poor living conditions the Indian population had decreased to about 240 000). Mistaking the place where he landed – San Salvador in the Bahamas – for India, Columbus called the Native Americans “Indians”.

During the next 200 years people from several European countries followed Columbus across the Atlantic Ocean to explore America and set up trading posts and colonies. Native Americans suffered greatly from the inflix of Europeans.

Indian foods and methods of planting, hunting, and fishing helped the settlers to survive in their new home. Two of the most important crops in the world today — Indian corn and white potatoes - were first planted by American Indians, who also introduced the settlers to more than 80 other foods, including the sweet potato, pumpkin, squash, banana, pineapple, and avocado. The Native Americans showed the settlers how to cook these unknown plants to make grits, hominy, popcorn, succotash, and tapioca. Cacao (for chocolate), chicle (for chewing gum), and tobacco were also among the new crops. Many of the drugs which Indians received from plants (such as cocaine, which was used to kill pain) are used today for medical purposes. They helped by introducing them to Indian utensils, clothing, methods of transportation. They include canoes, dog sleds, hammocks, pipes, rubber balls, snowshoes, moccasins, parkas.

The influence of Indian cultures is quite evident in American English. Thousands of mountains, lakes, rivers, cities, states, have Indian names - Ohio, Chicago, Saratoga, Massachusetts, Mexico, Nicaragua, Montana, as well as common nouns -tobacco, skunk, moose, canoe, and hundreds of others. The Red Indians did much to help white settlers in the new land, but when the whites began to take their lands the Indians began to fight for their rights and terrible wars started. The Indians were defeated because they did not have the weapons which the white settlers had. The colonization of North America became a history of bloodshed and cruelty towards the Indians. Since 1786 they were pushed to live in reservations (special territories for the Indians). These were the worst lands(southwest and the northwest of the usa).

As a result of struggles, American treatment of Indians began to improve. Today there are about 2.5 million native Americans liveng in the usa including the Aleuts and Eskimos of Alaska. Today there are about 270 reservations.

To improve the quality of life for Indians the US government established the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It is responsible for cash payments, food rations, agricultural equipment, and farm animals. Also free schools and hospitals on the reservations.

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