Indians 101 is a series exploring American Indian histories, cultures, and current concerns
When the European invasion of North America began there were more than 600 autonomous Indian nations in the region, each with its own religion. While […]
The Northwest Coast, one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse culture areas in North America, occupies the area between the Pacific Coast and the […]
The Shawnee, whose name means “Southerners”, once occupied a vast region west of the Cumberland mountains of the Appalachian chain in what is now part […]
In 1934, the United States enacted the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) which envisioned Indian tribes adopting constitutions and governmental forms which imitated those of the […]
In its dealings with Indian Nations, the United States often imposed an alien form of government on them. This government was not a democracy, but […]
The westward expansion of the United States during the nineteenth century was guided by a quasi-religious philosophy of Manifest Destiny: America had been ordained by […]
While Mexico declared its independence from Spain on September 16, 1810, it did not actually obtain its independence until September 27, 1821. In the Plan […]
The Kootenai (also spelled Kutenai), whose homeland was in the area west of the Rocky Mountains in what is today western Montana, northern Idaho, and […]
By 1965, the administration of federal Indian relationships and Indian reservations had been firmly entrenched in the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), which is a […]
When the European nations began their invasion of the Americas, they assumed that there was only one natural way for a people to be governed: […]