In North America, linguists generally recognize 58 language families and isolates. Understanding language families is one of the keys to understanding the historical relationships between the Indian groups. The Algonquian language family is a large American Indian language which is found in the Eastern Woodlands, the Plains, and California. With regard to the history of … Continued
The area between the Cascade Mountains and the Rocky Mountains in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia, and Western Montana is known as the Plateau Culture area. From north to south it runs from the Fraser River in the north to the Blue Mountains in the south. Much of the area is classified as semi-arid. Part … Continued
The Sonoran Desert which stretches across part of the present-day American state of Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora is an area of very hot summers (high temperatures may reach 120° F) and relatively little rain. It was here that a culture called Hohokam by archaeologists flourished from 300 BCE until about 1400 CE. … Continued
The Sonoran Desert which stretches across part of the present-day American state of Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora is an area of very hot summers (high temperatures may reach 120° F) and relatively little rain. The Tohono O’odham live in the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico. The Tohono O’odham … Continued
The Northern Plains include what is now North and South Dakota, Eastern Montana, northeastern Wyoming, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The basic dress for women was a wrap-around skirt. During inclement weather a poncho-cape was often worn. Among many of the Northern Plains tribes—Sarsi, Blackfoot, Assiniboine, Dakota, Sanpoil, Mandan, and Hidatsa—the women … Continued
Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D. ND) & Jon Tester (D. MT) These Democratic Senators need to hear from you: President Trump has invited Democratic Sens. Heidi Heitkamp, Joe Manchin, Jon Tester and Joe Donnelly to the White House for lunch on Thursday, a sign of their potential clout in Trump’s Washington and as he faces an … Continued
Indians, according to the non-Indian social philosophers, bureaucrats, and politicians of the nineteenth century, were going to simply disappear by the end of the century or in the early twentieth century. Many history books about Indians stop their stories at the end of the nineteenth century adding to the illusion that Indians somewhat stopped being … Continued
The Plateau Culture Area is the area between the Cascade Mountains and the Rocky Mountains in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia, and Western Montana. From north to south it runs from the Fraser River in the north to the Blue Mountains in the south. Much of the area is classified as semi-arid. Part of it … Continued
The Artic Culture Area includes the Aleutian Islands, most of the Alaska Coast, the Canadian Artic, and parts of Greenland. It is an area which can be described as a “cold” desert. The area has long, cold winters and short summers. All of the aboriginal peoples in this cultural area are considered to be hunting … Continued
From the Native American perspective, the sixteenth-century marked the beginning of the European invasion. The first Europeans to contact the Native nations were explorers, adventurers, soldiers, and missionaries who were seeking personal glory, gold, and souls for their god. Later the European myth of the Americas, often written in the form of histories, would describe … Continued
