At the beginning of the twentieth century, the policies of the federal government regarding American Indians were based on the philosophy that Indians, like other immigrants, should assimilate into the English-speaking, Christian, American farming culture and that this could be best accomplished by transferring all tribal resources—land, mineral, timber—from Indians to non-Indians. Since the establishment … Continued
The Inuit (sometimes called Eskimo) are one of the aboriginal peoples of the Arctic. A special exhibit at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, Washington, featured The Inuit Art of Povungnituk. According to the display: “In the 1950s, encouraged by a local priest, a group of Inuit artists in the village of … Continued
The Northwest Coast culture area stretches along the Pacific coast between the Cascade Mountains and the ocean. It extends north of California to Alaska. This is an area which is the home to many Indian nations who traditionally based their economy on the use of sea coast and river ecological resources. The Northwest Coast culture … Continued
The Southern Northwest Coast culture area spreads south along the Pacific coast of Washington and Oregon. This is an area which includes the Coast Salish, southern Athapaskans, and Chinook. This is the least homogeneous area in the Northwest Coast and shows ties with California to the south and the Plateau to the east. The Puget … Continued
The traditional territories of the Ktunaxa people—also known as the Kootenai—was in the Rocky Mountains of Montana and British Columbia. Their hunting and gathering economy was focused on fishing, hunting (including buffalo hunts on the Great Plains to the east of the mountains), and gathering of plants for both food and fiber. The Kootenai appear … 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 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
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 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
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
