While the popular image of Plains Indians is that of the horse-mounted warrior and buffalo hunter, the horse as we know it today only came to this continent with the Europeans. It reached the Plains Indians and dramatically changed their ways of life several generations before the Americans invaded the area. It should be … Continued
Since there is going to be a meet up in Glacier Park in June, I thought it might be interesting to do a tour of the park from west to east along today’s traditional tourist trail, commenting on some of the Indian names and heritage along the way. As with many national parks, the names … Continued
While Washington was named for an American President who was not known for his love of Indians, many of the town names in Washington reflect the many different Indian nations which originally inhabited the state. Asotin: this was originally a Nez Perce winter camp site. The Nez Perce called the nearby creek Has-shu-tin which … Continued
The etymology of Oregon begins in 1765 with a petition to the British King regarding Ouragon, the mythical River of the West. According to the petition, Ouragon was the name given by the Indians to this great river. By 1778, the spelling had shifted to Oregon. While the 1765 petition seems to imply that Oregon … Continued
In 1680, the Pueblos of New Mexico revolted against the Spanish and drove them from the region. A decade later, however, the Spanish returned and began their re-conquest of New Mexico. In 1696, eleven Pueblo villages along the Rio Grande revolted again against the Spanish, but the revolt was quickly crushed. By 1700 the Spanish … Continued
During the eighteenth century, a small Protestant Christian sect known as the Moravians sent missionaries to North America in an attempt to convert American Indians to Christianity. The Moravians: Moravia is now a part of the Czech Republic. In 1648 the Thirty Years’ War ended and as a result a number of Protestant refugees … Continued
American government policies regarding American Indians, particularly during the nineteenth century, were primarily focused on “civilizing” the Indians. This meant that Indians were to change their language (they were to speak only English), their religion (they were to become Christians, preferably Protestants), their houses, their clothes, their history (they were to embrace European history as … Continued
The Genoa Industrial Indian School was started in 1884 in a one-room school that had been originally built for the Pawnee before the tribe was removed from Nebraska to Oklahoma. The school had an initial enrollment of 74 students. Over time, the school would grow to have an enrollment of nearly 600 students from 10 … Continued
The Sonoran Desert stretches across Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora (Mexico). It is a hot, dry place. It is also the homeland for Indian people who call themselves O’odham. The name O’odham means “we, the people.” The Spanish, the first European people to enter the area, called them Pimas Altos meaning Upper Pima Indians. … Continued
In 1702 a war broke out between England and France which would later be known as Queen Anne’s War, the War of Spanish Succession, and the French and Indian War. While the war was fought primarily in Europe, in North America it became a struggle between the European powers for control of the continent. While … Continued
