A Little, very Little, Native American History
The history of the Americas did not begin in 1492. By the time Christopher Columbus arrived in what he thought was a group of islands off the coast of India, the land from what is now Alaska, south to the tip of the South American continent, was already inhabited --- and had been for at least 10,000 years. The Europeans were shocked to find many communities of Native Americans living in "towns" in permanent structures, not tipis, and actively pursuing a lifestyle that not only including hunting, but was fully agricultural. After the Europeans began to populate the Americas, the life of the Native Americans, especially those on the eastern seaboard of what is now the United States, was changed dramatically as the natives were introduced to iron pots, firearms, and glass beads that replaced many shell and porcupine quill beadwork. The tribes were also introduced to alcohol, a substance that the aboriginal peoples bodies did not tolerate well. Doing research into your Native American ancestry will be easier if you also study the history of the Native Americans. Although many people have heard of the Trail of Tears and associate it with the removal of the Cherokees to Indian Territory, many other tribes were also forcibly removed from the areas they had lived for centuries. Studying history and creating a timeline to follow the movement of your ancestors will help you know where to search for genalogical documentation. Future additions to this site will inlcude pertinent bibliographies to help you in your search.
For some time, anthropologists have concluded that Native Americans are of Asiatic or Mongoloid descent, having arrived on the continents across a land bridge from Asia. There are also some anthropologists and archealogists that believe mankind developed in the Americans and then used the land bridge to populate the rest of the world. For the purpose of this web page, we will focus on the fact that the Americas were populated before Lief Erikson or Columbus arrived and leave the "who came first" question to others.
When explorers realized a "New World" had been found, there were more than 600 tribes spread through the area now designated the continental United States. Communication between tribes was difficult or, in some cases, impossible because more than 300 distinctly different languages were in use. The population at the time of "discovery" is estimated at around one million, with most of the natives living along or near the eastern seaboard.
Woodland Tribes
The so-called Woodland Tribes populated the area from coastal Maine and northeastern Canada to Florida and the gulf coast of modern-day Texas. The eastern, or Woodland, tribes included what are called the Five Civilized Tribes: Caddo, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole; and the Iroquois confederacy which includes Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Mohawk, and Seneca. The latter group was later joined by the Tuscarora.
Plains and Prairies
The tribes living in the area of the plains and prairies of North America included the Comanche and Souix of movie fame. But scores of other tribes also lived in the area encompassing the central or, midwest, of the continent from above the Canadian border and south into Mexico.The most recognizable tribe names include: Assiniboin, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Crow, Cree; the Lakota, Dakota, Santee, and eastern division Souix; Osage and Pawnee. Some tribes in this group are now only remembered by the place names given to geographical areas such as Omaha, Iowa, Kansa(s), and Missouri.
The Southwest
The Navaho, Apache, and Yaqui tribes migrated over the years to the Southwest where they occupied territory among the Pima, Hopi, Papago and Pueblo Indians. Some of the oldest known remains of civilization on the continent can be found in this area. The Northwest
In the Northwest, mountains, lakes and passes bear the names of native tribes such as Chinook, Klamath, Shasta, Tillamook, and Tlingit, among others. A ceremony called Potlatch by Native Americans of the area evolved into the present-day "pot luck." The Westcoast
Despite Balboa's discovery of the Pacific Ocean, the coastal region of California, (extending into present-day Colorado, Utah and northern parts of Arizona) was home to the Bannock, Flathead, Mohave, Nez Perce, Ute, Shoshone, Yuma and at least 25 other tribes before the Spanish arrived on the scene. The MetisWhen the explorers "found" the Americas there was a comingling of the races as native women were exploited for use of their bodies. As the fur traders moved across the North American continent, they most often carried along their women and children. Gathering together in groups, the traders and their families were known by many names including "voyagers." Native women became native wives; children were baptised in Christian churchs while they learned the heritage and spirituality of their indigenous ancestors. Small pockets of families and clans lived throughout the continent, living this mixture of east and west on an everyday basis. When the Indian Territories were created by the U.S. Federal government and as tribes were annihilated, relocated and/or assimilated, individual families were faced with decisions that would affect not only themselves, but the progeny for many generations. In Kentucky and Georgia it became illegal for "Indians" to own land. If a family admitted to their heritage, they faced the loss of all their families had built, in some cases for hundreds of years. On the other hand, "Indians" on certain rolls were being offered new lands west of the Mississippi. The "breed" families were faced with a choice: Indian, white, or who they really were --- Mixed. In the United States, these "mixed" people were referred to most often as half-breeds. Many treaties and plans for reservations addressed what was then called "the half-breed problem." In Canada, where the majority of the citizenry spoke French, the term mixed was translated to "metis." Luckily for the "breeds" in Canada, the term Metis continued to be used even after the majority of people began to use English. The word metis was incorporated into Canadian laws while their contemporaries in the United States were forced into the most insidious of categories to be defined by "blood quantums." Ergo, the breeds in the U.S. were Indian if they possessed a specific amount of Indian blood. Heritage, practice of spirituality, tradition did not make an Indian...blood quantum made an Indian. As many of the breeds in the United States were forced into a limbo-land of neither Indian nor white, our brothers and sisters to the north became Metis with a captial "M." In 1982, due to years of effort marred by bloodshed and tears by Metis in Canada, the Canadian government finally acknowledged the right of the Metis to exist as a separate people --- not white, not Indian, not on reserve, not off reserve, but METIS. The Metis in the U.S. are happy for our brothers and sisters in Canada. We acknowledge and salute the work they have done, the many accomplishments and we support their continued efforts on behalf of the Metis. Now the time has come for the Metis in the U.S. to peacefully band together to obtain that same recognition, not for ourselves, but for our children and our children's children. The formation of the U.S. Metis Alliance is an effort to unify the American Metis people. All members of the alliance have an equal voice following the traditions of our ancestors. Perhaps those ancestors are also yours. We hope you will check out many of the links including checking out the websites for each individual Metis organization. If you are Metis, we hope your search will lead you to join one of these nations or groups. If you are Metis, we hope you will join in our peaceful efforts to accomplish our goals. Native American History-Tribal Links
Be sure to bookmark this page. If you note any errors or have suggestions for additions to the site, please email the webmaster Article courtesy of Carolyne Gould, Carolyne's Native American Genealogy Helper |