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European contact with Native America effects
European effects on indigenous
European contact with Native America effects
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THE EFFECT OF EUROPEAN CONTACT ON CHEROKEE INDIAN CULTURE By MICHAEL WOMICK *** AP English Language and Composition Mrs. Myslinski 20 October 2014 THE EFFECT OF EUROPEAN CONTACT ON CHEROKEE INDIAN CULTURE THESIS: The United States of America both had a very great impact on and were impacted by the Cherokee tribe. Introduction The Cherokee Indians were greatly affected by European contact. What events led to this change and how have those events impacted the Cherokee people? The Cherokee are an Iroquoian speaking Native American tribe originally settled in the Southeastern United States. As well as being drastically influenced by the European emigrants, the Native Americans majorly affected them. Cherokee Before …show more content…
European Contact The Cherokee are an Iroquoian speaking Native American tribe originally settled in the Southeastern United States. Called themselves Aniyunwiya, meaning "the principal people," but today they accept the name Cherokee. Cherokee, or Tsalagi, as it is spelled and pronounced in their language, comes from a Muskogee word meaning ‘speakers of another language.’ Before European contact, the Cherokee occupied a large region of South Appalachia exceeding 40,000 square miles of mountains, valleys, and streams.
The Cherokee tribes settled in a large area that included North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. This land was lush, fertile, and untouched by ‘modern civilization.’ The land provisioned the Cherokee with plenty of natural resources. Interspersed among the land, typically by headwaters and rivers, were Cherokee towns. The mountains, the fertile valleys, and the streams provided immediate access to a variety of ecological niches which supported the Cherokee’s diversified economy. Cherokee Culture Before European Contact Cherokee children liked to go hunting and fishing with their fathers. Women taught Cherokee girls all of the home and gardening skills. Cherokee children played with dolls and other toys. They played game such as one game in which kids tried to throw a dart through a moving hoop. Lacrosse was a popular sport among Cherokee …show more content…
Teenagers. Men wore breechcloths and leggings and decorated their faces and bodies with tattoo art and painted themselves bright colors in times of war. Women wore wraparound skirts made of woven fiber or deerskin. The Cherokee were good farmers. Cherokee women did most of the farming, harvesting crops corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers. Cherokee men did most of the hunting, shooting deer, bear, wild turkeys, and small game. Cherokee dishes included cornbread, soups, and stews cooked on stone hearths. The basic idea of the Animistic religion was that all things had a spirit. Lived in villages Built circular homes made of river cane, sticks, and plaster with thatched roofs. The men made tools and weapons. Blowguns for hunting Spears, fishing hooks, tomahawks, and spears Literature and Language Before European Contact Oral Legends and Stories Fables and Myths Traditional Told to pass down stories Cherokee After European Contact The Europeans arrived, discovering lush and fertile land. The Europeans demolished the forests. Indian Removal Act Became involved in the Civil War Only 1/4 of the population survived Cherokee Culture After European Contact The Cherokee began changing from the hunter-gatherer system to a more industrial, agricultural society. Most Cherokee were very successful in making this switch. By 1801, most of the tribes were engaging in activities such as farming, raising stock, and weaving. Many Cherokee became prosperous—some even owned black slaves The (originally) independent clan system was a more centralized system. Using it, a council of Cherokee ruled the tribe under a construction similar to that of the United States. Impact of the Cherokee on the United States Just as the Europeans impacted the Cherokee, the Cherokee affected the Europeans as well. Literature and Language After European Contact Written Cherokee Phoenix Newspaper 1828 Conclusion In conclusion, the Europeans and the Cherokee affected each other greatly. The Cherokee Indians are the Native people of the Appalachian region, and nearly vanished due to the harsh treatment and greed of the Europeans. The Cherokee, rather than becoming demoralized and giving in, persevered. Although the Cherokee were affected by the Europeans in both good and bad ways, they have adapted some beneficial aspects of European culture, but, they have not done so overwhelmingly. THE EFFECT OF EUROPEAN CONTACT ON CHEROKEE INDIAN CULTURE It is well-known that the Cherokee Indians were greatly affected by European contact, but how exactly were the Cherokee impacted and to what extent? In case you are unaware, the Cherokee are an Iroquoian speaking Native American tribe that initially settled in the the southeastern United States. For many years, the Cherokee remained untouched by the outside world. It was not until 1540 when Spanish explorers arrived in North America that the Cherokee came in contact with the Europeans. In 1654, English settlers arrived, and greed, violence, diversity, conflict, controversy, novelty, and unrest all arrived with them. These unfamiliarities and disturbances caused unrest among some of the Cherokee, however, some accepted some of the ‘white man’s’ new ways and incorporated them into their culture. As well as being drastically influenced by the European emigrants, the Native Americans had an impact on the unwanted settlers. In this essay, I hope to adequately describe and contrast the culture of the Cherokee tribe both before and after European contact. The Cherokee Indians originally denominated themselves Aniyunwiya, meaning ‘the principle people’.
Today, however, they accept and are commonly referred by the name ‘Cherokee.’ Cherokee, or Tsalagi, as it is both spoken and written in their language, comes from a Muskogee word meaning ‘speakers of another language’ (Orrin). Before European contact, the Cherokee Indians occupied a considerable region of South Appalachia exceeding and including 40,000 square miles of mountains, valleys, and streams. The region in which the tribes settled consists of modern-day Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Their land was lush, fertile, healthy, and untouched by ‘modern civilization.’ The land provisioned the Cherokee with plenty of natural resources. Interspersed among the land, typically by headwaters and rivers, were Cherokee villages with circular homes of river cane, sticks, and plaster (King p.3). These thatched-roofed homes were especially unique for their chimney-like hole in the center. This land encompassed a diverse geography and thus a diverse variety of natural resources. This diversity in natural resources created a diversified economy for the
Cherokee.
Before European contact, all language was communicated orally. There was no written form of the Cherokee language. At this time, stories were usually traditional and passed down to other generations. The stories consisted mainly of fables, myths, legends, and other stories that typically contained personified non-human characters (Cherokee).
Cherokee children enjoyed practicing skills such as hunting, fishing, and gardening with their parents. As a result of chores, Cherokee children had little time to play, but, they did have toys such as dolls and other games, one in which children would attempt to throw a dart through a moving ring. Cherokee teenagers enjoyed playing the sport, lacrosse, in their spare time. Traditional apparel consisted of, for men, breech cloths and leggings, and for women, wraparound skirts made out of woven fiber or deerskin. The common foot apparel for both genders were moccasins. Men often decorated their bodies, especially their faces, exceedingly with tribal tattoo art. In times of war, Cherokee men would paint their faces with bright colors. Cherokee women did not paint or tattoo themselves. Although primarily hunter-gatherers, the Cherokee were farming people. Women did most of the gardening and harvesting while men did most of the hunting and fishing. Men made tools and weapons such as blowguns, tomahawks, spears, and fishing poles. With these weapons, they hunted turkeys, deer, bear, and small game. Other tools made and used by the Cherokee Indians included stone adzes, which were small axes used for woodworking, flint knives, which were used to skin animals, wooden hoes, which were used for farming, and pots and baskets that were used to hold crops such as corn. The Cherokee farmed crops such as corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers. Cherokee meals consisted mainly of cornbread, soups, and stews (Eden).
Then, the Europeans arrived, ‘discovering’ the rich, lush, and fertile land. Upon their arrival, the Europeans began deforesting the area for lumber to build homes and other establishments immediately. The Cherokee had an animistic religion, which believed that all things, living and non-living, had a soul, except bears (Cherokee). Because of the animistic religion, many of the Cherokee Indians strongly opposed deforestation. Throughout the years, the Cherokee and Europeans began to cooperate and share ideas. However, upon the discovery of gold in Georgia, many colonists began to urge the government to remove the Indians from the land. In 1830, Andrew Jackson approved the Indian Removal Bill, creating the Indian Removal Act, which provided the federal government with more westward land. The Cherokee were forced to relocate to Oklahoma under strict and harsh conditions. Many died during this time, which is commonly referred to as the “trail of tears.” Only approximately one-fourth of the Cherokee remained after the Trail of Tears.
The Cherokee progressively became a more industrial and agricultural society which was different from their previous hunter-gatherer system. Most of the Cherokee were extremely successful in making this change. By the 1800’s, a large amount of the tribes were farming, raising stock, and weaving, and became very prosperous. The government of the Cherokee greatly changed as well. The previously independent clan system gave way to more concentrated organization, in which a council of Cherokee ruled the tribe in a construction similar to the United State’s (Tuddenham).
Around 1810, Sequoyah, a Cherokee indian, began developing a written form of the Cherokee language. It took him approximately ten years to complete. In 1825, the Cherokee nation officially adopted the language, leading to the issue of the first Cherokee newspaper, The Cherokee Phoenix, in 1828. The Cherokee literacy rate quickly passed the that of the Europeans (Cherokee).
In conclusion, the Europeans both had a very great impact on and were impacted by the Cherokee tribe. The Cherokee Indians are the Native people of the Appalachian region, and nearly vanished due to the harsh treatment and greed of the Europeans. The Cherokee, rather than becoming demoralized and giving up, persevered. Despite the negative impacts the Europeans had on the Cherokee, not all of the impacts were such. The Cherokee have adapted some beneficial aspects of the Europeans’ culture, yet they not done so overwhelmingly and have not deviated from their culture and values. Works Cited
"Cherokee Traditions." Cherokee Traditions. Hunter Library Digital Initiatives, n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Eden, Clark, and Cable Kris. "Cherokee Indians." Cherokee Indians. Forsyth County Schools, Jan. 2007. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.
Frank, Andrew K. "Indian Removal." INDIAN REMOVAL. Oklahoma Historical Society, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.
King, Duane H. The Cherokee Indian Nation. Second ed. Knoxville: U of Tennessee, 1981. Print
Orrin, Lewis, and Laura Redish. "Cherokee Indian Fact Sheet." Facts for Kids: Cherokee Indians (Cherokees). The Cherokee Nation, n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.
"The Cherokee Before 1800." The Cherokee Before 1800. About North Georgia, n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
The Choctaws thrived in the fertile sandy, red-clay soil, rolling hills, and dense forests, located in the Central Hills of the east-central region of Mississippi. The estimated population after early European contact was between 15,000 and 20,000 and was the second largest group of Native Americans in the Southeast (Blitz 1988:127).
The author starts the chapter by briefly introducing the source in which this chapter is based. He makes the introduction about the essay he wrote for the conference given in at Vanderbilt University. This essay is based about the events and problems both Native Americans and Europeans had to encounter and lived since the discovery of America.
The Cherokee lived in the southeast part of the United States. They lived in what is n... ... middle of paper ... ... train as warriors. All boys led a tough life.
The Cherokees lived in the valleys of rivers that drained the southern Appalachians (Perdue, 1). The British first came into Cherokee country in 1700. They came for two major reasons: deerskins and war captives. They brought guns and ammunition, metal knives, hoes, hatchets, fabrics, kettles, rum, and trinkets. They took the Cherokee and made them slaves. The British built two forts to protect the Cherokees while they were fighting the enemies of the British. The Cherokees entered the French and Indian War on the side of the British (Perdue, 6). Attacks on Cherokees by white frontiersmen and duplicity by colonial officials caused the Cherokees to shift their allegiance to the French. During the war, the British destroyed many Cherokee towns.
Thornton, Russell, Matthew C Snipp, and Nancy Breen. The Cherokees: A Population History Indians of the Southeast. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1990.
The thesis statement "In preparing for the Cherokee Removal, state, and federal officials were motivated solely by desire to seize the Natives' land." First off, who is preparing for the removal? Was it the white settlers or was it entailing the natives themselves? The thesis statement is not complex enough and fails to mention the Trail of Tears or the preparations that were taken to remove the Cherokee's. In this way, the full historical picture is avoided making the thesis difficult to under why and how the natives were affected.
The European influences to the Native Americans were Europeans carried the new diseases to the Indians. “Europeans were used to these diseases, but Indian people had no resistance to them. Sometimes the illnesses spread through direct contact with colonists. Other times, they were transmitted as Indians traded with one another. The result of this contact with European germs was horrible. Sometimes whole villages perished in a short time” (Kincheloe). Slave trade was another influence to American Indians. Europeans soon realized that they could provide commercial goods such as tools and weapons to some American Indian tribes that would bring them other Indians captured in tribal wars, and these captured Indians were bought and sold as slaves. Therefore, “slavery led to warfare among tribes and too much hardship. Many tribes had to move to escape the slave trade, which destroyed some tribes completely. In time, the practice of enslaving Native peoples ended. However, it had greatly affected American Indians of the South and the Southwest” (Kinchloe). Lastly, Europeans change Native America and African’ roots. Native Americans
The Cherokee Indians lived in the south of the Appalachian Mountains for hundreds maybe thousands of years before the
The Native Americans of the southeast live in a variety of environments. The environments range from the southern Appalachian Mountains, to the Mississippi River valley, to the Louisiana and Alabama swamps, and the Florida wetlands. These environments were bountiful with various species of plant and animal life, enabling the Native American peoples to flourish. “Most of the Native Americans adopted large-scale agriculture after 900 A.D, and some also developed large towns and highly centralized social and political structures.” In the first half of the 1600s Europeans encountered these native peoples. Both cultures encountered new plants, animals, and diseases. However, the Indians received more diseases compared to the few new diseases to the Europeans. The new diseases resulted in a massive loss of Native Americans, including the Southeast Indians which had never encountered the new diseases. Three of the main tribes in the southeast were the Cherokee and the Creek. They were part of a group of southeast tribes that were removed from their lands. These tribes later became known as “The Five Civilized Tribes because of their progress and achievements.”
2. “Cherokee Culture and History.” Native Americans: Cherokee History and Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014. .
.... White settlers began to resent the Cherokees. Pressure was put on the tribe to voluntarily move, but their homeland, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama they have lived here for generations and they did not want to move.
the Cherokee Nation. While men hunt for meat the women cultivated the crop especially corn.
In order to understand the lack of morality on the part of the United States, the actions taken by the group in favor of removing the Indians and their opponents needs examining. The seeds of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 are rooted in colonial times and continued to grow during the early years of the American republic. To comprehend this momentous tragedy we must first examine the historical background of the Indian '"'problem'"' and seek rationale for the American government"'"s actions. This includes looking at the men who politically justified the expulsion of the Cherokee nation and those who argued against it.
The Cherokee marched through, biting cold, rains, and snow. Many people died during this trip from starvation, diseases, exposure, and vagaries of unknown terrains. Those who recounted this journey in later years spoke of a trip that was filled with tears borne of immense suffering and deaths during this trip and thus the name Trail of Tears. Modern scholars and champions of human rights have described this event as one of the most notorious genocides during the 19th Century. This paper will therefore attempt to prove that, the Cherokee community suffered human right atrocities from the American government shortly before and during the Trail of Tears.
Cultural competence is a skill essential to acquire for healthcare providers, especially nurses. Cooperating effectively and understanding individuals with different backgrounds and traditions enhances the quality of health care provided by hospitals and other medical facilities. One of the many cultures that nurses and other health care providers encounter is the American Indian or Native American culture. There are hundreds of different American Indian Tribes, but their beliefs and values only differ slightly. The culture itself embodies nature. To American Indians, “The Earth is considered to be a living organism- the body of a higher individual, with a will and desire to be well. The Earth is periodically healthy and less healthy, just as human beings are” (Spector, 2009, p. 208). This is why their way of healing and symbolic items are holistic and from nature.