More handpicked essays just for you.
Native American culture
Essays on native american culture influence on society
Different native american cultures
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
How Did The Environment Affect The Native American Indians With Particular Reference To The Woodland Indians?
The environment hugely affected the Native American Indians in many different ways. This is because of the way in which the Indians used the environment and the surrounding land. The Indians were very close to nature, and so that meant that any changes in nature would be changes in the Indians.
Land
The Indians thought of land very differently to the white man. The land was sacred, there was no ownership, and it was created by the great spirit. They could not sell their land to others, whereas the white people could fence off the land which belonged to them, and sell it freely to whoever they wanted. The Europeans didn't think that the Indians were using the land properly, so in their eyes, they were doing a good favour to the earth. To the Indians, the land was more valuable than the money that the white man had brought with him, even though it didn't belong to them.
Indians lived all over America, in many different environments including the flatlands, the forests, the mountains, the deserts, the prairies, on the coast, and even in the arctic. All these Environments affected the different Indians in different ways, so that different Indians evolved over time.
Religion
Religion was a very big part in many Indians life. Almost every part of Indian life is related to religion, the land is sacred, and religion plays a part in what can be done with it, the first Indians had many different religions, and they continued to have religion for the whole of their lives. Dress was affected, many Indians wore special clothes and jewellery of religious importance. Religion often changed family life, the children respected their elders, especially their grandparents, and the Indians believed in divorce and marriage. Education was religious, the boys were taught to hunt, and the girls to treat leather and prepare food. The Indians believed all life to be sacred, but it could be hunted, as long as it was treated with respect, so this affected the way they hunted, and what food they had.
Shelter
The environment also affected the Indians shelter in many ways. Depending on where they lived, the Indian tribes had different ways of protecting themselves from the elements using the available resources, and different designs for the general climate. For example, the Indians living in the mountainous and semi-desert areas of the south west lived in light twig shacks and log huts, whereas the Inuits of the sub arctic north America built igloos, and the woodland Indians lived in bark covered houses.
Cronon raises the question of the belief or disbelief of the Indian’s rights to the land. The Europeans believed the way Indians used the land was unacceptable seeing as how the Indians wasted the natural resources the land had. However, Indians didn’t waste the natural resources and wealth of the land but instead used it differently, which the Europeans failed to see. The political and economical life of the Indians needed to be known to grasp the use of the land, “Personal good could be replaced, and their accumulation made little sense for ecological reasons of mobility,” (Cronon, 62).
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
The development of the transcontinental railroad was the most devastating technological development that affected the Plains Indians. Although the railroad was powerful and helpful to the white man, it was not for the Plains Indians. The transcontinental railroad was the reason why the westward movement of the white man happened so quickly. With the white man moving westward they found valuable land for agricultural, which to be the Plains Indians land, and they found a lot of gold mines. During the time of the building of the transcontinental railroad a lot of white man killed the buffalo. They found that as a sport, and even to use it to harm the Plains Indians. At that time the buffalo was a main source of food, fur, and a hunting lifestyle for the Plains Indians and by the white man killing it off it effectively hurt them. The white man killed the buffalo in large amount of numbers that they almost made them go instinct, and they hurt the Plains Indians huge. Although the Plains Indians did kill the buffalo for their food and furs, their hunting did not have a large impact on the buffalo population. Also, the transcontinental railroad went through the land that the Plains Indians lived on. They were forced to move into smaller areas that were designated by the government. A lot of wars happened over this issue, and over the issue of gold being on their land.
16. James Hinkle and Robert McCoy, Reading Faulkner: The Unvanquished. (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1995), 141.
Updike, John. "A & P" Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 6th Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002.
People have been living in America for countless years, even before Europeans had discovered and populated it. These people, named Native Americans or American Indians, have a unique and singular culture and lifestyle unlike any other. Native Americans were divided into several groups or tribes. Each one tribe developed an own language, housing, clothing, and other cultural aspects. As we take a look into their society’s customs we can learn additional information about the lives of these indigenous people of the United States.
John Steinbeck was perhaps the best author of all time. He was the winner of a Nobel Prize, and among other accomplishments, Steinbeck published nineteen novels and made many movies during his lifetime. All of his experience and knowledge are shown through his novels. A reader can tell, just in reading a novel by Steinbeck, that he had been through a lot throughout his life. Also, Steinbeck worked very hard to accomplish everything that he did during his lifetime. Nothing came very easily to him, and he had to earn everything he owned. This helped him in his writing, because he was able to write about real people and real experiences. John Steinbeck got his inspiration from life experiences, people he knew, and places he had gone.
To own land, that is the privilege of whom? To Andrew Jackson the Cherokees current homesteads where on his country’s land. For whatever reason at that time some people living in America weren’t treated as good as there white counterparts. Meanwhile the Cherokees principal chief John Ross felt like that land belonged to his people. If you want to get technical he was speaking on the behalf of a tribe that made up a mere one-eighth of his ancestry. Not exactly a full blooded leader. He also was one of the main reason the “trail of tears” was as hostile and brutal as it was on his people. Its ironic, even as hard as Jackson pushed and deceived the Cherokee, the Cherokee people in turn pushed back, but past the point of being rational.
William did, however, possess the unquenchable pride of a Southern man. He recognized the importance of proving himself to his father. So he spent his time emulating the man he admired. He tried to construct a normal family life but he was self- centered and irresponsible. His lack of steady income prevented him from being a provider like his father. Perhaps worst of all, Faulkner missed an important rite of passage by being denied war experience. The writer never actively participated in battle, so he constructed an elaborate web of lies and vivid stories. This event highlights Faulkner’s own intense determination to reach the Southern ideal. Since he couldn’t really be a war hero, he fabricated himself into one.
Native Americans had inherited the land now called America and eventually their lives were destroyed due to European Colonization. When the Europeans arrived and settled, they changed the Native American way of life for the worst. These changes were caused by a number of factors including disease, loss of land, attempts to export religion, and laws, which violated Native American culture.
Levine, Robert S. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 7th Edition. Volume B. New York: Norton, 2007. 1696. Print.
Many people today know the story of the Indians that were native to this land, before “white men” came to live on this continent. Few people may know that white men pushed them to the west while many immigrants took over the east and moved westward. White men made “reservations” that were basically land that Indians were promised they could live on and run. What many Americans don’t know is what the Indians struggled though and continue to struggle through on the reservations.
To the Native Americans, the misuse of natural resources caused a disruption in the natural order of the environment. They lived in harmony
Magill, Frank N. “William Faulkner.” Critical Survey of Long Fiction. Englewood Cliffs: American Libraries, 1985
The American Indians Between 1609 To 1865. Native Americans or American Indians, once occupied the entire region of the United States. They were composed of many different groups, who spoke hundreds of languages and dialects. The Indians from the Southwest used to live in large, terraced communities and their way of sustain was from the agriculture where they planted squash, pumpkins, beans and corn crops. Trades between neighboring tribes were common, this brought in additional goods and also some raw materials such as gems, cooper.