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How environment affected ways of life for Native Americans
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What was life like for the first humans living in North America and what role did the Earth’s climate play in shaping their experiences? Everyday you wake up in the morning and start making decisions. What you wear, what you eat, and what you do for the day are dependent on the weather. Climate is an important part of life, without it we would not have life at all. Native Americans experienced climate in ways both similar and different than we do. The Americas have very diverse climates. Each region has a unique terrain as well as climate. Native Americans who lived in each of these areas experienced a different climate, which effects agriculture, religion, and social culture in a society. Depending on which region Native Americans …show more content…
Here the Native tribes relied heavily on the Buffalo. The introduction of the horse from the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors was very important to these people for transportation and hunting purposes. The Plains had many different Native American tribes within it including the Sioux, Cheyenne, Comanche and Blackfoot (Lowenstein 14). Since there was a high demand for buffalo, the Plains became an area for many conflicts. Even though these conflicts occurred often, the Native people all shared a sign language and also a firm belief in the supreme creator the “great spirit” (Lowenstein 15). The Artic, a vast frozen territory, is home to the Inuit or Eskimo people. They were reliant on the whale as well as the narwhal and walrus as their main food source. Traditionally, in the Canadian area they lived in igloos but in the Alaskan area they lived in semi-underground earth-houses. Here they had two different variations of the language Inuktitut spoken by the Native people in the Artic (Lowenstein …show more content…
Your environment shapes your experiences. Personally, living in a region where the climate has mild summers and harsh winters one can physically see the differences. Someone who may live in another region with a hot and dry climate experiences life in different ways than others do who have learned to adapt to living in a different environment. Religion is also an important aspect of life that was greatly influenced by climate experienced by Native Americans. Their practices vary from tribe to tribe because of the life experiences the Native Americans had due to the differences in climate. Some of the things that they practiced religiously were very different compared to tribes in other regions. Native Americans religious practices revolved around the things they saw and felt. These practices vary because the environment is different for tribes depending on their
There are three parts in West’s book; the first part focuses on the sociological, ecological and economic relationships of the plains Indians, starting with the first establish culture of North America, the Clovis peoples. Going into extensive detail pertaining to early geology and ecology, West gives us a glimpse into what life on the early plains must have looked to early peoples. With vastly differing flora and fauna to what we know today, the early plains at the end of the first ice age, were a different place and lent itself to a diverse way of life. The Clovis peoples were accomplished hunters, focusing on the abundance of Pleistocene megafauna such as earlier, larger forms of bison. Though, little human remains were found, evidence of their s...
The Native Americans For at least fifteen thousand years before the arrival of Christopher Columbus and Thomas Hariot, Native Americans had occupied the vastness of North America undisturbed by outside invaders (Shi 2015 pg. 9). Throughout the years leading up to Columbus’s voyage to the “New World” (the Americas) and Hariot’s journey across the sea, the Indians had encountered and adapted to many diverse continents; due to global warming, climatic and environmental diversity throughout the lands (2015). Making the Native Americans culture, religion, and use of tools and technology very strange to that of Columbus’s and Hariot’s more advanced culture and economy, when they first came into contact with the Native Americans. To start with,
In the introduction, Hämäläinen introduces how Plains Indians horse culture is so often romanticized in the image of the “mounted warrior,” and how this romanticized image is frequently juxtaposed with the hardships of disease, death, and destruction brought on by the Europeans. It is also mentioned that many historians depict Plains Indians equestrianism as a typical success story, usually because such a depiction is an appealing story to use in textbooks. However, Plains Indians equestrianism is far from a basic story of success. Plains equestrianism was a double-edged sword: it both helped tribes complete their quotidian tasks more efficiently, but also gave rise to social issues, weakened the customary political system, created problems between other tribes, and was detrimental to the environment.
The horse made all aspects of Native American life easier, including traveling, hunting, raiding, and waging war. The more convenient life did not come without a price, however. The horse created a competition for resources in the region, but the greatest price was allowing a greater level of violence to enter the plains. The horse allowed the Apache to dominate the region prior to the arrival of American settlers. When American settlers arrived, a clash of worldviews occurred. The differing worldviews facilitated violence that was made possible because of the introduction of the
The rituals and traditions of the Indians evince their beliefs in spirits and afterlife. Indians believed that there would be a better life for them after they die, because many of them did not see a way out, but people were still fighting for their lives.
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.
Throughout ancient history, many indigenous tribes and cultures have shown a common trait of being hunter/gatherer societies, relying solely on what nature had to offer. The geographical location influenced all aspects of tribal life including, spirituality, healing philosophy and healing practices. Despite vast differences in the geographical location, reports show various similarities relating to the spirituality, healing philosophy and healing practices of indigenous tribal cultures.
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.
1)Paleo-Indians, the first Americans lived in bands of fifteen to fifty people, and traveled within their territory to hunt. Archaic Indians experienced a warming climate. One of the results of the warming climate was better hunting. Forest grew larger with a greater variety of plants and animals. The changes allowed some Indians to reside in permanent homes. The ample supply of food allowed more peoples to live on less acreage. The weather also allowed for specialization of caring for plants; this was the beginning of controlling crops to better supply the people.
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.”
The Native American Indians had no beasts of burden, no plows, no wagons, no means of transportation, and no way to move heavy objects other than by their own power. The Europeans brought over horses, oxen, donkeys, and camels. Horses became very valuable to the Native Americans. For the hunter-gatherers or nomads, the effect was beneficial because the horse enabled them to cover great distances, and hunters could locate and kill the bison more easily. H...
Native Americans were known to be indigenous people because they were always settling in particular regions, so they were known as natives to the lands of America. Later on, Native Americans were known as American Indians. The Native Americans got their name from the first explorer of America, named Christopher Columbus. Christopher Columbus thought that he reached the Indies when he first came to America and so he decided to call the group native residents or “people of India” (Schaefer). Some of the Indian groups are The Cherokees, Navajos, Latin American Indians, Choctaw, Sioux, Chippewa, Apache, Blackfeet, Iroquois and Pueblo (Schaefer). There are many cultures that are related to Native Americans, but today I will discuss only one which is the Cherokee
Their convictions were not comprehended and the intricacy of their religion was not seen. This was somewhat the aftereffect of not having a composed arrangement of rules. In the place of ministers and pastors were shaman and medicine men. These men were sometimes said to speak with the divine beings. They were astute and experienced and they delighted in a larger amount of status among their groups. They had essential parts in choices, functions, and customs. "The culture, values and traditions of native people amount to more than crafts and carvings. Their respect for the wisdom of their elders, their concept of family responsibilities extending beyond the nuclear family to embrace a whole village, their respect for the environment, their willingness to share - all of these values persist within their own culture even though they have been under unremitting pressure to abandon them(Berger, paragraph
Historically Native American religions are very diverse between tribes. Most are unique to their individual tribe. Others are widely spread throughout many tribes but still encounter differences between them. Native religions, much like other religious groups have sacred sites. These sacred locations are considered sacred not only by the Natives themselves but by the American government who has now also named them protected.
To the Native Americans, the misuse of natural resources caused a disruption in the natural order of the environment. They lived in harmony