Mrs.Kwayana
Antonio Fierros
Period 4
Before the European settlers came to what is now the United States, there use to be
people, Natives, that lived here. They had their own way of living and their own beliefs. As more
and more European settlers got here, the less you saw the belief system and culture of the
Native American. There were many nations of Native Americans and they all had their own
beliefs and cultural traditions. Even though there were many different nations, most of them had
the same philosophy of life. The Natives believed life was given to you to show respect for every
living thing on “Mother Earth” and they would have the possibility of finding their own inner
peace, harmony, and balance.
There are theories on where the Native Americans originated and how they got
to what is now the United States. Some scientist believe that Native Americans migrated here
from Europe and the Middle East(.http://eng.1september.ru/2001/44/1.htm). They arrived
12,000 years ago during a ice age. Because of this ice age, the ocean levels were much lower
because the polar ice caps retained the water as ice. So, these low ocean levels were left as
open land and free for the world to use. It is said that the Natives traveled this route and
eventually made their way to what is now known as North America
(http://mysteryandhistory.blogspot.com).
It was likely that the Natives moved in small groups of a
certain number and camped somewhere. As more and more crossed, there were more and
more groups and camps scattered everywhere. As different Natives split their culture and
language were formed and that is how you could distinguish each nation.
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20081206231539/oraltradition/images/0/09/Native_American_Tribes_Map_1.jpg
The Native people were all over the Western Hemisphere. Every nation lived in its own
area and migrated to different ones too. Some would travel all the time and some would stay on
their own area and form a village. Even though some of the nations would travel and not just
settle in one place they would travel but only around their area. The land they knew or the land
their ancestors would tell them about(http://americanindianoriginals.com/). For example, a
nation that always traveled would be the Apache. They would always be on the move because
they were hunters. So they had to follow whatever they hunted. Even though they would be on
the move, they would only move around the land they and their ancestors settled in. They
migrated all around the mountains and plains of Southern Arizona and New Mexico. Some of
the tribes that would settle in just a certain area would be Lakota, Iroquois, and Navajo. The
Lakota lived in the Northern Plains such as Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Dakotas
(http://wintercounts.si.edu/index.html). Iroquois lived in villages in what is now New York State
along the rivers. Navajo came from the Northwestern Canada and Alaska and extended into the
states of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico (http://www.ic.arizona.edu).
http://quezi.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/2212955750_2357704506.jpg
“
Each nation had different beliefs and cultures. The Navajo came from
Northwestern Canada and Alaska but then migrated to the Southwestern United States. As they
migrated, they met farmers who were known as Pueblo Nation(http://www.crowcanyon.org/) .
They began settling near them and learned from them. They learned similar style of weaving,
making clothing, and art from the Pueblo Indians. The Navajo would practice ceremonies
because they would believe they would bless them to keep on the path of happiness and
wisdom. Navajo would especially practice a ceremony that would keep the enemy away and
eliminated ghost and evil spirits.
The Apache nation came from the regions north of the Canadian border
(http://www.greatdreams.com). Later on, they migrated to the Mountains and plains of Southern
Arizona, New Mexico, and also Mexico. The nation did not grow food, so they were mostly
hunters always on the move but only in their own land. In the nation's diet, they would not eat
fish, even though there was plenty(http://www.greatdreams.com). The Apache had many
customs and one of them was in order to pass on to manhood Apache boy would need to run to
the top of a mountain before the sun rose. They also believed that once their ancestors died,
they became the rocks, trees, wind, mountains, and other things in
nature(http://www.greatdreams.com). The nation took frequent baths because they believed
they were cleaning their bodies from both bad luck and evil spirits.
One nation that was considered the first nation in North America was the
Lakota(http://www.indians.org/) . The Lakota lived in the Northern Plains in Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Iowa, and the Dakotas.They were sometimes known as “Sioux” which were made up
of these other nations as well. The Lakota,Dakota and the Nakota were the nations that made
up the “Sioux”(wintercount.si.edu). The nation’s children were called “wakanisha” which meant
sacred. To the Lakota the children were the center of attention and were very precious. But later
on that all changed. As the Europeans settled in their land they placed the young Lakota boys in
boarding schools and would ban them from speaking their own language, Siouan. As the
settlers were trying to take more control of them, the Lakota moved west from where they
originally were from because of the European settlers. They moved west because of the
European settlers and to follow the herd of bison that they relied on a lot in their daily lives. The
bison were a significant part of the Lakota’s life. It provided them with mostly everything they
needed such as food, shelter, and tools that could be made from it.
A big nation that were located in villages in the Eastern Woodlands such as south of
Lake Ontario and along the Mohawk River, which is now present day New York State, were the
Iroquois. The Iroquois were split into five different nations depending on the language they
spoke. Each of the five nations split spoke different language, but were very
similar(http://nanunet.lhric.org). The Iroquois were made up of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga,
Seneca, and Cayuga. These nations were farmers and they did not have to move around from
place to place like hunting nations. The nation would build their homes on hilltops so that they
could protect themselves from attacking nations(http://nanunet.lhric.org). The Iroquois nation
believed in many spiritual forces that were created by a supreme being. When they would have
dreams, they would believe they would come true(http://nanunet.lhric.org). They had special
rituals that thought would have the power to drive away the evil spirit of the illness or injury.
http://www.great-lakes.net/teach/history/native/graphics/fivenationflag2.gif
Among all these nations, they came from different places, settled in different places, and
had different beliefs and lifestyles. Even though their cultures were different, they basically all
believed in the same meaning in life. They all believed life was given to you to show basic
respect for every living thing on “Mother Earth” and presenting you with the possibility of finding
inner peace, harmony, and balance. To this day, native Americans have impacted people today
because people today practice different religions and have ceremonies just like the Native
Americans used to.Some of the people from these nations are still alive which means their
culture is still alive. The natives’ culture has not died out. Everyone has a little bit of what the
natives believed and that is to respect “Mother Earth”. Even though we are not doing such a
great job, we keep that in mind, that we have to protect our earth and what’s on it, and I believe
we learned this caring towards the world from our Natives.