GEOGRAPHY / AMERICAN INDIAN STUDIES 322
MIDTERM I STUDY GUIDE
20 points Map Quiz; 30 points Matching/Multiple Choice/True-False;
50 points Essay I; 50 points Essay II = 150 points total
Map quiz of Native nations’ homelands
20 will be labeled with A, B, C, D, or E.
This map is also posted at http://www.uwec.edu/grossmzc/nations.gif
Language families of each Native nation (for matching section) listed at
http://www.uwec.edu/grossmzc/nations.html
Ojibwe
Potawatomi
Menominee
Oneida
Mohican
Dakota/Lakota
Ho-Chunk
Navajo
Hopi
Taos Pueblo
Acoma Pueblo
Zuni Pueblo
Apache
Tohono O’odham
Tlingit
Dené
Inuit
Cree
Seminole
Shoshone
Blackfeet
Nez Percé
Lummi
Makah
Mohawk
Innu
Choctaw
Cheyenne
Crow
Micmac
Yakama
Cherokee
Creek
Yurok
Osage
Flathead
Essays (you will have a choice of 2 out of 3). Studying for each essay question will help
you in the non-essay sections. Answer each question embedded within the essay
directions. Be specific and detailed; don’t be vague!
1. What does the 2000 Census say about the geographical distribution of the
American Indian and Alaskan Native population in the U.S.? How was the 2000
Census different from past censuses, and how did it affect the overall national
Native population percentage? How did respondents describe their tribal
affiliations? What were the top states in terms of Native population percentages
and raw numbers? What were the top urban areas in terms of Native population
percentages and raw numbers? Describe these top areas in terms of the historical
processes that concentrated Native people in these places?
2. A typical map of U.S. Indian populations looks something like the one below,
showing 4 percent of the U.S. as under Native control. What are problems with
this type of map? Why does it show too little? Why does it show too much? Does
it accurately show the distribution of Native Americans or Native lands? Why or
why not? According to Wilkins, how does the federal government define Indian
lands and recognize Indian tribes?
3. Who is an “Indian”? Review the debates over the racial/biological, cultural, and
geographical/territorial definitions of Native Americans. How are these definitions
formalized, how are each of them problematic, and what groups do they leave out? How
does the federal government define individual Indian identities, as described by Wilkins?
4. Briefly describe the debate over Native demographics before Contact, as outlined in
the article 1491. Why were Native people vulnerable to European diseases, and what
were the specific effects of the epidemics that struck them? What are the implications of
the debate for the period after Contact, in terms of European views of the landscape, of
legal land ownership doctrines, and how the land was managed?
5. Briefly describe the differences among the Native Cultural Areas in what would
become the Continental U.S., in terms of settlement patterns, economic practices and
cycles, lodging and social organization. Include observations of the Plains, Northeast,
Southeast, Southwest, Northwest Coast, Plateau, California and Great Basin. How does
geography help us understand the relationship between Native people and the land?
6. Compare the Native policies of the colonial powers in North America: the Spanish,
French, British and Americans? What were the similarities and differences between their
economic, political, cultural and ecological approaches? How did Native peoples and
white settlers react to these different policies? How were Native nations and Europeans
affected by their interdependence during the Fur Trade? What are the legacies today of
different colonial approaches, in different regions of North America?
7. How have Native American and European concepts of land use differed historically,
and how did Europeans use these differences to conquer Native land? How have these
differences played out in conflicts over protecting the Plains buffalo or Everglades
species, as discussed by LaDuke? What geographic and land use concepts can you detect
in the Basic Call to Consciousness reading?
8. Why are sacred sites a central aspect of religion, and of Native spiritual systems in
particular? How do Native people view and use their sacred sites, and how do these
contrast with Western views of how Native people view sacred sites and burial grounds
(whether negative or positive)? What dilemmas do tribes face in the process of protecting
their sacred places, and how have they dealt with these dilemmas?
9. Analyze four specific case studies of efforts to protect Native sacred sites (from the
Taliman reading, the lecture, video, or your own research), including two successful and
two unsuccessful efforts. What arguments were used on each side of the clash over the
site, and why did the eventual outcome occur? What federal measures are being taken or
considered to protect Native sacred sites?