The Native Americans. The story where all begun.

American culture shapes the modern culture all In all very successfully. Let’s start it at the very beginning, how and when American dream begun.

It was 3^rd of August 1492 when an Italian adventurer – Christopher Columbus set his trip from Spain to see and discover a new world – and the world itself. He looked for new routes to ship goods in and out, he searched for innovations which trigger the trade, made merchandise quicker, easier and much more efficient.

He sailed south to Canary Islands, then explored the unknown waters of the mid-Atlantic Ocean.  He would probably never ever expected that ten weeks after he sailed off of Spain he stepped on the sandy shore of an unexplored island. He named it San Salvador – Holy Savior. He deeply believed he found Indies, and the islands which were not far fetch from India itself. He called its native settlers – brown-skinned people – Indians. This inaccurate naming was corrected as ‘Native Americans’.

He didn’t discover India, he didn’t reach the vicinity of Asia, yet, He marked the land, which soon will be called by Europeans as America.

There were various ethnic groups and tribes. Each of them led a different style of life; in Mexico, United States and Canada. They were scattered across the grasslands; some tribes were peaceful, other warlike, though. As their lifestyle differed so did the language, for many in-comprehensive and difficult to absorb – as different and English is from Chinese.  

This new world was called by European settlers – America. Native Americans were much more earlier on this land and lived in for more than 50.000 years. The true origins are not very accurate but scientists may estimate this time as an obvious one.

Going back at that time – 50.000 years ago, the American lands differed significantly, a bridge of ice joined America to Asia – across the nowadays Bering Strait. Hunters from Siberia cross the bridge into Alaska, and, form Alaska they headed for America. They followed their new prey – caribou and buffalo.

About 5.000 year later their camp fires were burning on the frozen southern tip pf the continent – Tierra del Fuego, which meant – the Land of Fire.

Early settlers were mostly wandering hunters and gatherers of food. People living in highlands of area of present Mexico became first American farmers. Around 5000BC it was Mexico where people started growing and eating beans, squash and peppers. The Pueblo tribe was regarded as the most organized in farming. They lived in groups in small villages. They made an onset of the first small towns. First huts were very modest made of mud and straw.  Later on they added to the construction more advanced materials as bricks which were dried in the sun. Their houses were huge, some had more than 800 rooms. The Pueblo made clothing from cotton, the prime food consisted of maize and beans. It was this tribe who built an organized network of canals and sewage, long before Europeans came and change their land. Their dexterity enabled them to extend the network and irrigate 250,000 acres of farm land.

Apache was the neighboring tribe.  They wandered deserts and mountains, hunted deer, they prefer raiding to cultivating crops. The tribe was very fierce and warlike. Woods of northeastern America inhabited another tribe -  Iroquois. They were very skilled farmers, they worked together growing beans, squash and maize. They were hunters, fishermen. Canoes they built made the fishing easier and faster, they could concentrate on catching bigger fish, which not only would provide more food but also was an expensive commodity to sell and make profit from. Unlike Apache, Iroquois lived in permanent villages. Each of homes was big enough to give shelter to twenty families, it was an enormous facility which kept the whole community together.

Miles away – west part of America on the vast area of grass which spread from Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains there was another warlike tribe – called Dakota. More popular name is recalled – Sioux which means ‘enemies’. They were very dangerous and unpredictable. Fierce and unscrupulous. They hunted buffalo, they migrated, when buffalo moved, they moved as well. They slept in tepee made out of buffalo skin, they kept all their belongings in light leather bags called ‘parfleeches’ and easily changed their whereabouts. Whenever the buffalo followed so did they.

There is a legend where Sioux people originally came from, it’s a tale which is told from one generation to another:

“Our legends tell us that it was hundreds and perhaps thousands of years ago that the first man sprung from the soil in the great plains. The story says that one morning long ago a lone man awoke, face to the sun, emerging from the soil. Only his head was visible, the rest of his body not yet being shaped. The man looked about, but saw no mountains, no rivers, no forests. There was nothing but soft and quaking mud, for the earth was still young. Up and up the man drew himself until he freed his body from the clinging soil. At last he stood upon the earth, but it was not solid, and his first few steps were slow and uncertain. But the sun shone and the man kept his face turned toward it. In time the rays of the sun hardened the face of the earth and strengthened the man and he ran and leaped about, a free and joyous creature. From this the man sprang the Dakota nation. So far as we know, our people have been born and have died upon this plain; and no people have shared it with us until the coming of the European. So this land of the great plains is claimed by the Dakotas as their very own.”

The tepee is a symbol of American way of life, a dynamic life, of moving from one place to another, and adapting to circumstances very quickly. This large cone-shaped tent was invented by the buffalo hunters, built around a framework of about twelve slim, wooden poles approximately twenty feet long. The thin ends of the poles were tied together with strips of buffalo hide and the poles were raised and spread until their bottom ends formed a circle about fifteen feet in diameter. Forty buffalo hides were sewn together and spread over the frame, the ends were fastened to the ground by pegs. The top was marked by the opening and acted as chimney. The outside of the tepee was decorated by  religious and historical meanings.

The north coast of America was a tough place to live, this hostile and frozen land kept only the most withstanding ones, mostly fishermen whose main and prime food to gather and hunt was salmon. The tribe cultivated many ceremonies, the most outstanding one was Potlatches. The ‘potlatch’ was a very popular ceremony among the wealthy Pacific cost tribes of North America. The word means ‘ gift giving’. A modern potlatch is a party at which guests are given gifts. To avoid disgrace, the person who received a very wealthy gift had to give back much more.

Bibliography:

1. The Norton Anthology of American Literature.
2. A History of American Literature, A. Grey
3. An Outline of American History.
4. An Illustrated History of the USA.