The Cultures of Native North Americans 3829029853, 9783829029858

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Editor: Christian F. Feest

The Culture Native North Americans

The diversity of Native American cultures goes far beyond the popular image of the "Indian." The bison, hunters and horseback warriors of the Great Plains, with their wind-blown feather headdresses, make up only a small part of the fascinating world of the peoples and cultures which developed between the icy Arctic and the mountains of northern Mexico. A veritable rainbow of life-styles reaches from the chiefdoms of the eastern forests to the tribelets of California, and from the hunters of northern Canada to the Pueblo peoples who tilled their fields in the dry Southwest. Often still observing old traditions, many of these peoples have survived the 500 years since the first involuntary confrontation with Europeans, contact which brought cultural enrichment as well as death and deprivation. This volume presents the day-to-day life, history, and material and spiritual achievements of North America’s indigenous poeple.

Front Flap Feather Headdress of the Arapaho Chieftain Yellow Calf. The British Museum (London). © AKG Berlin / Photo: Werner Forman Back Flap Sitting Bull and his nephew One Bull (1884). (cf. p. 232) © Palmquist & Jurgens. Library of Congress (Washington, DC)

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Christian EFeest

Origins and Past of Indigenous North Americans

control high temperatures, ores could not be

"Indians?"

smelted and thus hardly any usable metal tools

"Newer Peoples," from Systematische Bilder Galerie zur Ailgemeinen deutschen Real Encyklopadie (1825-1827). Greater understanding of the American continent revealed to

When in 1492 Columbus mistook the people

produced. In comparison, the absence of true

Europeans the variety and differences of its native peoples,

of the Antilles for natives of India, he could

writing systems was the least of their problems.

whom from the late 18th century onward the new science of

not

In spite of these differences, it can be claimed

encyclopedia shows the inhabitants of northwestern America (5:

have

guessed

how

far-reaching

the

consequences of his error would be. More than

that

some

Native

American

peoples

were

ethnology in particular sought to classify. This early 19th-century Chugash, 6: Nootka) as representatives of "Mongolian and Tartar Tribes," while the famous Mohawk leader Joseph Brant (9)

500 years later, the peoples of the Americas are

culturally closer to Europeans than to some of

and a Mayoruna from the Peruvian Montana (8) are pictured as

still designated as "Indians," as if they were a

their aboriginal neighbors.

representatives of the "American Tribes."

more or less homogeneous population. Nothing could be further from the truth. Compared to

The white conquerors and settlers, however, didn't

see

it

this

way,

and

the

general

word meaning "cannibal," while "Sioux" is the

the diversity of the ways of life that once

designation "Indians" was also an indication of

abridged

distinguished the continent, the "multi-cultural"

their lack of interest in the differences between

"speakers of an incomprehensible language"

America of today seems rather monotonous.

Native American

(in a figurative sense also "snakes").

Pre-European North America was inhabited by

hundreds

from

the

of different

civilizations

of

peoples,

ranging

Central

America

tribes.

Although

we

have

known better for a long time, there had until recently been

term

from

the

remove this

vernacular

of

the

Ojibwa

word

for

In the wake of their belated decolonization, many of the native peoples of North America

and

have asserted their right to their own names,

(Mesoamerica) to the cultures of the Arctic

scholarly vocabularies. Coined more than 100

some of which are now officially used ( more

coast.

years ago, the term

Some of these peoples stood at the

misleading

little attempt to

form

never quite

frequently so in Canada than in the United

established itself and is ultimately just another

States). As most of these self-designations mean

around in smaller family groupings, gathering

misleading generalization. More recent terms

something like "(real) human beings," those of

edible wild plants or hunting game. A more

such as "Native Americans" in the United States

linguistically related, but culturally and politically

sedentary existence, even if only seasonal, was

and "First Nations" in Canada emphasize on the

distinct peoples are often confusingly similar

made possible on the coasts and the banks of

one hand the variety within, but on the other

to one another. By contrast, the designation

rivers and lakes by fishing and hunting sea

the differences between, the modern nation

"Inuit" is now applied even to those "Eskimos"

mammals, and in inland areas by agriculture.

states. Peoples living on either side of the border

whose self-designation is different.

threshold

of forming

states;

others

moved

"Amerind"

However, what these people had in common

have different names depending on where they

when compared to the Europeans who since the

live. The people called Blackfoot in Canada are

16th century had been making their way into

known as Blackfeet in the United States; the

what for them was a new world, was the

Ojibwa of Canada are identical to the Chippewa

absence of certain achievements: the lack of

of the United States (only in Minnesota are they

animal husbandry not only meant that they

called Ojibway or Ojibwe).

depended on hunting for meat, but also that no large

animals were

available

as transport;

Incidentally,

most of the commonly

Languages and writing systems

used

It is no longer possible to determine how many

tribal names are designations used by other

distinct languages were spoken in precolonial

without the use of rotary motion there was

peoples and

neither wheel nor wagon, no potter's wheel, no

were

spinning wheel, no lathe; without me ability to

"Mohawk" is derived from the Narragansett

10

Henry Kammler

not

originally

always

had

meanings which

flattering.

For

instance,

North America - too many have disappeared without trace.

Estimates start at about 500

languages and considerably more dialects.

BERING SEA

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West Greenlandic

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o

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East Greenlandic

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Northern Algonquian COOSAN^J; Calico ^ lututni

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Northern Yurok-itif/lSnfi .Paiute „

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Arikara

Achumawi

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..

Navajo_^ \

*owa

Kansa Missouri

Osage

I!“P iifcWtT '-“fl.Tiw.

ye, — North Carolina \ Algonquian Woccon

nJ6*^rt /

7,uni

P Ipai —^ Western 3 ffy/y, P»**f ;yaay A-- qjf Maricopa Apache . ^'r° ^ UTOKumeyaay ■Q ;.o Cocopa Upper Tmi.i/X ■ UDDer 4 D AZTECAN Tipai Chiricahua Comanche PaipaiKiliwa Piman

Quapaw

.•~«F«

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Nanticoke-Conoy

minols - (Nottoway) (Meherrin)

Jicarilla

Walapai

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.Nawathinehena

lewa

Caddo v_auuo hita s, n ADD° (K t

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Tm

ifcriw

ft,

ft

Yuki, isolated in the middle of California, may represent

the

inhabitants

linguistic

of the

heritage

region.

of

II

The Athapaskan

pockets in northwestern California, however,

HL

Urc. ©0S

immigration

in

'Smu

early

are the

result of

6*

the first