History

The Inuit learned how to hunt seals in the summer from an unlikely teacher, the polar bear. Emerging from below the ice after the long winter, seals liked to sunbathe on top of ice floes, where they often fell into a light sleep. When a bear on the hunt slowly crept up to a sleepy … Read more

Without many trees or plants in their homeland, the Inuit had to look to animals for most of the materials they needed to make the things they used day to day. To survive in the Arctic, Inuit women crafted heavy coats called parkas from caribou furs and waterproof boots and mittens from sealskins. From whale … Read more

Over the course of thousands of years, the Inuit learned how to make do with little and to make the most of what they did have. Sources of food and materials for clothing, shelter, and other necessities were meager, so they had to be very attuned to their surroundings to find what was available. To … Read more

The Inuit world was full of danger. If a whaler’s boat capsized, within minutes he could die in the icy water. If a hunter was careless, even for a moment, a polar bear might maul him to death. If one season’s animal catch was small, a family might face starvation. To protect themselves from the … Read more

The Aleut are the native people of the 1,400-mile Aleutian Island chain off of Alaska’s southwest coast. The ancestors of the Aleut came to North America from Asia at about the same time as those of the Inuit. Settling on the isolated Aleutians, however, the Aleut (who call themselves the Unangan) developed their own culture, … Read more

Norsemen from Iceland came to Greenland in 986, almost 500 years before Christopher Columbus sailed to North America. They established two settlements along the southwestern part of the island, which probably was uninhabited at the time. About 100 years later, Inuit people from the north moved close to the Norse settlers. At first the two … Read more

The Inuit are the native peoples of the Arctic land stretching from central Alaska to the northern coast of Canada and onto the island of Greenland. Their ancestors came to North America from Asia in about 3,000 B.C., many thousands of years after the first Indian people arrived on the continent. The Inuit are more … Read more

The Arctic is the stretch of land north of the Subarctic forests. The area is one of the harshest environments in the world. For much of the year, the ground is covered with snow and ice. In January, temperatures can fall as low as 35° below zero. Powerful winds make the frigid air feel even … Read more

Subarctic Natives believed that animals would give their lives to humans only if people showed them respect. Different tribes had different rules about how to treat animals properly. The Gwich’in believed that a hunter would insult the animal spirit-world if he counted the animals he killed. Among the Cree, a hunter had to present an … Read more

Among the Kwakiutl Natives, the most important ritual of the winter ceremonials was a dance performed by a special group known as the Hamatsa Society. The Hamatsa Dance told the story of their ancestor, the Cannibal at the North End of the World, a powerful spiritual being who was said to feed on human flesh. … Read more

The U.S. cities with the highest Native American populations in 1994 are: Los Angeles, California 87,000 Tulsa, Oklahoma 48,000 New York, New York 46,000 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 46,000 San Francisco, California 41,000

In their territory, very few plants could grow, so almost all of the Inuit’s food came from the fish they caught and the animals they hunted. These animals included whales, seals, walrus, and caribou, a species of deer with huge spiky antlers.

Because it was too cold to farm, Subarctic Natives spent the winter following herds of caribou and moose. Aside from being their main source of food, these animals provided the Natives with skins, from which they made clothes and houses, and bones, which they crafted into tools and weapons. When hunting, people usually traveled in … Read more

Throughout most of their history, the Makah were great whale hunters. That tradition came to an end in 1926, when the International Whaling Commission banned whaling in the region. Non-Native American hunters had killed so many whales that the commission feared the whales would die out completely unless all hunting stopped. With the ban, the … Read more

The Subarctic is a huge area directly below the Arctic Circle that stretches over most of central Canada and Alaska. The land is covered by evergreen forests and great lakes and rivers. In the short Subarctic summer, the air is warm but filled with mosquitoes and flies that hatch by the millions as soon as … Read more

The Innu (also known as the Montagnais-Naskapi) and Beothuk lived in what is now eastern Canada, while present-day central Canada was the home of the Cree and Chipewyan. Farther west were the Beaver and Slavey of present-day western Canada and the Gwich’in and Ingalik of what is now Alaska. People in the Subarctic made snowshoes … Read more

In the treaties negotiated with Washington Native Americans in 1855, the Native Americans were guaranteed the right to fish in their “usual and accustomed places.” Dependent on fish for their survival, the Native Americans kept fishing at their favorite sites. But as more non-Native Americans moved into their territory, they tried to force Native American … Read more

The explorers of the Lewis and Clark expedition owed a great debt to a Shoshone woman named Sacagawea. She and her husband were hired to join the group as interpreters, but Sacagawea did much more to make the expedition a success. When the explorers were low on food, she knew where to find and how … Read more

tupso kopa latate meant hair saghalie tyee yaka book meant the Bible tupso , grass (Chinook) kopa , on (Chinook) saghalie , heaven (Chinook) latate , the head (mispronunciation of the French words la tete) tyee , chief (Nootka) yaka , his (Chinook) book , book (English) cly tumtum meant to mourn cly , cry … Read more

At first, Native Americans welcomed non-Native Americans into their lands. They liked the new goods traders offered, and traders, eager just to do business, did not try to hurt them, change their ways, or take their lands. By the early 1800s, however, the situation began to change. The fur trade fell on hard times because … Read more

A hunter’s greatest fear was that he might encounter a windigo. The Subarctic Inuit believed that windigos were great giants who stalked through the forests, using treetops as snowshoes. Filthy and vicious, windigos had hearts made of ice and great evil powers, including the ability to turn people into cannibals. Hunters, alone and frightened in … Read more

The Maritime Fur Trade brought together traders from Russia, England, France, and many Indian nations. To make deals, they had to be able to negotiate with one another, but nobody knew everyone else’s language. So that they could speak with one another, at least enough to trade, they developed a special language called Chinook Jargon. … Read more

Some Northwest Native Americans hunted deer and elk or gathered wild fruits and berries. But by far, most of their food came from the ocean and rivers, which were brimming with fish and other sea life. Native Americans to the south, such as the Chinook, could make an excellent meal merely by walking along the … Read more

In the late eighteenth century, non-Native Americans from Europe and Russia began to travel the sea to the Northwest Coast. The first were explorers, but soon they were followed by traders. These businessmen sailed from Spain, Russia, and England to participate in the Maritime Fur Trade.

When Subarctic Native Americans became sick, lost a valuable object, or otherwise needed help, they hired a religious leader called a shaman to perform the Shaking Tent Ceremony. After nightfall, the shaman entered a special round tent and sang and played the drum to call his helpers from the spirit-world. Suddenly, the tent began to … Read more

The Maritime Fur Trade refers to a trade network that developed between Northwest Native Americans and foreign non-Native American traders. The non-Native Americans wanted seal furs, which they could resell in China for an enormous profit. In exchange for seal furs, Native American traders received guns, woven cloth, and European metals, especially copper and iron. … Read more

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana Purchase, a huge area of land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains in the center of what is now the United States. To find out more about the region and the people who lived there, he sent out a small team of explorers led by … Read more

Some Native American groups grew wealthy by acting as middlemen. The Chinook, for instance, who lived along the Pacific Coast near the mouth of the Columbia River, were the first Native Americans to meet trading ships that sailed into the region. The Chinook soon found that they could make a big profit by traveling inland, … Read more

In 1853, Washington became a territory of the United States. The new territorial governor, Isaac Stevens, was charged with making treaties with all the state’s Native Americans. In the treaties, the Native Americans were supposed to agree to surrender their land and move to small reservations. In 1855, Stevens met with many Native American groups … Read more

The Native Americans of the Northwest Coast lived in one of the most comfortable environments in North America. The winters were never very cold, and the summers were never hot. Although it rained many months of the year, the damp weather allowed plants and great forests to flourish. From cedar trees, Native Americans could make … Read more

Potlatches were usually held to announce that a new person was taking the position of chief. Some Native American groups, however, used them to celebrate more personal events, such as a marriage or the naming of a child. Occasionally, a chief might hold a small potlatch if he had been embarrassed in public. For instance, … Read more

A copper was a flat, shield like object made out of copper metal that the Native Americans obtained through trade with whites. Owned by chiefs, they were usually engraved with an image of an animal that was thought to have a special spiritual connection with the owner’s family. Coppers were treasured because families believed they … Read more

In many Northwest Native American groups, prominent families held great feasts called potlatches. In addition to food, guests enjoyed singing and dancing. They were also treated to giveaways, in which the host family offered gifts to everyone who attended. Traditionally, gifts included blankets, food, wool robes, canoes, and even slaves. Yet, the most extravagant gift … Read more

Among many Northwest Native Americans, the most attractive feature a person could have was a sloped forehead. To ensure their children would be beautiful, they strapped their babies into a bed called a cradle board that had a piece of wood hinged to the top. The wood applied a gentle pressure to a baby’s soft … Read more

Originally, totem poles were carved using bone tools. These were difficult to use, so traditional carvings were fairly simple. But when non-Native Americans came to the Northwest, they gave Native Americans metal tools that sliced through cedar smoothly and easily. These tools freed artists to create more and more elaborate figures. They used them to … Read more

In the spring and summer, most Northwest Native Americans could catch and preserve enough fish to feed them throughout the rest of the year. This left groups such as the Kwakiutl, Bella Bella, and the Tsimshian free to devote winter months to staging elaborate ceremonies. Through these ceremonies, the Native Americans performed dances that told … Read more

A totem pole was a giant sculpture carved from the trunk of a cedar tree. Wealthy Native American families hired artists to create totem poles, which they proudly placed outside their houses. By displaying a totem pole, a family could let everyone in the village know how important and powerful it was. The carvings on … Read more

One of the greatest delicacies of the Northwest Native American diet was the oil of the tiny eulachon fish. Native American fishermen placed their eulachon catch in large covered pits for several days. They then boiled the fish and scooped up the oil that collected on the surface. Used to season dried fish, fruits, and … Read more

At the beginning of the salmons’ annual run, Northwest fishermen performed a ritual after they caught the first fish. During the ceremony, the fish was roasted and eaten, usually with a small bite given to each person in a village. The bones were then returned to the river in which the salmon was caught. Native … Read more

A few Native Americans from the villages hardest hit by disease were so desperate and distraught that they welcomed the food and shelter offered by mission priests. Most Native Americans, however, wanted nothing to do with the missions and the Spanish. They came to the missions only after they were rounded up at gunpoint by … Read more

The Spanish priests believed they were saving the Native Americans’ souls by converting them to Catholicism. They did not think they were interfering with the Native Americans’ religious life because they thought the Native Americans had no real religion of their own. In fact, California Indians had a complicated set of religious beliefs. To pay … Read more

A mission was a complex of buildings that housed Spanish priests of a particular Catholic order. These priests came to California to convert Native Americans to Christianity. The missions included quarters for new converts, which the priests called neophytes. The neophytes were expected to live and work at the mission while the priests schooled them … Read more

The most important, and most devastating, effect was the Native Americans’ exposure to European diseases, such as measles, cholera, and smallpox. These diseases killed Native Americans throughout North America, but they were especially deadly in California. Because people lived close together in clusters of villages, disease spread very quickly. Some villages lost as much as … Read more

On October 10, 1542, a group of Spanish explorers led by Juan Cabrillo arrived in the lands of the Chumash near what is now the city of Santa Barbara. The Chumash were friendly to the Spaniards, but the Europeans soon left when they did not find the gold they were looking for. Although a few … Read more

Many Native Americans living along the Pacific Coast showed respect to their most honored dead by burying them in canoes. For instance, when a Tillamook chief died, his followers thoroughly washed the body, painted his face red, and wrapped him in a blanket held tight with strips of cedar bark. The body was then placed … Read more

In 1821, Spain lost control of California to Mexico. Thirteen years later, the Mexican government outlawed Native American slavery and allowed the 15,000 Native Americans living in missions to leave. Many cheered when they were told that they were at last free. But sadly they were unable to go back to their old ways of … Read more

The rivers of the Northwest were full of salmon that were easy to catch as they made their annual swim upriver to lay their eggs. In the spring, as the salmon runs began, entire villages left their homes to set up camp along the rivers’ edge. Using large nets woven from strips of cedar bark, … Read more

Successful whale hunters were highly respected by the Nootka Indians. To honor them, they built a special shrine, now known as the Whale House. The Nootka Whale House contained wooden whale carvings, human skulls, and carved figures of whalers who had died. Medicine men performed ceremonies in the house so that more dead whales would … Read more

In the Northwest, great forests of cedar trees provided Native Americans with an ideal building material. The trunks of these trees could be easily split into planks as long as 40 feet. Using these planks, Native Americans built large, sturdy wooden houses that were well suited to their rainy climate. Plank houses were clustered to … Read more

Probably some of the increase was an illusion. The earlier polls likely underestimated the actual number of Native Americans in California. In the early decades of the century, people were reluctant to say to pollsters that they were Native Americans because they were afraid of being treated badly by whites. But in the 1950s and … Read more

In the early twentieth century, the Native American population in California was dwindling away. By 1910, there were only 25,000 Native Americans left in the state. In the middle of the twentieth century, however, the number began to rise. By 1990, California had an Native American population of about 242,000.

In August 1911, a group of non-Native Americans came upon a thin and tired Native American man as he tentatively emerged from the foothills of Mount Lassen in northern California. He was the last surviving member of the Yahi tribe, most of whom had been killed either by non-Native Americans or the diseases they carried. … Read more

In the late nineteenth century, a few reservations were established for the many California peoples driven off their land. Life at these reservations was difficult, so poor and homeless Indians began looking to relatives for help. Even though their old villages no longer existed, the ties that bound people together still survived. Other Indians tried … Read more

Some white prospectors hired Native Americans to look for gold for them. But most native Californians had little interest in gold, which to them was just a shiny metal. The Gold Rush had its greatest effect on the Indians by bringing ever increasing numbers of non-Indians into their midst. Some of the miners were rough, … Read more

By the late 1960s, young California Indians (many from relocated families) began to speak out against the U.S. government’s policies toward Indian peoples. Their most dramatic protest was the Alcatraz takeover. Alcatraz is a small island in the Pacific Ocean just off the coast of San Francisco, California. For decades, it was the home of … Read more

During the mission period (1769-1834), Native Americans often banded together to rebel against the Spanish. In 1785, one such uprising was organized by a Gabrielino medicine woman named Toypurina. Under her leadership, six villages of Indians tried to overthrow the priests and soldiers at the San Gabriel Mission near present-day Los Angeles. Toypurina’s followers believed … Read more

On January 24, 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter’s Fort, a ranch and trading center near Culloma, a Nisenan Indian village. Although the ranch’s owner tried to keep the discovery secret, word of the gold spread quickly, first in the West and then throughout the East. Hoping to find their own fortune, thousands and thousands … Read more

Beginning in 1846, the United States went to war with Mexico over control of lands in what are now California, Texas, and New Mexico. The Americans won the Mexican War (1846-1848), and, in the peace treaty, the United States was given this territory. Almost immediately, non-Indian Americans flooded into the lands of the California Indians. … Read more

Throughout their southern California homeland, the Chumash decorated exposed sandstone and cave walls with brilliant paintings. While other tribes made rock paintings, none were as colorful as those of the Chumash. By crushing colored rocks and mixing the powder with animal fat, they made sticky, thick pigments ranging from sharp yellows to burning reds to … Read more

There were probably more than 100 Native American tribes in California before non-Natives came to the region. In their own minds, however, California Indians probably did not consider themselves part of a tribe. Because their settlements were so isolated, they thought of themselves more as members of a village or of a small group of … Read more

California features many different environments, from harsh deserts in the south to great, rainy forests in the north. Nearly every region offered Native Americans a wide variety of wild plants and animals for food and for materials to make clothing, houses, and tools, so many Native American tribes could flourish there.

The Northwest Indians lived in many villages in the lush lands along the Pacific Ocean. This area included the homelands of the Chinook, Makah, and Nootka, who lived along the coasts of what are now the states of Oregon and Washington, and the territory of the Coast Salish tribes, who also lived on the shores … Read more

Most Native Americans in California lived in small villages. They tended to stay close to their homes. In their rich environment, they could easily get the necessities of life without traveling far. As a result, many California Indians rarely encountered people from faraway villages or from other tribes. In mountainous areas, villages were sometimes so … Read more

Although some scholars think humans may have lived in what is now California as early as 48,000 years ago, people definitely lived there by about 8000 B.C. From that time to the arrival of non-Native Americans in about A.D. 1550, the Indian population in California grew to about 300,000. The area had the highest concentration … Read more

Despite the influences of white farmers, ranchers, and missionaries, the Tarahumara tribe of northern Mexico still live much as their ancestors did. One of the many features of their traditional culture that remains alive is the footrace. During these tests of endurance, participants might run as far as 100 miles over rough, mountainous terrain. Runners … Read more

California Indians (Native Americans) spoke about 90 languages. But even peoples who used the same one often spoke very different dialects (regional variations in a language). Two villages’ dialects could be as different as English and German. These dialects first grew up because villages had fairly little contact with one another. Once they were well … Read more

The Navajo Code Talkers used Navajo words to stand in for English words or phrases. For instance, de-he-tih-hi (Navajo for “humming bird”) meant “fighter plane” and besh-lo (“iron fish”) meant submarine. The Code Talkers memorized a special alphabet to spell out uncommon English words, like place-names. In this alphabet, a different Navajo word was used … Read more

In the marshes of northern California, Native Americans found the ideal material for house-building, a bulrush known as tule. They wove the stalks of this wild plant into large, flexible mats that, placed over a frame of saplings, created the walls of their houses. Airy and light, tule mats kept the Indians’ houses cool and … Read more

Many Native American tribes lived in central California between the great mountains of the Sierra Nevada range and the Pacific Ocean. The homelands of the Pomo, Salinan, and Chumash were along the coast, while those of the Yokut, Miwok, and Nisenan were further inland. Large groups in southern California included the Cahuilla, Gabrielino, Luisefio, and … Read more

California Indians could gather wild seeds, plums, grapes, berries, and roots; fish for trout and salmon; and hunt small birds and game such as rabbits and quail or large herds of elk and deer. Their most important food, though, was acorns. Wherever great California oak trees grew, fall was the season of the acorn harvest. … Read more

Each climate in California called for a different type of house. In the rainy northwest, families constructed large houses out of cedar planks to keep themselves dry. In the moderate north and central California, people spent the winter in pit houses, which they built by digging a round hole in the ground and roofing it … Read more

In the early 1860s, Navajo people were stealing cattle and horses from whites in what is now New Mexico. American militiamen, led by Brigadier General James A. Carleton, were sent out to stop them. After a series of bloody battles, the Navajo were defeated and forced to move to a reservation called Bosque Redondo to … Read more

The Navajo have a long history as weavers. They were introduced to weaving on an upright loom by Pueblo Indians who moved to Navajo territory after fleeing from the Spanish in the mid-seventeenth century. Inspired by designs on Spanish cloth, Navajo weavers soon began using wools colored with vegetable dyes to create brilliant and distinctive … Read more

With some 500 wild plants available to them, the Indians of California generally did not need to bother with the hard work of farming. They did, however, develop many clever ways of helping wild plants grow and flourish. For instance, at a young age, women in central California learned to keep meadows of wild hyacinths … Read more

Traditionally, the Navajo were the most skilled Indian ranchers in the Southwest. In addition to keeping large herds of horses, they raised huge flocks of sheep. (Like horses, these animals were introduced to North America by the Spanish.) Almost every Navajo had a few sheep. Even small children were given lambs to look after so … Read more

In most of California, the weather was so mild that Native Americans needed little clothing. Men usually wore a simple thong made of animal skin or nothing at all. Women generally strapped mats woven from strips of bark around their waists. The tools California Indians made were equally simple. Because plants and animals were so … Read more

Expeditions of Spanish soldiers first came to Navajo territory in the late sixteenth century. Although the Navajo sometimes traded with these intruders, more often they fought with them to protect their own territory. This pattern continued in the nineteenth century, when the Navajo lands became first a part of Mexico, then part of the United … Read more

A hogan was the type of house the Navajo built after they arrived in the Southwest. Hogans were round one-room structures made from a frame of wood poles covered with mud. Each had one entrance, which faced east, and a hole in the roof to release smoke from cooking fires set inside the house. The … Read more

Drypaintings were sacred images made by the Navajo during ceremonies such as the Blessingway. A holy man used sand, cornmeal, pollen, and pounded roots and barks to create symbols and pictures of spirit-beings on the ground. These images were thought to have great power, so after the ceremony they were always destroyed so they could … Read more

Hozho was a Navajo word that meant beauty and order. The Navajo believed that in their world, everything was where it should be and, because it was in order, it was beautiful. Through their religious ceremonies and personal behavior, all Navajo strove to maintain hozho.

The Blessingway was a ceremony held by the Navajo to ensure that a person would live long and well. It was usually performed when a person reached a milestone in his or her life. For instance, a Blessingway might be held to celebrate a marriage, a birth, or a girl’s initiation into womanhood. During the … Read more

Before the Navajo came to the Southwest, they lived by hunting game and gathering plants. Few wild animals and plants, however, lived in their new hot, dry homeland. To survive, they looked to the Pueblo Indians and learned by their example how to farm corn and squash. Pueblo people who moved to Navajo lands to … Read more

Yes, the Pueblo Indians still live in their homelands. In 1821, the Spanish surrendered their lands to Mexico, which in turn gave them to the United States in 1848. But no matter which group of non-Indians, Spaniards, Mexicans, or Americans, claimed to have control over the Pueblo, they worked to retain their traditional territory and … Read more

Because they relied on wild plants for so much of their diet, California Indians had to know how to make light, strong, and durable baskets. When gathering nuts, berries, and roots, women carried large, cone-shaped baskets fitted with shoulder straps. They used larger baskets to hold the foods they gathered, particularly acorns, which, if properly … Read more

Dine is the name the Navajo call themselves. It means “people” in the Navajo language. Now the largest southwestern tribe, the Navajo’s ancestors originally lived farther to the north, possibly in Canada. Starting in about 1000, they moved south, eventually settling near the Pueblo in what is now northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona. Modern … Read more

Maria Martinez (c. 1887-1980) was a potter from San Ildefonso Pueblo. As a girl, she learned from her aunt how to make clay pottery just as her ancestors had. But Martinez, with her husband, Julian, developed a new way of decorating Pueblo pots. To harden a finished pot, the Pueblo potters fired it by placing … Read more

In 1848, gold was discovered in California. The next year, thousands of hopeful non-Indian miners, nicknamed Forty-Niners, traveled west to seek their fortunes. The trip was difficult, particularly for those on the southern wagon route that passed through the hottest, driest lands in the Southwest. Many hungry, thirsty forty-niners found relief in the lands of … Read more

Kachinas were spirit beings revered by the Pueblo Indians. There were several hundred kachinas, each with a different name and appearance. They were thought to have the power to make rain. Because rain was needed to grow the crops on which the Pueblo depended, the kachinas had control over their very lives. To ask the … Read more

The Kachinvaki was the first ceremony attended by a Hopi child. Its purpose was to initiate girls and boys into Hopi society and tell them what would be expected of them as adults. Children were deemed ready for the Kachinvaki usually sometime between the ages of six and nine. Each was assigned a sponsor, a … Read more

The Koshare were a group of men who acted like clowns during Pueblo religious ceremonies. With their legs and bodies painted in broad black-and-white stripes, they shouted out jokes, teased onlookers, made fun of sacred rituals, and generally did everything the Pueblo people would normally frown upon. The Koshare worked hard to entertain their audience, … Read more