Native Peoples of North America Textbook Chapter 3 Resources and their Distribution

Chapter RESOURCES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION Coyote was out bunting and found a dead deer . One deer rib bones looked just like a big ( mollusk ) and Coyote picked it up and took it bim . He went up to tbe frog people . Ybe frog people bad all tbe water . anyone wanted any water to drink or took or to , bad to go and get it from tbe frog people . Coyote came up . Hey , frog people , I bave a big . I want a big drink want to a long time . Give us tbat , said tbe frog people , and you can drink all you Coyote gave tbe and began drinking . Ybe water was a large dam Coyote drank . going to keep my bead down for a long time , said Coyote , because I really . Don worry about me . Okay , we won worry , said tbe frog people . Coyote began drinking . He a long time . Finally one frog people said , Hey Coyote , you sure are drinking a lot of water . areyou doing ?

Coyote bis bead up out water . really . After a one of tbe frog people said , Coyote , you sure are drinking a lot . Maybe you better give us . 76 Peoples North Chapter let drink , said Coyote , putting bis bead back under tbe water . Ybe frog people wondered bow a person could drink so water . didn like . Coyote be doing . Coyote was digging out under tbe dam all tbe time be bad bis bead under water . be was , be stood up and said , was a good drink . was just I wanted tbe dam collapsed and tbe water went out into tbe valley and made tbe creeks and rivers and waterfalls . Ybe frog people were very angry . You bave taken all tbe water , It is not tbat one people bave all tbe water . Now it is everyone can bave it . Coyote did tbat . Now anyone can go down to tbe river andget a drink of water or some water to cook or just swim around A story told by Barry Lopez in 1927 ( and Ortiz ) Until the twentieth century , the availability of resources ( food and material for making clothing or building houses or tools ) depended on where the people of a particular society lived . This was especially true for food . People might be able to travel long distances to get materials for tools , or trade for materials with other people , but food was perishable . It would go bad very quickly , long before it could be transported long distances . The climate of an area could also determine resources . Farming would be to impossible in the Arctic and . People living in those areas would have to rely on foraging , a method of getting resources through a combination of gathering wild edibles , and hunting . People who lived in more temperate areas with long growing seasons , like the southeastern part of what today is the United States , would have more options available to them , including the development of agriculture . However resources are obtained , food is a limited resource . Animals can be , 77

Peoples North Chapter leading to their extinction , as can be . Even wild edibles can be exploited . But as the story about Coyote and the frog people shows , the most important resource is water . Human living sites are always found around water , such as lakes , rivers , streams , and creeks . Habitation sites might be found along the ocean shore , as in the Northwest coastal areas , but there would also have to be sources for drinking water . Water was not only necessary for drinking , cooking , and washing it was also an important food source . Fish , waterfowl , and water plants were all important foods . Water could also be an important transportation route , allowing fairly easy access by canoe or boat to additional areas for the gathering of resources . Water sources , the climate , and environmental factors like rainfall and the length of growing seasons are all important in determining the resources people have available . Different societies living in the same area might utilize their environments and resources in different ways . What and how a society gets and utilizes its resources is its economy . Today in the United States and Canada , we think of economy as referring to money , jobs , and businesses . But this perspective would not describe most of human history . In a broader perspective , economy refers to the resources available to a society , how they are obtained , and how those resources are distributed . Anthropologists have four categories that describe the ways societies utilize or exploit their environments for food resources foraging , pastoralism , horticulture , and agriculture . Industrialization , in which people work largely in factories or other business for a wage is the type of labor with which you are familiar . But this is a relatively recent ( in the last 120 years ) way of getting resources . In an industrial society , people work for a wage and use that to buy the resources they need or can afford . For most of human history , people worked directly for resources they way most people in Western societies get resources is changing again , as most of us are and will be employed in service industries such as teaching . This is often referred to as Beginning in the nineteenth century , many Native peoples started participating in wage labor on ranches and farms . With relocation to cities in the twentieth century , many Native Americans started working in construction and factories in the United States and Canada . In the century , many Native American communities and individuals have started 78

Peoples North Chapter their own businesses . Best known are casinos , but they have also started ski resorts , plants , golf courses , manufacturing facilities , and greeting card companies . Pastoralism refers to the domestication of animals . Societies domesticated animals like horses , cattle , sheep , goats , and reindeer to obtain needed resources from the animals themselves or by trading the animals and their ( milk or meat ) with other societies . For example , in the Congo , the Zulu will trade milk and meat with their foraging neighbors , the , for the roots and fruits they gather . Few societies in North America practiced pastoralism to any extent , although some raised turkeys or other fowl . The Aztec of Mexico raised domesticated deer , and the of South America raised llamas , but for the most part Native Americans did not adopt the practice of domesticating animals until after European colonization , so the practice will not be discussed in great detail . Foraging societies get food resources through a combination of the collection of wild edibles , fishing , and hunting . In the twentieth century , the anthropological emphasis in examining and describing foraging societies focused on hunting . The assumption was that most of the food in foraging societies came from hunting , and that men were doing the hunting . This assumption often formed the hypothesis for why men had more status in their societies they provided the food . We now know that in foraging societies in temperate climates , up to 75 to 80 of food comes from the gathering of wild edibles , work that is generally associated with women ( 1975 ) Further , in Arctic and societies in which wild edibles are limited , women participated , and continue to participate in hunting , including the hunting , moose , and caribou . More than to years ago , all human societies were . In places like northern Europe , Asia , and North America , animals were hunted . In North America these animals included mastodons , giant beavers , and ground sloths . Because of the size of animals hunted , these societies are referred to as big game hunting societies . In such societies , not just men participated in the hunting of large game , but the entire community took part . The community would work together to drive animals into corrals or over cliffs where they would be butchered , and the meat and skins prepared . Around years ago these large animals started becoming extinct 79

Peoples North Chapter due to a number of environmental factors , including climate change and perhaps . As a consequence , these ( early Native peoples ) foraging societies adapted to hunting smaller as elk , moose , caribou , and was available in a particular area . Often overlooked in examining a foraging society is the importance of fishing . Remember , early human living those in the found around water . Getting needed resources through does not have the same romantic allure as big game hunting or tracking bison , but it is a very important way of getting food . A diet is highly nutritious and healthier than a red meat diet . Further , it supplies important fats that are important to brain development . Many members of the community could , not just strong , healthy men . Archaeological sites often have artifacts that were used to fish , including ( an enclosure of stakes and nets to trap ) nets , spears , hooks , and weights . Current archaeological estimates suggest that up to 75 of the part of foraging peoples diets came from fish ( 2001 ) Fishing and fishing rights continue to be very important to contemporary Native communities . Another important way of getting food in foraging societies was the gathering of wild edibles . In order to get enough food in this way , foraging societies would typically be mobile , traveling from area to area to find the resources they needed . Exceptions to this lifestyle were found in societies in the northwestern area of what are now the coast of Canada and the United States . The , Bella , and lived in such a rich environment they were able to live in settled villages along the coastal area , where they utilized resources from the sea , fresh water , and plants . Most other foraging societies had to travel to different areas to find needed resources . These societies did not travel constantly they might settle in an area for weeks or even months . In some instances Natives would have summer and winter camps and migrate between the two areas seasonally . They learned the areas in which particular resources could be found and when they would be available , then settled in these areas utilizing the resources to be found . 80

Peoples North Chapter By necessity , foraging societies were typically small , no more than 500 people in a community . Foraging societies must have enough people to successfully exploit the resources available , but not so many that they those resources . Foraging societies would often split into smaller groups in the winter when resources were harder to secure , then come together again in larger groups in the summer . An example of a foraging be the , who continue to live in what is now northeastern along the Lawrence River basin . Historically the focused on hunting and for resources gathering was a less significant part of their economy . They hunted moose , caribou , beaver , porcupines , bears , and several varieties of birds . It appears that the traded with the Huron of Lake for nets . They also used for trapping eels . The would use the animals they hunted for other purposes . Clothing was made from the skins of moose and caribou . Bones , teeth , and other parts of animals would be used to make other household utensils . The size of communities would vary depending on the season . In fall and winter people lived in scattered camps . Typically these winter camps were made up of extended bilateral kin groups . In the spring , larger groups gathered along waterways such as the Lawrence River or the Gulf of the Lawrence and got resources from them . In contemporary times , a small number of continue to practice the historical foraging economy of their ancestors however most are engaged in wage labor . Those who do continue hunting have adopted many European and Canadian technologies such as guns , and there is a greater emphasis on trapping using steel traps ( 2001 ) The area called the Great Basin is a large region , but because of the scarcity of resources and the fragile environment , it was home to a relatively small number of Native Americans . This area is referred to as the Great Basin because it only has interior drainage all its rivers and streams into lakes , with no waterways that to the ocean . The Great Basin covers an area that includes the states of Nevada , Utah , northern Colorado , southern Oregon , Idaho , western Wyoming , eastern California , northern Arizona , and New Mexico . The area is bounded on the west by the Sierra Mountains and on the east by the Rocky climate is largely arid except at the high altitudes of the mountains . 81

Peoples North Chapter There are large lakes such as Pyramid Lake , Walker Lake and Lake Tahoe , but about of the land is desert . Precipitation , as well as and fauna , are all dependent on the altitude . Before European contact , most of the Native American Great Basin population was found between altitudes of to feet . It was here the Utes , and were best able to needed Native peoples of the Great Basin were , relying on plant and animal resources . Unlike the Native American of the Northwest , the Native peoples of the Great Basin were mobile , moving from place to place to utilize the resources found in different areas , while not the resources of any one area . The anthropologist Julian Steward , who largely examined how people adapt to their environments , said the Great Basin peoples relied on various that changed from season to season , and from place to place . The resources the Great Basin peoples relied on included , deer , bighorn sheep , antelope , rabbits , birds , and waterfowl . They ate wild plants such as pinion nuts , pinecones , acorns , beans from mesquite , and agave , rice grass , and fruits and berries . Southern , Utes , and learned horticulture from neighbors in the Southwest . Like the Native peoples of the Southwest , they grew corn , beans , squash , and melons . Other Great Basin peoples helped the growing of wild plants by burning brush , sowing seeds , and watering and pruning plants . Some foods were dried and cached ( stored ) in underground pits for later use . But people often were nearly out of food by the end of winter . The most important resource in the arid Great Basin was and remains water . The Native peoples of the Great Basin had learned to adapt and survive in this fragile environment . People lived in small clusters of related nuclear families . Each individual shared in the labor and resources of the kin network . Kinship within the family was individual belonged to the lineage of father and mother . After marriage , a young couple would join the cluster of either the man or woman , depending on which family had enough resources or needed additional labor . In the fall , clusters of families would gather together to harvest pinion nuts , feast and celebrate , and to trade resources . 82

Peoples North Chapter As with most around the world , the peoples of the Great Basin had informal and political leader of a group was generally the head of a family who had gained the respect and trust of his community . Because of the remoteness and aridness of the environment , the Native peoples of the Great Basin were spared incursions by Europeans until the . However , they were by neighboring societies who had already had contact with Europeans . Thus , peoples of the Great Basin did have European trade goods , and most importantly , horses . The arrival of horses enabled the eastern and southern Utes and to better hunt bison . The Utes would also later use horses in their attacks on Spanish settlements . In 1776 , an expedition led by the Franciscan priests Francisco and de traveled to Ute territory at Utah Lake , opening the doorway to other Spanish missionaries . They were also followed by settlers engaged in slaving expeditions , particularly focused on children , who were sold to farmers in New Mexico . In 1805 , Lewis and William Clark led an expedition through Shoshone territory in Idaho , on their way to the . Canadian and trappers followed them . Spain considered the Great Basin to be Spanish territory and tried to stop others from trading with the Native peoples Mexico gained its independence from Spain , the country lost more control over trade and American settlements in the Great Basin . Permanent settlements started in the when Mormons ( members of the Church of Latter Day Saints ) settled in the Salt Lake Valley . At this time , Mexico still claimed the territory of the Great Basin . Mormon leadership widely stated their wish to avoid with the Native Americans , but their very presence created environmental , economic , and cultural pressures . From the glut of Spanish and settlers arriving in Native American territory , the fragile environment and its resources were soon depleted . Native beliefs were threatened also , as the Mormons sent missionaries to the Native communities of the Great Basin , believing them to be one of the Ten of Israel . Native children were often adopted by Mormon families to be educated 83

Peoples North Chapter in Mormon beliefs and behaviors , and to supply domestic and farm labor . The Native peoples of the Great Basin suffered population loss due to disease and the slave trade . trade routes and settlements were established on the areas with the most resources , particularly where water was readily disrupted the fragile balance with the environment and led to malnutrition and starvation of Native Americans . With the discovery of gold and silver , first in California and later in Nevada , the number of travelers through the area increased , creating further environmental destruction . The visitors who decided to settle in the area further restricted the Native peoples access to water and other resources . The Natives reacted in two ways armed and religious rituals ( see Chapter on religion and spiritual beliefs ) In 1860 , the around Pyramid Lake started to defend their lands against settlers . The of Owens Valley soon followed the in defense of their lands . The the Native resistance , and the area largely by moving the Native peoples to reservations . The Native peoples were forced to sign more than 12 treaties , each of which ceded what had been their land to the United States in exchange for reservation land away from the new settlements and provided military protection to the Natives remaining land . Congress never most of these treaties and the protection from future incursions was never . Further , because the reservation land was so poor , upwards of 60 of the Native peoples of the Great Basin could not survive living on their reservation land . As settlements grew , pressure began in the states of Utah and Nevada to deprive the Natives of more land . In 1887 , the General Allotment Act , also called the Dawes Act , decreed that there would be no more tribally or family owned property for Native peoples . Each head of government would be allotted 160 acres of land single persons and those under the age of 18 were allotted 60 acres . Any land not allotted in this way was declared surplus and sold to settlers . With the General Allotment Act , the people of the Great Basin , like Native peoples throughout the United States , had most of their tribal lands declared surplus and opened for settlement to . 84

Peoples North Chapter In the century , the Native peoples of the Great Basin started to regain a portion of the land they had lost , often in legal suits brought forward in courts . In 1910 , the Utes won a court case in which they were awarded million in compensation for lost land . In the , ohn Collier became the head ofthe Bureau of Indian Affairs during the administration of Franklin Roosevelt . Collier worked to salvage and restore much of the Native American traditions , particularly religious traditions , and to secure and increase the land base of Native American societies . The loss of land through General Allotment was stopped , and in 1946 , the Indian Claims Commission was total compensation awarded through the commission to Native American communities for the loss of land came to more than 130 million . Originally , the money was divided among community members , providing only a temporary aid to their economic situations . Since the , Native American tribal nations have utilized the money for tribal purposes and investments such as tribal enterprises , infrastructures , and living conditions . In 1999 , acres were returned to Utes at the and reservations by the government . Unfortunately , this land was severely contaminated by shale oil extraction and radioactive waste from the milling for the Utes have pledged of future from tribally owned oil drilling to clean up the sites they did not contaminate . The economic conditions of Native peoples in the Great Basin vary from location to location , and are dependent on the specific type of resources , such as oil , that are found on their reservations . However , the economic conditions of all Native peoples in the Great Basin are far below those of in the area . Geographically , the Great Basin is adjacent to California , but there are enormous differences in the societies found in the two areas . Prior to European contact , the very diverse Native peoples of California were , getting their food and resources largely from and gathering , and to a lesser extent , hunting . Like most foraging societies they lived in small , scattered communities . Living in large or closely spaced communities may well have the environment 85

Peoples North Chapter and the resources they depended on . Unfortunately , being small and scattered also made them very vulnerable to by the Spanish and later by the . In 1542 , sailed up the California coast to the San Diego Bay . did not establish settlements he was looking for the mythic Northwest Passage , a water passage that would go from the West Coast of North America to the East Coast . Many British and American sailors were simultaneously looking for the same passage from the East Coast . Spanish settlements in California started in 1769 . By the early , Spanish missionaries and soldiers had established 21 missions , stretching from what is now San Diego to ( military forts and missions ) enslaved thousands of Native peoples who were captured by the military and then forced to provide agricultural labor for the priests and soldiers of the missions . In addition to what was basically enslavement , the missionaries also tried to change or eliminate the traditional customs and beliefs of the Native peoples . For example , they forced Native peoples of California to convert to Catholicism . The chiefs were replaced with ( leaders ) Despite the best efforts of the Spanish , through the provision of needed resources and favors , the never gained prestige among the Native peoples . The missionaries enforced changes in the Native peoples diets , not allowing them to leave the missions to fish or gather food , but instead supplying European grains , such as wheat , and occasional animal proteins , such as beef . Families were broken apart , as unmarried women and men were forced in live in dormitories . As among other Native societies , disease killed thousands . Among the California Natives , the most catastrophic diseases were pneumonia , diphtheria , measles , dysentery , and syphilis . Most of the diseases were spread by the Spanish , fostered by the unhealthy living conditions and complicated by malnutrition . Syphilis was the result of the Spanish persistently raping Native women ( and 1971 ) It is estimated that by the nineteenth century , Native Californians died as a result of the Spanish invasion . The Native communities did their best to resist the Spanish , but their small , scattered numbers made an effective resistance against the Spanish all but impossible , and retaliation by the Spanish was brutal . Many Native peoples tried to escape , both in small and large numbers , 86

Peoples North Chapter despite the fact that capture by the Spanish military usually resulted in death . There were also consequences for those who did escape , for with them often went the Spanish diseases , which then spread to new communities . In 1821 , the administration of California was transferred to newly independent Mexico . While the Native Californians were technically citizens with legal rights , in reality their lives were changed very little , except that as Spanish and settlement began to grow , Natives enforced labor increased . In 1832 , Mexico started process of the missions . While the government removed the priests , they established a system of appointees who held power . The Native peoples continued to provide labor for Mexican civilians in political power . With the signing of the Treaty of at conclusion of the War , Mexico lost land and political power in California to the United States . This , coupled with the discovery of gold , increased the hardships for the Native peop es of California . While Spain and Mexico had needed the labor of Native peoples , the did not . All they wanted was land and gold . The Native peoples were obstacles , and the new Californians hunted down and murdered thousands of Native peoples in their quest for land and wealth . The California state government supported militias and vigilantes who killed Native Californians by paying a bounty of per child and 10 per adult to those with proof of a slain Indian . Proof constituted of the scalp the pair of slain individual ears with the and hair connecting them . Over in bounty was dispensed between 1850 and 1870 in payment for these deaths . Laws furthered the discrimination against the Natives . For example , a Native American could be forced into labor for 40 days for Children were often kidnapped and forced into labor on farms , with no legal recourse . Rape of a Native woman by a man was never prosecuted . The legal system also protected the continued loss of Native land and resources ( and 1971 , 215 ) Responding to accounts of these atrocities , often covered in newspapers , the United States government established temporary reservations for the Native peoples in California in the . These 87

Peoples North Chapter reservations were meant to offer personal protection for the Natives , and stop the further of land by . The government also arranged for the distribution of needed rations , such as food and blankets . The Indian agents ( personnel who were supposed to protect the Natives and enforce government regulations ) often stole the rations . livestock often destroyed native farm crops . Any retaliation on the part of the Natives resulted in their imprisonment or death . And continued to force Natives off their land . Under pressure from settlers who wanted more and more land , the California state government withdrew support for the reservations and allowed more settlement . Native Californians were forced off their lands and left to survive as best they could . In 1870 , the federal government again tried to establish reservations , this time mainly in northern California . The government also allotted funding for aid in farming and schools . But once again , the state of California allowed for the settlement of on Native lands . It was not until the twentieth century that California Mission Indians would be able to regain land , get compensation from the state and federal governments , and start their own wage economic systems . The Northwest coastal areas of the United States and Canada might seem to be a continuation of the California coast , but , both environmentally and culturally , the area and its people are unique . The Native peoples of the Northwest were who lived in a area . They secured the majority of their food , however , through , both in fresh water and in the ocean , using large dugout canoes . The , or , of the Northwest coast of what is now British Columbia , is an example of societies found in the Northwest . The resource focus of waka society was , both in the ocean and rivers gathering of plants and some hunting of land animals . Their diet consisted of salmon , halibut , eulachon , cod , herring , sea urchins , clams , and mussels . The waka had specialized technology for catching different water animals barbed harpoons were used to hunt sea lions and seals and halibut were caught with lines made of kelp while salmon were trapped in as they swam upriver ( 2001 ) waka did 88

Peoples of North Chapter not have to travel from area to area to get needed resources they were able to live in large , permanent settlements . Their houses were large structures made from the cedar trees found in the area . The style of the houses changed over time , gradually becoming the painted structures with a central door found today . Many waka continue to be involved in the industry of the Northwest coast , but in wage labor jobs that include and working in area . The societies of the Northwest do not the Native Americans stereotype held by most and Canadians . Indian Vi age of tbe tribe . Inlet , Columbia , Canada . George Dawson , 18 78 . European contact in the Northwest did not start until the late eighteenth century . Russian , Spanish , British , French , and American merchants all tried to establish trading posts for the fur trade . The Russians were the to establish a permanent fort in 1799 at what is now , Alaska . This fort became the center of the 89 Canada

Peoples North Chapter American Company . In 1827 , the Hudson Bay Company established Fort Langley on the River in British Columbia . Unlike other areas of the Americas where trade had devastating results on the Native societies , this was less so in the Northwest . The Northwest societies were already involved in trade . The items the Europeans brought to trade food , alcohol , blankets , copper , and body ornaments were incorporated into the status system , but generally the Natives did not rely on them . The Europeans depended on the trade system , and they complained about the shrewd bargaining of the Northwest peoples . If Natives did not find a price to be agreeable , they would simply refuse to trade . Because of the Europeans dependence on trade , they did not interfere with Native culture to the extent that they did in other parts of the Americas . However , there were changes within the Northwest societies . They gradually shifted their focus from getting resources for subsistence to getting trade items . In some cases , this led to exploitation of some resources . Because the Europeans did not like to trade with women , a task in which they traditionally participated , the status of women became reduced . The arrival of missionaries in the nineteenth century further reduced women standing . The chiefs became richer , and their political power , because the Europeans preferred to work with one individual they saw as being in power . Subsequently , the society became more traditionally European , with the status of women being lowered and one man being in charge . As and Canadian settlements grew , Native population numbers and lands declined . Both the Canadian and governments tried to extinguish all land titles held by Native peoples , but the Native communities refused to concede to those demands . The lack of treaties , particularly in Canada , became the impetus for and claims in the twentieth century . Native communities began to organize for economic and political rights . As the northwestern communities traditionally had extensive trade networks , their organizing networks were also . Their political networking triumphed in 1997 , when the First Nations of Canada attained an important ruling from the Supreme Court of Canada that stated First rights to land and resources must be considered when mining , and resource exploration are undertaken in their territories . 90

Peoples North Chapter Early in their encounters with Europeans , the Native peoples of the Northwest were better able than many other Native peoples of the Americas to adapt to the impacts of and Canadian settlement and hegemony ( social and political power ) to their traditions . Many Northwest communities continue to adapt , especially within the industry . This adaptation is in economic data demonstrating that the Native peoples of the Northwest , in both Canada and the United States , have the highest standard of living of any Native Nations group . It must be remembered , however , that the standard of living for the Native peoples of the Northwest is still far below that of average and Canadians . Horticulture More stereotypical examples of American foraging societies would be found in the prairies and plains ( both terms refer to , grassy land ) of the United States and Canada . The , for example , lived on the plains along the Missouri River for thousands of years . The practiced a combination of foraging and horticulture . Through a method that is typical of how humans make important discoveries , people found that some of the plants they were gathering in the wild could be domesticated , that is , they would become dependent on human cultivation for reproduction . Seeds or pods of the plant would not be eaten or thrown away , but kept and used to grow the plant in the next year . People might plant these seeds close to dwelling areas where they could be watched , watered , and protected from birds and other animals . Among the first plants to be domesticated in the Americas were squash and beans . Between to years ago we see people around the world starting to rely more and more on domesticated plants . Initially , people planted domesticated crops but continued to rely on foraging , fishing , and hunting . This is called a horticultural society . Societies that had summer and winter camps could grow domesticated crops during the summer , and hunt or fish in the winter . Gradually , many , societies relied more and more on their domesticated crops . Planting , tending , and harvesting domesticated crops required people to live in more settled communities rather than be mobile . 91

Peoples North Chapter Among the , women farmed along the river , where they planted corn , beans , squash , and . They also foraged for wild edibles , such as wild potatoes , turnips , various grasses , fruits and berries . The men in the Missouri River using spears and wooden traps , and caught turtles and waterfowl . The men also hunted , bison being the most important source of meat . Before the arrival of the Spanish in , there were no horses on the plains to help in the hunting of bison . Instead , the entire community would construct corrals into which they would then drive the bison and kill them with spears and bows and community would then work together to butcher the animals and prepare the meat and skins , as well as tools made from bone , sinew , and internal organs . Currently , most live on the Fort Reservation in North Dakota with two other societies the and . Together they are known as the The Farming continues , especially the farming of European crops such as wheat , and the ranching of both cattle and bison . A more stereotypic plains or prairie society would be the Lakota . The typical image of the Lakota depicts hunters and warriors mounted on horseback . But the word Lakota means friends or allies , and comes from which means dwellers of the prairie ( 2001 ) So how did the friendly people of the prairies become feared warriors of the plains ?

Before 1750 , the Lakota lived in what is now the state of Minnesota , along the Missouri and Minnesota rivers . The French explorer encountered horticultural societies along the southern Missouri River in the seventeenth century . The Spanish sent out expeditions from their settlements in the southwest , but these were . Like the , Lakota women grew corn , beans , and squash along the rivers and gathered wild rice and other edible men hunted bison , elk , and deer . The Lakota also had extensive trade networks that extended north , south , east , and west . In the , the Lakota started experiencing , as more and more Europeans and displaced Native American societies started moving farther and farther west . The effect was much like a line of dominoes when the first one falls , it knocks down the next , and so forth on down the line . As Europeans started establishing settlements farther west , they pushed Native American communities out of their 92

Peoples North Chapter traditional homelands , destabilizing many societies . Ultimately this is what happened to the Lakota they were continually pushed westward , away from the rivers where they lived and farmed , to the Great Plains . The plains and prairie geographic areas are hard to . This area extends west from the Mississippi River to eastern California , from the of the Canadian Prairie Provinces to what is now northern Texas . As large as this geographic area is , it looms even larger in the American imagination . Say Indian or Indian lands and this is the image people see in their minds a man in a feathered headdress riding a horse across the plains in pursuit of bison . This vision of American Indian life only applied to a relatively small number of people for a very short period of time . The land of the Great Plains tends to be . It does not have much forests and the rainfall is typically not for agriculture . The main difference between the plains and the prairies are the types of grasses . Prairie grass grows much taller than the short plains grasses , sometimes as much as feet in height . The roots of the shorter plains grasses grow in dense tangles that contribute to the development of what is termed sod , a substance that could be made into bricks to construct sod houses for both Native peoples and early American settlers in the area . While sod is a good building material , it makes it very to farm in these areas without steel plows . farmers used steel plows to remove the sod holding the lower layers of soil in place . However , when droughts occurred , as in the early twentieth century , the winds stirred up the unprotected loose soil and resulted in the infamous dust storms of the . Many areas are still recovering from the environmental damage of what was known as the Dust Bowl , which , along with cattle grazing , has nearly wiped out the native grasses that helped maintain the protective layer of sod . The arrival of horses on the plains coincided with the expansion of a European presence and trade along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers . This may be why so many can only imagine the Native peoples of the plains ( and , in much of popular culture , all Native Americans ) on horseback , hunting bison . Few Plains peoples encountered Europeans until the early when fur traders arrived . After the French and Indian War in 1763 , France ceded all its territory east of the Mississippi to England , and west of the Mississippi to 93

Peoples North Chapter Spain . At that point , Spain started more frequent incursions to the plains , establishing a fort at what is now Louis and starting a trade network to the south and central plains . Around this same time , explorers made contact with farming villages on the upper Missouri . The United States became a rival in this area with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 , and soon after the Lewis and Clark expedition set out to explore and map the area . At first , trade between the Plains peoples and Europeans and Americans was balanced . The Plains peoples only gradually accepted European trade goods , while the Europeans and Americans wanted animal furs . Some Native societies such as the prairie horticultural and raised surplus crops for trade with the Americans and foraging Plains societies . Other horticultural societies functioned as brokers or intermediaries between and mobile foraging societies . The increase in population and hunting for trade soon had negative consequences . Competition for resources made the permanent horticultural villages on the prairies to attack , as people grew desperate for food and supplies . Increased population density made these settled villages more vulnerable to diseases because the people were living close situation that always increases the transmission of societies that adapted to foraging to obtain resources expanded , while horticultural societies experienced a loss of territory . Both foraging and horticultural societies experienced social change and instability . After arriving on the plains , the Lakota found it to continue their horticultural economy . Their farming technology of digging sticks was not successful on the thick sod of the plains . Ultimately , the Lakota became highly mobile , relying largely on hunting . Over the next century , the Lakota adapted well to their new environment . One reason they adapted so well was the arrival of the horse around 1750 . To the Lakota , horses are wakan or sacred dog ( 2001 ) which illustrates how important the horse became to the societies of the plains . The change in the economy of societies like the Lakota had consequences throughout their social organization . While women did participate in hunting , their roles in providing resources decreased , 94

Peoples North Chapter which in turn decreased their social and political status . Warfare between Plains societies , now competing with each other for horses and limited resources , increased . Warfare grew even greater as more and more first traveled through and then settled on the plains . In a little more than a century the Lakota went from the friendly farmers on the prairies to the stereotype of Native American hunters and warriors on the Great Plains . The or are another example of a Native American society that is not typically thought of as horticultural . But archaeological evidence indicates that the have been producing domesticated food resources for close to years . The are a group of Native American societies ( the Mohawk , and Seneca ) that share similar languages ( kin , political and economic systems , and a similar oral tradition and spiritual beliefs . Archaeological , linguistic , and oral tradition all indicate that the migrated to the Northeast over years ago . Their languages are related to other languages , such as Cherokee , Huron , and . Like many societies of the northern and southern woodlands , the have a matrilineal and matrilocal kinship system and a rank political system . The oral tradition of the , particularly the story of Sky Woman , is similar to other societies , like the , which were found along the Lawrence River and the Great Lakes . One of the big questions of the archaeology done in the northeastern part of what is now the United States is did the migrate to the Northeast as a horticultural society , or did they develop horticulture , particularly the cultivation of corn , once they were in the Northeast ?

Archaeological evidence indicates that the domesticated different crops at different times , with beans , squash , and being domesticated first , followed by corn ( sometimes called maize ) Corn is a very unique crop in the Americas . Most other domesticated crops were grown directly from the seeds of wild plants , but corn is an example of a crop that the Native peoples , in what is now Mexico , selectively bred and hybridized from the wild grass Teosinte ( pronounced ) somewhere between and years ago . 95

Peoples of North Chapter I ! I , i . Teosinte , a , Maize or modern found at archaeological sites show the development of corn from a grass looking much like wheat , to a cob about the size of your thumb with only a few kernels of corn , to larger and larger cobs that resemble the corn we know today . Further , the Native peoples developed a wide variety of hues in their farming of corn soon spread from Mexico to many other parts of the Americas , both north and south . Early Spanish explorers in the Southwest wrote about the rainbow of colors of corn drying on pueblo roofs . The various colors of corn indicate breeds of corn grown for reasons . Some corn was bred to arid areas with little rainfall , others to the short growing season of the Northeast . Some breeds of corn were planted on the borders of to blight and pests . The Native peoples of the Americas developed over 30 varieties of corn to be used in environments and for purposes . 96

Peoples North Chapter In time , corn came to the northeastern and southeastern woodlands , including territory . Corn became one of the staple crops of the horticultural and agricultural Native peoples , along with beans and squash . These three crops were grown together and often eaten together , so among the they are referred to as the Three Sisters and are very important to the economies of these Native peoples . A cycle of ceremonies is conducted throughout the year to ensure the growth of and to give thanks for these crops . While the grew crops , they also continued to gather wild edibles such as roots , tubers , greens , berries , fruit , nuts and seeds . Wild strawberries and maple syrup were important foraged crops and there are thanksgiving ceremonies for also hunted animals such as deer , squirrel , beaver , and bear , along with birds and waterfowl , but provided most of the food ( 2001 ) like other Native American horticultural societies , did not plow and plant on huge tracts of land . They planted on small tracts of land with digging sticks . They did not irrigate their crops , but depended on rainfall , which is called dry land is some evidence that they used natural fertilizer , such as uneaten parts of fish . When the land grew fallow , meaning it no longer supported crops , they would move their farmland or entire village to a new area . Contemporary farmers allow to go fallow ( do not plant crops on them ) for a year or two . Farming was done on a relatively small scale as compared to agricultural communities in Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries , but it was very successful . It is estimated that the women , who did most of the farming of eastern woodland societies , produced three to four times the amount of food produced by contemporary European farmers ( 1991 ) Native American farming societies are generally referred to as horticultural , not agricultural . In agricultural societies , most of the food consumed by a society is produced through farming , and there is little gathering of wild edibles or fishing and hunting . Indeed , the large scale of farming in agricultural societies , with acres of plowed , use of irrigation and fertilizers , and frequently domesticated animals , such as cows , horses , sheep , goats , and pigs , makes the means of getting food found in horticultural impossible . 97

Peoples of North Chapter In Ancient Drums , Moccasins , Harriet refers to southwestern Pueblo societies as intensive farmers . Like European agricultural societies , the people of the got most of their food from farming they did not have domesticated animals . They did irrigate their crops , built permanent villages and still complex social and political organization . A digital model of ancient Pueblo Bonito ( Canyon , New Mexico , US . before it wax abandoned . circles in are . 98

Peoples of North Chapter A , vu , a subterranean structure at Canyon , New Mexico . Archaeological sites of societies in the Southwest have attracted much attention because many of them are quite spectacular . Canyon , Monte Verde , the pictographs of Red Rock Canyon , and the Castle all demonstrate the skill , ingenuity , and diversity of the Native peoples who lived there . The peoples of the Southwest have been researched and studied by generations of anthropologists . Like all scientists , archaeologists and anthropologists like to categorize the information ( data ) they gather . Thus , there are a lot of categories for the information we have about the Native peoples of the Southwest . Anthropologists and archaeologists put the historic cultures of the Southwest into four categories the , and . The societies of the Southwest are also divided into four categories on the basis of cultural and linguistic similarities the , the , and . The Ancestral , also known as the , lived on the Colorado Plateau , and were probably the ancestors of today Pueblo peoples who continue to live and farm in the Southwest . This development may have been in response to climatic changes , or it may have been that their ancestors were such successful that they had to develop horticulture to feed their increasing populations . In the 99

Peoples North Chapter Americas this is called the formative era . People still got food through , hunting , and gathering wild edibles , but they also started to depend on an increasing number of crops that they grew . In their developmental period , Ancestral lived in pit houses in small villages . The pit houses , because they were partly underground , would stay cool in the hot climate . The climate of the Southwest gradually changed , making horticulture more productive . The Ancestral people developed masonry houses and crop storage rooms , some of which still exist today . The pit houses developed into , a ceremonial structure . Canyon has many houses and . About 500 years ago drought conditions forced the Ancestral peoples to consolidate their communities and migrate . Anthropologists refer to these consolidated groups as the Western and Eastern . Despite the invasions by Spain and then the United States , the Pueblo communities demonstrate a great deal of cultural continuity with their ancestral groups . The people lived in the eastern Southwest in what is now northern Mexico . Like the Ancestral , they lived in pit houses , but changed to architecture much later than did the Ancestral people also prospered until the climatic changes and drought that occurred about 500 years ago . Some archaeologists and anthropologists think they were the ancestors of the , in what is known today as New Mexico , which would mean that , like the , the peoples migrated . The lived in the Desert , along the Gila and Salt was a hot region , with little rainfall . The people foraged and also produced food through agriculture . They developed extensive irrigation systems that were possible as their towns were usually along rivers . The also built hundreds of miles of canals . The cultural artifacts of the show an from stepped pyramids , ball courts , platform mounds , and the use of turquoise , copper , and pyrite for jewelry and household items . Just as with other groups of the Southwest , archaeologists see great changes in the culture around 500 years irrigation systems and canals started to deteriorate , and apparently were not repaired , although their towns began to show evidence of . It could be that the people were experiencing 100

Peoples North Chapter pressures from societies to the north , along with the climatic changes occurring throughout the Southwest . The and people now live in territory , but it is not clear if they are descendants . The peoples continued foraging until fairly recently , about years ago . They occupied the area around the Colorado and Gila rivers , and developed into the cultures . In addition , several different groups ( such as the Navajo and Apache ) currently live in the Southwest . Each of these groups has an origin story , in most cases involving some process of emergence from one or more , anchoring them to a particular place . Scholars claim , however , that these groups migrated into the region from the north sometime after 1200 . The historian Richard White has shown that Native American societies were very in the way they obtained resources . When a society could no longer get enough resources using one method , they would try another . In the Southeast for example , societies would alternate between foraging and horticultural depending on environmental factors . A society might engage in horticulture for decades , but as the land grew fallow , they would rely more on hunting . Allowing farm fields to go fallow would attract animals and fowl , so hunters would not have to travel far for successful hunting . When hunting resources grew scarce , a society would return to horticulture on reinvigorated land . As the society shifted between ways of getting resources , their social structure also changed . While engaging in horticulture the society would be larger and live in settlements when engaged in foraging , the society would spilt into smaller groups and become ( White 1983 ) This approach to getting resources helped Native American societies avoid many of the pitfalls experienced by societies in other parts of the world . The cultural geographer Jared Diamond has referred to agriculture as Worst in tbe History Human Race ( 1987 ) This is an unusual statement and position . In Western society agriculture is seen as the epitome of civilization with agriculture comes settled communities , the development of written languages , mathematics and science , more leisure time for the development of arts , and a 101

Peoples North Chapter structured political system . Founders of the United States , such as Thomas Jefferson , saw agriculture as necessary for a democracy . But as Diamond points out , foraging and horticultural societies had many of these things . Science and scientific thinking , along with mathematics was needed for people to be successful and . These societies had ( and continue to have ) very elaborate arts . Their systems can be very complicated and political systems can be democratic . Foraging and horticultural societies gather from a wide variety of resources . If one or more resources are not available , other resources can generally be found . The variety of grains , grasses , fruits , fish , and some meat makes for a very healthy kind our doctors wish we would eat today . There is a continuing myth that foraging was a existence , with hunger always lurking . This is true of Arctic or societies , where resources might be very scarce , hard to find , and very dependent on the skill and luck of the hunters . But in foraging societies found in temperate climates , people might spend 20 hours a week gathering food , while in an agricultural society people might spend 20 hours a day during planting and harvest time to produce food . The time spent in most foraging societies gathering food would leave plenty of time for the development of storytelling , music and dancing , and other arts . Further , Diamond says , agriculture had a lot of negative consequences . Agricultural societies tend to focus on a few crops . As a consequence , the diet of an agricultural society is often less healthy than those in foraging societies , as are frequently missing important nutrients not found in their crops . Additionally , if the crops fail because of drought , too much rain or hail , an early or late frost or blight , entire communities could find themselves on the brink of starvation . agriculture makes it for people to fall back on other methods of getting food . If the community has domesticated animals , how are they to be fed ?

Additionally , wild game would have been driven from the area , and wild foods have been eliminated . The runoff from farm fields and the waste left from domesticated animals fouls the water , so even fishing is often not an option . 102 Peoples North Chapter The histories and oral traditions of agricultural societies around the world illustrate the consequences of crop failures and shows how early government systems worked to enforce the storing of some crops in case of famine . For example , in the Old Testament , Joseph convinced the Egyptian Pharaoh to store twice the amount of grain usually kept for emergencies such as a coming blight or drought . Continued famine due to drought caused many southwestern agricultural societies like the to move or revert to horticulture or foraging as some of the negatives of agriculture were realized . Another factor associated with agricultural societies is the increase in communicable diseases . As more and more people lived together in close proximity in settled communities , diseases and illnesses quickly passed throughout the entire community . You may have noticed similar incidents in your dorms . One person gets a cold and pretty soon everyone on the has a cold . We now have many medicines and antibiotics to treat illnesses that previously killed large percentages of agricultural communities . Many serious diseases , such as typhoid and cholera , were spread by water that was contaminated by human and animal waste . Water that had formerly been a source of nourishment became a source of disease , because people had unknowingly dumped their waste , garbage , and even bodies into water sources . Foraging and horticultural societies with smaller communities that moved around were less likely to experience the epidemics found in the cities that developed as people settled down and lived in growing urban areas as a result of agriculture . A less visible consequence of settled agricultural societies was the changes in the access to resources , and how those resources were distributed throughout communities . In foraging societies everyone helps in getting needed resources , and everyone shares them . Foraging societies are very had fairly equal access to resources and participation in the political structure ( see Chapter ) There was not a distinct division of labor , in which some people did particular work , some of which had more status than others . Everyone contributed to the labor needed to obtain resources and shared those resources through a process called reciprocity . Reciprocity simply means that everyone in a community shares needed resources on either an informal or . In informal reciprocity people would simply share whatever resources they had . This was not necessarily altruism on 103

Peoples North Chapter peoples parts , but good sense . There was no way to preserve foods for long periods oftime , so ifit was not consumed , it would go bad . Better to share food with your community members , particularly when they were kin . It would then be more likely that they would share with you when they had resources and you did not . The extended kin groups of foraging and horticultural societies were essential to the success of systems of reciprocity . Furthermore , the sharing of resources helped ensure the survival of kin and maintain the bonds of both existing and future kin . In more formal systems of reciprocity , the exchange of food and other resources were part of rituals . Many of the Northwest societies practiced the . were held to mark various life events like birth , coming of age , marriage , and death . During the potlatch , the kin group of the honored individual would give away resources , knowing that at some point in the near future another kin group would be honoring one of their members with a potlatch , and they would in turn receive resources . Plains societies had that functioned in a similar way . Whether a society practiced formal or informal reciprocity , it did two important things for individuals and the community in general . First , it distributed goods throughout the community . Everyone helped get needed resources and everyone shared them . Some people might have a bit more than others , but various social expectations and religious beliefs encouraged people to share what resources they had . As long as resources were available , everyone shared a portion of them . Among foraging and horticultural societies it is unusual to find that some people hold the bulk of the resources while other portions of the population have little or none . Second , the sharing of resources would give a kin group and individuals within that kin group status . The sharing of resources , the following of religious and other social beliefs about the value of sharing , brought status to people . In the next chapter about political organization , we will see how the practice of reciprocity could bring political power to kin groups and individuals within those kin groups . If the way you were brought up and your religious beliefs were not enough to encourage you to share resources , the fact that reciprocity was how an individual would get status in community encouraged you to share . 104

Peoples North Chapter Reciprocity was absolutely necessary to the survival of a foraging society . Everyone worked together and shared the results of their labor . Reciprocity continued to be important in horticultural and pastoral societies . Being able to depend on others increased the likelihood that all people in a community , who were basically extended kin members , would have the resources necessary for survival . But as Diamond points out , the system of reciprocity and the status it brought started to break down in agricultural societies . The larger these societies got , the more likely some people had better access to resources than others . If people were not related to you through descent or , there was less reason to share resources with them . Status became more dependent on access to resources , not the sharing of resources . In time , the access to resources became inherited within kin groups and individuals , along with the political power that came from having resources . Excess resources , more than you need to survive , can be as wealth . Over time in agricultural and then industrial societies , a few people have access to resources , while most people have limited access or none . Within agricultural and industrial societies , access to resources meant a wealthy family or individual also had access to power , and vice versa . Another reason , says Diamond , from the perspective of what is best for an entire community , agricultural was a big mistake . In many ways the history of the European invasion of the Americas demonstrates how the indigenous peoples lost the ability to get or produce their own resources and control the distribution of those resources . The loss of land , people and control of resources changed Native societies , and had such severe economic and political consequences that most of them are only now starting to recover . The previous example of the Lakota being pushed west out of the prairies to which they had adapted is but one example of the experiences of most indigenous peoples in the Americas . From the seventeenth to the twentieth century , most indigenous societies were pushed from their homelands to reservations and urban areas . Among the first of these of Native peoples were prayer towns in New England . After King Philip ( War in 1676 , surviving Native peoples in New England were forced from their homelands into that were often built on islands or land so poor white settlers did not want it . In 1835 the Five Civilized Tribes of the called because they were 105

Peoples North Chapter agricultural societies that had adopted many European customs including Christianity , domesticated animals , clothing , housing , farmland , a written language , and forced from their farmlands west to the Oklahoma Territory . Their removal is known as , a forced march during which an estimated 25 of the population died . During the later part of the nineteenth century , most western Native societies were either removed from traditional homelands , or restricted to reservations . The expectation of and Canadian governments , as well as their white citizenry , was that these Native peoples would achieve civilization through agriculture . However , reservation lands were typically too small and poor to support a farming economy . This policy also ignored both that many of these societies were and had been horticultural or agricultural . In the twentieth century , many Native Americans living on reservations experienced relocation and termination . During periods of relocation , people were coerced into moving to urban areas with the promise of better jobs and housing . What Native peoples typically found were jobs and housing in urban slums . Termination was a governmental policy to end the special trust status of Native lands ( reservations ) and end government treaty obligations owed for the previous loss of land suffered by Native American societies . All of these factors , along with environmental changes , required that Native peoples find new ways of getting needed resources . While some continue historical methods of getting resources , most are also engaged in the wage labor force of the United States and Canada . Unfortunately , many governmental policies in both countries limit the success of Native communities to sustain themselves and their . In the century , most peoples of the Arctic and Arctic area are members of the population of Canada and the United States , but some are still , if only for part of the year , to supplement low wages for the little work available . Consequently , the First Nations of these areas are very concerned about governmental policies that could affect their ability to obtain resources in traditional ways , or that would alter their environments . One of the most significant of such projects is the project to get power from dams on lakes and rivers in the reserve areas of the James 106

Peoples North Chapter Bay Cree of northern . This project thousands , displacing not only the James Bay Cree , but also the and fauna of the area . The Cree and populations of northern , along with sympathizers from around the world , organized to stop the development of the program that would harm won the round of legal battles in the Canadian Superior Court , only to have the ruling overturned by the Court of Appeals , not on the legal issues of the case , but because the Court cited the interests of the larger The Cree and population negotiated the James Bay and Northern Agreement in 1975 , which relinquished their rights to the land in exchange for an immediate payment of 60 million , and an additional 30 million to be paid in the impact of the James Bay hydroelectric projects on the environment was enormous . Beaver , muskrat , otter , hare , and nearly extinct . Migration routes for both birds and animals were changed , resulting in the deaths of thousands of caribou . Rotting wood and silt build up in the rivers caused the death of and water birds . As a consequence , when proposed another James Bay project in 1983 , there was overwhelming opposition . The primary of the project , the states of New York , Vermont , New , and Maine , canceled their contracts with , defeating the project . After the James Bay project , the First Nations of the Arctic and areas realized that by working together they could the government of Canada . In the Northwest Territories , the Canadian government and companies had been mining various minerals ( zinc , nickel , uranium , and diamonds ) that disturbed the environment and did not the First Nations peoples whose land was being mined . Projects such as these and the James Bay project made it virtually impossible for the peoples of the Arctic areas to continue their traditional lifestyles that had provided for them for over years . In 1979 , the a legal suit against the nationals and the Canadian government to stop further mining . The court ruled against the , however , claiming that the 1670 royal charter to the Hudson Bay Company stripped them of property rights . The court maintained the people had rights but not ownership rights . 107

Peoples North Chapter angry , the started advocating for , the ability to determine for themselves the relationships they would have with the government and businesses . They formed the of Canada ( while Canadian First Nations peoples formed the Committee for Original People Entitlement . The goals of both organizations are to protect and advance First Nations rights and to better their economic , political , and social welfare . In the early the proposed dividing the Northwest Territories into two regions one to be under the control of the ( and to be known as ) and the other to remain under the control of the provincial and federal governments . In 1982 a plebiscite was held in which 85 of the voted in favor of the formation of , while the majority of voted against the plan . The and Canadian governments reached the historic Final Land Claim Agreement in 1993 . As agreed , the territory of was established April , 1999 , with ceremonies in the capital of . While the establishment of a First Nations territory is worthy of celebration , it by no means solves the problems of the peoples of the are still very poor , remote communities suffering from the problems of limited educational opportunities , few jobs , and severe health problems . Additionally , the environment continues to suffer contamination and the loss of plants and animals , not to mention the increasing effects of climate change . The First Nations peoples of the Arctic and will have to continue the impact and consequences of Manifest Destiny well into the first century . Like that of the and James Bay Cree , the lands held by Native American communities are often poor and polluted by mining and other industries that have not and do not benefit them . held lands ( reservations in the United States and reserves in Canada ) are often in remote areas , in which education , employment , and health facilities are scarce . Native peoples are often in the situation of no longer being able to practice the traditional and production methods of their ancestors , but not having the resources for typical jobs that would give them the same standard of living as the majority of and Canadians . 108

Native Peoples of North America Chapter Currently over 60 of Native peoples in the United States live in urban or suburban areas . Growing numbers of them have the educational opportunities for wage jobs . But most still feel a connection with their homelands returning for , and other family celebrations . Many of them return to their families traditional homelands to teach , practice medicine , and as lawyers who work to protect what remains of those homelands . The earth will no longer support large numbers of egalitarian foraging societies in which all people have equal access to resources . Can human societies ways to make sure all people have access to enough resources to survive ?

This requires much more than reciprocity within a community this requires that all of us think differently about the resources we consume , and those that are available for others and for the future . The believe that decisions should be made with consideration for seven generations our generation , the three generations that came before us that will hold us accountable for our decisions , and the generations that come after us who will have to live with the consequences of our decisions . Perhaps even more is to think differently about the access to power that some people have because of their access to resources . That is the subject of the next chapter . Suggested Questions What resources do you depend on ?

How do you get them ?

What would happen if the stores in which we get our resources were to all close , how would you get needed resources ?

We are beginning to see consequences to climate change in our time . Can you name some of these consequences ?

Climate change has occurred in the past and has had consequences for historical societies . For example , early societies 109 Native Peoples of North America Chapter in the Southwest experienced cultural changes and migration because of climate change . What might we experience in the future because of climate change ?

We all want to have in our future . What is a ?

have high status what have low status ?

Why do some jobs have greater status than others ?

Diseases go through an evolutionary process , as do any other life forms . New diseases evolve , old diseases mutate . Can you think of any recent examples of this ?

The Mohawk Brant visited England several times in the seventeenth century . He was impressed by Britain military power , but shocked by the sight of people begging and living on the streets . Why do you think he was shocked ?

What would be the expectation about resources in a Native American society ?

How might factors like climate change and the need for new sources of energy effect the way humans get their resources in the future ?

Suggested Resources For more information about the role of women in economies , see tbe , edited by Frances , which includes the article Woman the Gatherer Male Bias in Anthropology , by Sally . 110 Peoples North Chapter Peggy works previously sited are also good references for the role of women in economies . Richard White Roots of Dependency offers excellent case studies of the economic of indigenous American societies and how those economies were undermined by European intrusion . Robert Passage illustrates how the contemporary Na Dine people attempt to maintain their economy within the larger political structure of Canada . While not about indigenous American societies per se , books by Jared Diamond , such as and Guns , Germs and Steel , offer insights into how and why indigenous societies in Africa , Asia , and the Americas were overwhelmed by European intrusions . The societies of the southwestern part of the United States are good case studies for the consequences of climate change . In addition to the previously mentioned Ly ?

in a by Kathy Kamp , I also recommend Came in tbe National Park System , by Robert Lister and Florence Lister , and its companion video of the same title . Excellent studies of the food and medicinal resources of the Americas are Indian Givers and Native Gifts , by Jack . 111