What people thought about the native peoples of North America

1. What people thought about the native peoples of North America

2. What they said • Aynsley said: they are called Red Indians and they were always fighting cowboys • Ellen said: they wore face paint • Lots said: they used spears and bows and arrows • Javier said: a lot were killed by European diseases • Akram said: they made clothes out of skins • Abia said: they wore feather headdresses • Grace said they took scalps after a battle • Tabby said: they lived in Tepees ( or sometimes tipis)

3. All this has some truth in it But it is not the whole story

4. The First thing to learn is the original inhabitants of North America were NOT Red Indians Christopher Columbus gave them that name, because he thought he had gone round the world and reached India!

5. They are called either Native Americans or First Americans

6. There were many different tribes who lived differently from one another

7. Native Americans Tlingit

8. Each group had different ways of adapting to the places where they lived • The eastern groups lived in woods • While those in the middle lives on the plains and the prairies (a better sort of grassland) – the plains were drier • Then those who lives in the North, North-west and South West all lived differently again

10. This was what they did to live

11. So in the South west

12. In the east, there were woodland Indians

13. Mountain Native Americans

14. Native American of the North West

15. However what you have heard about the Plains Indians is mostly correct

16. But how did they come to be there in the first place? • It would seem that they carry a lot of the same characteristics as the people in North East Asia • Like the Koryak?

17. They think they know what happened • In the last Ice Age, a lot of the Earth’s water was piled up on the land as snow and ice • So there was less in the Sea, and so the sea levels were lower • And some places that are under the sea now were dry land.

18. Beringia land bridge: may have been how the Native Americans arrived

19. Archaeological evidence suggest they were hunters • Sources suggest that they were nomadic hunters • They never seem to have been herders • And did not farm until much later • A couple of sources even suggest that they were hunting woolly mammoths when the first crossed – tho’ where they got that from, to put politely, no-one seems to know!

20. So what we have is • Various groups arriving in what is now America in its far North-West corner • They gradually spread out over the centuries • At various points, small groups would stop and set up home • They then used the areas around them to create a living, using the conditions available to them

21. The common points • They never (until about 200 years ago) had a written language • So all they knew about themselves was passed down orally (what does that mean?) • A good way to pass and remember your history is in the form of stories • Another way is record things is visually • Many Native American groups have learnt how to produce highly decorated daily items, which have stories embedded in them

22. Some symbols Sioux Tortoise Motif:Welcome the arrival of newborns, and assures safe entry into the world. It is believed the tortoise carries the earth inside its body, and had a direct connection with birth. It is often embroidered on clothing and blankets for babies Mother Earth or Maze Symbol:This is a common symbol among many Native American tribes, including the Hopi. SiouxThunderbird:On the highest of the Black Hills in South Dakata, the Thunderbird is said to nest. Both dreaded and honoured by the Lakota the Thunderbird (or Wakinyan) is the guardian of truth.

23. Two young and curious Indian boys, long ago, lived in Yosemite Valley. They were always exploring faraway places, climbing ledges where later they needed rescue, yet they continued their adventures. One day, they came upon a new lake and decided to swim across to a large rock. The origin of Tu-Tak-A-Nu-La

24. When they reached the opposite shore, they climbed to the top of the huge rock to rest in the sunshine, but soon they fell asleep. On and on they slept through that night, the next, and the next night, until many moons had come and gone. Can you imagine what happened to that rock? It kept right on growing and growing, rising higher and higher, until the faces of the two Indian boys brushed the sky. The origin of Tu-Tak-A-Nu-La

25. Of course … • ……… their families were distraught in the beginning, but finally gave up hope of ever seeing their two lost sons again. • Now it happened that many animals had heard from their ancestors about what had happened to the two lost Indian boys. • At a council gathering of the animals, they were wondering how they could help bring the boys down as the huge rock had grown into a giant granite mountain. • All of the animals decided to have a contest.

26. Every creature would try to jump up to the mountain top. • Poor little mouse only jumped a foot, • larger rat leaped two feet, • strong racoon much higher, • grizzly bear made a mighty leap, but he was too heavy, • mountain lion took a long run and jumped, but he fell down flat on his back. • None could jump high enough.

27. Insignificant little measuring-worm came late to the contest. • Everyone explained to him their predicament. • None could leap high enough to the top of the mountain to rescue the two boys. • Measuring-worm decided to try. • Step by step, inch by inch, little by little he began measuring his way up the granite wall that reached to the sky. • He went so high that he was out of sight! • Up and up he crawled through many sleeps and through many moons, almost through a whole snow. • Measuring-worm kept on crawling and at last reached the top of the giant mountain, whose magic somehow allowed the boys to remain boys!

28. What fun they experienced on the way down! • Measuring-worm led them on a continuous, circuitous slide around and around the slippery snowy sides of the mighty mountain. • They laughed and screamed with delight at the adventure they were having. • At last, measuring-worm and the two Indian boys were safe on the ground again. • Their animal friends gathered to welcome them down from the sky, as well as the elders and braves of the Yosemite tribe. • From that day on to this, the great granite mountain has been called by the Indians Tu-tok-a-nu-la, which means "measuring- worm." • (It was later named El Capitan by the Spaniards)