First Americans, part II.

Indigenous peoples.

So, we’ve established that there were a whole bunch of people living in North America before Europeans showed up, and strangely, they had been doing alright beforehand.

How and why?

Well, there were many different tribes, so it’s important to think carefully the broad assumptions and characteristics that are assigned to a single huge entity with many different cultures.

But it’s fair to say that there are some things that set First Americans apart from the incoming Europeans. A few examples would be:

• A belief that the earth (land, animals, plants) was sacred and meant to be used by all

• A belief in using what you needed from the earth - and no more than that

So Chris Columbus called them “Indians,” despite the fact that A) he wasn’t in India (and neither were they), and B) these “Indians” were actually made up of hundreds of different tribes with oftentimes wildly different customs and languages.

The Great Columbian Exchange

“Exchange” is a great example of a euphemism. In fact, let’s make that our word of the day. Euphemism. When people make something that’s terrible sound better by using a different word or phrase.

When humans are younger, they might say something like “I need to go poop.”
When humans are older, they usually say something like, “I’m going to the restroom,” or some such pleasantry.

This serves the purpose of…I don’t really know. Sounding more graceful, or elegant, or polite? So the Great Columbian Exchange is a good example of both a euphemism and the idea of sarcasm, in the sense that this whole exchange was not A) great, and B) not so much an exchange as a…

…genocide.

Yeah, so the First Peoples exchanged things like food and shelter and help, and the Europeans exchanged that help for something special from across the ocean. That something special was illnesses and sicknesses that Native Americans had no resistance, immunity, or protection from. So they died. Many, many of them. In this Great Exchange.

Eventually, of course, this land became the United States of America, and indigenous peoples were graciously offered the opportunity to move elsewhere. That previous sentence is a good example of a euphemism, in the sense that this was not an offer, and it was not gracious, and it was not an opportunity.

They were pushed, herded, and moved off their own land onto reservations designated by by the government, so that white settlers could live on it. By the beginning of the 20th century most Native Americans were completely off their own land and generously gifted with the opportunity to live on reservations.

There’s still a number of reservations today,* on which many Native Americans still live. In the early 1900s**, all Native Americans were given U.S. citizenship, which provides for dual identities as both that and as of citizens of their tribal nations and governments. There are many who have helped continue the traditions and customs and histories of their tribes and cultures…

…and many who wonder what this land would look like now in the absence of The Great Columbian Exchange.

…

*over 320 reservations - the largest is the Navajo Nation Reservation
**1924, The Snyder Act

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More posts below about U.S. History