Native Americans Essay Research Paper Native AmericansWhen

Native Americans Essay, Research Paper

Native Americans

When Christopher Columbus discovered the New World in 1492, he thought he had reached the continent of Asia and had landed in India. He called the people he found in the new land |Indians.X The ancestors of the American Indians had come from Asia thousands of years before Columbus saw them.

Thousands of years ago, during the ice age, groups of people crossed from Asia to North America across a narrow passage now called the Bering Strait. So groups of people, ancestors of the American Indians, crossed this |land bridgeX to Alaska. Experts believe that all this happened over 40,000 years ago. These people slowly traveled searching for areas where hunting was good.

The Indians are members of the Mongoloid race, and their physical characteristics are related to those of the Asian people of Japan and China. They do not have slanted eyes, but they do have high cheekbones and straight black hair which is similar to those of people from Far East countries.

|Runaway,X that is what the word Seminole means in the Creek Indian language. The Seminole Indians are a racial mixture of several Indian tribes including Creeks and African Blacks. The Seminole Indians originally lived in Georgia and Alabama, but in the 1700s they moved to Florida. They were prosperous farmers and used runaway slaves to help work in their fields.

In the early 1800s, the United States bought Florida from Spain. Then the government began to urge the Seminoles to Oklahoma. Some agreed to move. Others fought for about seven years until they finally surrendered. In 1934 a peace treaty was signed between the U.S. government and the Seminole Indians that allowed the Seminoles to live in Reservations. Today, about 1,500 Seminoles live on Reservations in Florida.

There were over 2,000 separate languages spoken at the time of European contact. Today, over 500 of America+s native languages are still spoken. Most Native American Languages are spoken in South America. The Seminole Indian+s two main languages are Muscogee and Miccosukee. Many Seminoles are fluent in both languages, while some speak one or the other.

The Seminole Indians artifacts, symbols, mores, and folk ways are Basketry, Chickee, Clans, Dolls, Legends, and Medicine. The Chickee is a style of Architecture where palmetto thatch is thrown over a cypress log frame. There eight Seminole Clans: Panther, Bear, Deer, Wind, Bigtown, Bird, Snake, and Otter. The Dolls are just cloth-wrapped palmetto fiber husk stuffed with cotton. Late at night Seminoles sit around the camp fire and retell old legendary stories. Medicine men and women still play vital roles in the lives of Seminole Indians.

A major cultural practice of the Native Americans are there Clothing and Personal Adornment. Tanned deer hide, bison hide, and the furs of small animals were common clothing materials of the Indians. Feathers, body tattooing, and piercing were also other ways of decorating the body. Jewelry was also a very important part of personal adornment.

Ceremonies were also very important. All Native American Cultures possessed supernatural techniques with which to face most of live+s unpredictable events. To effect cures, shamans massaged, danced, sang, smoked tobacco, or took drugs in order to cause ailment with the aid of spirited helpers. The Seminole Indians also did these common things.

The North American Indians who were forced onto reservations in the United States received little public attention for some time. They were not recognized as U.S. citizens until 1924, when congress passed a special law giving them citizenship and the right to vote. Living conditions in the 1920s was terrible on the reservations.

The culture traits, culture complexes, and culture patterns of the Seminole Indians are very similar to those of the entire Native American Culture.

Works Sited

The Grolier Encyclopedia

www.seminoletribe.com/

Young Student Encyclopedia