A Review of North American Indians

10 Pages 2494 Words

ive Americans and the unjust treaties that were imposed on them, and then subsequently violated.
Although current historical references and works now seem to give a fairly accurate portrayal of the injustices done to the Indians, I remember earlier school texts referring to the Indians as primitive savages who were eventually educated and brought the benefits of civilization. I remember reading of the massacres perpetrated by the Indians against the early western settlers, and of how Indians attacked and burned villages during the early colonization of American and the revolutionary war. The books that I read, and movies I watched, usually portrayed the Indians as the bad guys. No reference was ever made to the injustices or atrocities inflicted by the whites. These earlier books and films have not portrayed this part of history accurately.
Based on what I have read, researched, and gathered from this text and other sources, I must concur with Alice Kehoe in her assessment of the negative and devastating effects that European colonization has had on the Native American populations of this continent.
One of the most devastating effects seems to be the deterioration of Native American culture and traditions as they have slowly and painfully been assimilated into American, Canadian, and Mexican societies.
Since the anthropological concept of culture is defined as everything that a people have, think, and do as members of a society, it is important to understand this when dealing with the history of the Native American populations. The various natives of North America developed different cultures due to their diverse ecology. The author emphasizes that an understanding of cultural geography is an important backbone in the historical study of Native Americans.
By knowing the geographic location of a tribe, it is possible to predict its major food resources, nomadic or sedentary settlement, political structure,...