Survey of Native American History

Bullet points for the exam are in Bold and 20 point font.

50,000-15000 BCE migration from Siberia
4000 first settled communities along Pacific
1500BCE-CE growth of crops, pottery, culture, government, hunting tools, Tribes migrate,
settle, hunt and farm land

1450 Iroquois League (aka Iroquois Confederacy) is founded in northeast. The Founding Fathers use this as one source in creating early American Government.

1492 Columbus arrives
1516 first major epidemic (smallpox)
1539 De Sota, other explorers, conquers communities
1607 Jamestown founded by British; Pocahontas and John Smith
1620 Pilgrims land in Plymouth Massachusetts, helped by Massasoit and Squanto
1626 Peter Minuit buys Manhattan $24
1636 Pequots wiped out by Puritans in Connecticut
1676 King Phillip wages war, last white/Indian war in Northeast (except Maine)
1689-1748 3 wars of France, Spain, Britain, (William, Anne, George)
1723 First school for Indians built by Williamsburg
1754 French/Indian war, Canada and great lake regions are lost to British
1776 many Indians fight for British during Revolutionary War, abandoned after defeat.
!1787 Northwest Ordinance: “utmost good faith to Indians, land and property shall never be taken from them without their consent”
1815 Indian Country established west of Missouri by James Monroe
1820 Government involvement in moving Indians to Indian country
1824 Bureau of Indian Affairs established by War Department.
1831 Cherokee Nation subject to federal but not state law

1838 Trail of Tears, Cherokees forcibly removed from Georgia to Oklahoma, along way ¼ die.

1854 Indian Country cut to ½ size, for transcontinental railroad and influx of white settlers.
1867 Treaty of Medicine Lodge, 100,000 Apache, Navajos, Sioux, others to accept Indian country now reservation status, relinquish territory outside reservation
1868 14th amendment citizenship, ‘indians not taxed’ are not to be included in population counts for representation purposes.
1876 Sioux War, Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull (leaders), victory at Little Bighorn, (Custer’s last stand): last major Native American victory, driven to Dakota territories
1881 end of white/Indian conflict in Southwest, with surrender of Apache leader Geronimo
1887 Dawes Severalty Act: land ownership system that awards individual, not tribe, blow to tribal sovereignty
1890 last great Indian defeat: Wounded Knee, South Dakota
1906 Blue Lake Region of New Mexico taken as National Park by federal government, region is Pueblos sacred ground
1907 Indian country officially eliminated when Oklahoma becomes state

1924 Citizenship Act: all Indians citizens, and maintain status as tribe members, voting comes in 60’s.

1942 Navajo Indians Code talkers, pacific battles
1955 Public Health service takes over Indian health, creates Indian health services, (today, Indians still have highest mortality rate)
1964 Civil Rights Act restores tribal law to reservations,, Lyndon B. Johnson pledges to end paternalism
1995 Janet Reno establishes office of tribal justice to help Dept of Justice
Contributions of Native to American Culture
FOOD: corn, potato, tomato, beans, turkey, maple sugar, squash
INDUSTRY: tobacco and cotton
MEDICINE: 200 drugs originally used by Indians, quinine until 40’s only treatment for malaria, coca, novacaine
HOUSING: tepee/tent, igloo, architecture in SW, long house and pueblos influenced lab design at University of New Mexico
SPIRITUALITY: More diverse than originally believed: For example, the Mississippi Valley has highly structured system, vatican, priests, tribe deity while the Great Plains: decentralized, personal religion. Medicine Men were like prophets -Individual religious experience, prayers and vision quests -Ceremonial with tribal participation, tied to tribe, code of conduct -Care for the earth
LIFESTYLE: hammock, toboggans, lacrosse
CLOTHING: parkas, ponchos, moccasins
GOVERNMENT: federalism: Iroquois league five nations balancing power