Native Americans

Way Of Life

Hunting

Beliefs

Warfare

Lifestyle

Counting Coup

Scalping

Warfare was avoided.

Afterlife

Spirits

Land

AKA Happy Hunting Grounds

Exposure

Elderly were willing to be abandoned for the good of the tribe as they believed in the afterlife waiting for them

Chief Spirit = Wakan Tanka

Could cure or send disease

Structure

Could only enter with scalp

Could not be owned as all tribes depended on their nomadic lifestyle

Circle

Moon

Sun

Life/Death/Rebirth

Seasons

Terrifying and painful. This was used to ensure that the warrior killed could not go to the afterlife to continue his fight in the Happy Hunting Grounds. These scalps were hung as trophies on the top of tipis

This was used to resolve a fight with greater honour and lower loss of life. A warrior would tap their opponent with a stick or their palm to show superiority.

Dances

Rain Dance

Buffalo Dance

Sun dance

Used to please the spirits or mark rites of passage

To mark a boy becoming a man. Boys were hung from clamps in a sweat house for days until they halucinated their new name eg. Black kettle

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Used to ask the spirits for more buffalo - this supported their entire way of life

Ghost Dance

This was created when the Indian way of life was under attack and was designed to gain support, wisdom and courage from the brave chiefs of the past. This terrified their white oppressors and inspired the Massacre Of Wounded Knee

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Nomadic

Tipis

They were made of bison skins which were plentiful but used limited wood, which was a precious resource in the prairies.

Had flaps to control the temperature in the extreme winters and summers of the great plains.

Could be quickly packed away when the tribe needed to follow the bison

White Opposition to...

Lifestyle

Warfare

Beliefs

Believed it was barbaric and scaplping terrified them and made them believe that the natives were a threat to them and their family. They only knowledge of these tribes came from dramatic and biased white newspapers.

Thought counting coup was a sign of stupidity and ignorance

Women

Men

Took care of the tipi and preparing bison carcasses + children

Were warriors, chiefs, medicine men and dog soldiers. Boys were taught how to shoot and ride from a young age

Could take multiple wives

Multiple spirits - could be communicated with through trances and dances

They were mainly christian and the native beliefs directly contrasted this. This led to a view that the Plains Indians needed to be fixed to be 'good Christians' or killed as they were working against god.

Thought that they were a threat to their (Christian) way of life.

Polygamy was directly against the bible and lead to religious persecution towards the tribes

How The White Americans took away...

Warfare

Lifestyle

Beliefs

Reservations

By placing entire tribes on a tiny plot of land, the native americans could not maintain their nomadic way of life, or follow the buffallo

Dances were banned in reservations

Children were sent to boarding schools

  • This really weakened their connection with their beliefs and culture as this was an integral part of the native beliefs.
  • This isolated the children from their culture and community and brainwashed them into becoming 'good Christian children'

Their nomadic lifestyle was completely different to the European system of houses, towns and land ownership.

Inter-tribal warfare was actually stopped as they were isolated in reservations until the Cheyenne and Sioux united for the Battle of Little Bighorn where their focus was set against their oppressors.

Structure

Didn't believe in governing through community and thought there should be strict laws

Tipis were cramped and dirty

Were offended by the tradition of exposure and thought it was cruel

Thought it is was their god given right to own the land- manifest destiny

Thought that stealing horses were stupid as they were so important to life on the plains

BISON!!

These animals completley supported their entire community, and way of life was based entirely around them

Every part of them were used for food, tools, clothes, shelter and rituals

Whites almost wiped out the bison to spitefully desabilise the native communities

  • Tribe structure was banned

Hunting

The tribes were now almost completely reliant on the government for their food and other essential supplies. This meant that starving tribes always had the threat of their dwindling food supply being completely cut off.

  • The Bison were hunted to the brink of extinction by settlers
  • The railway made settler numbers boom

MANIFEST DESTINY

  • Dawes Act allowed Native people to 'keep' their reservation land if they became good christian farmers