1. Americans before European Contact

2. “Native American”
Refers to all indigenous peoples living in North and South America
“Indian” label because of a mistake
From Spanish indio
Columbus thought he had reached “the Indies” (“the east” = Asia) in 1492

3. Pre-Columbian Native Americans
Pre-Columbian = “before Columbus” = pre-1492
“Pre-contact” = before European contact
(extends into 20th century for some groups)
People living in societies
Politics, economics, conflict, change
No more “lacking” than any other societies
(No such thing as “primitive” or “advanced” societies)

4. Summary
Pre-contact natives lived in societies not fundamentally different from other global societies.
They had:
Economics, including economic inequality
Settlements, on landscape transformed by people
Politics, conflict, war, cooperation, diplomacy
Innovation, experimentation, creativity
Changes over time, sometimes rapidly
They were not “closer to nature” or “more dependent on the environment” than anyone else.
They were not affected by their landscape more than anyone else.

5. North American Migrations
Insert Map M1.1
North American Migrations
© 2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

7. Pre-Columbian Native Americans
More diverse than Europe or Asia
Foragers and agriculturalists
Majority practiced some farming
Majority NOT nomads
City-states, empires, population centers
Central America, Central Andes

9. Native American History
Still highly stereotyped history
Positive and negative stereotypes together
“Historical Myth”
Story about past told primarily for effect, independent of accuracy
Not always false, but always oversimplified
More about the storyteller than about actual events
What people *want* to be true
Depends on assumptions of the storytellers and audience
Sometimes a counter to other myths

10. Native American History
“Noble Savage” myth:
Natives more spiritual, more natural, “what humans are supposed to be like”
Simple, innocent Garden of Eden before whites
Peace and harmony with each other
Traditionalist, environmentalist culture
Reality – very similar to other societies in 1492:
War, slavery, empire, invasion, genocide, ecological destruction, social inequality, economic competition, political conflict, shortages

11. Native American History
“Noble Savage” myth
Modern simplistic environmentalist version
Example: Chief Seattle’s famous speech in 1854
Most famous quotes:

12. Native American History
Chief Seattle’s famous speech of 1854 Actually written in 1971 By a white screenwriter from Vermont (with little background or interest in N-A history) Reads the 1970’s backwards into the 1850’s Influenced by American Indian civil rights movement, 1960’s-70’s Influenced by modern environmentalism More about what white social activists in 1960’s-70’s wanted to be true

13. Native Americans respected nature.
An example of well-meaning “green racism”
(from a WA K-12 Social Studies module):
Native Americans respected nature.
They took care of the earth and only used what they needed.

15. Native American History
“Noble Savage” myths, modern versions “romantic holism” = a negative label for this idea: Native Americans believed everything is sacred and interconnected “romantic” = idealized, heroic, Hollywood-like “holism” = everything is connected, everything is valuable “conservationist culture” = N-A’s consciously decided not to overuse resources

16. Pre-Contact Americans
Myth: “Lived in perfect harmony with nature”
Reality: certainly not perfect harmony
Sometimes starvation, overhunting, depleted topsoil
Towns and cities
Deforestation  Mayan collapse
Domestication of plants and animals
Maize (“corn”) dependent on humans
Basically, genetic engineering
Designed to “improve upon” wild species
NOT “just accepting nature the way it is”

17. Precolumbian Native American biotech: Corn (Zea mays)

18. Native American societies
Active, transformative land use
Natives also “settlers”
America NOT just already inhabited but already settled
NOT “settlers vs. natives” but “native settlers vs. other settlers”
“Settler” should not just refer to white people!
Burning undergrowth, draining swamps, etc.
America before European contact was NOT a wilderness

19. Reality: ALL human societies are dependent on the environment.
ALL human societies are shaped by their climate, landscape, and resources.
ALL human societies have:
economics, politics, technology, environmental impacts, etc.
Native Americans were/are NOT more dependent on the natural world than any other group.
Pre-Columbian Native Americans were NOT “closer to” or “more respectful of” nature than anyone else.

20. Native American societies
Myths
“Used every part of the animal”
Reality: waste piles, middens
Reality: impossible in buffalo hunts
Reality: not every single part of every single animal
Reality: Many PNW native cultures killed owls whenever they could, for religious/spiritual reasons
Myth from 1960’s-70’s anti-litter campaigns

21. Shell midden, Maine coast
cave midden, desert Southwest

22. P Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada

23. Pre-Contact Native Americans
Reality: active, transformative land use
“Unused land” a convenient myth
Used by European Americans to rationalize displacement:
“The savages aren’t using it anyway.”
Ignores the reality of native settlement
European Americans often took over prepared farmland.
Key to survival of Plymouth colony in 1620’s
1830’s – U.S. applied this myth to Cherokee plantations in Georgia!