Journal #1

I do not know much about Native American Culture, but I do know that it was based on a type of connection, a connection to nature and each other. They liked to trade and share objects with their neighbors and outsiders. They lived off of the land, and really, the land was their life. Many of their homes were made from items of the land. Tee-pees were made from animal skin and wood; adobe houses were made from mud, clay, and straw; and huts of different shapes and sizes were made of wood, grass, straw, clay, and mud. The clothes that the Indians wore were made from animal skin and sometimes leaves. They used pottery to store items in, and they also used pottery to eat from and drink from. Their weapons were also made from the land, a few being bows and arrows, spears, and knives. They hunted with these and made full use of the animals they killed. They grew crops, knew the types of poisonous plants to stay away from, and they were familiar with the animals on the land. Their religions were based on the universe, such as the sun, moon, stars, ocean, land, animals, mother nature in general.

The first discovery of Indians and Native Americans, that I know of, was the discovery of Christopher Columbus. He landed on the islands of the Caribbean, and called the natives he met Indians, because he thought that he was in India. The natives he met were friendly to him and his crew and shared their life style with him. They showed the new explorers their land, homes, and objects deemed valuable by Columbus and his men. Columbus brought to the New World genocide, as he captured, tortured, and killed many of the Indians, one nation in particular, the Arowaks. They brought their treasure back to their own country and continued to go back to the New World. There they continued to conquer spreading their own culture and forcing others to follow.

As time went on, Indians were forced to move west due to expansionism. Any uprising was crushed, and Indians and pioneers and settlers did not get along very well. Promises to the Native Americans were broken by the government, and the Native Americans were sent to live on reservations where living conditions were not the best. The treatment of the Native Americans was terribly wrong as they were tortured, killed, enslaved, and resettled on land.