How Plains Indians Adapted To And Transformed Their Environment Essay

The Lakota tribes environmental wisdom and spirituality grew to stabilize among years of conservation and concern for the earth. All animals were respected like humans and the rivers and trees were cared for because the nature was well alive like the humans that existed in it. The Lakota tribe lives on the Northern Plains of North America and are often referred to as Sioux. The Lakota tribe of the Great Plains is very much rooted to the earth and place a huge emphasis on it being their home. In their culture the world was not savage, nor were the animals wild because on earth all spirits resided in nature. They defined their culture and continue to strengthen their values like kinship, courage, and wisdom in their community through rites of renewal/passage, dance, and their style of clothes.

6. How did American political leaders seek to remake Indians and change their way of life?

1. Trace the history of relocation and Indian reservations. In what ways did reservations destroy Native American cultures, and in what ways did reservations foster tribal identities? Be sure to account for patterns of change and consistency over time.

There were two world altering centers of invention: the Middle East and central Mexico. All the inventions in the Middle East traveled all over Africa and Eurasia but the Americas had to do everything on their own. The America’s excelled mostly in agriculture and nearly half the grown today were developed in America. The Indians were very good at exploiting the land. Instead of just taking the land how it was they would shape it to what the needed primarily by burning it. When the Indians were gone all the areas they had made into savannahs became forest. A growing number of researchers believe that Indians had a large impact on the environment around them especially the jungle. Many people believe that the Amazon rainforest is an area totally untouched by man when in fact it is believed to have been either directly or indirectly created by human. Indians were also the keystone species of their environment and when they were gone it caused a huge shift in the ecological system. The population of many animals exploded,

The physical environment greatly impacted Native American cultures and their ways of life in the Great Basin, Southwest, Great Plains, and Mississippi River Valley regions. They constructed complex monuments and buildings, thrived on cultivating whatever their region of land had to offer, dealt with climate changes, and also dealt with the European settlers. The first Americans lived lives that revolved around nature and the resources their environment gave them. Without its impact, they would not be able to survive.

As to the European settlement, Indians had interacted with the land in a way that minimized their impact. Indians were marked by greater mobility, changing their location of living depending on the season; from agriculture to hunting. Like the "golden age" of Indians living in harmony with nature, their relationship was one in which they changed the landscape but done in a way that was less of any cause of damage as in using fire to clear

Another area in which the Indians thrived was that of agriculture and their understanding of the earth. Europeans had little knowledge of agriculture, or chose not to use what they did have. Europe was in a state of agricultural depression. Most of the soil was completely exhausted due to overuse and general mistreatment of the land. Both activities which continued in America.

How did settlers change the Native American culture forever? Settlers arrived in America to find Native Americans living there. The settlers decided to make the land theirs instead of letting the Native Americans keep what is rightfully theirs. They then disturbed the peace of the tribes living there. White settlers and government imposed restrictions on lands, trade, and freedoms plagued Native Americans, and the effects are still visible today.

With the Treaty, the United States became a continental empire (Greenberg 25). It was in total possession of the terrain between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Nomadic societies of the Great Plains held title to the majority of lad through binding treaties with the United States. They exerted physical control of massive stretches of the west, but to white spectators, the claims were illegitimate. In 1851, the United States allotted territories to numerous Plains tribes to lessen the frequency of intertribal conflicts (Greenberg 25).

C. The effect of horses on Native Americans caused the land to change for agriculture settlements and grazing. The use of Horses was also significant in finding the Great Plains.

Describe the major developments, changes, and the general living patterns of the Great Lake Indians during the period from 1000 BC and AD 1600. Make sure to provide at least 3 different components for each of the main timeframes outlined in the readings (Early Woodland, Middle Woodland/Hopewell, Late Woodland, Mississippian/Upper Mississippian).

Based on the book, we can notice that the transformation of the West affected the Native Americans' life , especially the Indian way of life in different aspects. Besides the fact that a great diversity of Native Americans called the Plains Indians started to live in the same areas,for some them, their conditions of live worsened. Their meat rations were reduced and they were restricted to hunt. Considerable Plains Indians not only flourished among the Plains people but also customs varied even between subdivisions of the same tribe. For the Native Americans, West meant fullness (Hell or a massacre). For example, due to their unfair or worse conditions of life, desperate,the Native people turned to Wovoka. Based on the book, Wovoka was a visionary

One environmental force that played a huge role in the growth of the Middle Archaic Indians was the growing changes in marine life, specifically in the Gulf of Maine. During the Early Archaic era the gulf was tideless and there wasn’t evidence of a lot of marine life but as time went on things started to change. The gulf started to get more tidal and turbulent and as this happened it started to cause a rise in sea level, which brought in an abundance of different marine life. This was a big step for the Middle Archaic Indians because fish soon became on of their main sources of food.

The Amazonian Indians were small nomadic tribes that lived by hunting and could not grow in number due to the lack of food. When corn was introduced and the Indians figured out how to keep the soil full of nutrients they were able to grow in number.

Also as a result of the Fur trade, the beaver population depleted, Indian trappers became debilitated, tribal cultures buckled under the pressure of new economic motives, tools and values. Consequently, since production fell within an area, the traders moved and settlers moved in developing farms and towns. The Indians in that area were either killed or moved by the government.