The Importance Of The Native American Culture

The initial clash between the European and Native American cultures is the start of our Mixed-American history. Like many other colonization stories, concepts such as culture, religion, trade, and colonialism are tossed in a mix between virtues such as trust, acceptance, and fairness. Often times neglecting the latter of the mixture. The oddity of such unions is that the native people are generally tolerant with the foreigners… until the foreigner grows into the oppressor. Such is the case between the Native Americans and the European colonizers. Despite early collaboration, Native American tribes responded with great despise and animosity towards the expanse of European colonization.

The Indigenous people of America are called Native Americans or often referred to as “Indians”. They make up about two percent of the population in the United States and some of them still live in reservations. They once lived freely in the wilderness without any sort of influence or exposure from the Europeans who later came in the year of 1492, and therefore their culture is very different from ours. The Iroquois are northeastern Native Americans who are historically important and powerful. In the following essay we will discover some differences between the religious beliefs of the Native American Iroquois and Christianity to see if culture and ways of living have an effect on the view of religion, but we will also get to know some similarities. I am going to be focusing on the Iroquois, which are the northeastern Native Americans in North America.

The Pilgrims brushed their lips against the land of Cape Cod and thanked their Lord when the furious storm released them from its’ fury. The sea troubles left them far from home with no warm welcomes. After scrutinizing the bare land they had located barbarian-like aliens. They formed their judgments and ideas about their companions on Cape Cod. Seeking gold and silver the Spaniards explored unfamiliar territory. Although, they did not discover their hidden treasures they did stumble upon unfamiliar Native American cultures they did not understand. Their misunderstandings led to the formation of judgements towards the Native Americans.   Although both “Plymouth Plantation” by William Bradford and “La Relacion” by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca discuss early settlers and attitudes toward native peoples.  Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca’s attitude toward Native Americans reveals a sense of relief to discover friendship among an island. While, William Bradford displays a fearful and belittling tone.

When Jesus Came, The Corn Mothers Went Away gives an in-depth history of the Pueblo Indians before and after the Spanish conquest. It describes the forced changes the Spanish brought to the Indians, and also the changes brought to the Spaniards who came to “civilize” the Indians. The author's thesis is that the Pueblo Indians and other Indians were treated cruelly by the Spanish, who justified their crime by claiming they were civilizing an

Native Americans held great admiration for nature and their gods. People often dispute back and forth on whether or not we are similar or different compared to our Natives. Based on “The World on the Turtle’s Back,” “The Coyote and the Buffalo,” and Brother Bear, I can conclude that we obviously, for the most part, differ from ancient native cultures; people today do not hold nature to a great value and our religion is thoroughly different.

Native Americans hold a type of esoteric concept that comes from their philosophy of preserving their environment as well as their kinship that ties them together (Access Genealogy, 2009). They not only have social ties, they are politically and religiously organized through their rituals, government, and other institutions (Access Genealogy, 2009). They work together to reside in a territorial area, and speak a common language (Access Genealogy, 2009). They are not characterized by any one certain structure (Access Genealogy, 2009). However, the society agrees on fundamental principles that bond together a certain social fabric (Access Genealogy, 2009). Different Native American tribes throughout the years have had different ideas, opinions, philosophies, which are not always predetermined by their past ancestors.

The History of America has been stongly shaped by a collection of popular myths, stories and overall religious or cultural traditions, but not to the extent of the Native American History. We are all familiar with myths and legends about the past, namely the creation of our species and the mythological views of multiple godly figures. The majority of those mythological events have been created to suit Native American cultures. Because of these stories, Americans have misunderstood much about the Native American culture, For example, many assume that pre-Columbian North America was a land that was very wide spread and consisted of little inhabitants, when really, millions of Native Americans lived in the land. For example, Native American societies were full of wealth and held and heir of sophistication, contrary to popular beliefe that the Native Americans survived only through hunting, gathering, and fishing

However, the hope of building a new life wasn’t the only reason why Europeans crossed the Atlantic, ambitious countries like Spain wanted to colonize the new land, in order to increase their wealth. Spanish explorers took to the sea to claim new colonies for Spain. Known as conquistadores, they conquered much of the Americas. (Danzer, Gerald A. The Americans. Student text. Evanstan: McDougal Littel, 2005.). Spanish explorers lived among the Native Americans, and built several missions in the south and west of the US, were they taught Native Americans their culture and language, not always in the friendliest way, as they abused Native Americans physically, and punished them if they didn’t obey them. This oppression behavior led to several uprisings against the Spanish, ending with the victory of the Native Americans. In spite of this, Spanish culture had already spread along the south and the west of the US, and still remains on the continent, irrevocably linking the two cultures. But this link is still not strong enough to overcome the time that has elapsed since Spanish and Native Americans shared the same land, and that’s why the two cultures still have some differences.

The cultural of indigenous and immigrant people have been greatly impacted by America’s historical events. The descendants of Spain and Mexico immigrants have since been subjected to many cultural struggles. Today, many Chicano Americans do not know their heritage, or do not identify with their ancestors. Traditions and customs are lost from one generation to the other. Many victories were won in the name of Religion. Religion has also played an important role in the history of America. The colonists came to America in order to have religious freedom, yet they imposed their religion on the indigenous peoples. The colonists had religion in common; they identified themselves as “Christians”. The indigenous peoples were viewed by colonists as savages, and to try to civilize them. Many were killed, chased from their land, or taken into slavery (Noriega, 2010).

During the Spanish conquest and the early colonization and missionization of Alta California many problems arose from violence directed towards native women. Today we will discuss, how they were viewed and treated by many of Spanish men, and how the church viewed and reacted to the violence against these women.

Every culture and religion around the world has their own beliefs, myths legends and stories of creation about how all things came to be. Some are very similar and others are very unique and take on a whole new perspective and life of their own. One thing that they all have in common is that those beliefs are a direct reflection of their religion and paradigms (the way they see the world) and therefore effect their actions and behaviors. Most of us here in North America and the United States are familiar with Christianity’s biblical version of creation as found in the old testament in the book of Genesis and may be unfamiliar with the Native American creation stories. In this essay I will closely compare the religious beliefs by examining the traditional Christian and Navajo Indian creation stories.

The diverse Indian societies of North America did share certain common characteristics. Their lives were steeped in religious ceremonies often directly related to farming and hunting. The world, they believed, was suffused with spiritual power and sacred spirits could be found in all kinds of living and inanimate things – animals, plants, trees, water, and wind. Religious ceremonies aimed to harness the aid of powerful supernatural forces to serve the interests of man. In some tribes, hunters performed rituals to placate the spirits of animals they had killed. Other religious ceremonies sought to engage the spiritual power of nature to secure abundant crops or fend off evil spirits. Indian villages also held elaborate religious rites,

Since 1492, the year in which Christopher Columbus discovered the New World, the “Native Americans”, or “American Indians”, the original inhabitants of these newfound lands, became a source of dispute and conflict. The terminology of the word ‘Indian’ suggests the cultural and racial unity of all indigenous people, but it was not an idea shared by them. On the contrary, a huge variety of languages, traditions, cultures, lifestyles, existed among the indigenous populations, and had done so for thousands of years. The unifying notion of ‘Indian’ gave a label to all natives, failed to recognise their differences, and became a tool of legitimisation of the Spanish colonisation of these people . After making a claim of these lands, the Spanish

While it would seem that settlers coming from different parts of the world would have contrasting beliefs, their interactions with the Native Americans were all characterized by their misconceptions of native rituals. As Europeans began to arrive in the New World, the Spanish were introduced to the Ohlone people on the West Coast. Spanish missionaries saw the Ohlone “as a ‘backward’ people, a people who never attained a rich material culture, never learned agriculture, never built cities, monuments, or even totem poles” (Milliken 87). Spanish settlers misinterpreted the Ohlone use of using temporary materials to mean that the Ohlone had no wealth or status system, a shortcoming in the eyes of the Europeans. In

Native Americans had a need to contemplate their origins and beliefs and use that as a basis for their lifestyle. According a Cherokee creation story that theorizes about the perils of the world, “The earth is a great island floating in a sea of water, and suspended at each of the four cardinal points by a cord hanging down from the sky vault, which is of solid rock. When the world grows old and worn out, the people will die and the cords will break and let the earth sink down into the ocean, and all will be water again. The Indians are afraid of this.” This negative outlook is why natives centered their architecture around their respect for nature. In fact, the natives in the southwest had fears that bound them together and resulted in them constructing cliff dwellings that “had 23 kivas and 150 rooms housing a population of