The Lakota Sioux Of The Sioux Nation

The Apache community of the southwest culture area consists of nomadic peoples that have lived in the desert southwest for hundreds of years (Sage, 2016). Power, similar to the Netsilik and Lakota, plays a role in the daily lives and culture of the Apache. Anthropologist Keith Basso (1970) explains, that to the Apache, power is known and understood but it so complex that to talk about it would not provide satisfactory explanation (37). For the Apache this notion of power is similar to the Lakota’s, the Apache call the supernatural powers that are unexplainable godiyo. However, power for the Apache is not as communal as the Netsilik and the Lakota peoples. For the Apache, the majority does not have power but those that do have it can make use

The Sioux and Chippewa Indian tribes’ have a drastically different way of living compared to what other people are accustomed to in terms of their history, clothing, tools, and weapons needed for survival. The Sioux Indians were originally from Asia, but migrated to America about 30,000 years ago. Their long, straight jet-black hair resembles that of the Asian descendants. The Sioux tribes were located in The Great Plains, which consists of 7 different states Minnesota, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota; however, they were also known to live in parts of Nebraska, Illinois, and Montana. “The name Sioux is an abbreviation of Nadouessioux. (Britannica) The name was given to them by the Ojibwa (Chippewa). Sioux means, “Little snake”. The Sioux tended to follow the pattern of the buffalo, which is why they are found in multiple locations.

The Choctaw Indians of Alabama are a band of Indians that managed to remain behind in the outer regions of north Mobile and south Washington counties after their tribal lands were given up to the United States in 1830. Beginning in 1830, the most significant period of their removal from their homelands, the majority of the Choctaw tribe was forced along the Trail of Tears settling on reservation lands in Mississippi and Oklahoma. A small group of about 45 families avoided removal by settling and hiding out in the woods surrounding the small communities of Citronelle, Mt. Vernon, and McIntosh.

American Indian tribes have flourished in America before the Europeans made the initial discovery of this free land. The Cherokees were one of the first Indian tribes recognized in the new world. They began their foundations around 8000 B.C. in North Carolina. Consisting of nearly 300,000 tribe members, this tribe is still flourishing all around the world today.

Though today, the Blackfoot territory is defined by reserve/reservation boundaries and divided by the United States-Canadian border, their homeland, Nitawahsinnanni (“our land”), continues to be defined by topographical features using their language (The Blackfoot Gallery Committee, 2013, 12). This traditional homeland spans from the North Saskatchewan River (Ponokasisahta, the Elk River) as far south as the Yellowstone River, Montana (Otahkoitahtayi) and from the Rocky Mountains as far East as the “Great Sand Hills

Traditionally the Western Shoshone Nation’s ancestral land covers an area spanning from southern California, clear through Nevada, and barely touching southern Idaho. Within this scope of land is the previously mentioned Yucca Mountain, but also Mount Tenabo, a mountain in the Cortez Range of Northern Nevada, which is currently subject to mining. This large area of land is know as the Great Basin, where the habitat is dependent on the rain and snow melt water which comes off the high mountains, feeding the creeks which keep the living, living. Mount Tenabo is one such mountain; however it also holds a place in Shoshone creation stories, and is the site of ancient burials causing it to be of great importance to the entire nation of the Western Shoshone. The people of the Western Shoshone Nation still use the mountain to gather medical plants from these sacred places of their ancestors, and hold ceremonies.

Bear Butte, is still one of the most sacred places for both the Cheyenne and the Oceti Sakowin peoples. There are many people who are trying to reconnect their culture back to the mountain’s spiritualness. Sadly, this sacred site is constantly being threatened by outside forces, potentially destroying the sacredness of the mountain. Today, there are many people, both native and non native, who are fighting against these incroaching forces on Bear Butte. Many people are working togather to get rid of the problems surrounding the sacred mountain.

Over the course of thousands of years, groups of people temporarily set up camp a valley in what is now Goshen County, Wyoming (Irwin-Williams et al. 1973; Larson, Kornfeld, and Frison 2009). Small-scale occupations and campsites, which make up the 27 Paleoindian components at the four localities of the site, named Hell Gap after the valley is lies in, provide insight into the lifeways of the individuals who chose to take refuge therein (Larson, Kornfeld, and Frison 2009). The semi-montane environment of the valley, at an elevation of around 1525 meters, opens to the east onto the High Plains, and as such, the resources of the valley and of the plains were easily accessible to the inhabitants (Irwin-Williams et al. 1973).

This investigation examines the historical question of “to what extent did the Black Hills Gold Rush of 1874 lead to the Great Sioux War of 1876?”. One key source chosen to support this investigation is a book from the United States Department of the Interior. This is relevant because it provides access to information compiled from the United States government’s extensive database of information regarding conflict in the Black Hills. The other significant source is a firsthand account from a Cheyenne woman that lived through and experienced the events leading up to the Great Sioux War of 1876, including the Black Hills Gold Rush.

They were living in the well known such as the states Kansas, Colorado, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming (The Great Plains). The Cheyennes were involuntary to move to Oklahoma during the 1800's, but some fled and went north into Montana. There were grass covered prairies with rivers and streams. The climate varied from hot summers and cold winters.The animals there included the Cougars, Prairie Dogs, Beavers, Eagles, Bears, Porcupines, Deer, Elk, Antelope, Bison, and Wolves.

Keith H. Basso’s Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache delivers a strong message regarding human connections between place, identity, and origins in relation to the idea of place-names. Every place evokes an association to a story and/or a person/ancestor bearing a moral message that allows the Western Apache to shape their beliefs, behaviors, identities, etc. It is through this connection to the land that the Apache begin to define their understanding of their lives.

There is a deep relationship between the environment and Western Apache people. The bonds between the two are so strong that it is embedded in their culture and history. Keith Basso, author of Wisdom Sits in Places expanded on this theory and did so by divulging himself into Western Apaches life. He spent fifteen years with the Apache people studying their relationship with the environment, specifically concentrating on ‘Place-names.’ When Basso first began to work with the Apache people, one of his Apache friends told him to ‘learn the names,’ because they held a special meaning with the community. (Cruikshank 1990: 54) Place-names are special names given to a specific locality where an event

“It is a dream. It is what people who have come here from the beginning of time have dreamed. It’s a dream landscape. To the Native Americans, it’s full of sacred realities, powerful things. It’s a landscape that has to be seen to be believe. And as I say on occasion, it may have to be believed in order to be seen.” –N. Scott Momaday

As I prayed and made an offering at the Nose Hill location, again I saw the land as I often do, as it was before recent human influence. As I sat before the rock the fences and the sounds of the car in the distance gave way to the wind. And as the wind came I could smell a camp fire and see the teepee atop the east-facing ledge about one kilometre south of the rock. And also with the wind came the bison, stampeding over the hill coming for the rock with great anticipation to shed their winter coats and graze along the hill. As they came they stormed around the rock with glee, hopping, kicking, shoving for room against the large rocks in the heat of the day after their never ending wander across the prairies. As a dog walker walked by with

The glacial erratics represent the beginning of human population of the America’s and the beginning of traditional culture, and the rocks carry with them the essence of the spirit of all those years. In honour of the truth and reconciliation act, this essay has an ode to healing by walking the land and, more specifically, reconnecting with Mother earth. I am not a religious person. I am not a spiritual person even in my own mind. And I do not even know if I believe if there is or is not a god. But I have always known that the forest and the mountains and the animals are alive as much as I am, and as an anxious, extroverted, depressed, abused, somewhat autistic person, I have always found more comfort in the company of a forest than a crowd. I have always been a person who retreats to the solitude of the forest to find my peace, my happiness, and some kind of connection with something greater than myself. Despite my strong lack of religious faith or spiritual belief, my connection to mother nature and my spiritual red roots grew deeply on what I was able to participate in during the field trip. As I prayed during smudge I had intense vision in a trance which made me sick to my stomach as I purged myself of the toxins that had entered my spirit both from people and from having to live in the city with no nearby forest for the last few years. My trances are explained in detail in the appendices II and III as I feel they are important to my experiential learning. Aside from