The name of this state is derived from the tribe, the Illinik or Illini, which means “the people.” The Illinois people were actually a relatively casual alliance of several Algonquian peoples, and the traditional territory belonging to them extended from the Mississippi River as far as the Atlantic coast.
The Illinois lived in wooden houses, grouped into small villages, in the shady river valleys, using elm bark where other peoples might have used the more pliable birch, simply because birch wasn’t available. Food was abundant: as well as the fish in the river, the forests provided cover for game birds and small mammals as well as forageable fruits and vegetables. The Illinois also hunted the buffalo, leaving the forests for the prairies where these huge animals roamed.
The first significant contact with Europeans came in the form of Jesuit priests who visited the tribe in the 1670s. One Jesuit, Claude Jean Allouez, lived with the people for many years. Contact between the French and the Illinois was important for both parties because of the fur trade, which had the potential to make both parties wealthy.
The Illinois were by default allied with some of their traditional enemies, the Lakota and Dakota, when these peoples supported the French rather than the British during the French and Indian War, which saw both European sides struggle for supremacy. But when a member of the Kaskaskia people murdered the great chief, Pontiac, in 1769, the peoples of the Great Lakes area (including the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Kickapoo) banded together against the Illinois. The Illinois did not have enough warriors to resist the massed numbers of these tribes, and were defeated; their traditional lands filled up with other Native American peoples as the Illinois fled, taking refuge in a French settlement at Kaskaskia, their numbers decimated. In the 1830s the remaining Illinois sold the rest of their land to the influx of European settlers and moved to Kansas, where they joined with bands of the Miami people.
This Act was passed in order to protect Native American arts and crafts within the U.S. and, consequently, in the rest of the world. It specifically concentrates on making sure that goods are not misrepresented as being of Indian origin when they’re not. It’s illegal to offer goods, or describe them as being genuine Native American products, unless they really are genuine. If any individual is caught doing so, then they can face fines of up to $250,000, or a five-year sentence in prison—or both. If a business falsely offers or sells goods as Native American, then the penalty is even more severe: the business can be faced with fines of up to $1,000,000, and also prosecuted. The Indian Arts and Crafts Act applies to all traditional and contemporary Native American arts and crafts produced since 1935.
As well as protecting the tribes to whom the arts and crafts belong, and therefore recognizing their value, the Act also protects the buyer from unscrupulous traders. If you want to buy Indian art and craft items, make sure the items are authenticated and described as such. The item will also usually name the tribe that produced it.
In 1924, Homer P. Snyder introduced the Indian Citizenship Act. Also named after him as The Snyder Act, this law—signed in by President Calvin Coolidge—granted full United States citizenship to Native American people. Of the Native population at the time, the Act affected approximately 125,000 people. The remaining 175,000 Native Americans had been granted citizenship by other means, such as joining the Army, or even by rejecting their tribal heritage. This was no longer necessary. The Act did not herald universal fair treatment of Indians, though; in 1938, for example, seven states were still refusing to give Indians, citizens of the United States or otherwise, the right to vote.
The term given to rawhide, which accurately describes the tough resilience of this material.
Established by Congress in 1867, the Indian Peace Commission was intended to bring about peace with the Plains Indians who were fighting with the United States.
It was considered necessary by the Commission to establish which Indians were friendly and which were hostile, as well as removing all Indians onto the reservations in the allotted Indian Territory and away from regions that encompassed the routes taken by the white settlers in their expansion west. In return, the Indians would receive compensation.
The Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Nathaniel G. Taylor, was appointed the President of the Peace Commission. Other members of the Commission included several men who had experienced conflict with the Native Americans, including Lieutenant General William T. Sherman, Major General William S. Harney, who had been involved in skirmishes with the Sioux and the Cheyenne, and Colonel Samuel F. Tappan, who had introduced the Bill that brought about the Peace Commission in the first place. Sherman publicly disagreed with a policy of peace and was not present at the peace council at Medicine Creek.
The first report of the Commission hit the desk of the President of the United States in early January, 1868. It detailed the causes of the conflict with the Natives, and concluded that these were because of injustice toward the people in many ways: violations of treaties, unjust and dishonest treatment of Indians by their agents, and the fact that Congress did not fulfill its legal obligations. In short, the report stated that the wars could have been avoided had the Natives been treated fairly, respectfully, and honestly.
Native American names feature strongly in the North American landscape, so much so that we tend to take them for granted. Knowing the meanings of these names makes for an unfolding of the imagination as we think of how the original names came to be.
| Allegheny | Fairest River |
| Appalachian | named for the Apalachee people |
| Appomattox | Tobacco Country |
| Canada | Collection of Wigwams |
| Cashocton | Habitat of Owls |
| Chattanooga | Eagles’ Nest |
| Chautauqua | Foggy Place |
| Chesapeake | Salty Pond |
| Chicago | Wild Onions |
| Chickamauga | River of Death |
| Chillicthe | Town (or Village) |
| Kaibab | On the Mountain |
| Kalamazoo | Otter’s Trail |
| Kenosha | Long Fish, “Pike” |
| Keokuk | Watchful Fox |
| Kokomo | Black Walnut |
| Lackawanna | Streams That Fork |
| Lycoming | Sandy Stream |
| Mackinac | Turtle Island |
| Mankato | Green Earth |
| Merrimac | Swift Stream |
| Milwaukee | Rich Land |
| Mississinewa | Water on a Slope |
| Muncie | Strong Place |
| Muskegon | Plenty of Fish |
| Muskingun | Moose-eye River |
| Nantucket | Far Away |
| Natchez | Hurrying People |
| Niagara | Thundering Water |
| Okeechobee | Grassy Lake |
| Omaha | Upstream |
| Oshkosh | Claws (or Scratches) |
| Ottawa | Trade (or Exchange) |
| Passaic | Peace Valley |
| Penobscot | Rocky Place |
| Pensacola | Hairy People |
| Peoria | Place of Fat Beats |
| Potomac | Burning Pines |
| Rappahannock | Quick Rising River |
| Rearearge | High Place |
| Roanoke | Shell (or Shells) |
| Saginaw | Pouring Out at Mouth |
| Saratoga | Sparkling Place |
| Saskatchewan | Swift River |
| Savannah | Grassy Plain |
| Schuylkill | Hidden Creek |
| Scioto | Hairs in River |
| Shenandoah | Hillside Stream |
| Shawnee | Southerners |
| Susquehanna | Pure Water |
| Suwannee | Echo River |
| Tacoma | Big Snow Mountain |
| Tallahassee | Old Town |
| Tecumseh | Shooting Star |
| Tippecanoe | Buffalo Fish |
| Topeka | Potato Country |
| Toronto | Meeting Place |
| Tucson | Black Base |
| Tuscaloosa | Black Warrior |
| Wabash | White, Flat Rocks |
| Walla Walla | Many Waters |
| Wasatch | Beautiful |
| Winamac | Mudfish, Catfish |
| Yosemite | Grizzly Bear |
| Alaska | Great Land |
| Alabama | I Clear the Thicket |
| Arizona | Silver Slabs |
| Arkansas | Downstream People |
| Connecticut | Upon the Long River |
| Dakota | Related People |
| Idaho | Sunrise, It Is Morning |
| Illinois | Men (or Great Men) |
| Indiana | Land of the Indians |
| Iowa | Sleepy Ones |
| Kansas | People of the South Wind |
| Kentucky | Hunting Ground |
| Massachusetts | Great Hill |
| Michigan | Great Water |
| Mississippi | Father of Water |
| Missouri | Great Muddy, People with Wooden Canoes |
| Minnesota | Sky-tinted Water |
| Nebraska | Flat Water |
| New Mexico | named for the Aztec god Mexitili |
| Ohio | Beautiful Valley |
| Oklahoma | Land of the Red Man |
| Oregon | Beautiful Water |
| Tennessee | named after Chief Tannassie |
| Texas | Tejas (or Allies) |
| Utah | Those Who Dwell High Up |
| Wisconsin | Where Waters Gather |
| Wyoming | Great Plain |
A contentious issue, the Indian Removal Act became law in 1830, and had first been suggested by then-President Andrew Jackson. Put simply, the Act empowered the U.S. Government simply to remove Native American peoples from the lands that they had occupied for generations so that white settlers could then move in. Strictly speaking, this “removal” was meant to be voluntary; however, all sorts of pressure was applied in order to get tribal leaders to sign removal treaties and for the people to move on. This pressure took the form of incentives such as schooling for the children and food rations; often, once the Indians had quit their lands, the promises that had been made failed to materialize. Native leaders who might have previously resisted removal would then realize that they had no choice but to reconsider the situation and tried to wrest from it what they could.
Unsurprisingly, the Act garnered a great deal of support outside of Native American societies. In the South, the white men were very keen to get their hands on the lands that belonged to the Five Civilized Tribes—the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole.
But not every non-Native person thought that the Removal Act was a good idea. The future president Abraham Lincoln opposed it vehemently, as did Congressman Davy Crockett and a number of Christian missionaries. That the Act signaled the end of Native American life as it had been was quite clear.
Despite the supposed “voluntary” removal of the tribes, inevitably the forced exodus of the Native Americans from their lands started within a few weeks of the Act being passed. The first to go were the Choctaw, whose arduous journey from east to west, which resulted in a devastating number of deaths due to starvation, disease, and exposure to the elements, coined the phrase Trail of Tears. Not all tribes left quietly, either: some, such as the Seminole, put up a fight which resulted in further casualties on the side of both Indians and the U.S. Army.
Also known as the Indian New Deal or the Howard—Wheeler Act, which came into force in 1934, this Act sought to rectify the problems caused by the Allotment Act (abolished when the Indian New Deal was introduced). The Indian Reorganization Act gave tribes the authority and right to govern themselves via their own governmental organizations, and also for them to form businesses and corporations in their own right.
The Act also prohibited the sale of Indian lands to “non-Indians,” and more lands were bought for the tribes. Another key part of the Act was that it allowed Native Americans the right to practice their own religious ceremonies and rituals. Any prior restrictions on the use of Native languages was also abolished.
At the same time, the Indian Arts and Crafts board was established. This meant that not only would traditional Native American crafts be protected, but that a means for promoting these arts and crafts would be provided, too. Scholarship funds were made available to Indians for further education and training, and teachers who spoke Native American languages were now able to be employed in schools. Loan funds were made available specifically for tribal enterprises, either collectively or individually.
The tribes were given a two-year trial period after the Act had been passed to decide whether or not they wanted to continue with it, and in 1936 the majority of tribes—195 out of 258 deemed eligible to vote in the first place—decided in its favor.
The Act was initiated by John Collier, Commissioner for the Bureau of Indian Affairs under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and its aims progressed happily for a 20-year period, during which time some two million acres of land were restored to the Native Americans. However, after Collier retired in 1945, a deliberate policy was undertaken to remove some of the responsibilities that had previously been taken on by the Government. Various kinds of aid and assistance to the Native peoples began to be withdrawn, with the result that several tribes simply ceased to exist; these were Couchatta, Klamath, Menominee, Paiute, and Ute. A further 114 Californian groups lost their tribal “status,” and so lost the rights which had previously been associated with that status.
This refers to land that was set aside by the U.S. Congress of 1829 in order that it could be used by Native Americans who were being removed from the east of the Mississippi River to the west. Initially occupied by the Five Civilized Tribes, in 1890 the lands became the territory of Oklahoma, and the space allotted to the Indians was reduced by one half. The generic term “Indian Territory,” which referred to the entire state of Oklahoma, came to be used in the 20th century.
The Genoan explorer Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) made a total of four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, under the sponsorship of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. In the process he gained a reputation for having “discovered” America, although it would be more accurate to say that he was responsible for making the European world aware of the American continents. In fact, the Viking Leif Ericson was the first European to reach America.
It was an error on Columbus’ part that led to the inhabitants of the Americas being labeled “Indians.” Although he had landed at the Bahamas, since he had set off for the East Indies, when his ship bumped against the shore of the island in the October of 1492, he assumed, mistakenly, that this was where he was. And so he named the inhabitants there “Indios.” The indigenous people to whom Columbus applied this term were of the Arawak, Taino, or Lucayan peoples, whom he described to his patrons as “… so tractable, so peaceable …” and went on to write, “I swear to your Majesties that there is not in the world a better nation. They love their neighbors as themselves, and their discourse is ever sweet and gentle, and accompanied with a smile; and though it is true they are naked, yet their manners are decorous and praiseworthy.”
Subsequently, Columbus would write:
“They ought to make good and skilled servants, for they repeat very quickly whatever we say to them. I think they can very easily be made Christians, for they seem to have no religion … I could conquer the whole of them with 50 men and govern them as I pleased.”
Columbus then proceeded to claim the land in the name of Spain, enslave those “tractable” people, and force them to convert to Christianity. Of the ten Arawak that he took back to Spain as slaves, only two survived.
This refers to both the ceremony of Lakota purification and the building in which the ceremony takes place.
The inipi has a great deal of similarity to the sweat lodge. The inipi is made of a frame of pliable boughs covered with blankets or hides, with hot stones in the center. These hot stones are heated outside the inipi and carried inside. As in a sauna, water is poured over the hot rocks to make steam, and prayers are offered up to the spirits. Further rituals and practices remain the secrets of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations.
Also sometimes known as the Eskimo or Esquimaux, a name given to the people by the French; the origins of the name are from an Algonquian word that might refer to snowshoes. Inuit means “the people,” a name that is commonly used by many Native American peoples when referring to themselves.
The language group for the Inuit and the Aleut is called Eskaleut, and both these groups tend to be regarded as separate from other Native Americans. Archeologists have discovered that they probably arrived in North America considerably later than the other tribes. In appearance, too, both groups look different to other North Americans: they are smaller and plumper, with round faces and light-colored skin.
There are numerous bands of Inuit, including the Alaskan, the Siberian, the Caribou, and the Greenland Inuit. What all groups have in common is an ability to survive in the harshest conditions the Arctic has to offer: long winters, sometimes with only a few hours’ daylight; a lack of vegetation; permafrost; blizzards and icy cold, freezing winds. The Inuit were skilled at fishing and hunting sea mammals such as walrus, whales, and seals; this latter mammal was one of the most important for the tribe, and sometimes Siberian Huskies were used to help in the hunt. The caribou was also an important source of meat and hide.
The Inuit were able to travel long distances across the ice using a sledlike vehicle called a komatik. Sleds were fashioned from wooden frames with runners often made from bone and covered with a layer of ice to reduce friction. Other aids invented by the Inuit to travel across snow and ice include spiked boots, snowshoes, and long sticks with which to test the depth of the ice.
We tend to associate the Inuit with the domed dwellings called igloos, but they also lived in wooden huts and tents made from animal skins. The igloo, though, is by far the most distinctive house. Made from blocks of ice skilfully shaped so that they would make that distinctive dome, sometimes several igloos were joined together to accommodate three or four families. Despite the material from which it was built, the igloo could become oppressively hot, especially when oil lamps burned inside for cooking.
The family unit was the most important social structure for the Inuit, who did not have a headman or chief. The people stayed in an area for as long as there was good hunting, and then moved on. The Inuit also had to be ingenious in the way they clothed themselves: the hides of caribou and seal were favored; the latter was waterproof and useful for summer fishing and hunting expeditions, and the former was both warm and light in weight, perfect for winter. The parka—known all over the world—was an invention of the Inuit and the Aleut; the Inuit made sure that they were cut to fit snugly, and were worn with the fur facing inward.
The Inuit shaman or spiritual leader was called the Angagok, and one of the most important ceremonies was the Bladder Dance. Inuits believed that the bladder of an animal was the seat of its soul. This ceremony, which took place inside the kashim (the men’s ceremonial lodge) involved inflating the bladders of the many sea mammals that were important to the tribe, and releasing them back into the sea.
When European so-called governmental systems were still a morass of confusion, inconsistencies, and inequalities, sometime between the 15th and 16th centuries the original five Nations of the Iroquois (the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca) had already formed the Iroquois League (also known as “the League of Peace and Power”). In 1722 they were joined by the Tuscarora people, so becoming the “Six Nations.” This confederacy is said to have inspired the form of government that was adopted by the U.S., and still exists today.
Prior to this, all the separate Nations were in conflict. After its formation, however, the Iroquois became a powerful force to be reckoned with. The alliance was created by two great men, Dekanawida, who was also known as The Great Peacemaker, and Hiawatha, arguably one of the most famous Native Americans.
The Iroquois Confederacy is also popularly known as the Haudenosaunee, after the name for the traditional Iroquois longhouses.
It wasn’t only the governmental system of the Iroquois that was sophisticated and highly effective. Their methods of farming and cultivation were particularly efficient and well-planned, and crops formed the bulk of their diet, supported by some hunting and fishing. The three primary crops—the “Three Sisters”—were beans, squash, and corn, considered to be gifts from the Great Spirit. These plants were cultivated in a highly efficient way, which these days we’d describe as “sustainable.” The corn grew first, giving the beans a support to climb up, while the squash provided ground-cover and a carpet against weeds. These crops also stored well, providing food for a couple of years, and nourishment during hard winters.
The Iroquois line was, and is, matrilineal—that is, determined by the mother. The “Mothers of the Clan” had the authority to remove an ineffective chief, and the sister of that deposed chief had responsibility for naming his successor.
In fact, the role of Iroquois women was another aspect of their culture that was way ahead of Europe. A woman’s rights and her status in society were equal to that of a man’s, and were even, in many ways, superior. For example, a woman was allowed to own property, and the property that she brought into a marriage remained hers. The work that she produced was hers to do with as she saw fit. She also had the right to divorce her husband by asking him to leave the home; a man traditionally went to live in his bride’s family home, rather than the other way around.
The Iroquois share the same spiritual beliefs as other Native Americans, but they also have something which is uniquely theirs: the False Face Society.
Essentially an ancient medicine practice, the False Face Society members carve elaborate (and usually grotesque) masks from living trees. Each of these masks represents a living entity or spirit, and whoever wears the mask takes on the personality and the healing skills attributed to that spirit. The members don the masks and move among their people, shaking rattles and accepting offerings of tobacco in exchange for curing ailments. The False Face Society is still very much alive, performing their ritual twice a year, in the spring and the fall.
The masks themselves have been much sought after by both museums and private collectors, but upholders of Iroquois traditions don’t like the masks to be sold or put to such use. The masks, they believe, are sacred beings imbued with a spirit, not mere artifacts for curious collectors. Indeed, policies are in place that not only prohibit their sale or exhibition, but even prevent images of the masks being shown in any way.
