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GeoJournal 26.4 473-476 9 1992 (Apr) by Kluwer Academic Publishers
The Response and Fate of the First Nations (the Amerindians) to the Discovery of the Americas AIcoze, Thomas, Prof. Dr., Northern Arizona University, Center for Excellence in Education, POB 5774, Flagstaff AZ 86011-5774, USA ABSTRACT: The original nations of the Americas represent hundreds of cultures which successefully adapted to a wide variety of environments that extend from the Arctic to the tip of South America. The diversity of Native cultures and kinds of social organizations which developed through time represent a high degree of complexity and variation according to the demands and necessities of the environment. The primarily economic motivation for exploration and settlement in the Americas had a direct impact on the lifestyles of the original nations of the Americas. Much of the knowledge and traditional teachings of these original peoples have been retained and are once again becoming a part of the modern reality of Native people. Native teachings can help us to understand our relationship with life and creation and expand our awareness of nature and natural cycles. As a global society we must examine our relationship with the earth and realize that our future lies in our ability to control the development we choose to impose on the environment. Native traditions have incorporated many ways to sustain the harvest of resources that do not destroy their future availability. With the assistance of Native traditions and teachings we as a global society can begin to identify patterns of nature which present us with alternatives to ecological and global crisis.
The first thing we m u s t do to better u n d e r s t a n d the reaction and fate o f Native Nations in the A m e r i c a s with regard to E u r o p e a n contact, is a t t e m p t to u n d e r s t a n d the world from their perspective. The original Nations o f the A m e r i c a s represent hundreds o f cultures which successfully adapted to a wide variety o f e n v i r o n m e n t s that e x t e n d from the N o r t h e r n Arctic to the tip o f South America. All major ecological life zones are r e p r e s e n t e d on these continents, and all were occupied at the time o f the arrival o f C o l u m b u s . The history o f the original peoples, cultures and nations o f N o r t h A m e r i c a begins m a n y t h o u s a n d s o f years ago. Essentially, all historic descriptions o f the First Nations o f the A m e r i c a s c o m e from a E u r o p e a n perspective. Missionaries, soldiers, traders, and explorers arrived in the Americas, without knowing what to expect and with a view o f the world that could not easily incorporate the u n i q u e and alternative world views and b e l i e f systems that were thriving t h r o u g h o u t North, Central and South America. The first E u r o p e a n s to arrive in the A m e r i c a s were afraid o f d e m o n s and "dark forest" m y t h s or anticipated riches from gold and o t h e r precious materials. E u r o p e a n s tried to describe the actions and beliefs o f the First N a t i o n s ' peoples based on E u r o p e a n principles, attitudes and ways o f knowing, and for this reason, m o s t attempts to e x a m i n e
and u n d e r s t a n d the "Indians" are inaccurate. The original people o f the A m e r i c a s were i m m e d i a t e l y labelled as savages, wild people, Indians or o t h e r equally inappropriate names. This had an i m m e d i a t e effect by slanting the view o f the European world concerning the culture and history o f the Americas. To better u n d e r s t a n d and appreciate these ideas, it is necessary to begin at the beginning, as defined by the original people o f the Americas. The cultures o f native peoples represent a wide variety o f social organization strategies. The diversity o f Native cultures and kinds o f social organization which d e v e l o p e d through time represent a high degree o f complexity and variation according to the d e m a n d s and necessities o f the e n v i r o n m e n t . For example the band level o f social organization d e v e l o p e d to take advantage o f marginal habitats where resources were limited such as the Arctic and deserts o f the Americas. A Band can be characterized as a small n u m b e r o f p e o p l e living as a nuclear or e x t e n d e d family unit with vague territorial b o u n d a r i e s and legal, political and social systems appropriate for small groups. More favorable e n v i r o n m e n t s with regard to resouce a b u n d a n c e were the n o r m in the Americas, and were occupied by nations organized at the tribal level. These tribal nations occupied a wide variety o f habitats and r e p r e s e n t the most c o m m o n type o f Native A m e r i c a n
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social organization. These nations were very successful with relatively large numbers of people, clan systems, well defined boundaries and semi-permanent villages. Contrary to popular opinion there were no real "chiefs" among tribal nations. Authority was extended by consent and through the choice of the community. Another type of nation, organized as an archaic state or chieftain, was found in environments were resources were abundant and living conditions very favorable to the survival of human groups. The economics of these nations depended to a great extent on kinship relationships and the exchange and redistribution of surplus resources such as food and other commodities. All of the l~eoples of the Americas functioned as sovereign nations, and based their societies, cultures, economic and social systems on a principal of sharing resources. Primitive and simple are labels often used to describe the peoples of the Americas and their cultures. However, when we examine the cultures or societies of the Americas, we uncover high levels of sophistication and complexity that were integral to their success as nations. The assumption that the people of the Americas were primitive uncivilized savages is simply untrue. If we put aside our fascination with technology and material wealth, we find that for many people in todays modern society, life is primitive and stunted in terms of family values, spiritual life, commitment to the community and opportunities for rewarding work and creative self expression. These are the very areas most richly developed in traditional communities of the Americas. Nor can traditional native life be called "simple" or "primitive" in an intellectual sense. A typical elder of the Wauja people in the Amazon rain forest, for example, has memorized hundreds of sacred songs and stories, plays several musical instruments, and knows the habits and habitats of hundreds of forest animals, birds and insects, as well the medicinal uses of many plants. He can guide his sons in building a two-story house using only axes, machetes, and material from the forest. He is an expert agronomist. He speaks several languages fluently; knows precisely how he is related to several hundred of his closest kin; and has acquired sufficient wisdom to share his home peacefully with in-laws, cousins, children, and grandchildren. Female elders are comparably learned and accomplished. Once we begin to view the original peoples of the Americas as Nations, it is easier to examine the impact of European contact. The original, and primarily economic motivation for exploration and settlement had a direct impact on the lifestyles of the original nations. The focus on harvesting resources from the eastern shores of North America, fur trading, and other similar activities changed to a desire for the removal or in some cases extermination of the original inhabitants to promote European colonization. The colonization of native North America can be divided into four relatively distinct phases. These phases are not set in a particular chronology. Different areas and peoples were impacted at different times but the pattern remains the same.
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The first phase, sovereignty-initial contact resulted in an immediate increase in material prosperity of native people. Native nations were originally independent of European cultural, political, social and economic values. There was a voluntary acceptance of the material objects imported from Europe and to some extent non-material aspects of European cultures as well. Native nations accepted some European technology and made available native technologies to the European explorers and settlers. In fact the success of early European communities was directly related to their association with the original people in areas such as agriculture, medicine and survival strategies. The European was greeted with hospitality. Native teachings are consistent throughout most of the Americas in their placing important values on sharing and developing positive relationships with others, including outsiders. Native nations were not aware of the policies being implemented by European sovereigns to detach native peoples from their land because within the world view of native nations ownership of land, water, and air was not a reasonable consideration. This initial phase of contact was relatively short in terms of generation time and led into a second phase of longer duration. The second phase, transition, is characterized by shifts in values and beliefs for the native nations with regard to selfdetermination. Native people were quickly drawn into the economy of Europe. Trade goods such as steel, brass, axes, knives and other material objects represented significant advances in convenience and efficiency. Furs and the fur trade, were important agents in this transition. More time began to be expended to obtain furs and the trade value they represented at the expense of traditional subsistence activities. The Micmac of eastern Canada represents a nation which underwent a dramatic change in their traditional activities as a direct result of contact and the fur trade. Prior to the fur trade the Micmac people were oriented toward fishing, seal and sea mammal hunting. This changed to a dependence on the fur trade and harvesting fur bearing animals for barter. The subsequent reduction in traditional economic pursuits reduced the food supply of the people and placed them in a position where they were more susceptible to famine. Native people began to express a dependence on all types of fur trade goods. This began to weaken their political and military autonomy and resulted in a greater reliance on European aid and assistance with regard to interactions, with other Native nations. Competition, a non-traditional mode of thought, began to play an important role in these interactions and competition for furs and fur trapping areas often became intense. As the fur trade developed, European traders began to alter the nature and impact of the trade with native people. One of the first actions of this type was to change the fur trade items from durable goods to consumable commodities, such as alcohol. Less material goods were available for trade and great quantities of alcohol were substituted for these material items. This of course had a direct and detrimental impact on Native communities that had come to rely on the fur trade.
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Another important factor in this transition phase was disease. While native people throughout the Americas used a great variety of medicines for curing known illnesses, European diseases were essentially unknown in the Americas. Ailments such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, small pox, and others had a dramatic impact on the people and their populations. For example, in Europe during plague outbreaks, 15-25% of the population was affected. However, European diseases decimated native population in the Americas on the order of 50-75%. This of course had an immediate consequence on the social, political, economic and spiritual integrity of Native Nations. Religious conversion and pressure to become christianized was also intensified during this phase of contact. The missionaries exerted intense pressure on native people to establish permanent settlements and an agrarian lifestyle. Concerted efforts were also made to resettle agricultural peoples into only or mostly christianized communities. These were the forerunners of the first reservations in the Americas. This transition phase has been characterized as a time when their sovereignty as nations began to erode. The thirdphase of contact can be labelled as the colonial period or time when Native Nations became dependent. Reservations and progressive settlements characterized the dependence Native Nations began to have on the new governments and societies that colonized the Americas. This colonial period is also identified as a time when native people became "irrelevant". When the European became the native and "Indians" were transformed into an ethnic group within their own homeland. Native people became colonized and began to be treated as a minority. While native peoples as a minority viewed the Europeans as coercive and a superimposed majority they also held to the belief that the newcomers were not the inheritors of land but usurpers of Indian land. The associated destruction of Indian rights and heritage characterized the loss of control and sovereignty of Native Nations through political, economic, cultural and religious change. The lifestyles and customs were no longer expressions of native choice but examples of how native people had been coerced into social and ideological change. A common view of the newcomer was that since native people were clearly not as they once were at first contact, it could be assumed that Indians had been fully assimilated and changed. This opinion can be shown, in contemporary times, to be erroneous. The view that the original nations were assimilated is often based on an underlying idea that native culture is static and incapable of change. This also encouraged a tendency to interpret all change as evolution toward assimilation rather than a view that interprets such change as an adaptive strategy for synthesis which incorporates new ideas and technologies into an existing growing culture. While this third phase of contact represents a period of time when Native Nations were least sovereign and most dependent on the new governments and societies of the Americas, it was also a time when the
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people and their societies began to search for their own identity and heritage. As this search became more organized, it was apparent that all of the heritage and culture of the original nations had not disappeared. This fact, as experienced by native people led to an expression of their own belief that their survival as a people was connected to their traditional values, customs and beliefs. The fourth phase of contact can be labelled rebirth or decolonization because during this phase, native people began to express their historic understanding and identity of themselves as nations, cultures and societies with great value and sophistication. This may be the only phase which can be identified with a particular time period, the post Second World War era. During the decades since the Second World War there has been a sharp upturn in native population throughout the Americas. Greater organizational activities among native organizations, and new leaders that have begun to think not in terms of assimilation, but in terms of political, social economic and cultural self-determination. This new ideology may have actually began in the early twentieth century but native organizations and avenues for protest have only recently begun to be expressed as a reevaluation of native concerns in the areas of treaty and land rights, natural resources, issues and the revival of traditional native values, philosophies and beliefs. The preservation and practice of native customs, religion and other aspects of native culture is experiencing a very strong revival throughout the Americas. A view that is emerging is that if native people go into the "white man's world" we are expanding our identity to include aspects of this new life introduced by the "outsiders". With this view Indians once again become the norm and Europeans are, from a native perspective, the outsiders. As we begin to view our history and future as native people, we have begun to reinterpret the values and validity of our own traditions, teachings and culture within a contemporary context. With this in mind, there are many things that are possible to share with our global society. One of the most important of these from a native as well as human perspective, is the reestablishment of a land ethic that is based upon the sound experience of our heritage. Some of these values that may be transferable to the whole of society as we move into a new century. Native philosophies of the land demonstrate an ethic that presents the earth as vital because we are all born of the earth, and require the resources of the earth for our very survival. Native traditions express our relationship with the earth as being her children, because all of the "twoleggeds", as well as the rest of the creation, rely on the earth for all of our nourishment. In this way the earth, the land is our mother. In this way it is also possible to see how native people view all of creation as being related. We are one with the earth and the physical, spiritual and psychological relationships that we form are of essential importance within this context. This is one of the elemental teachings which originate from within native culture that express our relatedness to nature, creation and each other. It is
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important to understand that we must begin, as a global society, to realize this wholeness, or relatedness. We are a part of nature and must begin to express an idea of community, rather than conquest. Native teachings can help us to understand our relationship with life and creation and expand to a greater awareness of nature and natural cycles. We can begin to see that the earth is a source of all of our needs, in fact our only source. As human beings it becomes of increasing value for us to recognize this relationship and to benefit by using the gifts of creation effectively and efficiently. By taking only what we need and eliminating waste in appropriate ways we begin to establish a way of seeing the future from the perspective of the generation to come. Not only with respect to oil and luxury items but by placing value on clean air, water and soil in ways that will sustain us and our societies into the future. Such an awareness of life can begin to have a profound effect on our whole global society. As a community sharing life with the earth we can see our dependence not independence with nature. The teachings that native peoples of the Americas present to our gobal society can be utilized in many ways. As a global society it is possible to examine our relationship with the earth and realize that our future lies in our ability to sustain ourselves and the development we choose to impose on the environment. Native traditions have incorporated many ways to sustain the harvest of resources that will not destroy their future availablility. We
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cannot return to a pristine existence but we can make better or best use of what we now have. We have an opportunity as a society to integrate our ways of"doing" to match the patterns and requirements of nature, and the natural environment. Cooperation with the environment is one way to integrate native traditional values and mainstream concepts of development and future survival. With the assistance of native traditions and teachings we as a society can begin to indentify patterns of nature which do work and present us with alternatives to ecological and global crises. Native Nations in the Americas achieved an ecological balance with their environment. The great success that native people experienced using natural patterns and strategies for survival is available to us now. It may be time for us to begin to examine other cultures and other peoples throughout the world to examine the alternatives they have used throughout history to achieve the survival of their societies. Together as a whole society, cooperation, not competition can become a driving force. It may be possible to see our relationship with nature and the earth as a community of people living in interdependent interaction with the communities of the earth. We can begin to become beings, persons, and societies that are a part of nature once again. In this way, the response of Amerindian Nations to Columbus becomes a positive experience for our whole society.
