Indigenous cultures of North America

From Halal Explorer

Obregón Pulque banner.jpg The indigenous peoples of North America are the tribes and nations whose ancestors were already on the continent when European explorers and colonizers arrived.

The largest group are American Indians who arrived before 10,000 BC, inhabited most of the continent, and are closely related to the indigenous cultures of South America. In the U.S. they are now usually called Native Americans and in Canada First Nations. Groups that arrived later settled in less hospitable northern areas and the Eskimo or Inuit in Alaska, Northern Canada and Greenland and the Aleuts in the Aleutian Islands.

Halal== There have been hundreds of indigenous nations and tribes. Many exist today, though often greatly reduced in numbers and territory, while others were wiped out by Europeans (in particular the (Spanish), British and French), either from diseases brought from the Old World, by military conquest or for other reasons. Here are some main categories, based on geographic locations.

None of these areas were entirely independent, though the tribes were generally quite distinct. There was extensive trade; the high-grade flint from the Niagara region has been found at pre-Columbian Hopi and Navaho sites, and obsidian from Yellowstone was traded as far away as the U.S. Gulf Coast a thousand years before Columbus.

While especially the Mesoamericans and eastern cultures were farmers, most of the continent was populated by hunter-gatherers. They were dependent on the North American wildlife for survival.

There are a group of people in Cuba called the Taino people who are descendants of the indigenous Cubans. However, most Cubans are Hispanic.

Mesoamericans

The Mesoamerican civilizations (Mayans, Aztecs, Toltecs) were the main urban societies, and the only ones in the New World to have writing.

Destinations

Natives live all over North America and some native artefacts can be found in many museums all over the continent.

Prehistoric sites

Artifacts have been found at a number of archeological sites dating back many thousands of years. The sites themselves are closed to visitors when excavations are under way, and visiting them at other times is likely to be a bad idea — not much to see and digging on your own would be a crime. However, nearby museums are often worth a visit and there may be opportunities for Archaeological_sites#Work|volunteer work on some sites. - 40|-100|height=400|width=600

  • Clovis Culture 34.412500, -103.204722 near Clovis (New Mexico) - Clovis culture A site from around 11,000 BCE; many tools and one grave have been found at Blackwater Draw near Clovis. The people were stone age hunters and produced distinctive flint work called Clovis points. DNA tests show a close relation to modern Native Americans and some experts think the Clovis people were the ancestors of all the later groups, but this is disputed.

    Clovis is the "type site" for the culture, first excavated around 1920, but several other sites have since been found. This culture was quite widespread; Clovis artefacts have been found as far east as Ohio and as far south as Venezuela.

    Clovis serves as a sort of benchmark for archaeologists; everyone in the field accepts the notion that this culture was widespread well before 10,000 BCE. Several teams digging in locations from Alaska to Chile have found evidence of even earlier humans, but Clovis is the earliest culture for which there is solidly confirmed evidence at multiple sites.
  • Triquet Island 51.80332, -128.24643 off the BC coast - Triquet Island Site of a village that appears to have been a refuge from the last ice age, 12,000 BCE or earlier.
  • On Your Knees Cave 56.333333, -133.591667 Prince of Wales Island, Southern Alaska On Your Knees Cave Has artifacts from about 8,000 BCE.
  • Sunday River 65.15, -152.13 Tanana River Valley, Interior Alaska - Upward Sunday River site A This site is from about 9,500 BCE and has the oldest human remains yet found in the Arctic. Its people are thought to have been descended from Ancient Beringians and the first group to cross the Bering Strait land bridge several thousand years earlier; DNA evidence suggests the Beringians were not closely related to later groups.
  • Áísínai’pi National Historic Site of Canada - Writing-on-Stone, Glyphs | 49.081944, -111.616944 about 100 kilometers southeast of Lethbridge, Alberta ☎ +1 403-647-2364 Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park Home to Siksika (Blackfoot) glyphs that date back as much as 9,000 years.
  • Majorville Medicine Wheel - "Canada's Stonehenge" | 50.58509, -112.410576 - Majorville Cairn and Medicine Wheel site A sacred Blackfoot site dating back to about 3200 BCE.

Eastern US

  • Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, Illinois 38.656438, -90.058824 - Cahokia A UNESCO World Heritage Site with a fine museum. At its peak, around 1200 CE, a city of over 15,000.
  • Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa 43.0886, -91.1856 Effigy Mounds National Monument Effigy mounds shaped like bears and birds.
  • Lamoka Site, New York near Tyrone - Lamoka Site Dating to around 3500 BCE and the Lamoka Site provides the first clear evidence of a hunter-gatherer culture in the northeastern United States.
  • Moundsville, West Virginia 39.921389, -80.739444 Grave Creek Mound Burial mounds from about 200 BCE.

}} 

| type=listing
  • Pipestone National Monument 44.013333, -96.325 Pipestone, Minnesota - Pipestone National Monument 332397 Site of quarries for stone used in pipes and ornaments; these are still carved for the tourist trade.
  • Great Serpent Mound 39.025858, -83.430444 - Serpent Mound Serpent Mound (aerial view) The largest earthworks serpent in the world.

Northwestern US and Western Canada

  • Pine Ridge|Wounded Knee 43.14107, -102.36281 - Wounded Knee Massacre 8413 Site of a massacre of over 150 Indians, mainly Sioux, by US Cavalry in 1890. Also of an armed standoff between the American Indian Movement and various law enforcement agencies in 1973.
  • Little Bighorn Battlefield - Custer's last stand | 45.56, -107.43 near Crow Agency, Montana 865583 Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument Site of a major Indian victory over US cavalry in 1876.
  • Chief Crazy Horse Memorial 43.836789, -103.624386 - Under construction in South Dakota. Crazy Horse was one of the leaders at Little Bighorn.
  • Standing Rock - 45.75, -101.2 - Standing Rock Indian Reservation Center of controversy in 2016 as local Indians tried to block construction of a pipeline that threatened their water supply.
  • Whitman Mission 46.04, -118.461 near Walla Walla, Washington - Whitman Mission National Historic Site
  • Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump - Estipah-skikikini-kots | 49.749444, -113.625 near Fort Macleod, Alberta ☎ +1 403-553-2731 - Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump This buffalo jump is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Native hunters would drive a whole herd over a cliff.

Southwest (United States of America) | Southwest US and Northern Mexico

  • Anasazi Heritage Center | 37.4761, -108.546 near Cortez, Colorado - Anasazi Heritage Center
  • Aztec Ruins National Monument 36.835837, -107.998124 near Aztec (New Mexico) | Aztec, New Mexico - Aztec Ruins National Monument 86814
  • Bandelier National Monument | 35.7789, -106.321 near Los Alamos, New Mexico - Bandelier National Monument
  • Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Southwestern Colorado - 37.3706, -109 - Canyons of the Ancients National Monument - Canyons of the Ancients National Monument 83185 Contains more than 6,000 archaeological sites, representing Ancestral Puebloan and other Native American cultures.
  • Copper Canyon 27.516111, -107.765833 In the Mexico|Mexican state of Chihuahua - Copper Canyon
  • Hovenweep National Monument | 37.3839, -109.077 near Cortez, Colorado - Hovenweep National Monument
  • Mesa Verde National Park 37.183784, -108.488687 near Cortez, Colorado


}} 

| type=listing
  • Navajo Nation - 36.186944, -109.573611 northeastern Arizona and smaller portions of other nearby states - Navajo Nation
| type=listing
  • Canyon de Chelly National Monument - 36.1553, -109.509 - Canyon de Chelly National Monument 34039

}}

| type=listing
  • Chaco Culture National Historical Park - 36.06, -107.97 - Chaco Culture National Historical Park 32463

}}

| type=listing
  • Four Corners|Four Corners Monument and Tribal Park 36.998976, -109.045172 where Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona meet - Four Corners Monument

| Comment=These coordinates shouldn't be brought down to four numbers after the decimal, as usual, since the meeting of the four states is a very precise location.

}}

| type=listing
  • Monument Valley|Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park 36.983333, -110.1 - Monument Valley While there are the remnants of Native American dwellings in this Navajo Tribal Park, it is best-known for its rock formations and film-making history.
  • Yucca House National Monument | 37.2503, -108.686 near Cortez, Colorado - Yucca House National Monument - Yucca-House-NM
  • Pecos National Historical Park 35.55, -105.689444 near Pecos (New Mexico) | Pecos, New Mexico - Pecos National Historical Park

Greenland

  • Sermermiut 69.202, -51.126 near Ilulissat - Sermermiut 4,000-year-old settlement. Archeological excavations have shown the site being inhabited by the Saqqaq, Early Dorset and Thule cultures.

Muslim Friendly Shopping in Indigenous cultures of North America

Northwest Coast culture at the Canadian Museum of Civilization (8347702301) - Northwest Coast Art

See also: Art and antiques shopping

Various native handicrafts are often sold in tourist areas of some cities, for example:

  • Northwest coast Indian art in Vancouver or Seattle
  • Inuit art in Ottawa and Montreal (imported from Nunavut)
  • Southwestern Indian items including fine silver and turquoise work in Santa Fe (New Mexico) | Santa Fe.

Native handicrafts are also sold on or near reserves; for example and the Navajo Nation has fine weavings and pottery.

Itineraries

  • Lewis and Clark Trail, route of a US government expedition to what is now Oregon, 1804-1806
  • Trail of Tears, route of a forced migration of Cherokee and others in which several thousand died
  • The Mohawk Trail, a scenic route in Massachusetts
  • Oregon Trail, a route of widespread settler colonization westward which had a severe impact on native communities on the trail

See also

  • Early United States history
  • Old West
  • American Civil War
  • New Mexico Pueblos
  • Ohio prehistoric sites
  • Indigenous cultures of South America


Retrieved from "https://ehalal.io/wikis/index.php?title=Indigenous_cultures_of_North_America&oldid=9692916"