...ided into three main groups Dakota, Nakota and Lakota. They represent, probably more than any other tribe, hat e generally think of as typical Indians. The Sioux ere great buffalo hunters. hile most Sioux lived in tepees so that they could move about quickly, the southern Sioux lived in villages and did some farming. The famous calumet, or peace pipe, as introduced by the Sioux. It as used in prayers, solemn ceremonies, treaty-making, and on other occasions as a pledge of peace and friendship. The Sioux and other Plains Indians communicated eloquently in sign language signs made by the hand. They also communicated by means of smoke signals, fire signals, and signals made by aving blankets or moving in a circle or back and forth. Such signals could be seen many miles aay. In later ears, the Sioux orked out a system of signalling ith mirrors from one bluff or ridge to another. At night they used fire arros. The Sioux produced handsome beadork and excellent in making pictographs using pictures to tell a story.No the most Sioux Indians live in South Dakota.ChoctaPuebloPueblo peoples are among the most traditional groups. They live in the hot, dry desert region of the south-estern United States. Pueblos are villages hich have been home for more than a thousand years to a number of different tribes. The Pueblos are farmers, ho have developed ays of groing plants in the desert. They gre corn, squash and beans.ApacheThe Pueblos neighbours, the Apache, lived in small bands. They hunted ildlife and gathered plants, nuts and roots. After acquiring horses from the Spanish, they made their living by raiding food and goods from their more settled hite and Indian neighbours.IroquoisIn the eastern oods of the North American continent, the Iroquois hunted, fished and farmed. Like the Pueblo, they ere excellent farmers, and 12 varieties of corn gre in their communal fields. Their long houses, covered ith elm bark, held as many as 20 families. Each family had its on apartment, on either side of a central hall. The Iroquois ere fierce arriors. They surrounded their villages ith ooden stockades to protect them from attack by their neighbours. They fought for the glory of their tribe and for the glory of individual arriors.The Indians of the North Pacific coast harvested ocean fish and seafood. Tribes like the Haida lived in large plank houses ith elaborately carved doorposts. These ere called totem poles, and the figures on them ere a record of the history of the family hich lived in the house.sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssAfter the Europeans had arrived, millions of Native Americans died from European diseases mainly small pox, against they had no resistance and ere massacred or driven from their home.I. HISTORYThe Quest for LandThe Indians believed that the land as there to be shared by all. They orshipped the earth that provided them ith food, clothing and shelter. And they took from it only hat they needed. They didnt understand hen the settlers slaughtered animals to make the oods around their ton safer.To the Europeans, much of the Indians land appeared vacant. The Indians didnt improve the land ith fences, ells, buildings or permanent tons. Many settlers thought the Indians ere savages and that their ay of life had little value. They felt they had every right to farm the Indian lands.To the Europeans, game existed to be killed and land to be oned and farmed. Many did not bother to discuss ith the Indians hether or not they anted to give up their land. To make room for the ne settlers, hunting lands, fields, even Indian tons ere seized through ar, threats, treaties or some combination of the three.estern FrontierAt first, the ne United States government tried to keep the peace by discouraging settlement beyond the mountains.The United States tried different ays of dealing ith their Indian problem. Basically, they all boiled don to this The Indian had to be either assimilated or removed farther est to make room for the European civilisation the hite Americans felt as destined to rule the continent.In 1830, the United States passed the Indian Removal Act. All Indians in the East ould be removed to lands set aside for them est of the Mississippi River.One of the tribes slated for removal as the Cherokee. Ironically, the Cherokee had already adopted many of the hite mans ays. Many oned large farms and brick homed in the state of Georgia. Their tons had stores, samills, blacksmith shops, spinning heels and agons. They also had a ritten language and printed Bibles and a nespaper. They adopted a constitution modelled on that of the United States government.hen gold as discovered on Cherokee land, pressure for removal mounted. A fe Cherokee ere illing to move to the ne lands. Though they did not represent the Cherokee nation, they signed a treaty ith the American government agreeing to the removal of the Cherokees.The peaceful Cherokees ere removed by force from their homes and forced to march overland to Indian Territory, in hat is no the state of Oklahoma. Also four other tribes - the Choctas, Chickasas, Creeks, Seminoles - ere forced to removal. The 800-mile forced march as called the Trail of Tears because along the route, about 4000 Cherokees died of disease, starvation or ere killed. Today, Trail of Tears stands for the forced relocation of all American Indians.Broken TreatiesThe Sioux alloed the agon trains heading est to pass through their lands. But then hites began to settle the Plains. At first, the Sioux made treaties ith the government, giving up large pieces of their land. In return, the government promised them peace, food, schools, supplies and the fair arbitration of all conflicts. One such treaty as the Fort Laramie treaty of 1868. It solemnly declared the vast lands beteen the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains to be Sioux territory, on hich hites ere prohibited from passing or settling.Six years later, gold as discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota, a land the Sioux considered sacred. A gold rush as on, and the treaty of Fort Laramie as ignored. The United States tried to buy the Black Hills from the Sioux. But the Sioux refused.At the same time, the buffalo that the Sioux depended on had begun to disappear. The land they roamed as being fenced by farmers and ranchers. And hites began to hunt the buffalo for sport and for its hide.By 1871, the American government had determined that the treaty as no longer an appropriate means of regulating Indian-hite relations and that no Indian nation or tribe should be recognised as an independent nation or poer.The American government pressured the Indians to give up their traditional ay of life and to live only on reservations. Many resisted. One as Sitting Bull, a Sioux leader look at Sitting Bulls life-story!.In 1890, unrest developed, resulting from the rapid advance of settlers, the failure of the government to keep many of its treat agreements, the suffering and dependence of the Indians caused by the disappearance...
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