Wells !

Abby Wells

Mrs. Norton

AP Language

August 20, 2016

Pre-colonial Native American Culture

It is a common misconception in todays society that, before Europeans explored and

colonized the New World, the Americas were vastly barren, sparsely populated, historically

unimportant lands. The unfortunate general consensus of the New World before Columbus and

other explorers sailed to its shores is that these lands were occupied exclusively by savage Native

Americans who lacked much sense of culture or society. This false notion has been spread

through the minds of American children by their biased history textbooks and social studies

curriculums. These American history classes, the source of nearly all the knowledge their

students gain about pre-colonial America, are biased both through the information they choose

not to teach and in the presentation of the information they do choose to cover. For years,

American children have been taught by their social studies classes only a slice of the true pre-

colonial American culture, while being blinded of the rich history and advanced civilization of

Native Americans in the days before European colonization.

A major reason Native American culture in the years before European contact is so easily

overlooked is the fate of large numbers of Natives at the cause of this contact. At the hands of

both aggressive Europeans and deadly diseases that spread from these Europeans, millions of

Native Americans perished after the arrival of these Eastern explorers. Captain John Salter, who

landed near the Nootka tribe on Vancouver Island in the year 1803, shares his conviction that,
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upon arrival of European explorers to the New World, many disasters have happened mainly

because of the imprudent conduct of some of the captains and crews of the trading ships, who

insult, plunder, and even kill the Indians on slight grounds (Drimmer 236). The European

cultures, which generally emphasized strong nationalism, power, and dominance, often mixed

with Native American standards of reciprocity and peace to produce battles in which Europeans

conquered Indians, therefore silencing their culture.

Furthermore, a great aid to Europeans in these battles for supremacy was the widespread

epidemic of Old World diseases throughout Native American societies. For instance, in the

infamous battle of the early 1500s between Spanish conquistadors and the Aztec nation, an

outbreak of the European disease of smallpox wiped out over half of the Aztec citizens, insuring

their downfall to the Spanish. (Boyer 40). Had it not been for the spread of smallpox, which the

immune systems of New World people had never been introduced to, through the Aztec

civilization during this time of conflict, the Aztec, due to their knowledge of the land and

outnumbering of the Spanish, would have stood a fair chance of defeating their truculent

European foes.

If the Aztecs, and other groups of Native American cultures, had possessed the skill and

immune strength to successfully drive out most power-thirsty European explorers, their intricate

cultures and civilizations would be more widely recognized in todays history classes. For

example, if Native American cultures had not been so vastly conquered by European colonists,

the full depth and diversity of the New Worlds languages may have been allowed to live on to

the present day. Instead, however, of each Native language being recognized as a separate

complex of communication, and each Native culture being understood as a unique community,
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European colonists choose to blend all New World conversations, civilizations, and customs

together, squeezing them all under the broad title of Indian. This term persists still today,

reinforcing the generalization of over two hundred pre-colonial Native tribes communicating in

over two hundred different languages into one vague category (Native American Society). This

generalization makes it easy for modern American culture to ignore the fact that languages of

different Native American tribes were as varied as languages of different countries, or, in other

words, that It would be as difficult for the Mohawk Indians of the East to converse with Zuni

Indians of the West as it would be for Germans to converse with Turks (Native American

Society). Unfortunately though, due to widespread attacks on Native Americans from both

European colonists and the diseases these colonists carried with them, Native culture was

muffled and the full extent of pre-colonial Americas variety of languages was lost.

Another aspect of Native American culture that clearly demonstrates the complexity and

advancement of their people is the architecture and material inventions that these societies left

behind. Native Americans are generally not known for their wide array of artifacts and vast

engineering knowledge; they are more commonly dismissed as ignorant heathens who had no

help in the architectural field until Europeans came along to enlighten them. On the contrary,

however, pre-colonial Natives were well-versed artisans and builders, and civilizations such as

Mesoamerica produced hundreds of thousands of sculptures often showing human types quite

vividly (Gordon 21). This disproves common misconceptions of the present that ancient Native

Americans were completely unfamiliar with any art except abstract, caveman-like scribbles.

Further, Native Americans incorporated their artistic ideas and technological innovations into

their trade routes, ensuring that the bow and arrow, ceramic pottery, and certain religious values
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and practices characterized Indians everywhere (Boyer 17). In this way, advanced Native

American architecture played a huge role in connecting and characterizing otherwise entirely

distinct tribes.

It is the religious traditions and elaborate festivals of faith ancient Native Americans

typically held that arguably gained them the most negative stereotypes and ignorant judgements

from European colonists. Unfortunately many of these stereotypes are still subconsciously held

about Native Americans by people of todays culture. Since Native religious festivals were

commonly seen as savage witchcraft by European observers, labels such as heathen and

foolish began to surround Native Americans, and their intellectual civilization was

disregarded. While truly Native American rituals portray idealized stories of collective struggle,

coherent sociology, partisan politics, unified geography, shared symbols, and common

destiny (Nabokov 173), onlookers from the Old World saw nothing but mindless chanting and

childish flailing in these symbolic religious events.

Had vicious attacks from power seeking European colonists and widespread epidemics of

lethal Old World diseases not wiped out millions of Native Americans in the first centuries of

American colonization, the wide array of Native languages, advanced architectural technology,

and ordinate religious festivals might live today in American history classes as predominately as

post-colonial America does. Furthermore, had more Native Americans lived to preserve their

unique and diverse cultures, perhaps today stigmas equating these Natives to little more than

wild beasts would not by engrained so deeply in American minds. Finally, if Native Americans

survived European contact in larger numbers, maybe American social studies curriculums would

give these two groups equal recognition for their great contributions to present-day America.
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Annotated Bibliography on the History of Native American Culture

Boyer, Paul S. The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People. Lexington, MA: D.C.

Heath, 1990. Print. The authors of this textbook all combined their knowledge and

research on the history of North American people before contact with Europeans to

formulate a multidimensional analysis of their cultures. The first chapter alone covers

tribal wars, religious ceremonies, government foundations, and much more. A sample of

this is found in Boyers quote, Indian peoples north of the Mesoamerican states were

bound together primarily by kinship (Boyer 17). This book can be read and studied for a

broad, in-depth knowledge on the dynamics of American Indian history.

Drimmer, Frederick. Captured By The Indians: 15 Firsthand Accounts, 1750-1870. New York:

Dover Publications, 1961. Print. Drimmer, both the author and editor of this of this grisly,

yet informative, novel, unearths fifteen tales of people captured by historic Native

Americans. Drimmer speaks of these captures from the beginning of his novel: Often the

white prisoner lived with the Indians for the rest of his life (Drimmer 9). Through the

details of these prisoners experiences, readers get a glimpse of the cultural practices and

lifestyles of a variety of Indian tribes. This novel offers its readers riveting true stories of

native life in the Americas.

Gordon, Cyrus H. Before Columbus: Links Between The Old World And Ancient America. New

York: Crown Publishers, 1971. Print. The author of this novel utilizes uncommon sources

and uncovers the clues hidden in ancient artifacts to formulate his theory on the

connections between the historic eastern and western hemispheres. Gordon, detailing the

use of a seal cylinder artifact, explains, No two seals are the same any more than the
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fingerprints of any two people (Gordon 131). The culture of the historic people of

Mesopotamia, including how it relates to life in Europe, Asia, and Africa, is detailed

throughout the text. Readers can obtain a look at Native American history from a fresh

point of view, a view that cannot be found from a traditional text or history book.

Nabokov, Peter. A Forest of Time: American Indian Ways of History. New York, New York:

Cambridge University Press, 2002. Print. Through both his own history, and previously

published research, Nabokov describes how American Indians kept their history alive

through generational tales and artifacts that tell stories of their own. A closer and more

personal look at the everyday life of an ancient Native American is presented through

Nabokovs work. For example, speaking of the farming tools of Native American women,

Nabokov describes a blade that is formed from a thin, flat, triangular buffalo scapula or

shoulder blade bone (Nabokov 36). Readers take away from this novel the details of

American Indians land, lives, and legends, along with how their culture is still applicable

in todays American culture.

"Native American Society on the Eve of British Colonization." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall

Association, n.d. Web. 12 Aug. 2016. The authors of this site give an informative,

comprehensive overview of nearly every aspect of Native American culture in the years

before European colonization. From the diets of the tribes, to the art of their storytelling,

to the culture surrounding the role of families, this article covers all bases of American

Indian life. For instance the site covers agricultural history, stating, More than half of

modern American farm products were grown by Native Americans (Native American
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Society). Through this source, readers can gather information about historical Native

American culture from a variety of groups and time periods.