Month: August 2010

How the Environment Influenced the Organization of Native American Societies

Posted by

0

The environment in which a child lives—her parents, friends, and neighborhood—greatly impacts who that child will become. In the same way, the environment in which a society is placed influences the development of that society. Native American societies varied according to the type of ecosystem, or environment, a tribe inhabited.

Native American economies were greatly affected by their ecosystems, and thus their ability to plant and grow food. The tribes migrated toward food and water during the different seasons. These changes in climate caused the people to find methods that helped them adjust to their environments.

Different ecosystems made different methods of survival necessary. In a fragile ecosystem like the one the Northern Algonquians inhabited, a hunter and gatherer technique was used. Societies would fish and gather food in the spring and summer while hunting during the winter. For these Native Americans, late winter and early spring became the time of hunger. This ecosystem was easy to alter due to the few animals and plants. As a result, the tribes needed to be small and very mobile. The Northern Algonquians’ small villages led to a less complex society compared to other tribes.

In contrast to the fragile ecosystem, sturdy ecosystems like the one in which the Iroquois lived had a greater variety of plants and animals. The Iroquois established an agricultural society. They planted in the spring, harvested in the fall, and hunted during winter. Their fertile ecosystem allowed them to grow a variety of foods and contributed to their ability to set up more permanent communities. 

The agricultural Iroquois were able to establish more complex social organizations than the hunter and gatherer societies. Within an Iroquois village were households which consisted of a number of families together in a long house. The Iroquois ecosystem provided more authority for women because women were responsible for the planting and harvest and most of the society’s nourishment came from the women’s work. In contrast, in the Northern Algonquian tribe the men were more valued because they hunted and hunting was their society’s main source of food. Within both of these ecosystems Native Americans shared land but individuals could own food they produced or gathered.

The political organization of the Iroquois also gave women power because of their harvesting skills. In the Iroquois League, women chose the male members of the councils which governed the tribes. The society remained in the control of men, however, so that no women became chiefs. Fragile ecosystems did not allow for as much female authority in their government. Each Native American society provided different methods of growing food, social and political organization depending on the environment in which the people lived.

 

How the French Colonists Treated the Native Americans

Posted by

0

Colonial France provides some contrast to the economic and religious practices of other nations toward the Native Americans. The economy in the French colonies was based almost entirely on trading animal furs. Samuel de Champlain established a trading post at Quebec in 1608 and entered into an alliance with the Algonquin, Montagnais, and Huron Indians. The coureurs de bois, or French traders, gave the Native Americans metal goods in exchange for beaver fur. This fur was in high demand in Europe. Trading posts were placed on vacant land and France’s economy was not dependant on cash crops like tobacco. In contrast to colonial England and Spain, the French colonists fully incorporated the natives into their economic system. The natives did not work for the French colonists or have their lands taken by whites.

The religious practices of colonial France were also unlike those of England and Spain. Champlain sent for missionaries to convert the natives. Catholic priests called Recollets and Jesuits who established Montreal came to the area. Since France’s economic system depended on the well-being of the natives, missionaries were more tolerant of the Native Americans than missionaries from other countries. Only colonial France was able to produce economic and religious practices that did not subject the natives to cruelty.

One reason for the tolerance of the French traders and missionaries of the natives may have been their small numbers. The population of New France never reached the level of New Spain or the English colonies. As a result, there was less pressure placed on the Indians and their lands. Luckily for the Native Americans in French colonies, the small white population may have stopped some of the forced labor requirements and land grabbing that went on in other colonies.

How the Spanish treated the Native Americans

Posted by

0

The economic system which was used by the Spanish colonists incorporated the Native American population but also repressed it. Native Americans worked a plot of land called a encomienda, which was granted to a colonist by the governor. Indian laborers worked without pay at tasks such as tanning hides and were required to provide the owner of the encomienda with an annual tribute of goods. The Spanish economic system created a society of extremes. Owners of land were profiting from the labor of native peoples. The tributes and labor were expected even in times of crisis such as drought, further oppressing the natives.

In colonial Spain's economic system, a person's race determined their place in society. Only peninsulares, who were Spaniards born in Spain, could hold the highest colonial government position of viceroy. Creoles, people of European descent but who were born in the colonies, had access to offices such as archbishop. Mestizos, or people of Spanish and Indian origin, could not hold any public offices and worked only in crafts. On the lowest rung were the Indians who worked on the encomiendas for the Spanish. By making race a factor in a person's economic status, colonial Spain succeeded in oppressing the natives.

Even colonial Spain's missionaries eventually became hostile to the Native Americans. When New Mexico was founded in 1598, the Spanish monarchy felt that it had a duty to convert the natives. In the beginning the number of religious conversions was more important to the Catholic friars than strict doctrine. Similarities between native and Catholic religions such as the belief in a higher power also aided the process of blending the cultures together. The tolerance of the friars for the natives ended after the drought of the 1670s. Since the English god was unable to provide the Native American tribe of the Pueblo with much needed rain, the Pueblo rejected Catholicism and went back to their old religion. In response, friars destroyed altars and forbade dances which the Pueblo used in their religious ceremonies. Also, 47 ceremonial leaders were arrested, three of whom were killed by the Spanish. Clearly both religion and economics were used to subjugate the Indians.