History of Native Americans

 Who lived in America before Columbus?

It is said the Human race was born in Africa and had moved all over the world, and some of them reached to the continent of North America about 16,000 years ago.

Many stone tools for hunting in this period were found throughout America.

After the end of the Ice Age, they settled there, and began to cultivate corn, beans, pumpkins, and so on.

Their unique culture had been growing from 1,000 B.C.

They gathered into small communities of tribes and made villages, and they had chiefs as leaders.

Villages traded with each other, and their networks were getting larger.

Mississippian cultures

The biggest cultures grew in the basin of the Mississippi river.

They are called Mississippian cultures, and their center was Cahokia.

The ruins of Cahokia in Illinois are registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

This is Monks Mound in Cahokia, it looks like Kofun, the tomb of the king in ancient Japan.

The area of Mississippian cultures was between the Atlantic bay to the Rocky Mountains, the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.

Red Power Movement

However these cultures were destroyed awfully after Columbus had found the continent of America in 1492.

Many conquerors came to Northern and Southern America from Europe.

Almost all the native residents were killed by them, or died from the disease of infection like smallpox, Typhus or flu.

There are over 500 tribes, and about 3.1million Native American people of in the US now.

They have been struggling to live and are protesting against the government and society.

Concurrently with African Americans managing to acquire their rights by Black Power movement, Native Americans have formed the Red Power Movement to get their rights.

Iroquois Confederacy

The government of the US allowed Native Americans to have the autonomy in their region. 

One of the autonomous regions of Native Americans is the Iroquois Confederacy which consists of six tribes. 

It is said they began to unite from the middle of the 14th Century.

They govern their communities independently and democratically, and some researchers say they influenced the United States Constitution.

That’s because Franklin and Jefferson, who were members of the Federal Convention had met the chief of the Iroquois, and were interested in their rules and systems.

The Influence of Native American culture

Over 25 names in 50 states are from the language of Native Americans.

For example, Kansas means South in Kansa tribe, Kentucky means a prairie in Iroquois languages. 

Kayak and Canoe were used by Native Americans while they were hunting or traveling.

The origin of Lacrosse is the ritual dance of their religion.

Some Hollywood stars, like Kevin Costner, Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp have recent ancestors of Native Americans.