History

• 1492: Columbus enters San Salvador

• 1607: The „roundheads“ found the first English colony near Jamestown in what is Virginia today

• 1615: Iroquian villages are being attacked by the English

• 1620: The pilgrims land on the rock of Plymouth, New England

• 1754: The Ottawa ( a tribe from the north ) fight on the side of the French in the British-French war

• 1776: Declaration of Independence of the USA

• 1790: Declaration of George Washington concerning protecting rights for Native Americans

• 1791-1795: Militaristic actions against the six Iroquian Nations who are repeatedly forced to give up land

• 1824: Bureau for Indian Affairs is founded as a department of the ministry of war

• 1830: Removal Act: 97,000 Native Americans are being resettled from the eastern-Mississippi areas to the so-called Indian Territory in Oklahoma

• 1838/39: „Trail of Tears“: deportation of the Cherokee from North Carolina to Oklahoma

• 1876: The battle at Little Bighorn River takes place

• 1877: The Native American population decreases to 44,000

Some weapons

the Indians

used

• 1887: The Dawes- or Allotment-Act is being adopted, leading to a reduction of Native American land from 140 to 50 million acres within few decades

• 1924: All Native Americans obtain Civil Rights• 1934: Wheeler -Howard-Act: partial self-government

for the reservations• 1949: The Hoover-Commission recommends certain

tribes to be released from state guardianship• 1968: Foundation of the American Indian Movement • Nov. 1972: The Bureau of Indian Affairs in

Washington is occupied by participants of the „Trail of Broken Treaties“

• Feb. 1973: Members of the AIM occupy the historical place „Wounded Knee“ in South Dakota, the armed conflict lasts until April

Locations of tribes in the USA

Culture

• The Cherokee lived in about 200 villages • A town consisted of 30 to 60 houses and a council house

used for general meetings and religious ceremonies• „Three sisters“: corn, beans and squash• Villages were largely independent• Cherokee men enjoyed ball games, hunting and

warfare• Cherokee women made baskets• Cherokee Tear Dress: traditional fashion for women• Stomp Dance: traditional dance

The Sequoya alphabet

Repelling of the Indians

• Beginning of the Indians‘ fall was in 1492 when Columbus discovered America

• First settlers arrived at America‘s eastern coast in the 17th century and tried to convince the Indians of Christianity

• The Cherokee are one of the most famous tribes of the Indians

• They fought on the English side during the War of Independence (1776-1783).

• The civilised tribes (Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Seminole, Chickasaw)

• Discovery of gold in Georgia

• Law of Resettlement: from the south east to Oklahoma

• Soldiers forced the Cherokee into camps

• In summer 1838 the first trek started to Oklahoma

• In autumn 1838 the second trip started

• During this time more than 4,000 Cherokee died, nearly one quarter of the whole tribe

• During the civil war the Cherokee fought on the side of the southern states

• 300,000 settlers were sent to Oklahoma

• In 1907 Oklahoma became the 46th state

The Native Americans todayOr: What happened to them after taking away their land

and freedom ?!

• In the 1960s the government started their Termination- and Relocating policy

• Today 2% of the American population is Indian• Only 3% of the original Indian land is today still

owned by the Indians, distributed in 267 reservations• Most reservations are in the North- and Southwest

The biggest and best-known is the „Navajo reservation“

• 310 state-recognised tribes and 197 Alaska-groups• 600.000 Indians are living in the reservations and about

1 Mill. outside or in towns

Reservations across the USA

Reservations across Oklahoma

The living conditions in the USA

• Although the USA are one of the richest countries in the world, the residential areas of the Indians are ranking under the third-world-countries

• The Termination policy led to the ruin of many tribes• They had to look for work in the towns, but then they

stopped existing to the BIA• Still today they belong to the disadvantaged people in the

towns• Problems like racism, alcohol, poverty, unemployment and

isolation in social and cultural regards

• The situation in the reservation is not better, it is a proof for the Indian hostile policy in the USA

• An unemployment rate of 80% in some reservations

• The income lies in some parts 20% under the subsistence level

• High infant mortality, illiteracy, alcohol problems and lawlessness

• Bad health-care system

• Hardly get fresh fruits or vegetables or they can‘t pay it

• On the other hand you can find self-employed Indians

• Mohawks are specialists in high-construction-buildings

• Some tribes had the luck to be the owner of rich land where uranium or oil was found

• Today the Indians are still fighting for their territories and their land

• In case you visit a reservation think of this:

the Native Americans expect politeness, respect and reserve

We know that the earth is not owned by men,men are owned by the earth

but the white man does not understand this,for him one part of the land is like the other.

He treats his mother, the earth

and his father, the sky

like something he can buy and sell cheaply like a sheap

A aphorism or wisesaying by an Indian: