BUT FIRST…
Celebrating the Rich Cultural Heritage of
Native Americans: A Tribute to Indigenous Peoples
When we think of American culture, many of us think of the land and sea that served as the backdrop for early European settlements and the development of modern society. However, what is often overlooked is the stunning diversity of Native American cultures and heritage that dates back thousands of years.
Introduction:
The history of Native Americans is one that spans thousands of years, encompassing a diverse tapestry of cultures and traditions. From the Arctic to the tip of South America, countless indigenous communities have flourished, each with its own unique languages, social practices, arts, music, ceremonies, and customs. Special tribute is due to the rich heritage of Native Americans, recognizing their invaluable contributions to the history of America while acknowledging the challenges they have faced throughout history and continue to face today.
The Diversity of Native American Cultures:
Native American cultures are incredibly diverse, with over 500 distinct tribal nations recognized in the United States alone. Each tribe has its own language, distinct social structures, and artistic traditions. From the intricate beadwork of the Iroquois to the storytelling traditions of the Navajo, the rich cultural tapestry of Native Americans is a testament to the ingenuity and creativity of these communities.
European Contact and its Impact:
The arrival of European settlers had a profound impact on Native American cultures. European contact brought about significant disruptions, including the introduction of new diseases, forced relocations, land seizures, and attempts to assimilate indigenous peoples into Western ways of life. Despite these challenges, Native Americans played a vital role in shaping the history of America. Their contributions in agriculture, medicine, and environmental stewardship significantly influenced the development of the early colonies and the United States as a whole.
Indigenous Governmental Systems:
Before European contact, Native American tribes had well-established governmental systems. These systems were often based on principles of sovereignty, diplomacy, and strategic alliances. Tribes developed complex political structures that allowed them to govern their territories effectively and maintain peaceful relations with neighboring tribes. The Iroquois Confederacy, for example, created a framework of governance that served as an inspiration for the founding fathers of the United States.
Economic Enterprises and Trade:
Native Americans were adept at developing trade networks and engaging in economic enterprises long before European contact. Through extensive trade routes, tribes exchanged goods, ideas, and cultural practices over vast distances. They developed sophisticated agricultural techniques, such as the Three Sisters planting method, which combined corn, beans, and squash, providing a sustainable and nutritious food source. Native Americans also contributed to the discovery and utilization of various natural resources, including medicinal plants, minerals, and techniques for extracting and refining materials.
Sustainable Relationship with the Land:
Indigenous people of North America developed a profound connection with the land, fostering a deep respect for nature and the environment. Their knowledge of the land was acquired through long-term observation, experimentation, and a holistic understanding of the interconnectedness of all living beings. Native Americans practiced sustainable land management, using controlled burns to promote ecological diversity, and ensuring the health and longevity of their surroundings.
Preserving Native American Culture and History:
The preservation, celebration, and remembrance of Native American culture and history are of utmost importance. Recognizing the unique challenges that Native Americans have faced historically and continue to face today is crucial in promoting understanding and fostering positive change. By acknowledging their contributions, advocating for their rights, and actively engaging in cultural exchange, we can honor their heritage and contribute to a more inclusive and equitable society. It also helps to ensure that the unique heritage of Native Americans is not lost and empowers Native Americans to continue to thrive in the 21st century.
How You Can Help:
There are many ways that you can help to preserve Native American culture. You can learn more about Native American cultures by reading books, watching documentaries, and visiting Native American museums and cultural centers. You can also support Native American artists and businesses. And you can advocate for policies that protect Native American rights and interests.
By taking these steps, you can help to ensure that the diverse cultures and heritage of Native Americans are preserved for future generations.
The diverse cultures and rich heritage of Native Americans have shaped the history of America in profound ways. By understanding, appreciating, and celebrating their traditions, languages, and customs, we can embrace a more comprehensive narrative of our shared history. Let us continue to preserve and uplift the voices, achievements, and ongoing struggles of Native Americans, ensuring their rightful place in the tapestry of our collective identity.
“Stolen Land” … myth or reality?
Presentism is an attitude toward the past that is dominated by present-day experiences. Supporters of the statement “This land is stolen land,” are clearly seeing the situation from the present-day perspective—one of historical oppression and injustice.
The complexity of how far back in North American history one must go to establish claims of ownership is immense due to a long history of conquest among the many different Native American tribes. This has resulted in the transformation of tribe boundaries, ownership, and culture over generations. With this presentism viewpoint, it is impossible to definitively determine who had rights to this land, as history is complex and ever-evolving.
The Historical Collision of Opinions:
Most Native Americans did not have the same concept of land ownership as Europeans did. They did not believe that land could be bought or sold, and they did not believe that one person could own land outright. Instead, they believed that land was held in common by the tribe or community and that individuals had the right to use the land as long as they needed it.
Native American Netroots: Who Owns the Land?
One of the common misconceptions is that Indian nations had no concept of land ownership at this time. Law professor Rebecca Tsosie, in her chapter in American Indian Nations: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, writes:
“While it is true that no Native people employed the concept of ‘fee simple’ or maintained written land titles prior to the arrival of the Europeans, there is a rich tradition of ‘rights’ and ‘responsibilities’ that accompanies Native narratives about the land. In the broader sense of ‘ownership,’ Native peoples most definitely maintained political and cultural claims to their ancestral lands.”
When Europeans arrived in North America, they brought their own concept of land ownership with them. They believed that land could be owned by individuals or groups and that it could be bought, sold, and traded. This led to conflict with Native Americans, who did not understand why Europeans were claiming ownership of land that they had always considered to be common property.
Land Claims, Title, and Ownership – Our Stories
For Indigenous Peoples, land is central to every aspect of life. Indigenous Peoples’ lives and cultures are derived from the land they live on – this influences their diet, cultural practices, ceremonies, spiritual beliefs, housing structures, patterns of land usage, and relationships with the animals and plants sharing that land. While Indigenous Peoples have diverse cultures, they all share a foundational connection to the land. The private ownership of land (as part of a larger system of wealth accumulation) is not an Indigenous concept; in other words, the idea that land can be owned, monetized, bought, and sold is an idea that arrived with the settlers.
The conflict over land ownership between Native Americans and Europeans was often violent. In many cases, Europeans conquered Native peoples and forced them to give up their land. This process of conquest continued for centuries, and it resulted in the loss of millions of acres of Native land.
Today, there are still many Native American land claims outstanding. These claims are based on the principle that Native peoples have never given up their right to the land that they have traditionally occupied. The process of resolving these claims is complex and often lengthy, but it is important to recognize that Native peoples have a legitimate right to the land that they have called home for centuries.
The Complex Nature of Land Ownership Among Native American Cultures
The concept of exclusive, individual land ownership was not universally practiced or recognized among many Native American cultures. The idea of “stolen land” oversimplifies the historical dynamics of land use and ownership. Native American tribes had diverse relationships with the land, often based on communal or collective ownership. The notion that all land was “stolen” from Native Americans fails to acknowledge the complexity and diversity of their cultural practices.
Many Native American tribes had longstanding connections to specific lands, passed down through generations, and maintained through cultural and spiritual ties. These connections were often tied to their histories, ancestral connections, and traditional practices. However, it is important to note that the concept of exclusive, individual land ownership, as understood in European contexts, was not universally practiced or recognized among Native American cultures. It is important to note that the concept of “Private Ownership” was well understood among tribes.
Did the Indians Understand the Concept of Private Property?
One of Ayn Rand’s most notorious claims is that Europeans and their descendants were justified in driving Indian tribes off their lands because aboriginal Americans “did not have the concept of property or property rights,” and because they “wish[ed] to continue a primitive existence.” Rand also claims the Indian tribes had no right to the land they lived on because “they didn’t have a settled society,” and “had predominantly nomadic tribal ‘cultures.'” Rand even uses scare quotes around “cultures” to perhaps imply that Indian culture was not any type of culture at all.
Today, many critics of laissez-faire liberalism (i.e., libertarianism) continue to quote these lines in order to indict all defenders of private property, whom critics like to associate with Rand’s peculiar ideology.
Regardless of how one views European and American policy toward the tribes, however, the argument that the tribes and individual Indians had no concept of property — and thus whites were justified in seizing tribal lands — is a terrible argument for a variety of reasons.
One of the main reasons that even educated people like Rand believe that North American Indians were virtually all “nomadic” and did not understand the concept of property, is the influence of Hollywood. In Rand’s day especially, popular culture virtually always focused primarily on Plains Indians — frequently the Lakota and Cheyenne tribes — and rarely portrayed Indian tribes with very different social structures.
In real life, Indian tribes across North America — prior to the 20th century — varied considerably in social structure, the usage of technology, and lifestyle. Indeed, whenever one encounters commentary that refers to “the Indians” as a uniform group, this should be a red flag to the reader that the argument is being made by someone who knows next to nothing about the tribes.
To take this reality and thus conclude that Indians — or the tribes — had no concept of private property — is to define down property to the point of being useless.
As I’ve noted in the past, communal property is private property, since ownership is restricted to specific groups of people, to the exclusion of others. Communal property is not “shared” among just anyone who wants to use it. Communal property is not unowned.
Within the same tribes, different methods of ownership existed. For example, the Iroquois Confederacy maintained a communal system of ownership, while the Choctaw Nation relied on individuals owning their own land outright. This is further complicated by the introduction of European settlers and the role that played in shaping the original inhabitants’ lands and lives.
Conquest and conflicts over territory were not uncommon among Native American tribes, even among the earliest inhabitants of North America. Throughout history, tribes engaged in warfare, territorial disputes, alliances, and migrations. The expansion or contraction of tribal territories was often influenced by a variety of factors, including population pressures, resource availability, and competition for hunting grounds or strategic locations.
It is crucial to avoid oversimplifying the historical dynamics by framing conquest solely as a European phenomenon. Indigenous tribes themselves participated in acts of conquest and expansion. Various tribes waged wars, conquered neighboring territories, and sought to assert their dominance over specific regions.
Indigenous Peoples Were ‘Settlers’ Too
[I]t would be difficult to find examples of any people group on the face of the Earth who have not been responsible for fighting, defeating, and colonizing others. Perhaps some Pacific Islanders who sailed to and settled on uninhabited islands are innocent, although even they often diverged into opposing, warring tribes. The history of humanity has been defined by the movements and wars of various peoples, sometimes light-skinned playing the role of aggressors against dark-skinned, sometimes the reverse, and sometimes dark against dark and light against light.
This observation is not intended to downplay or excuse European aggression against indigenous peoples. Rather, we should acknowledge that history has always been defined by people groups moving to escape drought, starvation, poverty, or persecution, and people groups opportunistically taking others’ land or possessions. This is a sad human reality, and one we should seek to mitigate. But acting as if one demographic — namely white, European-descended people — are uniquely guilty of this, while non-white people are not, is both ignorant and prejudicial.
But the facts persist: The arrival of Europeans and subsequent colonization had significant impacts on indigenous peoples, including land seizures, forced displacements, and broken treaties, which further complicated the issue of land ownership.
Understanding the Multifaceted Nature of Historical Events
To understand the complexities of land ownership and the historical dynamics among Native American cultures, it is essential to consider factors such as migration and alliances. Many Native American tribes were not static entities; they migrated, formed alliances, and adapted to changing circumstances. Because of this fluidity in territorial boundaries, the notion of a fixed, stolen land narrative can be challenged.
When discussing the issue of stolen land, it is essential to recognize the fact that the arrival of Europeans and subsequent colonization had a profound impact on the indigenous peoples of North America. European colonization involved significant land seizures, forced displacements, broken treaties, and other injustices against Native American tribes. These actions undoubtedly resulted in the loss of ancestral lands for many indigenous communities.
General Allotment Act of 1887 (The Dawes Act)
To understand current ownership of Native American lands, one must begin with the history of allotment on reservations. During the Allotment Era of the late 1800s and early 1900s, the federal government parceled out millions of acres of Native American lands to individual Native Americans in an effort to break up reservations.
While the practice of allotting Native American land to individual Native Americans began in the 18th century, it was not in widespread use until the late 19th century. The passage of the General Allotment Act of 1887, also known as the Dawes Act, greatly expanded the practice. This expansion had devastating consequences for Native Americans.
CONFLICT: If nobody owns it, who gets to sell it?
Colonists wanting to buy land from Indians first had to figure out who owned it. That, as we’ve seen, was a tricky question to answer — if not an impossible one. Europeans used to monarchy often assumed wrongly that the chief of a village could sell land on behalf of his people, when in fact his powers were far more limited. Europeans also assumed that every piece of land must either have a single owner or ruler or else be unowned, when in fact most land in America was shared in various ways.
As a result, colonists often paid for land only to find that other Indians did not recognize the sale. The colonists, though, maintained their claims, and colonials courts — being established and run by the colonists themselves — nearly always supported colonial interests in land disputes.
However, applying present-day perspectives and judgments to the actions of the past can oversimplify historical realities. While acknowledging the injustices committed against Native American tribes, it is important to consider the historical context, the complexities of indigenous land tenure systems, and the intricate intertribal dynamics that existed prior to European contact.
America Was First To The Moon: Does That Mean We Own The Moon?
Ancient DNA Reveals Complex Story of Human Migration Between Siberia and North America
There is plenty of evidence to suggest that humans migrated to the North American continent via Beringia, a land mass that once bridged the sea between what is now Siberia and Alaska. But exactly who crossed, or recrossed, and who survived as ancestors of today’s Native Americans has been a matter of long debate.
Two new DNA studies sourced from rare fossils on both sides of the Bering Strait help write new chapters in the stories of these prehistoric peoples.
Once in the New World, the first Americans, probably numbering in the hundreds or low thousands, traveled south of the ice sheets and split into two groups—a northern and southern branch. The northern branch populated what are now Alaska and Canada, while members of the southern branch “exploded,” in Willerslev’s words, down through North America, Central America and South America with remarkable speed. Such a movement could account for the growing number of archaeological sites dating from 14,000 to 15,000 years ago in Oregon, Wisconsin, Texas and Florida. Far to the south, at Monte Verde in southern Chile, conclusive evidence of human settlement dates back at least 14,500 years.
Private Property’s Philosopher
Mises Review 5, No. 1 (Spring 1999)
THE ETHICS OF LIBERTY, by Murray N. Rothbard
Imagine a group of shipwrecked sailors swimming toward an uninhabited island. Does the first person to reach the island acquire it? Can he then refuse entry to his shipmates, unless they pay exorbitant rents to him? If he can, has not something gone wrong with the system, supposedly ironclad in its logic?
Not at all. Rothbard easily turns aside the objection. “Crusoe, landing upon a large island, may grandiosely trumpet to the winds his ‘ownership’ of the entire island. But, in natural fact, he owns only the part that he settles and transforms into use…. Note that we are not saying that, in order for property in land to be valid, it must be continually in use. The only requirement is that the land be once put into use, and thus become the property of the one who has mixed his labor with, who imprinted the stamp of his personal energy upon, the land.”
The Government Conundrum:
The Fed Owns About 28% of the Total Land Area of the U.S.
The United States Supreme Court has upheld the broad powers of the federal government to deal with federal lands, for example having unanimously held in Kleppe v. New Mexico that “the complete power that Congress has over federal lands under this clause necessarily includes the power to regulate and protect wildlife living there, state law notwithstanding.”
Lands held by the United States in trust for Native American tribes are generally not considered public lands. There are some 55 million acres (0.22 million km2) of land held in trust by the federal government for Indian tribes and almost 11 million acres (45 thousand km2) of land held in trust by the federal government for individual Natives. Although the United States holds legal title to these lands, the tribe or individual holds beneficial title (the right to use and benefit from the property). As a result, Indian Country is “quasi-private, not public, land.” Nevertheless, “because the United States is a legal title holder, the federal government is a necessary part in all leases and dispositions of resources including trust land. For example, the secretary of the interior must approve any contract for payment or grant by an Indian tribe for services for the tribe ‘relative to their lands.’
Adding insult to injury:
5 Ways The Government Keeps Native Americans In Poverty.
The federal government is responsible for managing Indian affairs for the benefit of all Indians. But by all accounts the government has failed to live up to this responsibility. As a result, Native American reservations are among the poorest communities in the United States. Here’s how the government keeps Native Americans in poverty.
Chief Justice John Marshall set Native Americans on the path to poverty in 1831 when he characterized the relationship between Indians and the government as “resembling that of a ward to his guardian.” With these words, Marshall established the federal trust doctrine, which assigns the government as the trustee of Indian affairs. That trusteeship continues today, but it has not served Indians well.
Underlying this doctrine is the notion that tribes are not capable of owning or managing their lands. The government is the legal owner of all land and assets in Indian Country and is required to manage them for the benefit of Indians.
But because Indians do not generally own their land or homes on reservations, they cannot mortgage their assets for loans like other Americans. This makes it incredibly difficult to start a business in Indian Country. Even tribes with valuable natural resources remain locked in poverty. Their resources amount to “dead capital”—unable to generate growth for tribal communities.
Thanks to the legacy of federal control, reservations have complicated legal and property systems that are detrimental to economic growth. Jurisdiction and land ownership can vary widely on reservations as a result of the government’s allotment policies of the nineteenth century. Navigating this complex system makes development and growth difficult on Indian lands.
Reservations contain valuable natural resources worth nearly $1.5 trillion, according to a recent estimate. But the vast majority of these resources remain undeveloped because the federal government gets in the way. Ron Crossguns of the Blackfeet Tribe recently put it this way: “It’s our right. We say yes or no. I don’t think the outside world should come out here and dictate to us what we should do with our properties.”
As long as tribes are denied the right to control their own resources, they will remain locked in poverty and dependence. But if tribes are given the dignity they deserve, they will have the opportunity to unleash the tremendous wealth of Indian nations.
To fully understand and appreciate the multifaceted nature of historical events, it is crucial to approach the topic with sensitivity, empathy, and a commitment to understanding the complexities of the past. The events of history cannot be changed, but they can be studied and examined with the purpose of avoiding mistakes that were made and seeking to create a more equitable existence for this generation and those to come.
Join the conversation and gain a deeper understanding of the historical dynamics surrounding land ownership among Native American cultures. Let’s challenge oversimplified narratives and promote a more nuanced perspective.