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Native American And Native Americans

Good Essays

Many years ago, Native Americans roamed North America. That was until the arrival of the whites lead by Columbus in 1492. The white Americans then began to take as much land as possible, contradict with the native’s customs and tried to take complete control of their lives.

Native Americans didn’t believe in owning land- they believed that all of the land was everyone’s to share. So when the white Americans find out none of the land is owned, they take control of the land, and slowly push the Natives out as they dominate the country.

Now, out of the 318.9 million population of the U.S, only 1.7% of that is made up of Native Americans. In the 2003 census, there was recorded to be 562 different tribes, yet barely anyone knows much about …show more content…

The two different tribes I’m going to compare are the Plains Indians and the North west Coast.

Most people assume that since they are considered the same race, that all tribes have the same customs, which is partially wrong. However, somethings are similar if not the same in different tribes.

One of these customs is about gender roles.

In both tribes, women were expected to all of the cooking for the family, ‘cleaning’ quilling, beading and more.

For the women in the Plains, they were set with the responsibilities of setting up the tipis every time they moved areas, and preparing the Buffalo- tanning the hide etc. In the north West coast tribes, the women were expected to make woven baskets and prepare the food. The women were married off between the general age of 12-15 and had approximately 4 children.

Men, on the other hand, are trained from a young age basic fighting skills. the boys living in the plains would learn horsemanship and fighting, so when he was old enough, he would join his male elders on a Buffalo hunt or battle. A male traditionally went to find the greater spirit when he was entering manhood (usually age 17) and on return, it would be determined how ‘ready’ it was. If he was fully ready, he would join the rest of the tribe on their next battle. If he was not ready, he would join the next buffalo hunt. On the north west coast, the men were responsible for hunting, constructing the housing and carving

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