The History of the Native American

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The History of the Native AmericanThe nation’s history, as well as culture, is significant to its development and revolution. In America, the Native Americans significantly left a mark that plays an essential role in understanding the nation’s history and culture. Variety of cases regarding the Native American lands and the white acts as a reflection of how life during that era was and the struggle they underwent to gain civil rights. However, the many tend to keep aside the bit of their cultural way of living with regards to the agriculture, the primary lifestyle as well as the weapons the used during the prominent decade. Transformations have been done to the present way of being as changes are inevitable, but the historical information is vital to advancement as well as educational perspective. In this paper, the Native American history is looked into an in-depth extent with regards to the Indian agriculture in America, the native’s culture and its change to present as well as the weapons used during that particular decade.

The Indian Agriculture in America is among the fundamental cultural activities played a significant role in the advancement agricultural sector to where it is today in the nation. Agriculture is essential to source of food, income to the farmer, revenue to the government, raw materials to the industries, market to the final industrial products and it significantly contributes to the nation’s gross domestic product. Therefore, looking at its historical background and its development in America as well as other parts of the world is essential and has sound impacts on the conventional and future generations. The Indian American Agriculture literature by R. Douglas Hurt has its roots since the early 1980s where it significantly takes part in shaping the historical economic novel (Boorstin, page 71).

The Indian agriculture was accompanied by supreme achievement whose effects are experienced up to date. The Indians would try as much as possible to dismiss failure, and the primary objective was commercializing agriculture for economic benefits from their fertile lands. For instance, the early evident achievement was the by the Mesoamerican farmers who first domesticated plants many decades ago. The white tried to acquire the Indian lands without success that led to the reservation land as well as forcing the Indians to adopt white farming techniques. The United States government later enhanced that the nomadic people venture into farming which could be a reliable source of food, income as well as feeds for livestock production.

The well-being of the community and lifestyle standards are determined by the cultural beliefs and their traditional customs. The necessary things that are crucial to the human life include family, food, work, shelter, play, and neighbors. The case is the same with the Native American as the community had their cultural ways of doing things and they were also faced with challenges. The native population was not economically as well as politically stable. Therefore, the civilians had a hard time in establishing their basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing as high percentage depended on farming (Salisbury, et al. page 11). They did not have the advanced machinery to practice extensive agriculture and on the other hand, did not have the know-how of the use of modern technology in agricultural production.

Racial segregation made their well-being more complicated as they could not even have access to the standard facilities and services such as education and healthcare that were vital. The Native American did not enjoy civil rights in the nation and did not have political representatives as they could only live on their reservations. High population and poor facilities lead to tremendous suffering from communicable diseases economic degradation. However, their efforts of attaining civil rights led by native advocates were not in vain as it postulated significant changes. They made use of various techniques such as boycotting and demonstration. They were granted civil rights, and it effectively improved their participation in social-economic as well as political development. The struggle for equal rights significantly led to changes in the Native American laws into more favorable conditions (Smith, et al. page 15). The shift in policy granted them freedom and prevented their exploitation by the white, and they could have the right to participate in national affairs such as voting which is a fundamental right.

The weapons used in Native America were primarily historical artifacts that are vital up to today especially in the remembrance of the nation’s revolution. The objects are also valuable in the education sector as they play a crucial role in tracing the development of technology from the ancient period. Some of these natural weapons are used in various ways up to date, and they live to be memorable from one generation to the other. Among the commonly Native American armaments include bows and arrow, spears, knife, war clubs, tomahawks and axes, shield and armor as well as coup stick among many others. When one talks about the Native American weapons, the first thing to linger in mind are the prominent bows and arrows. For instance, many tribes Indian American being among them made use of the bows and arrows for hunting as well as for protection during wars. These weapons had been used in America since the stone age era hence many people had come up with the critical technology of achieving their efficiency. Most of the traditional American bows were made wood while the arrows varied from steel to wood as well as other forms of metal.

The spears, knives, and axes among many other Ancient American weapons were used for warfare and hunting purposes. Today the tools are advanced and used for many significant purposes which are sound to the society. For instance, consider the hunting game which is popular in the nation and other parts of the world. The primary weapons used are bows and arrows as well as spears. These games maintain the cultural values as well as a source of income to the participants and clubs who later give back to the community. For example, a significant percentage of the revenue from the hunting games today goes to the conservation and maintenance of forest as well as natural resources where these wild animals live. The art of knives is significantly applicable today as it is among the essential tool available in every household for various purposes. In considering techniques that involve cutting, shaping, and design, the Native American tools are still applicable today even if they are advanced in a more straightforward way that is more comfortable and efficient way to use. The art and skills of designing these weapons in passed from generation to another as many of them are strong and long-lasting (Volo, page 22). Therefore, these ancient tools are prominent and memorable to the history of America, and they are significant in use to the present and future generations.

From the above discussion, the history and culture of the Native American are essential and memorable not only to America but also to other nations of the world. It plays a significant role in the education curriculum as it acts as the primary historical content to the history students and teachers as well as to other related disciplines. The Native American Agriculture paved way to the mechanization and commercialization of agricultural production signifying that agriculture can be a dependable source of income. Preservation of the traditional sound customs as well as passing them to the future generations is vital in maintaining national cohesion and establishment of social-economic development.

References

Boorstin, D. J. The Americans: The Colonial Experience. New York: Random House,

1958; Douglas, H. R. Indian Agriculture in America: Prehistory to the Present.

Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1987; Volo, J. M., and D. D. Volo. Daily

Life on the Old Colonial Frontier. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002.

Jones, David E., and Project Muse. Native North American Armor, Shields, and

Fortifications. University of Texas Press,

Salisbury, Joyce E., and Peter Seelig. "Introduction to Colonial North America." Daily

Life through History, ABC-CLIO, 2018, dailylife2.abc-

clio.com/Topics/Display/1426544?cid=41. Accessed 19 Feb. 2018.

Salisbury, Joyce E. and Peter Seelig. "Housing in Colonial North America." Daily Life

through History, ABC-CLIO, 2018, dailylife2.abc-

clio.com/Topics/Display/1426544?cid=101. Accessed 19 Feb. 2018.

Smith, John, et al. Captain John Smith : a Select Edition of His Writings. Published for

the Institute of Early American History and Culture by the University of North

Carolina Press, 1988.

Taylor, Colin F. Native American Weapons. University of Oklahoma Press, 2001.

Piatote, Beth H. Domestic Subjects : Gender, Citizenship, and Law in Native American

Literature. Yale University Press, 2013.

Volo, James. “Weapons, European and Native American.” 2017, pp. 558–577.

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