Sutton
©2012 / ISBN: 9780205121564
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1 Introduction
In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed west from Spain, looking for a shorter and more direct route to the Indies. Instead, he landed on a small island in the Caribbean and encountered a New World occupied by many millions of people belonging to many hundreds, perhaps as many as a thousand, different …show more content…
It is important for everyone to grasp the issues that surround minorities within a larger dominant culture, and to look for solutions to problems inherent in that situation. Many native peoples have gotten a “raw deal” and everyone should understand how that happened and what can be done about it. In some cases, the culture and practices of some native peoples were, at least in part, preserved for later generations by anthropologists. Lastly, Native American cultures are not “vanished races” consigned to natural history museums but modern, active, and vibrant groups. Everyone should celebrate the survival and revival of those …show more content…
The word Sioux comes from a French translation of a term applied to the general group by their enemies, the Blackfoot, and has something to do with snakes. Although derogatory in origin, this name has been so commonly used that it is now generally recognized, although the individual groups want to use their own original names (e.g., Oglala). Another group, the Creek (in the Southeast; see Chapter 12), got their name from English settlers when describing the locations of their villages, next to creeks. As part of their increasing pride and power, many native groups are trying to revive their original names and asking that these be used instead of other names. For example, the Nez Perce want to be called Nimiipuu, “The People.” Archaeologists, not knowing what people in ancient cultures called themselves, have also given various names to Native American groups. For example, the cultures that lived along the Mississippi River prior to Columbus no doubt had names for themselves but since those names are unknown, archaeologists generally call them “Mississippian.” Sometimes the names assigned by archaeologists can cause problems. For example, for more than 100 years, archaeologists have used the term Anasazi to refer to the prehistoric Puebloan people who lived in the American Southwest (see Chapter 9). The term Anasazi originated from a Navajo word that generally refers to ancestor enemies, friends, or relatives (Warburton and Begay