Question

Discuss the ability of the Native American Indian confederation to shape events in the 19th century. What has changed from previous centuries?

Answer 1

Solution-

Native Americans

European immigrants are credited for “civilizing” the United States, but prior to their arrival America had long been inhabited by tribes of indigenous people. In the fifteenth century, when Christopher Columbus landed in what he presumed was the Indies, he began calling these inhabitants “Indians,” a label that would last centuries until the modern term “Native Americans” came into use.

Prior to white settlement, Indian tribes stretched from coast to coast across North America. Spanish explorers introduced horses to the Plains Indians during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which allowed the Indians to cover ground more rapidly and made them nomadic, able to follow their main source of food, clothing, and shelter—the buffalo—along its migratory path.

Indians were divided into tribes, or small societies. A chief served as the religious, moral, and political leader of each tribe. Tribes were divided into “bands,” with each band containing around 500 members, including men, women, and children. A governing council for each band, along with the tribal chief, served as the authority for members of the tribe. Only the males from the tribe were entrusted with governance responsibilities, and the men also provided food, shelter, and safety, while the women assumed domestic roles.