Американские индейцы

reservation land; however, not all reservation land is trust land. On

behalf of the United States, the Secretary of the Interior serves as

trustee for such lands with many routine trustee responsibilities delegated

to BIA officials.

The states in which reservations are located have limited powers over

them, and only as provided by federal law. On some reservations, however, a

high percentage of the land is owned and occupied by non-Indians. Some 140

reservations have entirely tribally owned land.

Taxes.

Indians pay the same taxes as other citizens with the following

exceptions: federal income taxes are not levied on income from trust lands

held for them by the United States; state income taxes are not paid on

income earned on an Indian reservation; state sales taxes are not paid by

Indians on transactions made on an Indian reservation; and local property

taxes are not paid on reservation or trust land.

Laws.

As U.S. citizens, Indians are generally subject to federal, state, and

local laws. On Indian reservations, however, only federal and tribal laws

apply to members of the tribe unless the Congress provides otherwise. In

federal law, the Assimilative Crimes Act makes any violation of state

criminal law a federal offense on reservations. Most tribes now maintain

tribal court systems and facilities to detain tribal members convicted of

certain offenses within the boundaries of the reservation.

Language and Population

American Indian Languages

Spoken at Home by American Indian Persons 5 Years and Over in Households:

1990

|Languages |Number of |

| |households |

|All American Indian languages |281,990 |

|Algonquian languages |12,887 |

|Athapascan Eyak languages |157,694 |

|Caddoan languages |354 |

|Central and South American Indian languages |431 |

|Haida |110 |

|Hokan languages |2,430 |

|Iroquoian languages |12,046 |

|Keres |8,346 |

|Muskogean languages |13,772 |

|Penutian languages |8,190 |

|Siouan languages |19,693 |

|Tanoan languages |8,255 |

|Tlingit |1,088 |

|Tonkawa |3 |

|Uto-Aztecan languages |23,493 |

|Wakashan and Salish languages |1,105 |

|Yuchi |65 |

|Unspecified American Indian languages |12,038 |

Source: U.S. Census Bureau. The American Indian languages shown above are

the major languages.

Many American places have been named after Indian words. In fact,

about half of the states got their names from Indian words. Here are some:

|Alabama |may come from Choctaw meaning “thicket-clearers” |

| |or “vegetation-gatherers.” |

|Alaska |corruption of Aleut word meaning “great land” or |

| |“that which the sea breaks against.” |

|Arizona |from the Indian “Arizonac,” meaning “little |

| |spring” or “young spring.” |

|Arkansas |from the Quapaw Indians |

|Chicago, |Algonquian for "garlic field." |

|Ill | |

|Chesapeake |Algonquian name of a village |

|(bay) | |

|Connecticut|from an Indian word (Quinnehtukqut) meaning |

| |“beside the long tidal river.” |

|Dakota |from the Sioux tribe, meaning “allies.” |

|Illinois |Algonquin for “tribe of superior men.” |

|Indiana |meaning “land of Indians.” |

|Iowa |probably from an Indian word meaning “this is the|

| |place” or “the Beautiful Land.” |

|Kansas |from a Sioux word meaning “people of the south |

| |wind.” |

|Kentucky |from an Iroquoian word “Ken-tah-ten” meaning |

| |“land of tomorrow.” |

|Massachuset|from Massachusett tribe of Native Americans, |

|ts |meaning “at or about the great hill.” |

|Michigan |from Indian word “Michigana” meaning “great or |

| |large lake.” |

|Minnesota |from a Dakota Indian word meaning “sky-tinted |

| |water.” |

|Mississippi|from an Indian word meaning “Father of Waters.” |

|Malibu |believed to come from the Chumash Indians. |

|Manhattan |Algonquian, believed to mean "isolated thing in |

| |water." |

|Milwaukee |Algonquian, believed to mean "a good spot or |

| |place." |

|Missouri |named after the Missouri Indian tribe. “Missouri”|

| |means “town of the large canoes.” |

|Narraganset|named after the Indian tribe |

|t | |

|Nebraska |from an Oto Indian word meaning “flat water.” |

|Niagara |named after an Iroquoian town, "Ongiaahra." |

|Ohio |from an Iroquoian word meaning “great river.” |

|Oklahoma |from two Choctaw Indian words meaning “red |

| |people.” |

|Pensacola |Choctaw for "hair" and "people." |

|(Florida) | |

|Roanoke |Algonquian for "shell money" (Indian tribes often|

|(Virginia) |used shells that were made into beads called |

| |wampum, as money). |

|Saratoga |believed to be Mohawk for "springs (of water) |

|(New York) |from the hillside." |

|Sunapee |Pennacook for "rocky pond." |

|(lake in | |

|New | |

|Hampshire) | |

|Tahoe (the |is Washo for "big water." |

|lake in | |

|California/| |

|Nevada) | |

|Tennessee |of Cherokee origin; the exact meaning is unknown.|

|Texas |from an Indian word meaning “friends.” |

|Utah |is from the Ute tribe, meaning “people of the |

| |mountains.” |

|Wisconsin |French corruption of an Indian word whose meaning|

| |is disputed. |

|Wyoming |from the Delaware Indian word, meaning “mountains|

| |and valleys alternating”; the same as the Wyoming|

| |Valley in Pennsylvania. |

American Indian Loan Words

From their earliest contact with traders and explorers, American

Indians borrowed foreign words, often to describe things not previously

encountered. The language exchange went both ways. Today, thousands of

place names across North America have Indian origins - as do hundreds of

everyday English words.

Many of these "loan words" are nouns from the Algonquian languages

that were once widespread along the Atlantic coast. English colonists,

encountering unfamiliar plants and animals—among them moose, opossum, and

skunk—borrowed Indian terms to name them. Pronunciations generally changed,

and sometimes the newcomers shortened words they found difficult; for

instance, "pocohiquara" became "hickory."

Some U.S. English Words with Indian Origins:

anorak from the Greenlandic Inuit "annoraq"

bayou from the Choctaw "bayuk"

chipmunk from the Ojibwa "ajidamoon," red squirrel

hickory from the Virginia Algonquian "pocohiquara"

hominy from the Virginia Algonquian "uskatahomen"

igloo from the Canadian Inuit "iglu," house

kayak from the Alaskan Yupik "qayaq"

moccasin from the Virginia Algonquian

moose from the Eastern Abenaki "mos"

papoose from the Narragansett "papoos," child

pecan from the Illinois "pakani"

powwow from the Narragansett "powwaw," shaman

quahog from the Narragansett "poquauhock"

squash from the Narragansett "askutasquash"

succotash from the Narragansett "msickquatash," boiled corn

tepee from the Sioux "tipi," dwelling

toboggan from the Micmac "topaghan"

tomahawk from the Virginia Algonquian "tamahaac"

totem from the Ojibwa "nindoodem," my totem

wampum from the Massachusett "wampumpeag"

wigwam from the Eastern Abenaki "wik'wom" Natives.

Population

While the Indian population was never dense, the idea that the Indian has

held his own, or even actually increased in number, is a serious error,

founded on the fact that most official estimates begin with the federal

period, when the native race was already wasted by nearly three centuries

of white contact and in many regions entirely extinct. An additional source

of error is that the law recognizes anyone of even remote Indian ancestry

as entitled to Indian rights, including in this category, especially in the

former "Five Civilized Nations" of Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), several

thousand individuals whose claims have always been stoutly repudiated by

the native tribal courts. Moreover, the original Indian was a full-blood,

while his present-day representative has often so little aboriginal blood

as to practically a white man or a negro. Many broken tribes of today

contain not a single full-blood, and some few not even one of half Indian

blood. The Cherokee Nation, officially reported to number 36,000 persons of

pure or mixed Cherokee blood contains probably not 4000 of even fairly pure

blood, the rest being all degrees of admixture even down to one-sixty-

fourth or less of Indian blood, besides some 7000 claimants officially

recognized, but repudiated by the former Indian Government. In

Massachusetts an official census of 1860 reported a "Yartmouth tribe" of

105 persons, all descended from a single Indian woman with a negro husband

residing there in 1797. It is obvious that the term Indian cannot properly

be applied to such diluted mixtures.

The entire aboriginal population of Florida, of the mission period,

numbering perhaps 30,000, is long since extinct without descendants, the

Seminole being a later emigrations from the Creeks. The aborigines of South

Carolina, counting in 1700 some fifteen tribes of which the Catawba, the

largest tribe, numbered some six thousand souls, are represented today by

about a hundred mixed blood Catawba, together with some scattered mongrels,

whose original ancestry is a matter of doubt.

The same holds good upon the plains, The celebrated Pawnee tribe of some

10,000 souls in 1838 is now reduced to 650; the Kansas of 1500 within the

same period have now 200 souls, and the aborigines of Texas, numbering in

1700 perhaps some 40,000 souls in many small tribes with distinct

languages, is extinct except for some 900 Caddo, Wichita, and Tonkawa. The

last-named, estimated at 1,000 in 1805, numbered 700 in 1849, 300 in 1861,

108 in 1882, and 48 in 1908, including several aliens. In California the

aboriginal population has decreased within the same period from perhaps a

quarter of a million to perhaps 15,000, and nearly the same proportion of

decrease holds good along the whole Pacific coast into Alaska. Not only

have tribes dwindled, but whole linguistic stocks have become extinct

within the historic period. The only apparent exceptions to the general

rule of decay are the Iroquois, Sioux, and Navaho, the first two of whom

have kept up their number by wholesale adoptions, while the Navaho have

been preserved by their isolation. The causes of decrease may be summarized

as: (1) introduced diseases and dissipation, particularly smallpox, sexual

disease, and whiskey; (2) wars, also hardship and general enfeeblement

consequent upon frequent removals and enforced change from accustomed

habitat. The present Indian population north of Mexico is approximately

400,000, or whom approximately 265,000 are within the United States proper.

other native Americans

The Eskimo (Inuit and Yupiit) and Aleuts are people of the treeless

shores and tundra-covered coastal hinterlands of northernmost North America

and Greenland and the eastern tip of the Chukchi Peninsula of Siberia.

Custom alone designates them Eskimo and Aleuts rather than American Indians

like all other native Americans, from whom they are distinguished

principally by their language.

The Eskimo are an Asian people who are distinguishable from the American

Indians by their more Asian features, by the relative smallness of their

hands and feet, and by a few less obvious traits.

Eskimo culture was totally adapted to an extremely cold, snow- and

icebound environment in which vegetable foods were almost nonexistent,

trees were scarce, and caribou, seal, walrus, and whale meat, whale

blubber, and fish were the major food sources. The Eskimo used harpoons to

kill seals, which they hunted either on the ice or from skin-covered, one-

person canoes known as kayaks. Whales were hunted using larger boats called

umiaks. In the summer most Eskimo families hunted caribou and other land

animals with the help of bows and arrows. Dogsleds were the basic means of

transport on land. Eskimo clothing was fashioned of caribou furs, which

provided protection against the extreme cold. Most Eskimo wintered in

either snow-block houses called igloos or semisubterranean houses of stone

or sod over wooden or whalebone frameworks. In summer many Eskimo lived in

animal-skin tents. Their b asic social and economic unit was the nuclear

family, and their religion was animistic.

Eskimo life changed greatly in the 20th century owing to increased

contacts with societies to the south. Snowmobiles have generally replaced

dogs for land transport, and rifl es have replaced harpoons for hunting

purposes. Outboard motors, store-bought clothing, and numerous other

manufactured items have entered the culture, and money, unknown in

traditional Eskimo economy, has become a necessity. Many Eskimo have

abandoned their nomadic hunting pursuits to move into northern towns and

cities or to work in mines and oil fields. Others, particularly in Canada,

have formed cooperatives to market their handicrafts, fish catches, and

ventures in tourism.

Aleut - a native of the Aleutian Islands and western portion of the

Alaska Peninsula of northwest North America. Aleuts speak three mutually

intelligible dialects and are closely related to the Eskimo in language,

race, and culture. The earliest people, the Paleo-Aleuts, arrived in the

Aleutian Islands from the Alaskan mainland about 2000 BC. The Aleuts hunted

seals, sea otters, whales, sea lions, sometimes walrus, and, in some areas,

caribou and bears. Fish, birds, and mollusks were also taken. One-man and

two-man skin boats known as bidarkas, or kayaks, and large, open, skin

boats (Eskimo umiaks) were used. Aleut women wove fine grass basketry;

stone, bone, and ivory were also worked. Ancient Aleut villages were

situated on the seashore near fresh water, with a good landing for boats

and in a position safe from surprise attack from other Aleuts or

neighbouring tribes. Villages were usually composed of related families. A

chief might govern several villages or an island, but there was no chief

over all Aleuts or even over several islands.

epilogue

A long time ago North America was very different from the way it is

today. There were no highways, cars, or cities. There were no

schools, malls, or restaurants. But even long, long ago, there were still

communities. People made their own homes, food, and clothing from the

plants and animals they found around them.

Americans today owe a great deal to the First Americans. Over half of

the states and many of the cities, rivers and streets still have Native

Americans names. Nearly 550 Indian words are part of everyday English. Many

foods, such as potatoes, corn, peanuts, turkey, tomatoes, cocoa, beans were

borrowed by later settlers from the Native Americans. It was from the

Indians that other Americans learned how to use rubber.

In fact without the help of the Native Americans many other early

settlers might never have survived.

In conclusion I would like to cite the words of George W. Bush, today’s

President of the U.S., which he said in National American Indian Heritage

Month proclamation, dated November 19, 2001:

“As the early inhabitants of this great land, the native peoples of

North America played a unique role in the shaping of our Nation's

history and culture. During this month when we celebrate Thanksgiving,

we especially celebrate their heritage and the contributions of

American Indian and Alaska Native peoples to this Nation. [ …]

American Indian and Alaska Native cultures have made remarkable

contributions to our national identity. Their unique spiritual,

artistic, and literary contributions, together with their vibrant

customs and celebrations, enliven and enrich our land.

As we move into the 21st century, American Indians and Alaska

Natives will play a vital role in maintaining our Nation's strength

and prosperity. Almost half of America's Native American tribal

leaders have served in the United States Armed Forces, following in

the footsteps of their forebears who distinguished themselves during

the World Wars and the conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian

Gulf. […]

During National American Indian Heritage Month, I call on all

Americans to learn more about the history and heritage of the Native

peoples of this great land. Such actions reaffirm our appreciation and

respect for their traditions and way of life and can help to preserve

an important part of our culture for generations yet to come. “

main sourses

1. Encyclopaedia Britannica, electronic edition, 1999

2. Gilbert Legay, Atlas of Indians of Northern America, Barrons Educ, 1995

3. Keith C. Wilbur, The New England Indians, The Globe Pequot Press, 1978

4. Bryn O’Calladhan, An Illustrated Hystory of the USA, Longman, 1990

5. V.M. Pavlotsky, American studies, Karo, St.- Pt., 2000

6. http://www.first-americans.spb.ru/n4/win/current.htm – Russian Pages of

American Indian Almanac

7. http://www.nativetech.org - Native American technologies and art

8. http://etext.virginia.edu/subjects/Native-American.html – electronic

texts by and about American Indians

9. http://www.si.edu/resource/faq/start.htm – very useful encyclopaedia

10. http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/k12/naha/maps/nausa.html – tribe finder

11. http://www.infoplease.com – statistics and useful data

-----------------------

[pic]

Страницы: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5