Indigenous peoples of the Americas

When looking at the past, the Europeans have always self- proclaimed that they discovered the Americas, but really it was the Native Americans who had been there all along. In the early centuries of the Americas’ founding for eastern civilization, the Native Americans were a piece that had to be overcome in order for conquistadors and empires to ascertain wealth and wealth glory, and then later spread the Catholic faith. The Indians faced head on the impact that this encounter had caused. The…

The evolution of the Indian people and their corresponding relationship with the American colonists in this first stage of the history of the United States offers a negative balance for the first, many of which disappeared because of the atrocities committed by the white man and his government. Indigenous peoples wish to preserve their identities and customs gradually becoming extinct. That is why we should support them not to lose these customs and traditions and is necessary to implement…

Uaxactun is a sacred place of the ancient mayan people. Located in northern guatemala it was first explored by American archaeologists in 1916. The excavations at the temple pyramids of Uaxactun significantly furthered our understanding of ancient mayan civilization. The scholarly article Multispectral imaging of an Early Classic Maya codex fragment from Uaxactun, Guatemala by Nicholas P. Carter & Jeffrey Dobereiner outlines the process of analyzing small fragments of a codex from an ancient…

idea that the native, indigenous tribes and cultures of the Americas possessed any form of art. This ideal of false superiority stemmed from the assumption that Native Americans were uncivilized, primal barbarians due to their differential cultural practices and beliefs. Additionally, the colonists had to promote this rhetoric of indians being primitive in order to get rid of the guilt of massacring, raping, and destabilizing multiple tribes and millions of indigenous people. However, the…

Spanish Conquest and Colonisation in Central America turned the Natives into slaves and peasants. When the Spanish Imperialised Central America during the 15th to 16th century, the Spanish took rule over Central America. The Spanish completely changed the lives of most Native Central Americans. This was because the Spanish treated the Natives poorly with unfair taxes and harsh laws; the Natives were forced to work under Spain’s crown and church; and the Natives were forced to turn Christian. The…

worker and mental health professional named Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart spent time researching the long history of disempowerment found among the Lakota tribe. Maria’s work expanded far beyond one single tribe, and in turn translated to the entire Indigenous community. This resulted in her coining the medical term Historical Trauma. Historical Trauma is defined as, “The cumulative emotional and psychological wounding over one’s lifetime and from generation to generation following loss of…

is one of the oldest holidays, it is also disrespectful to the natives who shared their home, America, with us. Columbus is constantly honored for “discovering” America, when in fact all he did was sail to America, just to become welcomed by the millions of indigenous people living there. When we honor him for discovering America, shouldn’t we be honoring the people who took us in and helped our people? Or is it more patriotic to honor Columbus, because of how long the holiday has lasted? This…

The Powhatans The coming of the Europeans to America was catastrophic for the indigenous American civilisations as the Europeans began settling in North America in the 17th century, when North America was less developed and less populated at the time, when English colonists arrived, costal Virginia was inhabited by the Powhatan Indians who were Algonquian-speaking people. The Powhatans lived in villages and villages within the same area belonged to one tribe. Each tribe had it’s own Werowance…

foresaw that in less than a year, complications of food shortages, rampant illnesses, and lack of skilled laborers or farmers to recreate domesticity would prevail. They soon realized that the complications could be eliminated with the help of the indigenous Native American Powhatan tribe, as “the prosperity of our Colonies on the Continent will stand or fall with our Interest and favour among them.” Though much discussion has been devoted to the tension between the Native Americans and the…

Brazil. It situates Brazil within the larger context of Latin America, particularly in respect to the common colonial background. The conquest of Latin America by the Portuguese and the Spanish empires took place in a context in which religion, economics, and politics were intertwined. Luis Rivera-Pagan has demonstrated how the conquest necessitated a legitimizing theological language to be possible. On the other hand, from an indigenous perspective, there was always the impression that the God…