The American continent before European contact was home to around 60 million people, with up to 18 million living in North America and divided into more than 500 diverse nations and tribes. The westward expansion of incoming European settlers who coveted the rich resources and fertile land in North America resulted in a purge of most indigenous nations, driving them into either reservations or extinction.
This dramatic shift in the lives of Native American people is chronicled in an online course from The University of Texas Permian Basin’s online Master of Arts in History program entitled HIST 6341: Native North America: Contact to Removal. Read on for a preview of what you’ll learn in this rich online course and how to join your fellow historians in earning your graduate degree from UTPB.
The Sprawling Cultures of Pre-Columbian America
The Paleo-Indians migrated to the North American continent from Asia around 40,000 to 14,000 years ago and developed into diverse cultures. These communities were thousands of years old by the time Europeans arrived. While tribes like the Lakota of the Great Plains remained semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers, the indigenous nations of the Midwest were urbanized engineers and traders. The Iroquois League that formed as a confederacy in the Northeast is the oldest participatory democracy still in existence today.
Cahokia, an ancient city that was located in modern-day Illinois, was the largest and most sophisticated urban center until the rise of large midwestern cities in the 18th century. At its height, this complex built by the Mississippian culture was a metropolis made of plazas, monuments, shops, ball fields, a solar calendar, and middle-class and elite neighborhoods.
European Contact and Conflict
When European settlers arrived as early as 1000 A.D., many indigenous people welcomed them with caution and hospitality. Every part of the country was bustling with autonomous nations when Christopher Columbus laid claim to the land in 1492.
Although some tribes had strained relationships with colonists, others traded and helped struggling settlements. In 1621, the Pilgrims and Wampanoag people shared a harvest feast that was later declared a U.S. holiday: Thanksgiving. The discovery of abundant resources and farmable land, however, started an ever-moving trek by the U.S. government to expand westward that quickly complicated and strained Native and European relations. Officials frequently broke treaties to gain access to the coveted land, and many spread propaganda that depicted the indigenous nations as backward and barbaric.
Indigenous people were ordered to Americanize through “civilization programs” and adopt Western religion and culture. Many resisted, resulting in hundreds of years of war. Epidemics like smallpox, brought by infected settlers, may have caused a mortality rate of up to 95% among the indigenous population.
Removal of Indigenous Culture
Despite ongoing treaties and meetings between indigenous nations and the U.S. government, the expansion of the United States into Native land occurred much faster than expected, and the first reservation was established in 1786. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 displaced Natives out west, which many tribes resisted. Approximately 4,000 Cherokee died on a forced march now known as “The Trail of Tears.”
1890’s infamous Battle of Wounded Knee was a result of U.S. officials banning a growing religion called the Ghost Dance. The resulting massacre killed 150 Sioux and marked an end to armed Native resistance against the United States.
“The land is sacred. These words are at the core of your being. The land is our mother, the rivers our blood. Take our land away, and we die. That is, the Indian in us dies.”
By 1900, only 237,000 indigenous people remained. Indigenous people living on reservations today are challenged by barren lands, poor living conditions, a struggle to retain their identities and way of life, and a lack of government assistance. Reservations often serve as radioactive dumping grounds, accounting for high cancer rates among the population.
A Course That Examines Native American History
Graduate students interested in this subject and pursuing a Master of Arts will want to consider enrolling in Native America: Contact to Removal (HIST 6341) as part of UTPB’s online MA in history program.
HIST 6341 confronts the challenging history of American settler-colonialism. You’ll take a detailed look at North America before European contact, the period of indigenous removal and extermination, and how indigenous tribes adapted and persisted. Students will also learn how the inclusion of ethnohistory—the study of cultures and indigenous peoples’ customs—changes the master narrative of our history books. HIST 6341 is taught entirely online and asynchronously, meaning you can study anywhere and anytime you want.
An Online Graduate Program Tailored to You
Our online MA in history program prepares you to think critically and analyze how our past shapes who we are today, including how we can understand and prevent repeating tragedies like the Native American genocide. The skills you’ll learn are applicable across multiple career paths like management, politics, teaching, writing, and law enforcement. Our program is affordable, flexible, and there’s no GRE requirement for admission. Earn your master’s degree in as little as two years!
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Sources:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1171896/pre-colonization-population-americas/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Native-American/Native-American-history
https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjdt_665385/2649_665393/202203/t20220302_10647120.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnohistory
https://www.worldhistory.org/Pre-Colonial_North_America/
https://www.ncpedia.org/american-indians/european-contact