American Indian History
Hundreds of American Indian tribes spread across North America from about 10,000 B.C. They formed a wide variety of cultures, ranging from nomadic bands to the powerful Iroquois Confederation. Most tribes were devastated by the encroachment of American settlers.
Recommended Reading
- Robert J. Conley - The Cherokee Nation: A History
- Tecumseh and the Quest for Indian Leadership (Library of American Biography Series) (2nd Edition) - David Edmunds
- Cahokia and the Hinterlands: Middle Mississippian Cultures of the Midwest - Thomas E Emerson
- The Sioux (True Books: American Indians) - Kevin Cunningham
- The Wampanoag: People of the First Light (American Indian Nations) - Janet Riehecky
- The Indian Removal Act: Forced Relocation (Snapshots in History) - Mark Stewart
- Cahokia: Ancient America's Great City on the Mississippi (Penguin Library of American Indian History) - Timothy R. Pauketat
Oregon Pioneers -- "Northwest Indians"
Hundreds of American Indian tribes lived and competed in the Pacific Northwest, ranging from the nomadic Paiute to the prosperous, stratified Chinook.
Timeline
- c.12000 B.C. - The first people arrive in what is now Alaska over the Bering Strait (then an isthmus) -- although some sources dispute this claim.
- c.1000 B.C. - American Indians begin to develop complex agricultural societies and also start to build mounds.
- c.1200 - Cahokia reaches its peak in population, equaling Europe's largest cities of that era.
- c.1200 - The largest Pueblo cliff-dwellings are constructed in the southwest.
- 1450-1600 - The Iroquois League is formed, uniting 5 tribes near Lake Erie and Lake Huron. The League becomes a powerful, expansionist force in the region.
- 1615 - Epidemic of leptospirosis reduces the number of Wampanoag by up to ninety percent.
- 1675-1678 - Metacomet unsuccessfully leads the Wampanoag against the English in King Philip's War.
- 1680 - Pueblo Revolt temporarily drives the Spaniards out of New Mexico.
- 1811 - Tecumseh's Confederation unites against white settlers in the Midwest. It suffers a grave defeat at Tippecanoe to the army of William Henry Harrison.
- 1831-1838 - Most Southern Indian tribes are relocated to Oklahoma in the Trail of Tears.
- 1877-1890 - A number of tribes in the Plains are defeated in their struggles against American encroachment. Wounded Knee is the final battle.
- 1941-1945 - 44,000 Native Americans serve in World War II, including the Navajo Code talkers in the Pacific.
- 1968 - The Indian Civil Rights Act is passed, extending Bill of Rights protections to citizens of tribal governments.
- 1968 - The American Indian Movement (AIM) is established in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
- 1975 - The Indian Self-Determination Act is passed, transferring much power to the individual tribes from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
ERAS:
Pre-Contact - Colonial - Revolutionary - Antebellum - Civil War - Gilded Age - Depression/World War II - Modern
PEOPLE:
American Indian - Anglo/Scottish - Black - Hispanic - Women - Asian - LGBT - Irish - Jewish - Children
