American Indian

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Member of one of the aboriginal peoples of the Americas; the Arctic peoples (Inuit and Aleut) are often included, especially by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the US Department of the Interior, responsible for overseeing policy on US American Indian life, their reservations, education, and social welfare. The first American Indians arrived during the last ice age, approximately 20,000–30,000 years ago, passing from northeastern Siberia into Alaska over a land-bridge across the Bering Strait. The earliest reliably dated archaeological sites in North America are about 13,000–14,000 years old. In South America they are generally dated at about 12,000–13,000 years old, but discoveries made in 1989 suggest an even earlier date, perhaps 35,000–40,000 years ago. There are about 1.9 million (1995) American Indians in the USA and Canada.

Lifestyle
Hunting, fishing, and moving camp throughout the Americas, the migrants inhabited both continents and settled all the ecological zones, from the tropical to the frozen, including woodlands, deserts, plains, mountains, and river valleys. As they specialized, many kinds of societies evolved, speaking many languages. Traditionally, American Indians were agriculturalists and were the first cultivators of maize, potatoes, sweet potatoes, manioc, peanuts, peppers, tomatoes, pumpkins, cacao, and chilli. They also grew tobacco, coca, peyote, and cinchona (the sources of nicotine, cocaine, mescaline, and quinine respectively).

Almost everything necessary for everyday life was made from local materials. The bison on the Plains, the trees of the northwest coast, and the animals of the Arctic provided ample raw materials for tools, clothing, and ceremonial objects. Trade networks also existed between American Indians, and between American Indians and Europeans for European goods.

Erosion of culture
Adoption of white ways has been the dominant process since American Indians were first contacted by Europeans in the early 1500s. Initially this involved simply borrowing cultural traits through trade and by living in close proximity. Unceasing missionary activity led to the adoption of Christianity by most American Indians, and the destruction of traditional ways of living caused by forced migration, the disappearance of the buffalo, and relocation onto reservations, led to a dependence on whites. Many programmes of the US Bureau of Indian Affairs in the 19th and early 20th centuries were aimed at assimilation, which fostered the loss of American Indian cultures. These programmes, were, however, accompanied by a growing American Indian identity centred on tribal symbols, traditional forms of religious belief, music, dance, and items of native dress.

Except perhaps for those American Indians living in the far north, all American Indian communities are composed of genetically mixed peoples. Intermixture with Europeans, blacks, and other American Indians has been taking place since colonial times.

American Indian groups range in size from over 100,000 to fewer than 100. In total they number about 1.9 million (1995) in the USA and Canada, and about half live on or near reservations, with the rest living within the general population.

Native South Americans
In South America the American Indians were massacred by the Spanish, died from introduced diseases and serious famines, and were forced to work as slaves in Spanish mines. Interbreeding with the Spanish produced a mixed population, called mestizo. In Brazil, the modern population is the result of interbreeding between American Indians, Portuguese immigrants, and slaves imported from Africa to work on the sugar plantations. In the 19th century many of the remaining indigenous people were decimated by disease and had their land expropriated for huge cattle ranches.

The red, white, and black tricolour formed the basis of the flags of both North and South Yemen. Effective date: 22 May 1990. >>