American Indian Culture Before 1763

American Indian Culture Before 1763 Native American society prior to 1763 The Native American society was thriving before its interaction with the Europeans, especially given that natives had a thorough understanding of how they could exploit land without risking remaining without resources. By the eighteenth century many native tribes had relocated in order to avoid clashing with European settlers.

The Iroquois Confederacy (also known as the Six Nations) had taken opportunity of the fact that invading nations needed resources and organized diverse trading businesses meant to assist both their own people and settlers in their struggle to sustain themselves. From a cultural point-of-view, the Indians managed to preserve most of their cultural values, this most probably being a result of the fact that their society was largely based on them.

Native American culture dominated the way that Indian-Americans behaved previous to their encounter with the Europeans, as they mainly focused on respecting four concepts: the environment, the Great Spirit, people, and personal freedom. Although modern-day society largely promotes the idea that the American Continent was discovered by Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, it is absurd to consider that someone is capable to discover something that had already been discovered many millennia before.

There were several millions of individuals living in the "New World" at the time when the Spanish came across it. These people were organized in diverse groups that developed cultures and habits characteristic to the areas that they lived in and to their society as a whole. Natives were primarily accustomed to earning a living through farming, hunting, and fishing (fishing was only present in the case of tribes living near coasts) before they could be influenced by their encounter with the Europeans.

While men were focused on hunting and fishing, women and children took care of planting and harvesting resources such as corn and beans. Depending on their activity and on the region that they found themselves in, some tribes were nomadic. They followed animals as they traveled through the country and hunted in accordance with their needs. Even with the fact that these communities seemed primitive, they were capable to thrive and to expand their numbers rapidly.

Whereas men were recognized as being superior in regard to women because of their strength and because they were responsible for hunting, most tribes were matrilineal in character. This might be a result of the fact that women were in charge of their economies through conducting farming activities and through caring for resources. Their ability to deliver babies can also be one of the reasons for which they were respected by their communities.

Children were particularly important for tribes in general and mothers were provided with special care during their pregnancy and when they gave birth. Depending on the tribe that they belonged to, children were subjected to a series of customs performed with the purpose of preparing them to face life's hardships. Even with that, mortality rates among infants were generally high because they contracted diseases or because they were too weak to make it in the harsh conditions present in Native American communities.

Children's behavior was regulated by several general laws that they had to obey in order to avoid being punished by supernatural forces. Surprisingly, native tribes seldom employed physical violence in trying to punish children, as they would rather verbally penalize them when they did something bad. The community hoped that through observing the behavior of adults in their group, children would learn more in regard to their freedoms and duties.

By seeing the determination of their fathers and mothers as they focused on acting for the benefit of the tribe, children learned that it was essential for them to behave similarly when they would become adults. Depending on their gender, children gradually developed characters that assisted them as warriors or as planter-gatherers. Children were instructed in regard to religion and ethics by their parents and by the tribe in general.

Most of their intellect was fueled by stories that they heard from the elders, and, even though they were entertained by them, they also learnt important cultural values and customs during the process of storytelling. Native Americans were particularly concerned about understanding changes in their lives. As a result, tribes performed various customs whenever one would experience transit from one stage in their life to another.

While girls would be considered adults at the time of their first menstruation, boys were considered adults consequent to undergoing a physical or spiritual experience believed to be essential for their transit into adulthood. Both girls and boys were sometimes provided with new names as they became adults and depending on their personality they received names that either glorified or dishonored them. In certain cases, both boys and girls struggled to live up to their names and this made it difficult for them to focus on more important matters.

When considering marriage, it solely depended on the interests of individuals, as they were not obliged to marry someone that they did not appreciate. European pressure rapidly became visible in Native American communities as natives were influenced to take on new standards of living. The fact that they were forcefully converted to Christianity had a severe effect on natives because they were denied some of the freedoms that practically defined their cultural identity.

Men were forced to take on activities that were in disagreement with their gender, the authority of tribal chiefs was undermined by the presence of monks and most communities were gradually convinced to employ a patriarchal concept of guiding themselves. Even though.