TheRundown:NorthAmerica

ByMichaelaChen

The story of native peoples in North America is one that is often lost in the telling of American history Their story, though acknowledged, is often not explored in much detail or solicitude. Many factors contribute to this, not the least of which are the US government’s efforts to assimilate American Indian children into white society.

Before the arrival of European settlers, North America was populated by large numbers of indigenous people, who grouped themselves in diverse tribes throughout the continent. Rich with culture, each tribe was distinct from the next Some lived on the plains, practising a nomadic lifestyle, some lived in the woodlands, others in the desert. However, with Columbus’ arrival in the Americas in 1492, and the subsequent European colonization, the lives of the Indians were changed dramatically.

In the years that followed, Native Americans saw their livelihoods being taken away one step at a time. What started with seemingly harmless English settlement on tribal lands ended with the forced removal of tribes in the infamous Trail of Tears in the 1830s to 50s. According to many history textbooks, this is where their story ends.