HIST 2010 1st Edition Lecture 2 Outline of Current Lecture 1. Social & Cultural2. Economic/Trade3. Religious 4. Warfar/TortureCurrent LectureNorth America on the Eve of European Contact“New” World Peoples on the Eve of Contact-creation of the new world with all the things that each culture brought into the Americas A. Characteristics Common to All North American Indians- The Europeans first arrived and viewed the Indians were beneath them. Were they right? Or were Indians more advanced in certain areas?Characteristics that ALL North American Indians share1. Social & CulturalSpousal Relationships : -French catholic missionary stated that “he was in shock of the absence of affection, public displays of affection and kissing in Indians culture”- In marriage the wife has a part in say on whom she is going to marry not like in Europe where there were arranged marriages-sex was practiced regularly and who was not married These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.-it was easy for a man and woman to obtain a divorce, a woman to put belongings outside of the door or a man to relatives that the woman was no good.Kinship (Clans): – big groups “clans” among each tribeEx. Cherokee nation you have different clans that are related to each other -first loyalty is to your clan and the chief and leader -Punishment in betraying the clan: cast out of the clan and out casted by family.Women: -European’s view• Saw that Indian woman were oppressed an abused by male husbands because the women attended to the crops in every aspect, prepared the meats, and took care of the children. -Indian’s View• Woman were highly respected and had a high status in the clan• 90% of the food production was taken care of the by the women.• Woman could also sometimes decide when the clan went to warOral Culture: • Did not write down things, no written language -stories/ways were passed down from one generation to the next• Who is the holder of the knowledge? Elders.- Great respect for elderly they held knowledge on the clans past ceremonies and ways of the clanCommunal Way of Life: (classless society/respect for each other)• Indians pulled together- They did not believe in owning things, shared everything without question- “you never see one hungry Indian because if one is hungry others are as well” 2. Economic /Trade: always interested in trading• Trading Reasons:- it was a way to build relations and a sign of good will. - Two tribes came together they would exchange gifts as a sign of respect and friendship 3. Religious (most of the Indians believed)Polytheistic:• Believed in many different deities and gods- ex. If your god was around crops then you would be profitable in growing crops “green corn ceremony” : they got the corn on the stalk and then have a ceremony and give back to the “earth goddess” Animism (Respect for Nature): • Plants and animals have souls; nature was full of spiritual power and force. They were part of nature not over it Illustrations: spider-web each strand represents different parts of nature, Native American are of the strands. They had a right to use nature yes but with respect. GOAL is to use everything you need not for sport hunt out of need. Every animal you kill and tree you cut down have a soul only hunt to kill for food and use the land you need to live. They feared the consequences if they over hunted or plowed more ground or cut down more trees than needed. • Manitou & the Importance of Dreams: spirits in nature as one, offering guidance from spirits• Shamans: medicine men, always seeking advice from the spiritual world.- Dreams are one of the ways they did this they would search to find the meaning of the dreams and what they meant 4. Warfare and Torture• Indians would only attack and have warfare over two reasons: 1) a battle between right and wrong 2) if someone encroached on their land• Mourning Wars: woman played a very big role in the mourning wars, this “war” or prisoner capturing was brought on by a husband dying and the wife had a decision to replace her husband so the warriors of her tribe would raid the enemy tribe and then capture several oftheir men and torture them to see which one the wife would choose as their replacement husbands, It was a part of the grieving process. This showed the woman’s status in society.- they only fought limited wars-used stealth to minimize casualties• Torture of Prisoners: cut off fingers, ears, peel their skin back, scalpingEx. Story of a man who was captured they tied him up in front of a fire naked and cut his fingers off and threw them in the fire, then detached the skin from his head/ face and burned it in the fire and then took out his bowels and burned them right in front of him while he was a live and then burned him at the