Native North Americans: An Ethnohistorical Approach

Excerpt from Introduction This textbook is designed to accompany a general course on the Native cultures of North America. We must bear in mind, however, that the North American continent was (and is) inhabited by a wide variety of indigenous cultures. When Columbus sailed into the Caribbean some five hundred years ago he encountered societies the likes of which Europeans had never imagined. Here were cultures that in many ways were more sophisticated than the European culture that "discovered" them. Here were cultures that had domesticated dozens of useful plants that were totally unknown to Europeans, Asians and Africans. Here were cultures that developed civilizations independent of Old World influence. Columbus called them "Indios" and the appellation has stuck. But they all had names for themselves. They were the Inuit, the Lakota, the Tohono O'odham, the Dene, and the Seneca, just to name a few. While the general public may consider them all "Indians," they are as different from one another as the English and Chinese. In order to be able to talk about such a large and diverse group of people anthropologists have developed the concept of "culture area" and have classified the Native people of North America (north of Mexico) into ten groups. Condition - Cover is edge-worn, sticker residue, curled corners, pieces of the surface cover have peeled off, creases, scratches and scuff marks. - Front flyleaf has a bookplate from previous owner - Other pages in very good shape