EXPLORING THE USA

The Native Americans

EXPLORING THE USA
Lecture 2: The Native
Americans
DR. NGUYỄN HỮU QUÝ
 The American People

▪The United States has the third largest population in the world (328.2 million in
2019) after China and India.
▪People of European descent, or White Americans, constitute the majority of the
308 million people living in the United States, with 72.4% of the population in
the 2010 United States Census)
▪The most distinctive characteristic of the United States is its people. The
United States is not merely a nation but a nation of nations. People from the
world have come to the United States and influenced its history and culture.
 The Native Americans
▪The term “Native Americans” refers to the descendants of people who inhabited
what is now the United States in the era before European settlement.
▪Native Americans (also called Indigenous people) make up at most 2% (1.5
million) of the American population today. The other 98% are either immigrants
or descendants of immigrants.
▪The first people on the American continent came from Asia. The first migration
might have been as early as 40,000 years ago. They came across the Bering Strait
from Siberia to Alaska at various times when the sea level dropped.
▪Once on America, these people migrated east across North America and South
through Central and South America.
 The Native Americans

▪When Christopher Columbus arrived in the 15th century (12 Oct 1492), there
were about 10 million people in North America alone.
▪They had developed many different kinds of societies. There were people, that
Columbus called “Indians”, in the mistaken belief that he had reached the East
Indies (The name "Indies" is used to connote parts of Asia that came under
the Indian cultural sphere).
 The Native Americans

▪The story of the westward growth of the United States was also the story of the
destruction of the Native Americans.
▪Today, 1.5 million Native Americans in the United States live mostly in Western
states-especially California, Oklahoma, Arizona and New Mexico.
▪About one-third of the Native Americans live on reservations, land that was set
aside for them.
▪Most of the others live in cities. Poverty and unemployment are major
problems, especially on the reservations.
 The Native Americans

▪Many people came to the United States to seek economic opportunity or religious
freedom, political freedom. Others came as slaves.
▪Some groups, including many from the British Isles, became well established by
the time of American independence from Great Britain in 1776.
▪Others, like the Irish and many Germans, came in waves during the 19th century.
Asians came in their own waves, especially over the past half century.
▪Although Native Americans do cooperate with each other for political and
cultural purposes, it is important to realize that, over the stretch of a full
continent, the tribes are culturally very different from one another.
 The Native Americans

▪Unlike many other countries, the United States has an identity that does not
depend on ethnic continuity, but rather on the ideas that inspired the formation of
the nation.
▪The best way to look at the United States is to realize that ethnicity, social class.
▪All these people share the quality of being American, even if that quality is
almost impossible to define.
 Christopher Columbus Discovers America 1492

▪Columbus led his three ships - the Nina, the Pinta and
the Santa Maria - out of the Spanish port of Palos on
August 3, 1492.
▪His objective was to sail west until he reached Asia
(the Indies) where the reaches of gold, pearls and spice
awaited.
▪His first stop was the Canary Islands where the lack of
wind left his expedition becalmed until September 6.
 Christopher Columbus Discovers America 1492

▪The trip was longer than anticipated by either

Columbus or his crew.
▪In order to mollify his crew's apprehensions, Columbus
kept two sets of logs: one showing the true distance
traveled each day and one showing a lesser distance.
▪The first log was kept secret. The latter log quieted the
crew's anxiety by under-reporting the true distance they
had traveled from their homeland.
 Christopher Columbus Discovers America 1492

▪This deception had only a temporary effect; by

October 10 the crew's apprehension had increased to
the point of near mutiny.
▪Columbus headed off disaster by promising his
crew that if land was not sighted in two days, they
would return home. The next day land was
discovered.
 “Friday, 12 Oct 1492

▪The vessels were hove to, waiting for daylight; and on

Friday they arrived at a small island of the Lucayos,
called, in the language of the Indians, Guanahani.
▪Presently they saw naked people.
▪The Admiral went on shore in the armed boat, and
Martin Alonso Pinzon, and Vicente Yanez, his brother,
who was captain of the Niña.
 “Friday, 12 Oct 1492

▪Having landed, they saw trees very green, and much

water, and fruits of diverse kinds.
▪The Admiral called to the two captains, and to the others
who leaped on shore, and to Rodrigo Escovedo,
secretary of the whole fleet, and to Rodrigo Sanchez of
Segovia, and said that they should bear faithful
testimony that he, in presence of all, had taken, as he
now took, possession of the said island for the King and
for the Queen his Lords, making the declarations that are
required, as is now largely set forth in the testimonies
which were then made in writing."
 “Friday, 12 Oct 1492

▪Shortly after landing, many of the island's inhabitants

assembled on the beach and Columbus gave them gifts
of red hats and beads.
▪The natives reciprocated with gifts of parrots, cotton
and other goods. In describing the natives, Columbus
wrote: "They go as naked as when their mothers bore
them, and so do the women, although I did not see more
than one girl. They are very well made, with very
handsome bodies, and very good countenances."
 Other groups of American People
▪The British – beginning in the 1600s, the British settled the eastern part of North
America.
▪African-Americans – From 1620 to 1820 by far the largest group of people to
come to the United States came.
▪Immigrants from Northern and Western Europe – Beginning in the 1820s
▪Immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe – From 1870s to the 1930s
▪Hispanic-Americans - People of Spanish or Spanish-American origin
▪Asian-Americans – From 19th century