The American Indians have a unique and tragic history. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that they were able to survive the period of European settlement of the continent. The tragedy is associated with the conflict between the Indians and the white population. Despite all this, the history of the Indian people is full of optimism, because, having lost the lion's share of their ancestral lands, they survived and retained their identity. Today they are full citizens of the United States.
The main question of the article: where do the Indians live? Traces of this population can be traced on two continents. Many names in the USA are associated with these people. For example, Massachusetts, Michigan, Kansas and the like.
A little history, or who are called Indians
In order to understand where the Indians live, you need to decide who they are. Europeans first learned about them at the end of the 15th century, when in search of the treasured India they reached the shores of America. The navigator immediately called the local residents Indians, although it was a completely different continent. So the name stuck and became common to many peoples who inhabited the two continents.
If for Europeans the open continent was the New World, then hundreds lived here for about 30 thousand years. The newly arriving Europeans began to push the indigenous inhabitants into the interior of the country, occupying territories suitable for life. Gradually the tribes were driven closer to the mountains.
Reservation system
By the end of the 19th century, America was so populated by Europeans that there was no free land left for the Indians. In order to understand where the Indians live, you should find out what reservations are. These are lands poorly suited for agriculture, where the Indians were forced out. Living in this territory under agreements with the white people, they were supposed to receive supplies. However, this was often only in words.
Things got even worse when the government allocated 160 acres of land to each indigenous resident. The Indians were not ready to engage in farming, moreover, on unsuitable land. All this led to the fact that by 1934 the Indians had lost a third of their lands.
New course
In the first half of the last century, the US Congress made Indians citizens of the country. This was a great push forward regarding reconciliation between peoples, although rather belated.
The places where American Indians live, like themselves, began to interest Americans not from the point of view of profit, but from the point of view of the cultural heritage of their state. The United States has developed a spirit of pride in the diversity of its population. Many had a desire to compensate the descendants of the Indians for the unfair treatment to which their ancestors were subjected.
Where do the Indians live?
Indians live in two main geographic areas. These are North America and Latin America. To avoid confusion, it is worth noting that Latin America is not only South America, but Mexico and a number of islands.
Territory of settlement in North America
Where do Indians live in North America? This geographical area consists of two large countries - the USA and Canada.
Indian regions:
- subtropical regions;
- coastal areas of the northwestern part of the mainland;
- California is a popular Indian state;
- southeastern United States;
- territory
Now it’s clear where the Indians live, whose photos are presented in the article. It remains to point out that all of them are engaged in fishing, hunting, gathering, and producing valuable fur on their lands.
Half of modern Indians live in large cities and rural areas throughout the United States. Another part lives on federal reservations.
Indians in California
When you hear the question where cowboys and Indians live, the first state that comes to mind is California. This is connected not only with Westerns, but also with statistics. At least in relation to the Indians.
The largest Indian population lives in the state of California. This was confirmed by the population census over the past decades. Of course, the descendants of the Indians of this region are of mixed origin.
How do continentals live in California? Over the years, most of them have lost knowledge of their native language. Thus, more than 70% do not speak any language other than English. Only 18% speak the language of their people well, as well as the state language.
California Indians have preferential treatment when entering higher education institutions. However, most of them do not use them. About 70% of children from Indian families receive secondary education, and only 11% receive a bachelor's degree. Most often, representatives of the indigenous population are employed in service labor or agriculture. Among them there is also a high percentage of unemployment in relation to the average.
A quarter of California Indians live below the poverty line. Their homes often lack running water and sewerage, and many are forced to live in very cramped conditions. Although more than 50% still have their own housing.
There are also Indian reservations in California. In 1998, the court allowed indigenous residents to engage in gambling. This permission from the authorities was a significant victory. But it was not connected with the purpose of emphasizing a favorable attitude towards the Indians, but because it was impossible to engage in the usual trades on the territory of the reservation. The government took this step to give people the opportunity to earn a living by engaging in the gambling business.
In addition to such concessions, reservations in California have their own self-government, courts, and law enforcement agencies. They do not obey the laws of the State of California, while receiving government subsidies and grants.
Territory of settlement in Latin America
There is a group of Indians living in Latin America. Where the Indians now live in this geographical area, read below:
- throughout Latin America live the Aztecs and those who lived in Central America before the arrival of Europeans;
- a separate community are the Indians of the Amazon basin, who are distinguished by their specific thinking and foundations;
- Indians of Patagonia and Pampa;
- native people
After this, it is no longer a secret where they live. They were very powerful in their development and had their own government structure long before the arrival of Europeans.
It is quite difficult to answer unequivocally where the Indians live in our time. Many of them still adhere to their traditions, foundations, and live together. But there are also many who began to live like most Americans, forgetting even the language of their people.
I'm just an Indian. The wind is in my hair. I'm just an Indian. The rain washed away my paint. My strength is in my hands, the dance is in my feet. I will go as long as I have enough strength.
Indians is the name of the indigenous population of America, given to the natives by Columbus, who believed that the lands he discovered were actually India. Nowadays, in many American countries, the name “Indians” is replaced by the word “indigenous people”.
The ancestors of the Indians came from Northeast Asiaand settled both American continentsapproximately 11-12 thousand years ago. Indian languages form a separate group of Indian (Amerindian) languages, divided into 8 North American, 5 Central American and 8 South American families.
Among the Indians of Central America, the main place in mythology was occupied by myths about the origin of fire and the origin of people and animals. Later, myths appeared in their culture about the caiman - the patron of food and moisture and the good spirits of plants, as well as myths inherent in all types of mythologies - about the creation of the world.
When the Indians began to widely use maize crops in agriculture, myths appeared about the supreme female deity - the “goddess with braids.” It is interesting that the goddess does not have a name, and her name is accepted only conditionally, being an approximate translation. The image of the goddess unites the Indian idea of the spirits of plants and animals. “The Goddess with braids” is at the same time the personification of both earth and sky, and life and death.
Several economic and cultural types of Indians that existed at the beginning of European colonization and the corresponding historical and cultural areas are identified.
Hunters and fishermen of the Subarctic (northern Athapaskans and part of the Algonquins). They inhabit the taiga and forest-tundra of Canada and interior Alaska. Three subregions are distinguished: the plains of the Canadian Shield and the Mackenzie River basin, where the Algonquins (northern Ojibwe, Cree, Montagnais-Naskapi, Mi'kmaq, eastern Abenaki) and eastern Athabaskan (Chipewayan, Slavey, etc.) live; the subarctic Cordillera (from the middle Fraser River to the Brooks Range in the north), which is inhabited by the Athabaskan Chilcotin, Carrier, Tahltan, Kaska, Tagish, Han, Kuchin, etc., as well as the inland Tlingit; interior of Alaska (Athabascan Tanana, Koyukon, Quiver, Atna, Ingalik, Tanaina). They were engaged in seasonal hunting, mainly for large game (reindeer-caribou, elk, and in the Cordillera also mountain sheep, bighorn goats), seasonal fishing, and gathering (berries). In the Cordillera, hunting for small animals and birds (partridge) was also of great importance. Hunting is mainly driven and with traps. Tools made of stone, bone, wood; a number of peoples in the west (Tutchon, Kuchin, etc.) used mined (Atna) or purchased native copper. Transport: in winter - snowshoes, toboggan sleds, in summer - canoes made of birch bark (in the Cordillera - also made of spruce bark). They made blankets from strips of fur, bags from skins and birch bark, and the manufacture of suede was developed.
Traditional clothing (shirts, trousers, moccasins and leggings, mittens) made of skins and suede, decorated with porcupine quills and fur, and later with beads. They prepared dried meat, ground and mixed with fat (pemmican), and yukola. In the Cordillera, fermented fish and meat were consumed. The dwelling is mostly frame, covered with skins or bark, conical or dome-shaped from poles tied at the ends or supports with crossbars dug into the ground, in the west it is also rectangular; in Alaska, frame half-dugouts are covered with skins, earth and moss; among the Slavey and Chilcotin, buildings are made of logs and boards in the form of a gable hut.
They led a semi-nomadic lifestyle, concentrating and breaking up into small groups depending on the calendar cycle. Small families predominated. Households (from related small families or large families) were included in local and regional groups. Among the Athabaskans of Alaska and partly the Cordillera, matrilineal clans also existed. Certain groups of Cordillera Indians borrowed elements of the kinship structure from the Indians of the northwestern coast. Drawn into the fur trade by Europeans, many groups began to settle seasonally in villages near missions and trading posts.
Fishermen, hunters and gatherers of the northwest coast of North America. The ethnolinguistic composition is complex: Wakashi (Kwakiutl, Nootka, Bella Bella, Haisla, Makah, etc.), Salish (Bella Kula, Tillamook, Central Salish), Na-Dene macrofamily (Oregon Athabascan, Tlingit, possibly also Haida) and Tsimshian family .
The main activities are sea and river fishing (salmon, halibut, cod, herring, candlefish, sturgeon, etc.) using dams, nets, hooks, traps and fishing for sea animals (nook, makah - whales) on flat-bottomed dugout boats using stone and bone harpoons and spears. They hunted snow goats, deer, elk and fur-bearing animals, collected roots, berries, etc.
Artistic crafts were developed: weaving (baskets, hats), weaving (capes made of snow goat hair), processing bone, horn, stone and especially wood - typical totem poles made of cedar near houses, masks, etc. They knew the cold forging of native copper. They lived in settlements in large rectangular houses made of boards with a gable or flat roof, leaving them during the summer season. There was a prestigious economy (the custom of the potlatch), characterized by property and social inequality, developed and complex social stratification, division into nobility, community members, slaves (slavery of prisoners, debt slavery in the south).
The regions are distinguished: northern (Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Haisla) and southern (most of the Wakash and other peoples to the south). The north was characterized by a matrilineal kinship structure, women wearing labrets in the lower lip, while the south was characterized by the custom of head deformation, bi- and patrilineality. The Wakashi and Coast Salish may also be classified as an intermediate central region. In the north and among the Wakashi, totemism is widespread, among the Wakashi and Bella Coola there are ritual secret societies, also borrowed by the peoples of the North.
Gatherers and Hunters of California. The ethnolinguistic composition is heterogeneous: Hoka (Karok, Shasta, Achumavi, Atsugevi, Yana, Pomo, Salinan, Chumash, Tipai-Ipai, etc.), Yuki (Yuki, Wappo), Penuti (Wintu, Nomlaki, Patvin, Maidu, Nisenan, Yokuts , Miwok, Costaño), Shoshone (Gabrielino, Luiseño, Cahuilla, Serrano, Tubatubal, Mono), Algic macrofamilies (Yurok, Wiyot), Athapaskan (Tolova, Hupa, Kato).
The main occupations are semi-sedentary gathering (acorns, seeds, herbs, tubers, roots, berries; insects - grasshoppers, etc.), fishing, hunting (deer, etc.), among the peoples of the southern coast (Chumash, Luiseño, Gabrielino) - sea fishing and marine hunting (also in the north among the Wiyot). When collecting seeds, special tools were used - seed beaters. To maintain the productivity of gathering areas, regular burning of vegetation was practiced.
The main food product was washed acorn flour, from which they cooked porridge in baskets, lowering hot stones into it, and baked bread. The barter equivalent was bundles of disks made from shells. Weaving (waterproof baskets) was developed; Bird feathers were used as decorative material. Dwellings are domed dugouts, conical huts made of sequoia bark plates, huts made of reeds and brushwood. Ritual steam rooms (half-dugouts) and small barns for acorns (on stilts and platforms) are typical. Clothing - loincloths for men and apron skirts for women, capes made of skins.
The predominant social unit is a lineage (mainly patrilineal), territorial-potestary - a tribe (100-2000 people), which usually included several villages, led by the leader of one of them - often hereditary (by lineage), occupying a privileged position. There were ritual societies. Cases of male (sometimes female) travesty are typical.
The fish-rich Indians of northwestern California (Yurok, Tolova, Wiyot, Karok, Hupa, Chimariko) were similar in economic and cultural type to the Indians of the northwestern coast. The population was concentrated along the rivers, the main occupation being fishing (salmon). There was property stratification and debt slavery. The Indians of the highlands in northeastern California (Achumavi, Atsugewi) had some similarities with the Indians of the Plateau and Great Basin. The main activities are gathering (roots, bulbs, in some places - acorns, etc.), fishing, hunting deer and waterfowl. In northwestern and northeastern California, no signs of clan organization have been identified. In southern California, the cultural influence of the Indians of southwestern North America is noticeable; molded pottery was known among a number of peoples.
Farmers of the forests of Eastern North America. They combined manual slash-and-burn farming (corn, pumpkin, beans, etc.) with hunting (seasonal in the northeast), fishing and gathering. Tools made of stone, wood, bone; they knew cold working of copper and making molded ceramics. Copper deposits were developed west of Lake Superior and in the Appalachians. They worked the ground with sticks and hoes made from the shoulder blades and antlers of deer and elk. Settlements are often fortified. Tattooing and body painting, and the use of bird feathers for decorative purposes and clothing are common. There are two regions: North-East and South-East.
Indians of the Northeast (Iroquois, Algonquin) lived in temperate forests (also in the forest-steppe in the west) in the Great Lakes region. They collected maple sap. Wood processing and weaving were developed. They made boats from bark and dugouts, clothes and shoes (moccasins) from skins and suede, decorated with porcupine quills. Dwelling - a large rectangular frame house or an oval, sometimes round, dome-shaped structure with a frame of branches (wigwam), covered with bark plates or grass mats; in the north there is also a conical hut covered with bark.
The region included three historical and cultural areas. In the east (from Lake Ontario northwest to Lake Huron and southeast to the Atlantic Ocean) among the Iroquois (Hurons, Iroquois proper) and part of the eastern Algonquins (Delaware, Mohicans) the basis of social organization is a matrilineal clan divided into lineages and sublinages, forming family-kinship communities that occupied longhouses.
The Iroquois, Hurons, and Mohicans had a tribal organization; tribal unions arose (the Iroquois League, in the 17th century - the Mohican Confederation); among the Atlantic Algonquins, the main social-potestary unit was the village, the account of kinship was patrilineal or bilineal, territorial groups and their associations arose, led by hereditary leaders, possibly proto-midships (Narragansett sachemy, etc.). Exchange was developed. Since the 16th century, wampum (shell beads) has been used as an exchange equivalent and for ceremonial purposes. Traditional weapons are specially shaped wooden clubs (with a spherical head, a stone or metal blade). In the western region (northeast Mississippi Basin, areas south and southwest of Lake Michigan, Huron, Superior), inhabited primarily by the Central Algonquin (Menominee, Potawatomi, Sauk, Fox, Kickapoo, Muscaten, Shawnee, Illinois and Miami) and partly Sioux (Winnebago), characterized by patrilineal clans, tribal organization with a dual potestary structure ("peaceful" and "military" institutions), semi-sedentary seasonal habitation - in summer in frame houses in agricultural villages along the banks of rivers, in winter in wigwams in hunting grounds camps. They hunted deer, bison, and other game.
There were ritual societies and phratries (like the Iroquois in the east), large families. The northern region (north of the Great Lakes, also southeastern Quebec, New Hampshire and Vermont), inhabited by the Algonquins (southwestern and southeastern Ojibwe, Ottawa, Algonquin proper, western Abenaki), constituted the transition zone to the Subarctic. Agriculture (corn), due to latitudinal climatic conditions, was of secondary importance, the main occupation was fishing in combination with gathering and hunting. A patrilineal localized totemic clan is characteristic. In the summer they concentrated near fishing grounds, the rest of the time they lived dispersedly in small groups. In the west near Lake Superior and Michigan, the harvest of wild rice was important among the Menominee, Ojibwe, and others.
The cultures of the Indians of the Southeast developed in subtropical forest conditions (from the Mississippi River valley to the Atlantic Ocean). They belong to the Muskogees; on the periphery of the region lived the Algonquins of North Carolina and Virginia, the Iroquois (Chirokees) and the Sioux (Tutelo and others).
When hunting, they used a blowpipe. The winter dwelling is round, on an earthen platform (up to 1 m high), log, roof made of poles with clay and grass in between, the summer dwelling is rectangular, two-chamber with whitewashed walls, among the Seminoles in Florida - piled with a gable roof made of palm leaves, among the Algonquins - frame, covered with bark. Kinship structure is based on maternal filiation (except Yuchi). The Muskoges are characterized by the division of the tribe into “peaceful” and “military” halves. The Creeks and Choctaws had tribal alliances, and the Natchas and a number of other peoples of the southeast and Mississippi basin had chiefdoms that arose from the 8th to 10th centuries after the population explosion as a result of the widespread spread of corn. Social stratification developed and a privileged elite emerged.
Mounted hunters of the Great Plains. They belong to the Sioux (Assiniboine, Crow, Dakota), Algonquin (Cheyenne, Arapaho, Blackfeet), Caddo (Caddo itself), Shoshone (Comanche), Kiowa-Tanoan family (Kiowa). They were pushed to the Great Plains from the northeast and west of North America before and during European colonization in the 17th and 18th centuries. Having borrowed horses and firearms from the Europeans, they took up horse breeding and nomadic hunting for bison, as well as deer, elk, and pronghorn antelope. In the summer, driven hunting was carried out by all the men of the tribe. Weapons - bow and arrows, spear (among the Comanches, Assiniboines), stone maces, and later guns. In winter, they split into nomadic communities, engaged in hunting and gathering (red turnips, milkweed buds, thistles, berries, etc.). The tools are made of stone and bone. During migrations, property was transported on drags, dogs, and later on horses.
The traditional dwelling is a tipi made of bison skins up to 5 m in diameter, with a hearth in the center and a smoke hole at the top. Tribal summer camps had a circular layout with a council tent (tiotipi) in the center. Each hunting community occupied its own place in the camp.
Traditional clothing made from deer or elk skin was decorated with feathers, porcupine quills and beads. Characteristic features include a warrior's headdress made of eagle feathers, bracelets and necklaces made of shells, teeth and animal bones. Tattooing and painting of the face and body are common. In the east, men shaved the sides of their heads, leaving a high ridge. They painted leather goods (clothes, tipis, tambourines), and made blankets from skins. An important role was played by the general tribal organization and men's unions. The hereditary power of the leaders was gradually replaced by the power of the military elite.
In the east of the Great Plains (prairies), a transitional type was formed that combined horseback bison hunting with manual slash-and-burn agriculture. They belong to the Caddo (Arikara, Wichita, Pawnee) and Sioux (Osage, Kanza, Ponca, Quapaw, Omaha, Iowa, Mandan, Oto, Missouri). Agricultural work was mainly carried out by women, while preparation of fields for sowing, herding horses and hunting were carried out by men. The land was cultivated with a hoe made from a buffalo shoulder, a rake made from deer antlers, and a digging stick. Settlements are circular, often fortified. A traditional dwelling - an "earth house" - was a large (12-24 m in diameter) half-dugout, a hemispherical roof made of willow bark and grass, covered with a layer of earth, and had a chimney in the center. Summer huts were located in the fields. After the crops sprouted, they migrated to the prairies to hunt bison and lived in tipis. They returned to the settlements to harvest the harvest. In winter they lived along the valleys of small rivers, where there was pasture for horses and game. Fishing (with the help of wicker traps) and gathering played a secondary role. Kinship structures based on maternal filiation predominated.
Two other transitional (or intermediate) types are represented by the Plateau and Great Basin Indians. Gatherers, fishers and hunters Plateau (highlands and plateaus north of the Great Basin between the Cascade and Rocky Mountains, mainly the Columbia and Fraser River basins): mainly Sahaptin (Nez Perce, Yakima, Modoc, Klamath, etc.) and Salii (actually Salii, Shuswap, Okanagan, Kalispell, Colville, Spokane, Cor-Dalen, etc.), as well as Kootenai (possibly related to the Algonquins). They were engaged in gathering (bulbs of the camas plant, roots, etc., among the Klamaths and Modocs - seeds of water lilies), fishing (salmon) and hunting. Platforms were built over the river streams, from which salmon were shot with spears or scooped out with nets. Weaving (from roots, reeds and grass) was developed. The dwelling is a round half-dugout with a support made of logs and an entrance through a smoke hole, a gable grounded hut covered with bark or reeds. At summer sites there are conical huts covered with reeds. Transport - dugout boats, in the north (kutenai, kalispel) - canoes made of spruce bark with ends protruding under the water in front and behind ("sturgeon nose") for shallow rivers; Dogs were also used to transport goods. The basic social unit is the village, headed by a chief. There were also military leaders. Some tribes (Modoc and others) captured slaves to sell (to tribes on the northwest coast). In the 18th century, the Indians of the Plateau were strongly influenced by the Indians of the Great Plains, from whom many peoples adopted horse breeding, types of clothing (ceremonial feather headdresses, etc.) and dwellings (teepees), and in the east they switched to horseback bison hunting.
Hunters and gatherers of the Great Basin: Shoshone (Paiute, Ute, Proper Shoshone, Kawaiisu) and Washo, related to California Indians. The main occupations are hunting (deer, pronghorn antelope, mountain sheep, rabbits, waterfowl, and bison in the north and east) and gathering (mountain pine seeds, etc., acorns in some areas), on the periphery of the region (west and east) near large lakes - also fishing. The dwelling is a conical hut or dome-shaped building on a frame of poles covered with bark, grass or reeds, a wind barrier and a semi-dugout. The meat was dried in thin strips. Clothes (shirts, trousers, moccasins with leggings, capes) made from bison, deer, and rabbit skins. They led a nomadic lifestyle, gathering in settlements in winter. There was a small family and amorphous local groups. In the 18th century, they adopted horse breeding from the Indians of the Great Plains; In the north and east, horse hunting for bison spread.
Farmers and pastoralists of southwestern North America (southwestern United States and northern Mexico). Several economic and cultural types are represented in the region; the central place belonged to Pueblo farmers, who have a complex ethnolinguistic composition. The heyday of their culture falls on the X-XIV centuries - the time of the existence of huge multi-storey residential buildings (Chaco Canyon, Casas Grandes). They were engaged in dry-land and irrigated agriculture (corn, beans, pumpkins, etc., and from the mid-18th century - wheat and cotton, fruit trees). They borrowed domestic animals from Europeans. Seasonal hunting and gathering were of an auxiliary nature. Among the peoples surrounding the Pueblo zone (southern Athapaskan - Navajo, Apache) or occupying the south and east of the region (mainly speaking the languages of the Uto-Aztecan family - Pima, Papago, Yaqui, Mayo, Tarahumara and others, and the Hoca macrofamily), along with In agriculture or instead of it, hunting and gathering were important (Papago, Seri, partly Apache). Some Apaches developed agriculture and cattle breeding (Navajo). The Pueblos and Navajos have developed weaving, silver jewelry with turquoise is typical, and many peoples have “sand painting” - cult images made of colored sand and corn flour. Social organization was based mainly on clan structures with maternal filiation, and among the Pueblos also on religious societies.
Indians of central and southern Mexico, Central America, the Greater Antilles and the Andes (Mayans, Aztecs, Mixtecs, Zapotecs, Amusgo, Pipil, Chibcha, Quechua and others). The Mesoamerican, Caribbean and Andean regions are distinguished. They were engaged in intensive manual farming using artificial irrigation (Mexico, Peru), terracing of mountain slopes (Peru, Colombia), raised bed fields (Mexico, Ecuador, mountainous Bolivia), and in forested mountainous areas and tropical lowlands, as well as slash-and-burn farming. They grew corn, legumes, pumpkins, cotton, vegetables, chile peppers, tobacco, in the highlands - mountain tubers, quinoa, in the humid tropical lowlands - sweet cassava, sweet potatoes, xanthosoma, etc. In the central and southern Andes, llamas, alpacas, guinea pigs, in Central America - turkeys, on the coast of Peru - ducks. They were engaged in hunting (in the central Andes - hunting), fishing was of greatest importance on the coast of Peru.
Traditional crafts - pottery, patterned weaving on vertical hand looms, weaving, woodworking (men). In the pre-Hispanic states, architecture, monumental and applied art, trade, including maritime trade, were developed on the coasts of Mexico and Ecuador. In the Andes, copper and gold metallurgy appeared in the 2nd millennium BC, and bronze in the 1st millennium AD. Modern settlements are hamlets (caseria) and villages of scattered or crowded layout (aldea), surrounding a community center - a pueblo village. The dwelling is single-chamber, rectangular in plan, made of mud brick, wood and reeds, with a high double or hipped thatched roof; in the south of Central America and Colombia it is round, with a conical roof.
For Central America, fireplaces made of three stones, flat or three-legged clay pans, and tripod vessels are typical; for North and Central America (especially Mexico) - steam baths. Traditional clothes made of cotton and wool. Richly ornamented huipilis, serapes, ponchos, women's swinging skirts, and straw hats are typical. The large patriarchal family predominated. In the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, small proto-state associations such as chiefdoms appeared in Mexico and Peru, and in the first half of the 1st millennium AD - large state formations (Mayan, Zapotec, Teotihuacan, Mochica, Wari, Tiahuanaco cultures).
Indians of the South American tropical lowlands and highlands east of the Andes (Arawaks, Caribs, Tupi, Pano, Huitoto, Tucano, and others). Main occupations - manual slash-and-burn farming (bitter and sweet cassava, sweet potatoes, yams and other tropical tubers, corn, peach palm, after contact with Europeans - bananas), fishing (using plant poisons), hunting (with bow and blowpipe ) and gathering. In the floodplains of large rivers, fishing and intensive agriculture (corn) predominated; in the forests on the watersheds, hunting, gathering, and primitive gardening prevailed; in the dry savannas, itinerant gathering and hunting, along with sedentary agriculture in the adjacent forests during the wet season, prevailed. In the wet, flooded savannas of Venezuela, Eastern Bolivia, and Guiana, intensive farming in raised bed fields was found.
Pottery, weaving, wood carving, monumental painting on the walls of communal houses (tukano, carib), and the making of feather jewelry, and after the Spanish conquest, beads, were developed. The main dwelling is a large house (maloka) 30 m long or more, up to 25 m high for large families and huts for small or large families. The Indians of the Brazilian Highlands are characterized by ring-shaped or horseshoe-shaped settlements. Cotton clothing or tapas (loincloths, aprons, belts) were often absent; capes and shirts influenced by the Andean Indians spread in the west. Among the Indians east of the Andes, autonomous communities of up to 100-300 people prevailed; chiefdoms arose in the fertile floodplain lands of the Amazon, Orinoco, Ucayali, and Beni; small wandering groups were found in the interior forest areas. The family is large, matrilocal, in the north-west of the Amazon - patrilocal.
The Indians of the Chaco Plain (northern Argentina, western Paraguay, southeastern Bolivia) have guaicuru, lengua, mataco, samuco and others- main occupations - fishing, gathering, hunting, primitive agriculture (after river floods), after borrowing horses from Europeans, horse hunting was adopted by a number of tribes.
Wandering hunters of the steppes and semi-deserts of the temperate zone of South America - Patagonia, Pampa, Tierra del Fuego (Tehuelche, Puelche, Ona, or Selknam). The main occupation is hunting ungulates (guanaco, vicuña, deer) and birds (rhea), after borrowing horses from Europeans - horse hunting (except for Fuegians). The characteristic weapon is the bola. Leather dressing and coloring were developed. The traditional dwelling is the toldo. Clothing - loincloths and capes made of skins. The family is large, patrilineal, patrilocal. The Araucans of central Chile were more likely to resemble the peoples of the Amazon in terms of social organization and type of economy.
Marine gatherers and hunters of the southwest of Tierra del Fuego and the Chilean archipelago - Yamana (Yagans) and Alakaluf. European colonization interrupted the natural development of Indian culture. After a demographic shock caused by the spread of previously unknown diseases, Europeans occupied many of the lands of the Indians, pushing them into uninhabitable areas. In North America, many peoples were involved in the unequal fur trade; in Latin America, they were turned into dependent peasants (initially, sometimes into slaves). Since the 1830s, the United States began to pursue a policy of relocating Indians to the west (the so-called Indian Territory, since 1907 - the state of Oklahoma) and the formation of reservations. In 1887, the division of tribal lands into individual plots (allots) began. The number of Indians in the USA over two centuries decreased by 75% (237 thousand people in 1900), many peoples (eastern USA, Canada and Brazil, the Antilles, southern Chile and Argentina, the coast of Peru) completely disappeared, some were divided into separate groups ( Cherokees, Potawatomi and others) or united into new communities (Indians of Brothertown and Stockbridge, see the article Mohicans, Lumbee in North Carolina). In many Latin American countries, Indians have become an important component in the formation of nations (Mexicans, Guatemalans, Paraguayans, Peruvians and others).
The largest modern Indian peoples: in Latin America - Quechua, Aymara, Aztecs, Quiche, Kaqchiqueli, Maya of Yucatan, Mame, Araucans, Guajiros, in North America - Northern Athapascans, Navajo, Iroquois proper, Cherokee, Ojibwe. There are 291 officially recognized Indian nations in the United States and about 200 rural Aboriginal communities in Alaska, and there are about 260 reservations. The largest Indian population is in the states of Oklahoma, Arizona, California, in Latin America - in the mountainous regions of Central and Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia, Peru, in Canada - mainly in the north of the provinces of Ontario and Quebec and in the western provinces - British Columbia, Saskatchewan , Manitoba, Alberta. The urban population is growing (more than half of the Indians of North America, especially in the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and in South America - the cities of Maracaibo and Lima). Cities arose on reservation territories. In Canada, mainly in the northern and interior regions, the Indians retained part of their ethnic territories, which were also turned into reservations. 
Modern Indians perceive European culture and languages. About 50% use their native language in everyday life. Many Indian languages are on the verge of extinction. Some languages (Quechua, Aymara, Nahua, Guarani) are spoken by several million people, there is literature, the press, and radio broadcasting. In the USA and some Latin American countries, since the end of the 19th century, there has been a trend towards an increase in the number of Indians. The standard of living is lower than the rest of the American population. The main occupation is hired work on reservation territories and in cities, in Canada - in logging; Indians in cities mostly maintain ties to reservations. They are also engaged in farming, small business, crafts and making souvenirs, part of their income comes from tourism and renting out their lands. The 1934 law introduced restrictions in the USA. self-government of Indian reservations through elected community councils operating under the control of the government Bureau of Indian Affairs. In Canada, until the late 1960s, about half of Indians retained traditional occupations. In Latin America, people are mainly engaged in manual farming, wage work on plantations and in industry, and handicrafts. Some small groups in Latin America largely preserve traditional culture. In Latin America, especially in Colombia and Peru, growing coca on orders from drug cartels has become an important source of income for certain groups.
The Indians of North America are mainly Catholics and Protestants, the Indians of Latin America are mainly Catholics. The number of Protestants is growing (mainly in the Amazon). Syncretic Indian cults are characteristic - the “longhouse religion” (which arose around 1800 among the Iroquois), the native Church of America (peyotism) (which arose in the 19th century in northern Mexico), Shakerism (in the northwest of North America), the Church of the Cross (in the river area Ucayali, arose in the 1970s), dance of the spirit (19th century), etc. Among the Indians of Central and South America, pre-Hispanic cults are syncretically merged with Catholicism. Many Indians maintain traditional cults. Characteristic are theatrical performances accompanied by dancing in masks.
Since the mid-20th century, Indians have experienced a growth in ethnic and political self-awareness and a revival of interest in their native language and culture. 57 educational centers have been created in Canada, and 19 colleges controlled by Indian communities in the USA. Intertribal and national Indian organizations were formed. The largest: in the USA - the National Congress of American Indians, the National Council of Urban Indians, the National Association of Community Council Presidents, the American Indian Movement - the center of the spread of pan-Indianism - is part of the International Indian Treaty Council, which enjoys the status of a UN non-governmental organization; in Canada - the National Brotherhood (Assembly of First Nations); in Latin America - Confederation of Indian Nationalities of Ecuador, Ecuarunari, Federation of Shuar Indian Centers, National Indian Confederation of Mexico, National Indian Association of Panama, Indian Confederation of Venezuela, Army of the Poor of Guatemala, Union of Indian Nations of Brazil, as well as international organizations: World Council of Indian Nations , Indian Council of South America. Some organizations resort to armed struggle.
This is the world's largest memorial dedicated to the most famous Indian - This is the Crazy Horse Memorial. It is located in South Dakota. And this sculptural composition is dedicated to the most famous Indian leader, who was incredibly warlike. His Lakota tribe resisted to the very end the American government, which took away the land where they lived.
The leader, who bore the name Crazy Horse, became famous back in 1867. It was then that a terrible war broke out between the local Indians and the Europeans who invaded the continent. Only Crazy Horse was able to rally his people. And in one of the battles they even defeated the detachment of William Fetterman. The leader took part in all important battles. And only his faith in the future, a good amount of courage and bravery were able to convince the Lakota tribe of their strength and power. Crazy Horse was never hit by an enemy's arrow.
In the mid-20th century, it was decided to make a giant statue that would depict Crazy Horse in full height. This project was proposed by the architect Tsiolkovsky. The master worked on his masterpiece for more than 30 years, but was only able to complete the leader’s head. And work on the statue continues now. However, this does not prevent the memorial from being a popular place for tourists. Moreover, there is a unique museum dedicated to the Indians right there.
The Indians wanted the monument to depict Crazy Horse. The main reason is that Crazy Horse was an outstanding Indian - a brave warrior and a brilliant military strategist. He was the first Indian to use the decoy system. He never signed any treaties and never lived on a reservation. There is a famous story about how Crazy Horse responded to a white trader who mocked him for refusing to live on a reservation, even though most of the Lakota Indians already lived there. The merchant asked: “Where are your lands now?” Crazy Horse “looked toward the horizon and, pointing his hand over his horse’s head, proudly said: “My lands are where my ancestors are buried.”
In 1877 it became clear that the forces were unequal. Continuing the war would simply lead to the destruction of the entire Lakota people, Crazy Horse signed the act of surrender. One day he left the reservation without permission, which gave rise to rumors of an impending rebellion. Upon his return he was arrested. At first, the leader did not fully understand what was happening, but when he saw that he was being taken to the guardhouse, he became indignant and began to resist the convoy. One of the soldiers stabbed him with a bayonet. The great warrior and leader died in a peaceful camp, and not in battle.
We are Indians, brother, our gaze will give us away...
America, Arizona, red rocks, desert, cacti, February, +28 C, piercing blue sky and dazzling white sun, not a single cloud. The locals call this weather boring, because every day is the same... My friend John and I are traveling in a jeep to the White Mountains - the sacred lands of the Apache tribe, where the reservations are located. Some 50 minutes and we went from summer to winter: there was snow and pine trees all around, as if there were no cacti...
How do Indians live today?
I, like most Russian people who have only seen Indians in movies, had the impression that Indians on reservations live in “wigwams” (the correct name is “teepees”) and wear leather clothes with feathers. Imagine my disappointment when, when I first arrived on the reservation, I saw dilapidated huts like those in Russian villages, rickety fences, rusty cars, bumpy roads covered with rubbish and old tires, and drunken, wide-faced (like our Buryats) men in jeans and baseball caps, with a bottle in hand... “Oh my God,” I thought, “just like in a Russian village!” Maybe we have one big reservation in Russia?” Fortunately, I visited different reservations and a total of four tribes - Apache, Hopi, Navajo and Zuni. And here’s what I noted: in those tribes where the Indians managed to preserve their indigenous cultural tradition, spirituality, there were no problems with drunkenness. They drank themselves to death only in places where traditions had been lost. It dawned on me! We have the same situation in Russia - in the villages people are drinking themselves to death because they have not preserved the traditions of the indigenous, tribal culture of life on earth.
Reservations
Anyone can enter the territory of most reservations - now there are no fences or barriers, there is only a sign at the entrance: “Zuni Land”, or “Hopi Land”. But you can only stay on reservations if you have friends there. Indians do not make casual acquaintances. You need to be introduced by a good friend, then you get into your family. My friend John introduced me to the Indians. He is white, but has worked for many years for charitable organizations on various reservations. John was close friends with several Indian families. The Indians immediately accepted me as one of their own. Apparently, the Russian spirit in me was in tune with the Indian, and they felt it. The closer I became acquainted with the culture and spirituality of the Indians, the more I felt the depth of this tradition, its closeness to the traditions of our Slavic ancestors.
Some tribes still tell the story of how their ancestors came from Siberia from mouth to mouth. The traditional homes of the Hopi and Navajo tribes are six- and octagonal log houses with a smoke hole in the center of the cone-shaped roof. The indigenous inhabitants of Altai have exactly the same traditional houses. But the majority of Indians on reservations still live not in traditional dwellings, but in “caravans” - trailers permanently installed on blocks, or in “bungalows” - cheap frame houses.
In my opinion, it is impossible to eat regular American food in the USA. On the reservations, the food prepared by the Indians was very tasty and similar to ours. It is not for nothing that potatoes, which have become traditional for Russians, came from the Indians. From them tomatoes, corn, pumpkin and tobacco came to us. Tobacco is an example of the misuse of a traditional product. After all, Indians smoke tobacco only during prayer. One Indian told me that if all smokers prayed when they smoke, we would live in a completely different world.
Interestingly, the flying flag of the United States can be seen much more often on reservations than in the rest of the United States. However, US laws do not apply on reservation lands. Therefore, offenders escaping from US justice find refuge on reservations, which significantly increases the crime rate there. For the same reason, you can often see casinos there, which are prohibited in most of America. Each tribe has its own police force and its own laws. Photography is generally prohibited on reservations. But I took several photographs with the permission of the Indians.
Traditions
Like the ancient Slavs, almost the entire ritual life of the Indians is connected with solar and lunar cycles. Thus, the points of the summer and winter Solstice, spring and autumn Equinoxes in their tradition are key and determine the entire course of their lives. According to the lunar cycle, the Indians usually perform the “Sweat Lodge” ritual, or, in Indian, “nipi”. They are offended if anyone calls this ritual an Indian bath. They don’t wash or take steam in the “svetlodcha”, although they pour water on hot stones there, like in a bathhouse. They pray in the "lightboat". Indians pray for relatives, for friends, for enemies, for their people and for all humanity. It is not customary for them to pray only for themselves. At the same time, the temperature in the lighthouse can be so high that it can only be withstood in a state of prayer. This is a rite of internal and external cleansing. Before entering the lighthouse, you must cleanse yourself through fumigation with wormwood smoke. For Indians, wormwood is one of the most sacred plants, the smell of which expels unclean things from the home, from the physical and subtle bodies of a person.
The Indians have a reverent attitude towards the elements - earth, water, fire and air - as if they were living entities. For example, throwing garbage into the fire of a home is considered unacceptable, a disrespectful attitude towards the fire and the house.
Indians are a people of few words. Only they can express themselves so succinctly, deeply and poetically, even in English. “Walk your talk” - they say (I won’t translate it, because it won’t work out so beautifully). Or the phrase “Look towards the Sun and you will not see a shadow” poetically reflects their worldview.
When John and I went to the Indian sanctuary, Spider Rock, on the Navajo reservation in Dae Shay Canyon, our guide was an 82-year-old Indian, Jonesy. John asked the Indian something for a long time and after a significant pause, Jonesy answered briefly: “Yes.” Then John again asked some questions, and each time the Indian answered simply “Yes” or “No.” I did not hear any other words from his lips. Jonesy took us to Spider Rock, where, according to legend, the Spirit of the Spider Woman lived, who taught the Navajo Indians to weave, weave and sew clothes. The spider, like the web, is a positive image among the Indians. Indian dream catcher amulets are made in the form of a spider web. Such an amulet is hung on the window and it is believed that at night it allows only good energies to pass through, and catches bad ones in its net, so that only good dreams can be had. Such “dream traps” are now sold in ethnic souvenir shops in Russia. But I have to disappoint you: almost all of them are made in China. Just like the Russian nesting dolls I saw in ethnic gift shops in Arizona. From a distance they look like nesting dolls...
The special relationship of Indians to the land
They say: “the earth does not belong to us, we belong to the earth.” Deep responsibility for the earth and for the whole Earth is an integral part of their spiritual culture. Indian dances are not just a spiritual practice that allows the dancer to communicate with the Great Spirit (“Wakan Tanka”), but a ritual of self-sacrifice that atones for the sins of all humanity and restores the connection between man and nature. In this ritual, the dancer dances non-stop from sunset to sunrise for several nights in a row, which requires incredible fortitude and courage. If a dancer falls, this is a bad sign - there will be a hurricane, drought or other cataclysm. The Indians know for sure that nature depends on them just as they depend on nature. They believe that the world still holds together thanks to their dances, and that all the earthquakes, diseases and disasters on Earth are due to the fact that people have lost contact with Nature and are raping it.
This is what the Ojibwa Indian prayer sounds like:
"Progenitor,
Look at our brokenness.
We know that throughout Creation
Only the human family has strayed from the Sacred Path.
We know that we are the ones who are divided
And we are the ones who must return,
To walk together along the Sacred Path.
Progenitor, One Holy One,
Teach us love, compassion, respect,
So that we can heal the Earth and heal each other."
For the Indians, Nature is a sacred living book through which the Great Spirit communicates with them. A flying bird, a running animal, a gust of wind, the sound of leaves, a floating cloud - all these are living signs and symbols that the Indian reads, just as we read letters and words. When the Indians greet each other, they say: "O metako ash", which means "all my brothers." The Indian says the same greeting when he enters the forest, approaches a lake, or meets a deer. All beings in the sacred circle of Nature are brothers for the Indian.
From the history
When the first whites landed on the shores of America, they ran out of food and were dying of hunger. The Indians brought food to the whites, taught them to grow local crops, and they survived. This day is now celebrated as the biggest holiday in America - Thanksgiving Day. For more than half a century after this, Indians and whites lived in peace. Immigrants from Britain had healthy children and they all survived, while in Britain itself at that time only every eighth child survived. Whites developed the land and were engaged in agriculture. The Indians were hunting. There was a mutual exchange of products. Then the whites surrounded their plots of land with fences. But the Indians did not seem to notice the fences and continued to move freely through them while hunting. The whites did not like this and they began to explain to the Indians that beyond the fence was their own land. This is where it all started! The Indians could not understand how land could be someone’s property? How can land be sold or bought? The war has begun...
We can roughly imagine what happened to America next. I can say that mainly those tribes that adopted Christianity managed to survive and preserve their traditions. They simply incorporated Christianity into their traditions. On the Navajo reservation I visited a Christian temple. The temple was built of logs in the traditional octagonal shape, the entrance is from the East, in the center of the cone-shaped roof there was a one and a half meter hole in the sky, under it there is the same hole in the floor, there is earth. “Heaven and earth are sacred to us,” the Indians explained to me. An icon of Jesus Christ hung on the wall. Christ was red-skinned, wearing a loincloth and with the symbol of the Sun on his blessing hand. The Indians turned to the four cardinal directions sacred to them, Heaven and Earth, and began a prayer in the Navajo language with the words: “Oh, Jesus Christ, son of God, our elder brother, come to us...”
Here I cannot resist telling you an anecdote that I heard from white Americans: One Indian somehow ended up with a high-ranking priest. He taught the Indian Christian commandments, showed him a crucifix and icons. Suddenly the Indian noticed a telephone next to the priest’s chair. “What is this?” - asked the Indian. “And this is a direct telephone line to God,” answered the priest. "Is it true? Can I try it? - the Indian asked. The priest scratched the back of his head and said: “Actually, it’s possible, but not for long, it’s an expensive call over a long distance...” A few years later, this priest was passing through that Indian’s reservation. The Indian was glad to see him and showed him the village, local rituals and traditions. Suddenly the priest noticed an old, shabby telephone at the feet of the Indian. "And what's that?" - asked the priest. “And this... this is a direct telephone to God,” said the Indian. “Can we talk?” asked the priest. “Yes, of course,” said the Indian, “and you can talk as much as you want, this is a local call...”
Most Indians are very jealous of their traditions and protect them from the whites in every possible way. I’ll tell you a real life story on this topic. Traditionally, Indians from different tribes meet at the annual Pow Wow festival. This usually takes place in a stadium, where there is a stand with spectators and a platform on which various kinds of games, competitions, dances, etc. take place. All participants in competitions and dances are usually dressed in traditional clothes made of leather with beads and feathers, as we are used to seeing in the movies. But most of the Indians sitting in the stands are dressed like ordinary Americans in jeans, T-shirts and baseball caps. There are also white people among the spectators, because... this event is open to everyone. So one white man, apparently an adherent of Indian culture, sat on the podium in traditional Indian clothing made of leather and feathers. The Indians looked sideways at him for a long time, then they couldn’t stand it, they came up and said: “Listen guy, we don’t like that you wear our national clothes. Go change clothes." The guy turned out to be no mistake. He changed into jeans, a T-shirt and a baseball cap, went out onto the court and, turning to the Indians sitting in the stands, said: “Guys, I don’t like the fact that you are dressed in my national clothes. Go, change clothes...”
But among the Indian shamans there are also those who sincerely share the depth of their tradition with the whites. Such, for example, is the leader Sun Bear, who founded the famous community “Sun Bear Tribe”, where Indians and whites live together in peace and harmony. Some such shamans also come to Russia, where they communicate with adherents of Indian spiritual culture - Indianists. Russian Indianists also meet annually at their Pow Wow. The sight is, frankly, stunning: a clearing with dozens of “tepees” (wigwams), all people dressed in beaded leather Indian clothes, some on horses with bows, tomahawks and painted faces. Indian dancing and singing to the beat of a tambourine. You won't even see this in the movies! But you shouldn’t come there without an invitation - the Indians (even though they are Russian) are harsh people.
Indians are called Native Americans
They truly preserve their roots, passing on traditions to the next generations. For Indians, veneration of ancestors is not just a tribute of gratitude to previous generations, but a direct living connection with the spirits of their ancestors, to whom they turn for help, support and advice. The Indian knows that his ancestors live in him, and he lives in his descendants. Therefore, there is no death for him, he perceives a single stream of life of his kind, identifying himself with it, and not with a separate period of time the size of life. The Indians have a different attitude towards “death” than that accepted in the “white” civilization. The Indians have the same excellent attitude towards birth. For example, in some tribes, a child’s birthday is not considered the day of his physical birth, but the day on which the child laughed for the first time. The one who saw this and gives the child a name. The name is given in this way - a person goes outside and sees what the Great Spirit tells him through Nature: Dancing Coyote, Two Bears (the name of my friend), or Playing Wind.
One white American woman once asked me: “Do you have any indigenous people there in Russia?” “Yes,” I answered proudly, “I, for one!” Then, when I returned home to my northern village - the eco-village of Grishino, I thought: “What kind of indigenous person am I? Where are my roots? Fortunately, our ancestral memory is still strong and we can revive and strengthen our roots, our connection with our ancestors, traditions, family. This is what is happening now in Russian eco-villages, reviving the lost connection between Man and Nature, the place of which was determined by our ancestors: Human Nature.
Vladislav Kirbyatev. Ecovillage Grishino
So that my daughter, and at the same time the neighbor’s children, would not get bored at the dacha, I organized an INDIAN DAY for them. So, for no reason, just for fun...
The ages of our Indians were very different - from 4.9 to 13 years old, but everyone had fun.
Inventory - only what was at hand. The scene is a vegetable garden. Ideas - partially recycled from the Internet, some came to mind, some came up along the way... In general, everything is available to everyone. And the result is obvious. More precisely, on their faces.
So, on Sunday morning the Indians gathered in the main wigwam...
We made our own Indian headdresses...
(I cut out the “feathers” in advance from colored and white cardboard, and the headbands from a disposable tablecloth).
They applied war paint...
(There was no face painting, we made do with children’s cosmetics. It washes off better... And black is my eyeliner).
While we were transforming ourselves into Indians, we also learned that:
Indians lived in America (part of the world).
On June 24, descendants of the indigenous people of America celebrate the holiday in Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia.
The name “Indians” arose from the erroneous idea of Christopher Columbus, who considered the transatlantic lands he discovered to be India.
The term "Redskins" has nothing to do with the natural skin color of the Indians. It comes from the custom of one of the tribes that first came into contact with Europeans (in the 11th century with the Vikings, then in the 16th century with the British) - painting both the face and clothes with ocher. This tribe completely disappeared in the 19th century.
What are the names of the Indian tribes: Apaches, Navajos, Hurons, Iroquois, Mohicans, Delawares, Cherokees, Seminoles, Cheyennes, Comanches, Mayans, Aztecs, Incas, Guaranis and many others.
That the Indians were engaged in hunting and gathering, and sedentary tribes were also engaged in agriculture. The Indians also grew crops and raised domestic animals.
The peoples of the world adopted from the Indians the cultivation of corn (maize), potatoes, tomatoes, sunflowers, cocoa, cotton, tobacco, peppers, beans, peanuts, legumes, zucchini and other crops.
That an Indian's home is called a wigwam.
To obtain rubber shoes, South American Indians simply dipped their feet in the fresh juice of the Hevea plant, the plant from which rubber is obtained. As the juice froze, it turned into waterproof “galoshes.”
Then they divided into 2 tribes: IOTA-YOTA (girls 12 and 5 years old) and APACHE (girl 13 years old and boy 6 years old). The names were chosen by the children.
And here is the first task: the shaman gave each tribe a recipe for making a magic potion and a basket. You need to collect the ingredients necessary to prepare it. Right and for the time being.
Unfortunately, the photos have not survived, but the recipe was something like this:
COLLECT:
1 rowan leaf
3 lilac leaves
2 pine cones
1 oak leaf
2 plantain leaves
(for the second tribe the list was in reverse order - so that they wouldn’t run around in a crowd)
The IOTA-YOTA tribe won, although they finished second. The APACHE tribe failed to correctly follow the recipe for the potion.
And now the Indian relay race - “THE MOST EXPERIENCED COLLECTOR”!
We run to the pine tree, grab one cone at a time and quickly put this loot in our bucket.
Since our tribes were small in number, we had to go for cones twice.
IOTA-YOTA won again! 
Wow, it's hot outside! The pre-made lemonade was very helpful!
Fishing is one of the favorite pastimes of Indians. Here the APACHE tribe did not let itself get ahead of itself!
Slightly rested Indians compete in accuracy. The Apaches were on horseback again!
(each tribe had “its own” bucket, where the cube had to be hit). 
In the next test, an Indian spear was thrown, but the pale-faced paparazzi was distracted by something at that time, and only the legend of how the IOTA-YOTA tribe won a convincing victory, thanks to its experienced and fearless leader, will go down in history!
(The Indian spear was made from a birch stick, with ribbons tied on it - it turned out quite elegant).
Then we went to hunt bison. The buffaloes were balloons tied to a rope, and Indian darts replaced the cubes. The goal is to hit the bison.
And then came the finest hour of the youngest Indian of the IOTA-YOTA tribe!
The winning throw brought victory to the tribe!
And this is the victory dance of a younger Indian after a successful buffalo hunt.
Competition "Waterhole". We carry water from the watering hole with spoons and pour it into cups. The tribe that fills their glass the fastest wins.
The fight was intense! But still, the APACHE tribe snatched victory mainly thanks to their youngest fighter, whose victory dance is captured in the photo.
Although Indians are now losing popularity to pirates as characters for adventure games, playing "Redskins" is still a fun and enjoyable pastime for children. With this in mind, many teachers have arranged excellent adventures for their students in the spirit of Mine Reed and Fenimore Cooper.
If you are thinking about leading your own tribe, or are simply planning original entertainment, then the useful materials in this section will be useful to you. Of course, there is not a word about the “peace pipe” in them, but all the other attributes of the “Indian” theme are widely represented.
We go out on the Indian trail, making costumes and crafts in the style of “children of nature.”
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All sections | Indians. Children's games and entertainment on the theme of Indians
The leader announced to everyone all of a sudden: - Stand up Indians, in a circle! We're not in children's park, We are already in America. In the senior group, the event "Day" was organized Indians". It was unforgettable! The guys, together with their parents, prepared costumes for the event. There were no limits to imagination,...
Scenario for Mother's Day "Indians and cowboys are true friends!" Script dedicated to the holiday "Mother's Day" Indians and cowboys are true friends! Children enter the hall to the accompaniment of music. Cowboys team motto and Indians. M: Hao! Hao! Hao! Hao! Hao! Peace be with you brothers and sisters. And I greet you, my pale-faced friends. I'm great...
Indians. Children's games and entertainment on the theme of the Indians - Summary of the quest game for preschool children “On the Land of the Indians”
Publication “Summary of the quest game for preschool children “On Earth...” Quest - game “On the land of the Indians” Goal: creating conditions for the health of children and the development of psychophysical qualities. Objectives: to introduce children to the life and way of life of the Indian people, to improve the health of children during team championships; teach children to be healthy...
Image library "MAAM-pictures"
Cognitive and entertaining leisure time for senior preschool age “One day in the life of Indians” goal: - create conditions for the development of cognitive activity; - arouse interest in the traditions of different peoples; Objectives: - contribute to broadening the horizons of children; -...
Goal: continue to introduce children to poultry, develop interest in the natural world around them and cognitive activity. Objectives: Educational: continue to acquaint children with the characteristic features of the appearance, behavior, and lifestyle of poultry; form...
Summary of the developmental lesson “Journey to the Indians” for children of the senior group DEVELOPMENTAL LESSON BY A PSYCHOLOGIST IN A SENIOR GROUP “JOURNEY TO THE INDIANS” Goal: to develop self-control, attention, self-discipline, memory, observation, internal freedom, logical thinking, imagination and motor skills in preschoolers. Equipment: riddles, map, calm...
Indians. Children's games and entertainment on the theme of Indians - Scenario of entertainment “Indian Day” for the preparatory group
Objectives: 1. Formation of the basis of a healthy lifestyle in preschoolers, the need for behavioral skills of a healthy lifestyle. 2. Organization of favorable conditions for the future formation of a healthy and physically strong personality, nurturing in children a creative attitude towards...
Summary of the physical education game-geocaching for children 6–7 years old “On the Indian Trail” Goal: to promote the development of speed, agility, endurance, the ability to navigate using a map, developing the ability to solve assigned problems in a team. Objectives: 1. To develop children’s ability to navigate; 2. Improve coordination of movements; 3. Strengthen the skill...