Indigenous Tribes & Culture: How Colonialism and Borderlands Affected Tribal Nations

Conclusion

   Despite the attempts to fight resettlement and to avoid being forced out of their homes, Native American tribes like the Cheyenne and Mohawk were not immune to the influence of European and white culture. Both tribes experienced similar interactions with traders and explorers, yet each tribe experienced a shift in trade differently than the other. The Mohawk would find ways to still be relevant in the trade industry, whereas the Cheyenne were considered less of a threat than any tribe around them, thus making them excellent and prominent traders in the Missouri Trade region and Great Plains. Both tribes would unknowingly enter an industry they would soon become reliant on. At first perhaps they thought their goods could manipulate the traders to propelling their tribes to economic prosperity and to some degree power over the lands they knew how to hunt best. However, both tribes would soon bend to the futuristic devices of the New World such as metal traps, firearms, and horses. Each tribe would have their own stake in this changing world, trying to hold onto what they had, and adapting to what they received.

   With that being said, we hold their origin and their history stories close. These tales tell of a time where things weren’t as dire as they used to be before interactions with traders from Europe. Although America was beginning to form around them, they tried to hold onto their sacred lands, while wading through an evolving social and political system. These stories are their culture, their stories tell how resilient they were. Indeed, even Lewis & Clark would be impressed with the way that the Cheyenne had carried themselves, and the way the used horses to dominate commerce in their region. These changes didn’t happen overnight, rather collectively over a span of generations and decades. As the times changed, so did the Mohawk and Cheyenne way of life. And with that, there is always a winner and a loser. Despite the implementation of horses, furs, hunting tools and firearms the Native Americans would be no match for what was ahead when the fur trade dwindled, and when they would lose control of the land they once roamed freely upon.
 

Contents of this path: