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

Introduction & Brief Overview

The lands that we exist on today once housed and nourished many indigenous tribes that spanned all over North America. These tribes had unique cultures, traditions, beliefs, and survival methods based on their location. Throughout the 17th & 18th centuries, we would begin to overpower the only places these Native American tribes had known for generations. Our expansion meant the degradation of the land in which they used to control, which would eventually push tribes closer to each other than they ever were, change their culture, their survival methods, and how they participated in commerce. This Scalar will focus primarily on the Cheyenne and Mohawk Tribes in North America. Stories of origin, what tribes found most sacred, and how interactions with European and American explorers affected the connections with tribes all illustrate the ways that expansion in the Great Plains and what is now modern day Wyoming and New York State permanently changed the way that these tribes existed. Both tribes are located in different parts of the country, and as you will learn, you will begin to see how location and expansion changed the ways that these tribes survived in a place that they were slowly losing control of. Continue onto the next page to begin learning about the Cheyenne Tribe. 

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