Tribes of the Southwest

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1. Tribes and Indian Lands

There are a large number of Tribal Nations or Peoples in the US Southwest (A Partial list can be seen below). Different peoples have very different histories. As an example, the Puebloan peoples, including Hopi, Zuni, Acoma and Laguna seem to have been in this area for several millenia (the exact time does not matter), whereas others, like the Navajo (Dine) and the Apache have been there for shorter periods.

What is interesting and important is that this is the most dense aggregation of Indigenous peoples, both by total numbers and number of tribes in North America. As such it has served as a hotbed for both sovereignty issues, history, and a sort of Renaissance of Indigenous traditions, culture, and art.

These peoples have been invaded and colonized by various nations over the last 500 years. The Puebloan peoples led a rebellion against the Spanish in the early 1600's, which succeeded in driving out these invaders for a couple of decades. The Navajo lived in inaccessible canyons and mountains, but even some of their people were removed by Kit Carson and moved to Bosque Redondo in Eastern New Mexico for a decade or so before they were allowed to return. The various Apache peoples are known for their resistance to invasion and some groups were not defeated and forced onto reservations until early in the 20th Century.

It is important to remember that none of the lands inhabited by these various peoples were states until the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and much of this land was also inhabited by people who spoke Spanish, both European Spaniards and Hispano'Indio peoples, who were predominantly Indigenous in ancestry but were considered to be "Spanish" because that was the language they spoke. To this day, Spanish is more common than English in the Yaqui and O'odham peoples who inhabit southern Arizona.

Another point to consider is that, unlike the Eastern tribes who were relocated into the American Prairies and Oklahoma (Shawnee, Lenape, Pottawatomie, Kickapoo, Wyandotte, Ioway, etc.) most Southwestern indigenous Peoples still inhabit at least part of their former homelands and did not suffer relocation or allotment as did the more easterly tribes.

For today's exercise:

We will all sign on as collaborators on the same Google Map. You can use map markers, lines and polygons to indicate specific locations and boundaries. Put your name in your marker balloon, and add text, photos, links, etc