Bendik+-+Sioux


 * //__ Indigenous peoples of the America __//**
 * // av Bendik Baust. //**

Indigenous peoples are any group who inhabit a geographic region with which they have the earliest known historical connection. The term indigenous is quite new. Earlier there were used terms as aborigines, aboriginal people, native people and first people. For the indigenous people in North-America, “indian” is the most usual term, leaded by the english term “Indian”. The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North, Central, and South America. For the mostly they are referred to as Native Americans, Aboriginal, First Nation, Amerigine and Indians. The name Indians came from Christopher Columbus when he thought he had arrived to East India, but is now less usual because in English its very like people from India, so it is hard to tell the differ from the names. The term indigenous suits about 350 million people that live in about 70 countries. The situation of the indigenous people is variable depending in which continent they live in, which nature- and environment terms they live under, and of political, social and economic terms which different national states gives their indigenous people. I have chosen to study the Sioux Indians in depth.

**//__ Sioux. __//**

The Sioux Indians lived in America before the white men came and drove them away. They lived mostly on the great steps, from the Mississippi River to Rocky Mountains. They earlier lived along the rivers, before they were forced to move, when the white man settled down. They lived in small cabins made by thick branches covered with dirt and earth. The Sioux Indians were very peaceful people. When they were hunting, they lived in tipis. The Sioux Indians didn’t have a lot of furniture’s. The bed was buffalo skin. They also used buffalo skin to storage their food, so it would not rot.

Clothes were made of buffalo skin, the boys used trousers and the girls used robes The girls had long hair with two plaits, and both boys and girls wore feather in their hair. The Sioux Indians liked to paint their faces. They used a lot of colors, and painted symmetrical stripes. The painting consisted berries, juice from the fruits and some various herbs. Often when there was a special occasion, war or a celebration, they painted themselves extra nice. Before a battle they painted themselves with the color red, the color of blood. They didn’t just paint their faces but also stone walls too, often in connection with a well succeeded hunt or war/battle. Such painting can be found in caves today, often from earlier generation. When the Indians went hunting, they usual hunted for buffaloes, because they used all at the animals. The horns were made to spoons, the skins to clothes, the meat for food og the bones for tools. But beside, buffaloes, they also hunted for antilopes and several other animals. During the hunting, they surrounded the crowd and forced them off cliffs and rocks, or they used arrow and bow. This method was very efficient. The Sioux Indians believed in the Holy Spirit, a strength that was in everything and everyone. They used to gather in groups and pray, and a medicine- man was the leader of these groups. Often they sacrificed animals to the Holy Spirit. They also smoked the peace pipe, and came in a dreamy condition, where they believed to be in the holy world.

The Sioux Indians had some great chiefs, like Sitting Bull, who led them in the battle by Little Big Horn, in 1876. In the battle, hundreds of Sioux and Cheyenne-Indians met the Americans 7.cavalry witch was under control by Colonel George Armstrong Custer. The American cavalry was send by the American state to stop the group of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians, who was led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. The Americans had not expected that the Indians had sampled so many warriors that they had, and made many mistakes when they should dispose and place their troops. Custer commanded that the troops should split in two, witch should be fatal for the group under his leadership. They were driven upon a height where they one by one were killed by Indians attacking from all corners. Even if the Indians won the battle, this led to big consequences for them. The victory led to that the Americans where strongly provoked and send in larger forces to stop the Indians. This fear created a new wave of Indian hate among the white, which led to murder and massacre. The Indians, who had fought at the Little Big Horn, including Sitting Bull, where constantly on the run. At the end they had to surrender because of hunger and diseases. Sioux Indians today lives as American citizens, after the government had approved the Indians as national citizens, around 1900.

What the white man did to the indigenous, I think is none-human like. It’s barbarian what they did. It is a shame that humans can do such thinks to our own people.

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