First indigenous map of its kind; U.S. map displays “Our own names and locations”

[redqueen]

Aaron Carapella, a Cherokee Indian, has taken it upon himself to create a map that shows the Tribal nations of the U.S. prior to European contact. The map is of the contiguous United States and displays the original native tribal names of roughly 595 tribes, and of that, 150 tribes are without descendants. Without descendants means that there is no one known to be alive from that tribe and are believed to be extinct.

Aaron’s journey to making the Native American Nations map began 14 years ago. At the age of 19, Aaron had already gained a great deal of knowledge from listening to stories from his family, elders from his tribe, and reading books on Native American history. To explain where his knowledge came from Aaron said, “My Grandparents would tell me, you’re part Native American and that’s part of your history. They would give me books to read about different tribes’ histories, so, I grew up with a curiosity of always wanting to learn more about Native American history.”

After reading the many books on Native tribes and not finding any authentic type maps which failed to accurately represent the hundreds of modern day and historical tribes, Aaron decided to start creating a map for himself that would be authentic and cultural. “The maps in the books were kind of cheesy, they only had maybe 50 to 100 tribes on them,” said Aaron.

The inspiration for the map to depict original tribal names came from a book that he was reading which explained the real names of tribes and reason they were given the names they have today.

“I didn’t want to make a map with just tribe’s given names on it. I wanted it to be accurate and from a Native perspective,” said Aaron.

...

http://unsettlingamerica.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/first-indigenous-map-of-its-kind-u-s-map-displays-our-own-names-and-locations/

So instead of Comanche, it'll say Numunuh. Nice

[Shrike47]

1. Seems like a lot of empty in the mid-West.

Kansas not liveable?

[temporary311]

2. How is that any different from today?

[SoCalDem]

3. tumbleweeds, cows, snakes, rocks

more tumbleweeds, more cows, more rocks

[LiberalEsto]

9. Tornadoes nt

[AnneD]

12. Kansas....

was a much fought over hunting ground, even prior to the rise of the warrior horse culture. Remember, many tribes had a semi nomadic culture that followed the migratory path of game. Tribes summered in one place and wintered in another. but the ability to gather and store food over rode all. Because they were use to fighting-they held off the Europeans for a long time, unlike the indigenous people in Australia or Japan.

There were many times in the history of this continent when European settlements were almost wiped out and a few time when there is a strong possibility they were. The Navajo and the Comanche are credited with preventing the Spanish from extending their empire in the Southwest past Texas.

The Indian Wars were the longest and most deadly war in USA history. A curious side note, early maps referred to Tribal Reservations as POW camps. If that doesn't spell it out for you I don't know what will.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. So cool, just shared

[Triana]

5. Bookmarked. Thank you! n/t

[blackspade]

6. Cool map.

I'm glad this was done. It really shows that there were a TON of people here before Euro-Americans showed up and proceeded to crush the native cultures.

[Sheldon Cooper]

7. We know that Western PA had many Native peoples, and yet

there are none listed on that map. I suppose it's possible that none lived here until after the arrival of the Europeans, but that seems like a stretch. I wonder about this.

[Roland99]

8. That's quite impressive!

[AnotherMcIntosh]

10. Many native Americans were migrants, and violent. The one-map-fits-all is a fiction.

The areas that they controlled from time to time changed.

[redqueen]

11. Oh, were they violent?

I hear this stuff all the time from one guy I know, who seems to find it so offensive that anyone might possibly think that there were no violent American Indians.

Thanks for the education.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

13. There's a small McIntosh town in South Dakota.

I was born in South Dakota with some Lakota blood in my heritage.

What I've found, with no exception, is that self-appointed spokesmen for the Native Americans always appear to be more White than the impoverished Native Americans still living on reservations.

In an almost comical way, it also appears that many of the self-appointed spokesmen publicly speak in a wooden way in a manner suggesting that they are imitating how Native Americans were portrayed as speaking in early movies and TV programs. Nowadays, most Americans (including those raised in South Dakota) speak with a Mid-Western accent. But not these guys.

It's now comical that anyone would believe that a one-size-fits-all map would fit all. During the Blackhawk War of 1832, some Sioux occupied the Iowa side of the Mississippi and help kill some of the Sauks who were trying to outrun American troops. Does the map show that occupation? Or that map also show that the Lakota occupied parts of Michigan from time to time?

Who drew that map? Someone who is unquestionably a descendant from Native Americans? Or another one of those I'm-part-Indian-and-therefore-I'm-an-Indian-and-an-authority-on-Indian-matters types? I don't claim in any way to be an authority on native Americans, but I certainly know that some Lakota descendants still remember their ancestors' migratory and violent ways with nostalgia and pride.