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After European contact 80-100 million died ~ 90+% of the indigenous population.
This was done consciously and intentionally by an overcrowded desperate Europe and many greedy wealth seeking people. A Spain seeking gold and silver evolved into a western expansion promising land and gold. Intentional annihilation by germ warfare, starvation and war removed all who opposed. The remaining were herded onto tiny reservations, often far from their native lands, their language and culture was made illegal, their children sent to boarding schools to be 'trained' in the Western ways. ~ Genocide ~
~ Colonial History Lied ~
"When Europe showed up in North America, Indigenous people were not nomads, not few, not savage, not impoverished, not recent immigrants, and were not looking for salvation.
Indigenous people had commerce, travel, economics, permanency, stewardship, inheritances, artistry, drama, ceremony, mourning, health care, politics, justice, penance, peacekeeping, and STILL DO."
~ Authors Journey ~
I was born in California to the lower middle class, I was first introduced to Indigenous Culture in "Indian Guides" as a kid. Given this was a white male interpretation, it was still better than the standard portrayal at the time of Indigenous people in movies and artifacts white people collected to display. It was not until I was forty and traveled to the Hopi lands that I actually saw native peoples and their lives from a respectful perspective. I read as much as I could on the Hopi people. Did you know that during the Irish potato famine they sent aid to Ireland? (likely helping some of my ancestors). Looking at the current lands on Google Earth you would almost think it was the surface of Mars. How could anyone live there, much less send aid anywhere? Yet, they did and do.
The Indigenous culture is totally foreign to the capitalist mind. It is even difficult to comprehend that we are even the same species. (We are) Continue to read this page and see if you can get the merest glimpse of the changes you would have to make to understand their way of life, then and now, and survive with them.
We need their knowledge and ways to save ourselves from mistakes of our own doing.
Our behavior as a culture says we definitely do not deserve it.
Will we survive?
Ohlone (Rumsen subgroup at PPLH)
From Monterey Bay to San Francisco, in a time before the land had these names, lived the Ohlone indigenous population. They arrived some 12-15,000 years previously. This is a brief attempt to tell of their life before European contact.
Divided into eight language/population groups (see map): Rumsen, Chalon, Mutsun, Awaswas, Tamen, Ramaytush, Chochenyo and Karkin
They lived as hunter-gatherers and harvesters in a virtual 'Garden of Eden'. Not possible to condense books of information and thousands of years of a culture into a few pages. This is ONLY a starting point to further discovery.
BIRTH: experienced women and helpers guided the experience from knowledge gathered over thousands of years.
FIRST TWO YEARS: baby is tightly bound to prevent movement. only allowed to see and hear surroundings during this time to help new person integrate into a culture that did not believe in separation from family, tribe or nature.
GROWING UP: no real obligations for ages 2-8 and genders not separated. at age 9 true training and integration begins for gender roles. female to gather and males to sweat lodge and hunting.
FOODS: acorns, nuts, grass seeds, and berries, hunted and trapped game, fish and seafood (including mussels and abalone).
SHELTERS: temporary, biodegradable. moved twice a year to accommodate where food was. back shelters in the hills and tule huts at the shoreline.
TOOLS: bones, antlers, stones, etc. picked up and modified for use. extensive use of woven baskets, etc.
CRAFTS: metal was rare and never for tools, likely traded for.
CLOTHING: men rarely wore clothing or minimal. not much was needed in such a mild climate.
RITUALS/BELIEFS: helped reinforce the Ohlone way. the ONLY way from their perspective.
PREDATORS: bears, mountain lions, wolves, coyotes, etc. much higher abundance than in the time of the first keepers. war as such was rare and did not involve mass casualties.
INNOVATION/LEADERSHIP: fastest way to get removed from the tribe was to suggest a 'better way' to do anything. there was ONLY one way, the ancestors way. individualism was forbidden. 'leaders' were chose on their capacity to help and give to everyone, NOT on basis of POWER / GREED as in our culture.
ELDERS/INFIRMED: treated with respect, cared for, feed, even after they could no longer contribute directly themselves.
WAR/OUTSIDERS: rare, only at edges of territory. settled quickly with minimal casualties. respect for all parties involved.
The takeaway lesson: Ohlone guided nature around them with seeding, controlled burns, thinning of herds, etc. their lifestyle was sustainable without lasting harm to the environment around them. not separate from nature, but an integral part of nature. a lesson we have lost.
We complain that others don't know how to do anything from our time period. This could be said of all of us if we went back to the Ohlone time.
References: Ohlone:Wikipedia, "The Ohlone Way" by Malcolm Margolin, California Institute for Community, Art & Nature