Manifest Destiny, as a term for westward expansion, was not used until the 1840s. Its predecessor was the Doctrine of Discovery, a legal tradition by which Europeans and Americans laid legal claim to the land of the indigenous people that they discovered. In the United States, the British colonists who had recently become Americans were competing with the English, French, and Spanish for control of lands west of the Mississippi. Who would be the discoverers of the Indians and their lands, the United States or the European countries? We know the answer, of course, but in this book, Miller explains for the first time exactly how the United States achieved victory, not only on the ground, but also in the developing legal thought of the day. The American effort began with Thomas Jefferson's authorization of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, which set out in 1803 to lay claim to the West. Lewis and Clark had several charges, among them the discovery of a Northwest Passage—a land route across the continent—in order to establish an American fur trade with China. In addition, the Corps of Northwestern Discovery, as the expedition was called, cataloged new plant and animal life, and performed detailed ethnographic research on the Indians they encountered. This fascinating book lays out how that ethnographic research became the legal basis for Indian removal practices implemented decades later, explaining how the Doctrine of Discovery became part of American law, as it still is today.

Explore Native American Cultures! with 25 Great Projects introduces readers to seven main Native American cultural regions, from the northeast woodlands to the Northwest tribes. It encourages readers to investigate the daily activities—including the rituals, beliefs, and longstanding traditions—of America’s First People. Where did they live? How did they learn to survive and build thriving communities? This book also investigates the negative impact European explorers and settlers had on Native Americans, giving readers a glimpse into the complicated history of Native Americans. Readers will enjoy the fascinating stories about America’s First People as leaders, inventors, diplomats, and artists. To enrich the historical information, hands-on activities bring to life each region’s traditions, including region-specific festivals, technology, and art. Readers can learn Native American sign language and create a salt dough map of the Native American regions. Each project is outlined with clear step-by-step instructions and diagrams, and requires minimal adult supervision.

The archaeological remnants of the first Americans tell a story of advanced civilization and culture. From the Pueblo dwellings of the Southwest to the buffalo jumps of the Great Plains to the coastal villages of the Northwest, the author combines the latest field research with accounts of tribal life to offer a new perspective on Native American history, culture and ritual. Using a chronological and regional framework, Thomas describes each of the prehistoric early native cultures, including Paleoindians of the North, the moundbuilding Mississippian cultures, and the ancient Anasazi peoples of the Southwest. Covering nine million square miles and 25,000 years, Exploring Ancient Native America suggests more than four hundred accessible sites where individuals can observe the remains of prehistoric American cultures today. Thomas also includes relevant contributions from Native American scholars, poets, and activists on topics such as language, oral tradition, contact, and sacred sites. The most comprehensive guide available, Exploring Ancient Native America is an excellent primer on early Native American cultures in every region of the country for both the intrepid explorer and the armchair traveler.

This book addresses for the first time in a comprehensive way the place of Native American studies in the university curriculum.--Provided by publisher.

First Published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Employing innovative research and unique interpretations, these essays provide a fresh perspective on Native American history by focusing on how Indians lived and helped shape each of the United States. Native America: A State-by-State Historical Encyclopedia comprises 50 chapters offering interpretations of Native American history through the lens of the states in which Indians lived or helped shape. This organizing structure and thematic focus allows readers access to information on specific Indians and the regions they lived in while also providing a collective overview of Native American relationships with the United States as a whole. These three volumes synthesize scholarship on the Native American past to provide both an academic and indigenous perspective on the subject, covering all states and the native peoples who lived in them or were instrumental to their development. Each state is featured in its own chapter, authored by a specialist on the region and its indigenous peoples. Each essay has these main sections: Chronology, Historical Overview, Notable Indians, Cultural Contributions, and Bibliography. The chapters are interspersed with photographs and illustrations that add visual clarity to the written content, put a human face on the individuals described, and depict the peoples and environment with which they interacted.

'Telecommunications Technology and Native Americans: Opportunities and Challenges' examines the potential of telecommunications to improve the socioeconomic conditions of Native Americans - American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians - living in rural, remote areas, and to help them maintain their cultures and exercise control over their lives and destinies. The report discusses the opportunities for Native Americans to use telecommunications (including computer networking, videoconferencing, multimedia, digital and wireless technologies, and the like) in the realms of culture, education, health care, economic development, and governance. It also explores the challenges and barriers to realizing these opportunities, notably the need to improve the technology infrastructure (and access to it), technical training, leadership, strategic partnerships, and telecommunications planning on Indian reservations and in Alaska Native villages and Native Hawaiian communities. Prepared at the request of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, this is the first federal government report on Native American telecommunications. It provides a framework for technology planning and policy actions by Congress and relevant federal agencies, as well as by Native leaders and governments. Native Americans were involved throughout the study. OTA made site visits to six states and consulted with Native leaders and technology experts in about two dozen other states. Computer networking was used extensively for research and outreach, and OTA developed the Native American Resource Page for this study, a World Wide Web home page accessible via OTA Online (http://www.ota.gov/nativea.html).

Between the 1870s and 1950s collectors vigorously pursued the artifacts of Native American groups. Setting out to preserve what they thought was a vanishing culture, they amassed ethnographic and archaeological collections amounting to well over one million objects and founded museums throughout North America that were meant to educate the public about American Indian skills, practices, and beliefs. In Collecting Native America contributors examine the motivations, intentions, and actions of eleven collectors who devoted substantial parts of their lives and fortunes to acquiring American Indian objects and founding museums. They describe obsessive hobbyists such as George Heye, who, beginning with the purchase of a lice-ridden shirt, built a collection that—still unsurpassed in richness, diversity, and size—today forms the core of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. Sheldon Jackson, a Presbyterian missionary in Alaska, collected and displayed artifacts as a means of converting Native peoples to Christianity. Clara Endicott Sears used sometimes invented displays and ceremonies at her Indian Museum near Boston to emphasize Native American spirituality. The contributors chart the collectors' diverse attitudes towards Native peoples, showing how their limited contact with American Indian groups resulted in museums that revealed more about assumptions of the wider society than about the cultures being described.

"...an excellent overview of past and present Native American life." —Library Journal "Best research tool." —Lingua Franca Wide-ranging, authoritative, and timely, here is an illuminating portrait of America's Native peoples, combining information about their history and traditions with insight into the topics that most affect their lives today. From the upheaval of first contacts to the policies of removal to contemporary issues of self-determination, this useful sourcebook provides information on all aspects of Native American life. The Native American Almanac outlines topics of particular interest, such as the history of Native--white relations, the location and status of Native American tribes, religious traditions and ceremonies, language and literature, and contemporary performers and artists, and includes dozens of useful reference features such as: Maps of tribal areas, historical conflicts, and present-day reservations A detailed chronology of significant events Names and addresses of hundreds of organizations concerned with Native American affairs A listing of Native American landmarks, museums, and cultural centers from coast to coast More than 100 black-and-white photographs and drawings Visit us online at http://www.mgr.com