The Indian, a short history

The Indian, was named by Columbus on his arrival in 1492, believing he had found a short route to India !


Most of us have seen the Indian depicted in the movies either as an attacker of the settlers as they moved West, or as a Warrior in battle trying, with honor, to protect his land.

Those famous Tribes we see depicted the most, actually came from as far away as Florida and had only been in the West for 100 years or so.

Until Columbus introduced the horse to the Americas in the 1500's the native peoples were pretty busy just trying to stay alive and spent their days hunting or farming.

The horse changed everything.

It meant that The Men, instead of taking all week to bring home the ''bacon'', could go out and be back the same or in the next days !

Well, since they didn't do ''Women's work'' what were they going to do for the rest of the week ?

I know, lets go raid another tribe and steal their Women !

And so the Warrior class came to be.

Most Indian tribes remained peaceful and were themselves the victims of the other tribes.

By the time the settlers started to ''invade'' these newly occupied lands, some of the nations were getting pretty good at fighting each other. Now they could turn their attention to the arriving intruders.

The rest, as they say, is history !

See also: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/NA-Tribes.html

The Cowboy

The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century became a figure of special significance and legend.[1] A subtype, called a wrangler, specifically tends the horses used to work cattle. In addition to ranch work, some cowboys work for or participate in rodeos. Cowgirls, first defined as such in the late 19th century, had a less-well documented historical role, but in the modern world have established the ability to work at virtually identical tasks and obtained considerable respect for their achievements.[2] There are also cattle handlers in many other parts of the world, particularly South America and Australia, who perform work similar to the cowboy in their respective nations.
The cowboy has deep historic roots tracing back to Spain and the earliest settlers of the Americas. Over the centuries, differences in terrain, climate and the influence of cattle-handling traditions from multiple cultures created several distinct styles of equipment, clothing and animal handling. As the ever-practical cowboy adapted to the modern world, the cowboy's equipment and techniques also adapted to some degree, though many classic traditions are still preserved today.