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INDIANS, NORTH AMERICAN

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 454 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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INDIANS, See also:NORTH See also:AMERICAN . The name of " American Indians " for the See also:aborigines of See also:America had its origin in the The name use by See also:Columbus, in a See also:letter (See also:February 1493) written ''Amer;- soon after the See also:discovery of the New See also:World, of the can See also:term Indios (i.e. natives of See also:India) for the hitherto Indians." unknown human beings, some of whom he brought back to See also:Europe with him. He believed, as did the See also:people of his See also:age in See also:general, that the islands which he had discovered by sailing westward across the See also:Atlantic were actually a See also:part of India, a mistaken See also:idea which later served to suggest many absurd theories of the origin of the aborigines, their customs, See also:languages, culture, &c. From See also:Spanish the word, with its in-correct See also:connotation, passed into See also:French (See also:Indian), See also:Italian and Portuguese (Indio), See also:German (Indianer), Dutch (Indiane), &c. When the New World came to be known as America, the natives received, in See also:English especially, the name " American Indians," to distinguish them from the " Indians " of See also:south-eastern See also:Asia and the See also:East Indies. The appellation " Americans " was for a See also:long See also:time used in English to designate, not the See also:European colonists, but the aborigines, and when, in 1891, Dr D. G. See also:Brinton published his notable monograph on the Indians he entitled it The American See also:Race, recalling the See also:early employment of the term. The awkwardness of such a term as " American Indian," both historically and linguistically, led See also:Major J. W. See also:Powell, the founder of the See also:Bureau of American See also:Ethnology, to , put forward as a substitute " Amerind," an arbitrary curtailment which had the See also:advantage of lending itself easily to See also:form words necessary and useful in ethnological writings, e.g. pre-Amerind, See also:post-Amerind, pseudo-Amerind, Amerindish, Amerindize, &c. Purists have objected strenuously to " Amerind," but the word already has a certain See also:vogue in both English and French.

Indeed, See also:

Professor A. H. See also:Keane does not hesitate, in The World's Peoples (See also:London, 1908), to use Amerinds " in lieu of " American Indians." Other popular terms for the American Indians, which have more or less currency, are " Red race," " Red men," " Redskins," the last not in such See also:good repute as the corresponding German Rothhaute, or French Peaux-rouges, which have scientific See also:standing. The term " American Indians " covers all the aborigines of the New World past and See also:present, so far as is known, although some European writers, especially in See also:France, still seek to separatefrom the " Redskins " the See also:Aztecs, Mayas, Peruvians, &c., and some American authorities would (anatomically at least) See also:rank the See also:Eskimo as distinct from the Indian proper. When the name " Indian " came to be used by the European colonists and their descendants, they did not confine it to " See also:wild men," but applied it to many things that were wild, See also:strange, non-European in the new environment (see Journ. Amer. Folk-See also:Lore, 1902, pp. 107-116; Handbook of Amer. Inds., 1907, pt. i. pp. 605-607). Thus more than one See also:hundred popular names of See also:plants in use in American English (e.g. " Indian See also:corn," " Indian See also:pink," &c.) contain references to the Indian in this way; also many other things, such as " Indian See also:file," " Indian See also:ladder," " Indian See also:gift," " Indian See also:pudding," " Indian summer." The See also:Canadian-French, who termed the Indian sauvage (i.e.

" See also:

savage "), re-, membered him linguistically in botte sauvage (See also:moccasin), traine sauvage (toboggan). The term " Siwash," in use in the See also:Chinook See also:jargon of the North Pacific See also:coast, and also in the English of that region, for " Indian " is merely a corruption of this Canadian-French appellation. In the literature See also:relating to the Pacific coast there is mention even of " Siwash Indians." Throughout See also:Canada and the See also:United States the term " Indian " occurs in hundreds of See also:place-names of all sorts (" Indian See also:River," " Indian See also:Head," " Indian See also:Bay," " Indian See also:Hill," and the like). There are besides these See also:Indiana and its See also:capital See also:Indianapolis. In See also:Newfoundland " Red Indian," as the See also:special term for the Beothuks, forms part of a number of place-names. See also:Pope's characterization of the American aborigine, " Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutor'd mind See also:Sees See also:God in clouds, or hears Him in the See also:wind," is responsible for the creation in the mind of the people of a " Mr Lo," who figures in newspaper lore, cartoons, &c. The reputations, deserved and undeserved, of certain Indian tribes north of See also:Mexico have been such that their names have passed into English or into the languages of other civilized nations of Europe as synonyms for " See also:ruffian," " thug," " rowdy," &c. Recently " See also:les Apaches " have been the terror of certain districts of See also:Paris, as were the " Mohocks " (Mohawks) for certain parts of London toward the See also:close of the 18th See also:century. The North American Indians have been the subject of numerous popular fallacies, some of which have gained world-wide currency. Here belongs a See also:mass of pseudo-scientific and thoroughly poputar unscientific literature embodying absurd and extravagant fallacies. theories and speculations as to the origin of the aborigines and their " civilizations "which derive them (in most extraordinary ways sometimes), in See also:recent or in remote antiquity, from all regions of the Old World—See also:Egypt and See also:Carthage, See also:Phoenicia and See also:Canaan, Asia See also:Minor and the See also:Caucasus, See also:Assyria and Babylonia, See also:Persia and India, Central Asia and See also:Siberia, See also:China and See also:Tibet, See also:Korea, See also:Japan, the East Indies, See also:Polynesia, See also:Greece and See also:ancient See also:Celtic Europe and even See also:medieval See also:Ireland and See also:Wales. Favourite theories of this sort have made the North American aborigines the descendants of refugees from sunken See also:Atlantis, Tatar warriors, Malayo-Polynesian See also:sea-farers, Hittite immigrants from See also:Syria, the " Lost Ten Tribes of See also:Israel," &c., or attributed their social, religious and See also:political ideas and institutions to the See also:advent of stray junks from Japan, Buddhist votaries from south-eastern Asia, missionaries from early See also:Christian Europe, Norse vikings, Basque fishermen and the like. Particularly interesting are the theories of " Welsh (or See also:white) Indians " and the " Lost Ten Tribes." The myth of . the " Welsh Indians," reputed to be the descendants of a See also:colony founded about A.D.

1170 by See also:

Prince Madoc (well known from See also:Southey's poem), has been studied by See also:James Mooney (Amer. Anthrop. iv., 1891, 393-394), who traces its development from statements in an See also:article in The See also:Turkish See also:Spy, published in London about 173o. At first these " Welsh Indians, who are subsequently described as speaking Welsh, possessing Welsh Bibles, beads, crucifixes, &c., are placed near the Atlantic coast and identified with the See also:Tuscarora, an Iroquoian tribe, but by 1776 they had retreated inland to the See also:banks of the See also:Missouri above St See also:Louis. A few years later they were far up the Red river, continuing, as time went on, to recede farther and farther westward, being identified successively with the Mandans, in whose See also:language See also:Catlin thought he detected a Welsh See also:element, the Moqui, a See also:Pueblos tribe of north-eastern See also:Arizona, and the Modocs (here the name was believed to re-See also:echo Madoc) of south-western See also:Oregon, until at last they vanished over the See also:waters of the Pacific Ocean. The theory that the American Indians were the " Lost Ten Tribes of Israel " has not yet entirely disappeared from ethnological literature. Many of the identities and resemblances in ideas, customs and institutions between the American Indians and the ancient See also:Hebrews, See also:half-knowledge or distorted views of which formed the basis of the theory, are discussed, and their real significance pointed out by See also:Colonel See also:Garrick Mallery in his valuable address on Israelite and Indian: A Parallel in Planes of Culture " (Prot. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci. vol. xxxviii., 1889, pp. 287-331). The whole subject has been discussed by Professor H.

W. Henshaw in his " Popular Fallacies respecting the Indians " (Amer. Anthrop. vol. vii. n.s., 1905, pp. 104-113). Of ways of classifying the races of mankind and their sub- divisions the number is See also:

great, but that which See also:measures them by their speech is both ancient and convenient. The Linguistic multiplicity of languages among the American Indians See also:stocks. was one of the first things that struck the earliest investigators of a scientific turn of mind, no less than the missionaries who preceded them. The See also:Abbe Hervas, the first serious student of the See also:primitive See also:tongues of the New World, from the classificatory point of view, noted this multiplicity of languages in his Catalogo delle lingue conosciute e notizia della Lora afnitet e diversitd (See also:Cesena, 1784); and after him See also:Balbi, See also:Adelung and others. About the same time in America See also:Thomas See also:Jefferson, who besides being a statesman was also a considerable naturalist (see Amer. Anthrop. ix. n.s., 1907, 499-509), was impressed by the same fact, and in his Notes on the See also:State of See also:Virginia observed that for one " See also:radical language " in Asia there would be found probably twenty in America. Jefferson himself collected and arranged•(the See also:MSS. were afterwards lost) the vocabularies of about fifty Indian languages and dialects, and so deserves rank among the forerunners of the See also:modern American school of See also:comparative philologists. After Jefferson came See also:Albert See also:Gallatin, who had been his secretary of the See also:treasury, as a student of American Indian languages in the larger sense.

He had also himself collected a number of Indian vocabularies. Gallatin's See also:

work is embodied in the well-known " Synopsis of the Indian Tribes within the United States East of the Rocky Mountains, and in the See also:British and See also:Russian Possessions in North America," published in the Transactions and Collections of the American Antiquarian Society (ii. 1-422) for 1836. In this, really the first See also:attempt in America to classify on a linguistic basis the See also:chief Indian tribes of the better-known regions of North America, Gallatin enumerated the following twenty-nine See also:separate divisions: Adaize, Algonkin-Lenape, Athapascas, Atnas, Attacapas, Blackfeet, Caddoes, See also:Catawbas, Chahtas, Cherokees, Chetimachas, Chinooks, Eskimaux, Fall Indians, See also:Iroquois, Kinai, Koulischen, Muskhogee, Natches, Pawnees, See also:Queen See also:Charlotte's See also:Island, Salish, See also:Salmon River (Friendly See also:Village), Shoshonees, See also:Sioux, Straits of Fuca, Utchees, Wakash, Woccons. These do not all represent distinct linguistic stocks, as may be seen by comparison with the See also:list given below; such peoples as the See also:Caddo and See also:Pawnee are now known to belong together, the Blackfeet are Algonkian, the See also:Catawba Siouan, the Adaize Caddoan, the See also:Natchez Muskogian, &c. But the monograph is a very good first attempt at classifying North American Indian languages. Gallatin's coloured See also:map of the See also:distribution of the Indian tribes in question is also a See also:pioneer piece of work. In 1840 See also:George See also:Bancroft, in the third See also:volume of his Hi.;tory of the Colonization of the United States, discussed the Indian tribes east of the See also:Mississippi, listing the following eight families: See also:Algonquin, Catawba, See also:Cherokee, See also:Huron-Iroquois, Mobilian (See also:Choctaw and Muskhogee), Natchez, Sioux or Dahcota, Uchee. He gives also a linguistic map, modified somewhat from that of Gallatin. The next work of great importance in American comparative See also:philology is Horatio See also:Hale's monograph forming the See also:sixth volume (Phila., 1846), Ethnography and Philology, of the publications of the " United States Exploring Expedition, during the years 1538, 1839, 1840, 1842, under the Command of See also:Charles Wilkes, U.S. See also:Navy," which added much to our knowledge of the languages of the Indians of the Pacific coast regions. Two years later Gallatin published in the second volume of the Transactions of the American Ethnological Society (New See also:York) a monograph entitled " Hale's Indians of North-See also:west America, and Vocabularies of North America," in which he recognized the following additional See also:groups: Arrapahoes, Jakon, See also:Kalapuya, Kitunaha, Lutuami, Palainih, Sahaptin, Saste, Waiilatpu.

In 18J3 he contributed abrief See also:

paper to the third volume of See also:Schoolcraft's See also:Information Respecting the See also:History, See also:Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States, adding to the "families" already recognized by him the following: Cumanches, See also:Gros Ventres, Kaskaias, Kiaways, Natchitoches, Towiacks, Ugaljachmutzi. Some modifications in the See also:original list were also made. During the See also:period 1853–1877 many contributions to the See also:classification of the Indian languages of North America, those of the west and the north-west in particular, were made by See also:Gibbs, Latham, See also:Turner, Buschmann, See also:Hayden, Dall, See also:Powers, Powell and Gatschet. The next important step, and the most scientific, was taken by Major J. W. Powell, who contributed to the Seventh See also:Annual See also:Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1885–1886 (See also:Washington, 1891) his classic monograph (pp. 1-142) on " Indian Linguistic Families of America North of Mexico." In 1891 also appeared'Dr D. G. Brinton's The American Race: A Linguistic Classification and Ethnographic Description of the Native Tribes of North and South America (New York, p. 392). With these two See also:works the See also:adoption of language as the means of distinction and classification of the American aborigines north of Mexico for scientific purposes became fixed. Powell, using the vocabulary as the test of relationship or difference, enumerated, in the See also:area considered, 58 separate linguistic stocks, or families of speech, each " as distinct from one another in their vocabularies and apparently in their origin as from the See also:Aryan or the Scythian families " (p.

26). The 58 distinct linguistic stocks of American Indians north of Mexico, recognized by Powell, were as follows: (I) Adaizan; (2) Algonquian; (3) See also:

Athapascan; (4) Attacapan; (5) Beothukan; (6) Caddoan; (7) Chimakuan; (8) See also:Chimarikan; (9) Chimmesyan; (lo) See also:Chinookan; (II) Chitimachan; (12) See also:Chumashan; (13) Coahuiltecan; (14) Copehan; (15) Costanoan; (16) Eskimauan; (17) Esselenian; (18) Iroquoian; (19) Kalapooian; (20) Karankawan; (21) Keresan; (22) Kiowan; (23) Kitunahan; (24) Koluschan; (25) Kulanapan; (26) See also:Kusan; (27) Lutuamian; (28) See also:Mariposan; (29) Moquelumnan; (30) Muskhogean; (31) Natchesan; (32) Palaihnihan; (33) Piman; (34) Pujunan; (35) Quoratean; (36) Salinan; (37) See also:Salishan; (38) Sastean; (39) Shahaptian; (40) Shoshonean; (41) Siouan; (42) Skittagetan; (43) Takilman; (44) Taiwan; (45) Timuquanan; (46) Tonikan; (47) Tonkawan; (48) Uchean; (49) Waiilatpuan; (5o) Wakashan; (51) Washoan; (52) Weitspekan; (53) Wishoskan; (54) Yakonan; (S5) Yanan; (56) Yukian; (S7) Yuman; (58) Zunian. This has been the working-list of students of American Indian languages, but since its See also:appearance the scientific investigations of Boas, Gatschet, Dorsey, See also:Fletcher, Mooney, See also:Hewitt, Hale, Morice, Henshaw, See also:Hodge, See also:Matthews, Kroeber, See also:Dixon, Goddard, Swanton and others have added much to our knowledge, and not a few serious modifications of Powell's classification have resulted. With Powell's monograph was published a coloured map showing the distribution of all the linguistic stocks of Indians north of Mexico. Of this a revised edition accompanies the Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, published by the Bureau of American Ethnology in 1907–1910, now the See also:standard See also:book of reference on the subject. The chief modifications made in Powell's list are as follows: The temporary presence in a portion of south-west See also:Florida of a new stock, the Arawakan, is now proved. The Adaizan language has been shown to belong to the Caddoan See also:family; the Natchez to the Muskogian; the Palaihnian to the Shastan; the Piman to the Shoshonian. The nomenclature of Powell's classification has never been completely satisfactory to American philologists, and a See also:movement is now well under way (see Amer. Antlzrop. vii. n.s., 1905, 579-593) to improve it. In the present article the writer has adopted some of the suggestions made by a See also:committee of the American Anthropological Society in 1907, covering several of the points in question. In the See also:light of the most recent and authoritative researches and investigations the linguistic stocks of American aborigines north of Mexico, past and present, the areas occupied, earliest homes (or original habitats), number of tribes, subdivisions, &c., and See also:population, may be given as follows:— r. A 2.

3. 4. A 6. 8. 9. 10. iI. t2 13 Stock. Area. Earliest See also:

Home Tribes, &c. Population.

End of Article: INDIANS, NORTH AMERICAN

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