North American Aboriginal peoples summary

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North American Aboriginal People
The North American Aboriginal culture was usually disseminated through oral means, and preserved in mythology. Through word of mouth, they preserved their imaginations, knowledge and wisdom. The native Americans associated various natural landscapes with different spiritual identities. For example, high altitude regions were seen as the residences of the gods while caves were seen as the access point to the earth and its mystical forces. Human life was viewed as both linear and cyclic: linear from the perspective of an individual's life and cyclic in the sense of the perpetuity of human life (Waldram 5).
Traditionally, the Aboriginals were nomadic hunters and gatherers. With time, their nomadic tendencies evolved to a more sedentary lifestyle due to the introduction of maize from Mexico. They embraced a rotational approach to cultivation. One season they would plant maize, and then would alternate with beans, squash and other crops in the following seasons.
The arrival of Europeans in North America brought forth domestication of animals and the introduction of trade. Common goods traded included horses, metal, glass and firearms. The new economic dynamics meant that the natives could no longer move as they previously did. The trade and interaction with the Europeans began the end of the existing traditions and practices of the North American Aboriginals. With time, even the language of the people disappeared due to interaction with the foreigners (Waldram 23).

This cultural erosion brought forth strife amongst the residences. For example, many chiefs, who held onto the traditional practices and beliefs, were opposed to the sale of land to the foreigners. This was because the Aboriginal culture maintained that the soil was owned by the spirits that passed on from one family generation to the next.
Towards the later years of the twentieth century, the Aboriginal culture underwent a resurgence that has seen the practices preserved in modern literary forms, such as theatre, drama and electronic media.

Work Cited
Waldram, James. Revenge of the Windigo: The Construction of the Mind and Mental Health of the North American Aboriginal Peoples. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004. Print.