Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin

The Indigenous Peoples of the Great Basin are Native Americans of the northern Great Basin, Snake River Plain, and upper Colorado River basin. The "Great Basin" is a cultural classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas and a cultural region located between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, in what is now Nevada, and parts of Oregon, California, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. The Great Basin region at the time of European contact was ~400,000 sq mi (1,000,000 km2).[1] There is very little precipitation in the Great Basin area which affects the lifestyles and cultures of the inhabitants.

Ute chief Severo and his family 1899
Shoshone Indian and his horse

Great Basin peoples
Main article: Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas

Northern Paiute

  • Northern Paiute, eastern California, Nevada, Oregon, southwestern Idaho[3]
    • Kucadikadi, Mono Lake Paiute, California
  • Bannock, Idaho[3]

Mono

  • Mono, southeastern California
    • Eastern Mono (Owens Valley Paiute), southeastern California
    • Western Mono, southeastern California

Southern Paiute

Shoshone

Main article: Shoshone
  • Eastern Shoshone people:
  • Northern Shoshone people:
  • Western Shoshone people:
  • Cedar Valley Goshute
  • Deep Creek Goshute
  • Rush Valley Goshute
  • Skull Valley Goshute, Wipayutta, Weber Ute[10]
  • Toole Valley Goshute
  • Trout Creek Goshute[10]

Ute

Main article: Ute people


History
Fremont culture petroglyphs of big horn sheep, Nine Mile Canyon, Utah
Sarah Winnemucca a Northern Paiute writer and activist

9,000 BCE to 400 CE marks the Great Basin Desert Archaic Period, following by the time of the Fremont culture, who were hunter-gatherers, as well as agriculturalists. Numic language-speakers, ancestors of today's Western Shoshone and both Northern Paiute people and Southern Paiute people entered the region around the 14th century CE.[11]

The first Europeans to reach the area was the Spanish Domínguez–Escalante expedition, who passed far from present day Delta, Utah in 1776.[11] Great Basin settlement was relatively free of non-Native settlers until the first Mormon settlers arrived in 1847. Within ten years, the first Indian reservation was established, in order to assimilate the native population. The Goshute Reservation was created in 1863.[11] The attempted acculturation process included sending children to Indian schools and limiting the landbases and resources of the reservations.

Because their contact with European-Americans and African-Americans occurred comparatively late, Great Basin tribes maintain their religion and culture and were leading proponents of 19th century cultural and religious renewals. Two Paiute prophets, Wodziwob and Wovoka, introduced the Ghost Dance in a ceremony to commune with departed loved ones and bring renewal of buffalo herds and precontact lifeways. The Ute Bear Dance emerged on the Great Basin. The Sun Dance and Peyote religion flourished in the Great Basin, as well.[2]

In 1930, the Ely Shoshone Reservation was established, followed by the Duckwater Indian Reservation in 1940.[11]

Conditions for the Native American population of the Great Basin were erratic throughout the 20th century. Economic improvement emerged as a result of President Franklin Roosevelt's Indian New Deal in the 1930s, while activism and legal victories in the 1970s have improved conditions significantly. Nevertheless, the communities continue to struggle against chronic poverty and all of the resulting problems: unemployment; substance abuse; and high suicide rates.

Today self-determination, beginning with the 1975 passage of the Indian Self-determination and Education Assistance Act,[11] has enabled Great Basin tribes to develop economic opportunities for their members.

Cultures
Beaded moccasins that belonged to Chief Washakie (Shoshone), Wyoming, c. 1900

Different ethnic groups of Great Basin tribes share certain common cultural elements that distinguish them from surrounding groups. All but the Washoe traditionally speak Numic languages, and tribal groups, who historically lived peacefully and often shared common territories, have intermingled considerably. Prior to the 20th century, Great Basin peoples were predominantly hunters and gatherers.

"Desert Archaic" or more simply "The Desert Culture" refers to the culture of the Great Basin tribes. This culture is characterized by the need for mobility to take advantage of seasonally available food supplies. The use of pottery was rare due to its weight, but intricate baskets were woven for containing water, cooking food, winnowing grass seeds and storage—including the storage of pine nuts, a Paiute-Shoshone staple. Heavy items such as metates would be cached rather than carried from foraging area to foraging area. Agriculture was not practiced within the Great Basin itself, although it was practiced in adjacent areas (modern agriculture in the Great Basin requires either large mountain reservoirs or deep artesian wells). Likewise, the Great Basin tribes had no permanent settlements, although winter villages might be revisited winter after winter by the same group of families. In the summer, the largest group was usually the nuclear family due to the low density of food supplies.

In the early historical period the Great Basin tribes were actively expanding to the north and east, where they developed a horse-riding bison-hunting culture. These people, including the Bannock and Eastern Shoshone share traits with Plains Indians.

Notes
  1. Pritzker, Barry M (2000). A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 220. ISBN 978-0-19-513877-1. Retrieved 2010-06-04 – via Internet Archive.
  2. D'Azevedo, Warren L (editor) (1986). Volume 11: Great Basin. Handbook of North American Indians. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 978-0-16-004581-3.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  3. D'Azevedo ix
  4. Nicholas, Walter S. "A Short History of Johnsondale". RRanch.org. Archived from the original on 2010-10-31. Retrieved 2010-06-04.
  5. Pritzker 230
  6. Loether, Christopher. "Shoshones." Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. Retrieved 20 Oct 2013.
  7. Shimkin 335
  8. Murphy and Murphy 306
  9. Murphy and Murphy 287
  10. Thomas, Pendleton, and Cappannari 280–283
  11. "History Timeline of Great Basin National Heritage Area." Archived 2013-06-22 at the Wayback Machine Great Basin National Heritage Area. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
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