jjares reviewed Native American Tribes: The History and Culture of the Pawnee on + 3405 more book reviews
This is the second book by Charles Rivers that has posted Jesse Harasta as co-author. I hope Charles Rivers doesn't associate with him again. Obviously, Harasta's specialty is language. This is billed as the 'history and culture of the Pawnee.' However, there is a very long diatribe about how the Pawnee language separated from the Iroquis thousands of years ago. A few sentences are fine but there was too much time spent on this and precious little on the history and culture. The first 23% of the book were on the origins of their language.
Generally, a Pawnee's history is divided into three parts. The first is related to pre-horse. During that time, the Pawnee had a life partly agricultural and part hunter. They had permanent homes (not tipis) and planted corn, beans, and squash. Then they migrated to chase bison. They came back to their cultivated lands and harvested. Then they followed the buffalo in their winter hunts. Then they returned to their garden plots and got ready for the next season. They used rivers for transportation and trade.
When they interacted with the Spanish, the Pawnee (and other Indian groups) got the horse and domesticated animals from the Spanish. This revolutionized their lives. But the Europeans also brought diseases that the Native Americans had no immunity against. Over the next 100 years, the Indians would be decimated by 80 - 90% of their numbers. With horses, the previous tribal fighting became more deadly. The fighting became nearly continuous between the tribes, jockeying for land and power on the Great Plains.
Getting bison became easier. In the third stage, the Pawnee became some of the best-known people on the Great Plains as semi-nomadic bison hunters. When the French fur trappers came, they replaced the old Mississippian trading system; they offered metal tools and beads. Later, Pawnee joined the US Army as scouts in order to fight against their age-old enemy, the Lakota Sioux, in the 1860s and beyond.
The best part of this book seemed to me to be the info about how the Pawnees are coming to return to significant population numbers. One unfortunate situation is that, in 2000, 79 people spoke the Pawnee language. By 2007, only 10 could speak Pawnee. The Pawnee government is trying to bring back the language (before it disappears) through aggressive education in high school and adult education.
Although the Navajo were world-famous for being code-talkers in World War II, the Pawnee also were code-talkers. Only in 2013 were Pawnee finally given recognition for their service with a plaque from the US Congress. Neither group's messages were ever broken.
Generally, a Pawnee's history is divided into three parts. The first is related to pre-horse. During that time, the Pawnee had a life partly agricultural and part hunter. They had permanent homes (not tipis) and planted corn, beans, and squash. Then they migrated to chase bison. They came back to their cultivated lands and harvested. Then they followed the buffalo in their winter hunts. Then they returned to their garden plots and got ready for the next season. They used rivers for transportation and trade.
When they interacted with the Spanish, the Pawnee (and other Indian groups) got the horse and domesticated animals from the Spanish. This revolutionized their lives. But the Europeans also brought diseases that the Native Americans had no immunity against. Over the next 100 years, the Indians would be decimated by 80 - 90% of their numbers. With horses, the previous tribal fighting became more deadly. The fighting became nearly continuous between the tribes, jockeying for land and power on the Great Plains.
Getting bison became easier. In the third stage, the Pawnee became some of the best-known people on the Great Plains as semi-nomadic bison hunters. When the French fur trappers came, they replaced the old Mississippian trading system; they offered metal tools and beads. Later, Pawnee joined the US Army as scouts in order to fight against their age-old enemy, the Lakota Sioux, in the 1860s and beyond.
The best part of this book seemed to me to be the info about how the Pawnees are coming to return to significant population numbers. One unfortunate situation is that, in 2000, 79 people spoke the Pawnee language. By 2007, only 10 could speak Pawnee. The Pawnee government is trying to bring back the language (before it disappears) through aggressive education in high school and adult education.
Although the Navajo were world-famous for being code-talkers in World War II, the Pawnee also were code-talkers. Only in 2013 were Pawnee finally given recognition for their service with a plaque from the US Congress. Neither group's messages were ever broken.
