Nations and Tribes

A few years ago, I came across 'I Am an Indian', a compilation of native tales edited by someone named Kent Gooderham, whoever he was.  Published in 1969, when you could call Indians "Indians", the book sheds authentic scholastic light on the history of "natives"* in Canada.  Reading it I learned that the Mohawk are a tribe of the Iroquois Nation.  So are the Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Huron, Tobacco and Seneca -- all part of the Iroquois Nation.

This is true all across North America, where 11 basic linguistic families (nations) have existed for thousands of years.  Nations are identified by language; tribes formed within them. 

The linguistic nations are:

• Algonkian
• Iroquoian
• Siouan
• Athapaskan
• Kootenayan
• Salishan
• Tsimshian
• Haidan
• Wakashan
• Tlinkit, and
• Beothukan

Out West we have the Salishan Nation, comprised of the Shuswap, Thompson, Okanagan, Cowichan, Coast Salish, Lillooet, Haida and Coeur D'Alene tribes.  Here in Alberta we live with the Blackfoot, Blood, Gros Venture, Nez Perce and Peigan; the Kootenay are pretty much on their own as one nation/one tribe.  Further East it's the Siouan, with the Assiniboine, Teton Sioux, Dakota Sioux, Santee Sioux, Menominee, Winnenbago and Yankton Sioux. 

The Algonkian occupy most of middle Northern Canada, with the Naskapi, Cree, Mistassini Cree, Ojibway, Ottawa and Algonkin tribes. The Maritimes are the territory of the Micmac, Abnaki, Passamaquoddy, Malecite, Penobscot and the now-extinct Beothuk. 

Way up North the Kuchin, Hare, Dogrib, Slave, Nahani, Tagish, Talhtan, Tsetsaut, Tsimshian, Carrier, Sekani, Chilcotin, Sarcee, Beaver and Chipewyan form the large Athapaskan linguistic nation of tribes.

"The Indians of Canada are not alike," the introduction states.  "Separated by language, culture and geography, they are as different from one another as they are from the Europeans, Asians and Africans who came to live among them.  They resemble their movie image even less." 

Who knew Christopher Columbus, mistaking North America for India, called the inhabitants "Indians"?  So, that's where the name came from.  We may think of them as "Indians", but they identify by tribe as Salish, Sioux, Ojibway.....etc.

"Among the people who speak a similar language, there are many tribes.  The Blackfoot of the Western plains and Micmac of the Atlantic coast who both speak Algonkian languages live thousands of miles apart and until modern times never met, or knew the other existed," it reveals.  What's up with that?

This book is fascinating -- which is why I "borrowed" it permanently.  With Mohawk ancestors, I am fascinated by Indians, while at the same time call them mercilessly to task for the shabby way they treat their own on too many reserves.  One interesting thing I learned was that the Tyendinaga Reserve in Napanee, where my great-grandmother is from, is named after Joseph Brant, whose name was "Thayendanega"  Why they changed the spelling, I have no clue? 

I will be writing about the stories in this book in the future. 
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*I don't like calling "aboriginal" people "natives" because they came from Asia, so are not "native" to Canada, anymore than other immigrants.  I don't like "aboriginal" either since it means people who have existed...."from the beginning".  Adam and Eve are basically the only aboriginals in my world.