indigenous peoples of the Americas

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Among the indigenous inhabitants of America are the American Indians who occupied the northern parts of the state. They comprise a mixture of various tribes and ethnicity, some of which still exist till date as political societies. They are also known as the aboriginal people. Most of them perished when the Europeans arrived after which there followed a period of colonization and others still due to various ailments.
The Native American Indians did not have written down laws, and their ruling class structure was not complicated at all. There existed a clear structure and standards that were socially acceptable (Saunt, 77). All people were required to conform to these standards if at all they wanted to be part of the community. The highest ruling position consisted of tribes, i.e., individuals that shared similar cultures and language (Burkley, 205). All tribes had both a civil and war leader where the war leader took leadership in times of strive whereas the civil leader led in times of tranquility.
Tribes were made up of clans of people who had common forefathers and were considered kin. Chiefs ruled over clans and were called upon to provide direction for the tribes to follow (Kehoe & Alice, 56). The clans were further divided up into villages and families where women and men had different roles. Usually, men became chiefs or civil leaders whereas women were caregivers at home (Burkley, 207). Discipline was emphasized a lot and punishment was due if laws were broken.

The penalty differed with every tribe and was scarcely physical. Culprits were either rebuked openly or expelled in very extreme situations.
I learned this during a case study at school on the indigenous inhabitants of America. I thought that the structure worked well and the fact that they valued kinship is the reason their culture exists to date. They lived as one with nature and respect was paramount. Elders were valued and trusted to pass down their ways to young generations, and that maintained the spirit of togetherness.
Works Cited
Burkley, Edward, et al. “Structure and content of Native American stereotypic subgroups: Not just (in) noble.” Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology 23.2 (2017): 209.
Kehoe, Alice Beck. North American Indians: a comprehensive account. Routledge, 2017.
Saunt, Claudio. “Our Indians”: European Empires and the History of the Native American South.” The Atlantic in Global History. Routledge, 2017. 63-79.