Post by Travis on Jul 9, 2019 16:06:36 GMT -8
The Destruction of the Bison, Andrew C. Isenberg
An Environmental History (*see footnote.)
What surprised me most about this book was not what I learned about bison, but rather the rich detail of what I learned about the forces grinding down upon Native life. The "invasion" of European civilization into the Americas was not so simple as land-grabbing, gold-seeking, disease-spreading "whites" eventually overwhelming the "Indians" — though that eventually happened. And, of course, the conflict was not simply industrial age "progress" overwhelming Native simplicity.
Any student of American history could benefit from the insight of this book.
Before the pressures of European re-discovery of the New World, tribes like the Sioux subsisted largely by farming in locations such as Minnesota. They hunted bison only seasonally. Settlers from the east pushed such tribes westward, thus compelling them to survive more and more by hunting bison.
Spreading northward from Spanish-held territory, horses gave those tribes the mobility needed to hunt on a larger scale. But horse populations also increased to the point of competing with bison for grass. So the horse, the very enabler of mobility also competed with the very object of that mobility, the bison.
These tribes, adapting from farming to nomadic hunting, became in the process less prone to the epidemics of their village-dwelling cousins. But Native Americans had an elaborate network of trade routes, which European-Americans now adopted. The "white" traders carried knives, tools, and cloth to exchange for furs. But with them they also brought diseases to which the Indians had little resistance.
Trading posts and forts became gathering points of trade but also seedbeds of disease. River boats traveling up the Missouri from St. Louis also harbored disease for Native encampments. Westward trails became rutted by wagon trains. A lone wagon separated from its train because of illness might seem the most innocent of wayfarers. Yet that same lone wagon could harbor an infection capable of effortlessly wiping out hundreds or thousands of Natives.
Meanwhile, as beaver pelts became more and more scarce, bison robes gained great demand. And some Natives were enticed to destroy their own food supply to satisfy European appetites for bison fur. So bison populations dwindled further, pitting Indian tribes against each other in a struggle to survive against a myriad of forces aligned against their very lifestyle. Add to this foreboding mix market hunters with buffalo guns moving westward on railroads to rob bison of their fur and Natives of their food.
All this is but a poor and hastily composed review of a book that examines so many of the intricate variations of forces among many tribes posed with complex cultural and environmental challenges. While this book may not focus on Native society in their homes and lives, it does examine the many forces that brought destruction to both Native and bison populations.
An Environmental History (*see footnote.)
What surprised me most about this book was not what I learned about bison, but rather the rich detail of what I learned about the forces grinding down upon Native life. The "invasion" of European civilization into the Americas was not so simple as land-grabbing, gold-seeking, disease-spreading "whites" eventually overwhelming the "Indians" — though that eventually happened. And, of course, the conflict was not simply industrial age "progress" overwhelming Native simplicity.
Any student of American history could benefit from the insight of this book.
Before the pressures of European re-discovery of the New World, tribes like the Sioux subsisted largely by farming in locations such as Minnesota. They hunted bison only seasonally. Settlers from the east pushed such tribes westward, thus compelling them to survive more and more by hunting bison.
Spreading northward from Spanish-held territory, horses gave those tribes the mobility needed to hunt on a larger scale. But horse populations also increased to the point of competing with bison for grass. So the horse, the very enabler of mobility also competed with the very object of that mobility, the bison.
These tribes, adapting from farming to nomadic hunting, became in the process less prone to the epidemics of their village-dwelling cousins. But Native Americans had an elaborate network of trade routes, which European-Americans now adopted. The "white" traders carried knives, tools, and cloth to exchange for furs. But with them they also brought diseases to which the Indians had little resistance.
Trading posts and forts became gathering points of trade but also seedbeds of disease. River boats traveling up the Missouri from St. Louis also harbored disease for Native encampments. Westward trails became rutted by wagon trains. A lone wagon separated from its train because of illness might seem the most innocent of wayfarers. Yet that same lone wagon could harbor an infection capable of effortlessly wiping out hundreds or thousands of Natives.
Meanwhile, as beaver pelts became more and more scarce, bison robes gained great demand. And some Natives were enticed to destroy their own food supply to satisfy European appetites for bison fur. So bison populations dwindled further, pitting Indian tribes against each other in a struggle to survive against a myriad of forces aligned against their very lifestyle. Add to this foreboding mix market hunters with buffalo guns moving westward on railroads to rob bison of their fur and Natives of their food.
All this is but a poor and hastily composed review of a book that examines so many of the intricate variations of forces among many tribes posed with complex cultural and environmental challenges. While this book may not focus on Native society in their homes and lives, it does examine the many forces that brought destruction to both Native and bison populations.
