History Through a Native Lens Explore this chronological timeline written by Dr. Karina Walters, containing historically traumatic events, settler colonial policies, and Native resistance movements. View the Interactive Timeline Timeline Overview Historically traumatic events are events designed to eradicate a people (genocide) and/or their culture, language, and lifeways (ethnocide) and/or their worldviews, teachings and epistemologies (epistemicide). Historically traumatic events should not be confused with traumatic events such as hurricanes- as those too produce significant trauma and upheaval- but historical trauma events specifically target a group- by nationality, religion, or other oppressed status with the intent to eradicate or in some cases, subjugate and assimilate the group into the dominant class. Historically events consist of events such as massacres, forced relocation and removal from traditional homelands, forced removal and separation of children from parents, and medical experimentation among many other types of events. These events are never singular events, but consist of a series of targeted traumatic events over generations. These events are experienced as collective traumas and in many cases, the psychological, physical and spiritual aftermath of these events can be carried into subsequent generations-whether these events are known or conscious in the subsequent generations. Recent epigenetic research is beginning to provide preliminary evidence of intergenerational transmission of stress from traumatic events in preceding generations. It is important to note that historically traumatic events targeting American Indians and Alaska Natives in what is now the United States of America is particularly fraught and continues to manifest to this day. Historically traumatic events include not only events from 500 years ago, but also include events that happen daily in modern times. For example-the illegal dispossession of Indigenous lands for oil extraction in the DAPL pipeline and targeting of Native women and girls for sexual exploitation and human trafficking leaving a trail of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in the United States and Canada are prime examples of modern historically traumatic events. Finally, historically traumatic events do not occur in isolation from the polices and structures that support the unfolding of such trauma. American Indian and Alaska Native communities continue to survive and thrive despite being continuously occupied and living within the structures of U.S. settler colonialism. Settler colonialism is a system that is borne of land dispossession and attempted erasure of AIAN land ties and identities. Settler colonialism is the structure and the historically traumatic events serve to perpetuate and uphold the structure, system and policies of a settler colonial society. This chronological timeline provides three elements: the settler colonial policies (green), the historically traumatic events (black), and the resistance movements by AIAN peoples (blue) in fighting oppressive and genocidal polices and surviving historically traumatic events. The events documented here are not exhaustive- there are many more stories of atrocities among the current 573 federally and 100 state tribes than can be documented here. The events provided are mislabeled as “wars, battles or skirmishes” in American textbooks, but the events noted in this document are not wars, but are known to AIAN communities as massacres-primarily targeting women, children and communities for purposes of extermination or subjugation. Historically traumatic events- by definition (see Article 2 of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide) are genocidal events. According to Article 2-genocide is defined as: "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.” Noting such atrocities and in support of Indigenous peoples worldwide, in 2007, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP or DOTROIP) was passed delineating and defining the individual and collective rights of Indigenous peoples, including their ownership rights to cultural and ceremonial expression, identity, language, employment, health, education and other issues. It "emphasizes the rights of Indigenous peoples to maintain and strengthen their own institutions, cultures and traditions, and to pursue their development in keeping with their own needs and aspirations". It "prohibits discrimination against indigenous peoples", and it "promotes their full and effective participation in all matters that concern them and their right to remain distinct and to pursue their own visions of economic and social development" with a major emphasis on Indigenous rights to protect their culture and tradition in order to preserve their heritage from over controlling nation-states. In 2010, President Obama declared support for the declaration. Tribal Independence Era Prior to 1491 Overview Prior to 1491 and at the time of first contact with Europeans, tribal societies throughout the Americas and surrounding island nations were flourishing. Many of the tribal nations and, in some cases, empires developed sophisticated agricultural, navigational, medicinal, and technological advances that we continue to use and learn from to this day. There is oral history and documentation of possible contact with what seem to be Vikings as well as Chinese and Maori/New Zealander populations in the Americas, but with the arrival of Columbus and the Spanish quest for gold and slaves, the next 500 years would produce years of resistance to settler colonialism, land dispossession, slavery, and genocide. Despite settler colonialism, Native peoples in what is now known as the United States (including Alaska and Hawai’i) and surrounding Pacific Island and Caribbean U.S. territories have managed to survive and, in many cases, thrive, despite long-term threats to survival. Below are just a few examples from across the North American continent of the sophisticated empires and tribal nations that proliferated here, prior to the European colonial settler invasions. 3000 BCE Southwestern tribal peoples develop sophisticated farming techniques for arid climates By 3000 BCE (Before the Common Era), ancestors of the Mogollon, Hohokam, and Puebloan peoples of the Southwest (Arizona and New Mexico) develop sophisticated horticultural and agricultural practices that continue to this day, including growing and harvesting several strains of corn, beans, and squash in harsh environments. During this period, not only does the population increase but so does the sophistication of culture, arts, and technology (Native Voices, "3000 BC: Southwestern peoples plant corn, beans, squash; population grows"). Map showing Anasazi, Hohokam, and Mogollon settlements in what is now known as New Mexico and Arizona. Image: National Library of Medicine 1000 BCE Ancestors of peoples of the Southeast develop major trading centers The Adena (1000 BCE-AD 200) and Hopewell (300 BCE-AD 700) agricultural societies build large earthwork mounds and cities from the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley floodplains to the southeastern shores. Like other communal farming societies in the Southwest, they produce and grow mainly corn, beans, and squash. Mississippian Moundbuilder peoples establish metropolitan centers (Native Voices, "1000 BC–AD 1550: Urban gardeners build earthen mounds in Ohio River valley"). Wall painting at Cahokia Mounds, Illinois. Image: Good Free Photos 200 BCE Arctic Peoples create sophisticated arctic sea boats, gear, and tools Ancestors of the Inupiaq, Inuit, Yupik, and other Arctic peoples develop sophisticated boats and tools to navigate and survive the Bering Sea between Alaska and Siberia in order to hunt sea mammals. They design and develop hide-wrapped, wood frame boats, as well as smaller kayaks (Native Voices, "200 BC: Arctic hunters make ingenious boats and gear"). 400 Marquesan Islanders sail north to Hawai'i Indigenous peoples from the Marquesas Islands arrive at the Poi po under, used to mash taro root into poi, a main staple in the traditional Hawaiian Islands and continue to navigate the Pacific Island chains Hawaiian diet. Image: Bernice Pauahi as part of a sophisticated trade network of goods and cultural Bishop Museum. items, such as poi pounders and mother-of-pearl items made from shells (Native Voices, "AD 400: Marquesan Islanders sail north to Hawai‘i"). 650-1400 Communal farming feeds ancient urban citydwellers Cahokia (AD 600-1400), one of the largest cities built by the ancient Cahokian civilization, was located just five miles east of what is now St. Louis. Like other mound builders, Cahokians planted family farms within the city to supply its urban dwellers with corn, squash, and sunflowers, among other foods and medicines. Cahokia’s neighborhoods included houses, large plazas, public buildings, and more than 100 monumental earthen mounds. Suburban towns radiated outward 50 miles in every direction from the city (Pauketat, 2009). Remains of a mound at Cahokia Mounds State