Author: thewildw

The American West produced many exciting heroes and legends. Gunslingers like Jesse James and Cole Younger, The Dalton Gang; legends like Kit Carson and Calamity Jane bring up images of train robberies, scouting, pioneering, trapping, and gun-fighting cowboy duels.  Fascinating women of the wild west, like Annie Oakley (the ultimate cowgirl), Belle Star, Willa Cather, Cattle Kate, Helen Hunt Jackson, and Carry Nation, made a large mark on the Old West as everything from shady characters to leaders (paving the way for women’s rights). The American wild west was an extraordinary time and place in American history.

You’ll find Old West landmarks, like Tombstone and The Alamo, plus tributes to the people like Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Daniel Boone, and Sam Houston who made those sites famous. And then there was Samuel Colt who made the American Wild West into what we know it today just by developing a gun.  This is American history at its finest.  Learn about the rough life a western cowboy and how he tended his cattle on

the wide open range and how he wore his cowboy boots, cowboy chaps and bandana while working.  Feel free to sample our cowboy poetry and cowboy songs sections as well. 

You’ll also learn interesting facts about TV and movie singing cowboys and the names of famous horses in western cowboy TV shows and in the western movies, people like Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy.  Enjoy an authentic cowboy recipe!  Please select from our links to continue your journey into American History and The Wild West.

American Indian tribes have lived and thrived upon the North American landscape for thousands of years—long before there was a United States. Historically, about 500 distinct Native languages were spoken in North America.

The names Native Americans and American Indians are used interchangeably on this website to describe America’s first inhabitants. In many cases “Indians” is a proper name or title such as in “American Indian Movement” or “Bureau of Indian Affairs”. The name Indian was used traditionally in American culture and history. The term “Native American” became popular much later but both are commonly used today and neither should be considered preferable over the other, although people do have personal preferences.

Although the freedom of their ancient way of life has been lost, the religion, culture, legends, and spirit of the American Indian will always endure. Learn more about the Apache, Blackfoot, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Lakota, and Pueblo Indian tribes. Read about American Indian legends, heroes, leaders (like Geronimo), and great battles (like Custer’s Last Stand). And understand the religions of the Blackfoot Indians and the Cheyenne, who Kachinas are, and the background of The People (Navajo history). Enjoy the wisdom and peace that American Indian culture has with nature.

First People: When the Europeans first came to North America in the 16th- and 17th-century, there were approximately ten million Indians populating this country. It is believed that the first American Indians arrived during the last ice-age, approximately 20,000 – 30,000 years ago and that they came through a land-bridge across the Bering Sound, from northeastern Siberia into Alaska . The oldest documented Indian tribes or cultures in North America are Sandia (15000 BC), Clovis (12000 BC) and Folsom (8000 BC) The name “Indian” was first applied by Christopher Columbus who believed mistakenly that the mainland and islands of America were part of the Indies, in Asia.

TheWildWest.org brings to you but a small part of American Indian history with the facts surrounding American Indian people, the places which they inhabited and inklings of their different cultures, legends, arts and crafts, supreme wisdom and love of nature.

Enjoy American Indian wisdom and philosophy and beliefs here at TheWildWest.org.  

For generation after generation, the American Indians who inhabited the North American continent were different in many ways, and the same in others. While not alike in tradition, ceremony, language or lifestyle, they did seem to share a reverence for the earth and all things in nature.

Three centuries ago, however, Europeans who arrived in the Americas saw things differently. While American Indians sought to be part of the beauty and wild around them, European cultures saw these same gifts as things to conquer, tame and ultimately own.

As Western civilization reflects on the ways of the world, it has finally come to a realization that perhaps the American Indian way of thinking might have been the better path. For thousands of years American Indians maintained an ecological and social balance undone in a fraction of the time. For many years their philosophies and common sense beliefs were not heard because no one was listening.

Tuscarora & Ute Wisdom
Shoshone & Suqwamish Wisdom
Seneca & Shawnee Wisdom
Salish & Sauk Wisdom
Powhatan & Pueblo Wisdom
Omaha & Pima Wisdom
Nez Perce & Oklahoma Wisdom
Navajo & Nevada Wisdom
Lakota, Oglala Sioux, Minquass Wisdom
Huron & Kiowa Wisdom
Delaware & Hopi Wisdom
Crow & Dakota Wisdom
Cree & Creek Wisdom
Chiricahua & Comanche Wisdom
Arapaho & Cheyenne Wisdom
Anishinabe and Apache Indian Wisdom
Native American Wisdom

American Indian culture and society is explored at TheWildWest.org.  

Did you know that American Indians lived life in love with nature. Their wisdom showed in everything – their capacity for harmony with the environment, what they wore, what they created, what they ate and how it was prepared, in their home life and importance of family and in their philosophies and beliefs.

It would be impossible to tell the whole story of American Indians, or even one people within the whole. Not only because there is so much to know, but because “historical” information is often incomplete, inaccurate or totally nonexistent. These offerings provide a brief and basic look into a few of literally hundreds of American Indian tribes and bands that existed in North America before the arrival of European influence. The brief and basic looks are intended to spark interest and serve as a jumping off point for your pursuit of those peoples, traditions and beliefs which most interest you.
 

Europeans & First Contact
The American Indian Tragedy
Hopi Tribe
Delaware Indians
Comanche
Choctaw & Crow
Chippewa
Cheyenne
Cherokee
Cayuga
Catawba
Cahuilla
Caddo
Blackfoot
Bellacoola
Assiniboin
Arapaho
Acoma
Abenaki
Indian Tribes By Region
Federally Recognized Indian Tribes
Navajo Code Talkers
Native American Medicine Bag
American Indian & The Buffalo
American Indian Movement
Dwellings & Lodging
Native American Ancestry & DNA Testing
American Indian Genealogy

Explore American Indian religions, faith and worship traditions here at TheWildWest.org.  If you look around, you will see countless contributions from American Indians – from the parka on your back; to the hundreds of medical drugs and drug sources; to the countless uses for cotton; to corn and potatoes, foods that make up half the earth’s supply of staple foods. While the world seems eager to accept and utilize the technology of the American Indian,  their most valuable offerings, religions, lessons of the mind and spirit (spirituality), are not as readily received.

Even for those who do seek the wisdom of this pantheism, a true understanding of American Indian religion and philosophy will always remain far from our grasp, as much of it is a mystery. However, the pursuit of an understanding of mysteries that bring us unity, harmony and respect within nature can offer knowledge and comfort not found elsewhere.   We offer but a brief review of some of the more common religious practices and rituals.
 

Lakota Metaphysics-Introduction
The Ghost Dance, Religious Cult
Lakota Indian: Vision Quest
Lakota Indians: Sweatlodge
Lakota: Sage, Sweet Grass & Tobacco
Lakota: Concept of Wakan
Lakota: The Four Directions
Lakota: The Circle

Come view some authentic American Indian recipes here at TheWildWest.org.

American Indian looked to the earth for their foods and ate things that may not be considered common today.  For example, acorns were a major North American Indian Food. 

California’s American Indians were mostly hunters and gatherers. Throughout California, there was a steady supply of deer, fish, rabbits, foul, vegetables and fruits in the form of native plants and seaweed.  And they made good use of all of it.  Still, acorns are believed to have been a main food source for many native California Indians.  Acorns were everywhere from north to south, were easy to gather and stored quite well as long as storage containers and places were squirrel resistant.

Some clans buried baskets of acorn nuts until they were needed.  White acorns, it was also believed, were the most preferred because they were sweet and could be eaten without leaching, a processing method traditionally used to remove the acidic tannins of the acorns.  In any case, read through the Indian recipes you find here to discover some unique hearty meals.  In some cases, though, you may note that ingredients had to be exchanged to meet the times.   Otherwise, many are as authentic as when originally conceived.  Enjoy our Native American food recipes.
 

Creamy Mashed Squash
Ojibwa Baked Pumpkin
Cherokee Succotash
Seminole Fried Green Tomatoes
Osage Bread
Acorn Bread
Seminole Corn Stuffing
Onondaga Corn Sticks
Pemmican
Pemmican # 2
Indian Spice Cake
Indian Pudding
Choctaw Hunters Stew
Acorn Stew
Comanche Stew
Canadian Sioux Fish Chowder
Hopi Corn Stew & Blue Dumplings
Seminole Pumpkin Soup
Black Bean Soup
Seminole Seafood Corn Pudding
Seminole Roast Rabbit
Indian Salmon Cakes
Roasted Wild Turkey

Explore American History and American Indian sacred places and American Indian historic monuments, battlegrounds and Indian museums at TheWildWest.org.

One of the deepest and quickest ways to know anything that holds our interest but escapes our understanding is immersion. There is no better way to become familiar with American History and American Indian culture – its people, heritage, history, tradition, philosophies, arts and ideas – than to experience it personally.

While in the past that might have meant costly and time consuming pilgrimages to faraway places, today, just about anywhere in North America, there is a powwow or American Indian art exhibition nearby to attend.

When travel is possible, imagine what might be in store by visiting American Indian places with names like Medicine Hat, Bad Axe, Medicine Wheel in the Bighorn, Starved Rock, Devils Tower or the Four Mountains of the Navajo. Go, explore and learn, but remember to be aware of cultural differences and honor American Indian traditions.

American Indian Museums

Hovenweep National Monument: Utah/Colorado
The Medicine Wheel Site: Wyoming
Navajo Nation Council Chamber: Arizona
Oconaluftee Indian Village: North Carolina
Pipestone National Monument: Minnesota
The Washita Battleground: Oklahoma
Saint Joseph of the Lake Church & Cemetery: Wisconsin
The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail