When the Europeans began colonizing the New World they had to interact with the Native Americans. The two civilizations had been separated since the stone age and had each established their own cultural heritage and religions. Each were divided into many nations with their own languages and cultures. The Europeans had been united by a common church for almost a thousand years, but the Protestant Reformation had shattered that unity. Each group were convinced that their culture held the true meaning of life and must be shared with the rest of the world. They were so distracted by fighting with each other that few bothered to study the new cultures they had encountered. For the next 500 years a concerted effort would be made to 'educate' the Native Americans about 'civilized' behaviour, while the White men stole their land and tried to destroy their culture.

Because Christopher Columbus thought he had reached the far East he called the Native Americans 'Indians'. The preferred term today is either 'Native American' or 'First Nations', throughout this Entry we will use the term 'Indian', where necessary, as an historical name.

Spanish Missions

As part of their charter the Spanish conquistadors were required to give the Indians at least three chances to embrace the Catholic Church before they could be enslaved. They were supplied with a team of Priests to aid them in this effort and the remains of several Spanish Missions still exist from this effort. A couple of the most famous are the Mission at San Juan Capistrano in California and the Alamo in San Antonio Texas, both located in the USA.

As a part of the education process the Indians were expected to learn the Spanish language, as well as Latin. Many words that are today considered to be Native American clearly have Spanish roots, The Lone Ranger's Indian Guide is named 'Tonto' which is Spanish for 'Fool'.

The Spanish were not so much interested in educating and teaching civilization to the Indians, but only to compel them to join the Church. This would satisfy their own mission to spread the Gospel, while they were free to profit from the forced labour of the Native Americans.

One of the most interesting answers to the Spanish system of control was the reaction of the 'Carib' Indians who populated most of the island occupied by the Spanish. Rather than subjecting their children to a life of slavery they simply stopped reproducing. In a single generation their nation ceased to exist. The void in the labour pool was quickly filled by importing Black Africans and forcing them into servitude as a new class of slaves.

Colonial Education

After the problems of food and shelter had been overcome the European colonists turned their attention to the proper education of their children. It seemed only proper to include the indigenous population to fulfil their obligation to spread Christianity to all the world.



The charters of several colonial colleges included a requirement for the education of Native Americans. These include;



31 May,1650 Harvard,


8 Feb,1693 Wiilam and Mary,

Princeton on 22 October 1746 (founded by the Presbyterian Church) and



Dartmouth on 18 December 1769 by Royal Charter.

The colonist's intentions were to teach the Native American children both European culture and religion and then allow them to return to their tribes as missionaries to the others.

Although some tribes refused to be parted from their children, many others were anxious to learn the secrets of the white man's power. Many of the most important elders sent their own sons with the hope that learning the language and the magic of the 'talking papers' (written word) they would be able to negotiate more fairly with the colonists who kept taking more of their land.

While the Native American children were at the schools they were forced to speak only English, follow a rigid schedule for classes , meals and sleeping, as well as mandatory attendance of church services. They faced strict discipline for any violation of the rules. Although some ran away to go home most remained as this was a duty they they had been assigned by their tribe and fathers.

By the early years of the 19th century interest in the Indian schools began to wane, many felt they had completed their task and one by one they began to close their doors.

Indian Removal Act

In 1830 the Government of The United States decided that all of the Native Americans living in the south east must be removed the the western side of the Mississippi River. 'The Indian Removal Act' was passed by congress and signed into law by President Andrew Jackson. The Native Americans were forced from their homes, rounded up in camps and forced to walk all the way to their new reservation in the West. This is still remembered as the 'Trail Of Tears'. Others resisted the order by fighting back in the 'Second Seminole War' A few bands managed to avoid relocation by hiding in remote regions, for the most part they were all out of sight and out of mind. At least until the white men decided to expand into the west themselves.

Western Expansion and the 'Indian Wars'

Shortly after the American Civil War (1861 - 1865) the Transcontinental Rail Road was completed. This opened up vast areas of the prairie and plains to farming and cattle ranching. Produce could be quickly gotten to the markets at a low cost. Although most of the eastern tribes were confined to the 'Indian Territory', just to the north of the state of Texas, other tribes had lived on the land north of the reservations for thousands of years with little outside contact.

The Natives had watched to iron rails advance into their territory with suspicion. For decades wagon trains had crossed their land headed for California and Oregon. There had been occasional conflicts when they wandered into lands considered sacred by the Native American. The railroad was different, as it left permanent farms and towns in its wake. The railroad also sponsored hunting trips where the bison (American Buffalo) were killed for sport after the 'hunters' had paid a fee to the railroad. This wholesale slaughter began to threaten their food supply. With the hope that they could drive the settlers away the Native Americans began raiding the homesteads.

With thousands of trained soldiers available from both sides of the Civil War the government replied in force. The hostile tribes were eventually captured and assigned to reservations. Any Native American caught outside their reservation faced immediate death. General Philip Sheridan of the US Army is credited with the motto 'The only good Indian is a dead Indian'. He later denied using the phrase, but it summed up the attitude at the time.

The Boarding Schools

With the Naive Americans contained it was a simple matter to remove all the young children and force them into compulsory schools, far from their families, and force them to learn only the ways of the white men. As they had no written language all the customs, history, language, legends and religious ceremonies were passed orally from generation to generation. The Shaman (Medicine Men) would spend half their life learning the facts and the second half passing it down to their successors. The government intended to break this cycle.

Any student caught speaking even a single word of their native language would be severely punished. By the time they graduated and were allowed to return to the reservation many could not even remember enough of their own language to talk with their own family. This process lasted well into the 20th century, in both the United States and Canada.

The Code Talkers of World War II

In World War II one of the biggest concerns was keeping military movements and strategy secret from the enemy white constantly communicating this information to the troops in a battle. As most signals were sent by radio they could be as easily received by the enemy as the intended recipient, a secure code was needed. In Germany an elaborate machine was developed, known by the Allies as the Enigma Code Machine, it produced a code that was impossible to break without a counterpart machine. Faced with the need for an equally unbreakable code in the Pacific theatre. The US Marines recruited Native Americans who still spoke a language almost totally unknown outside their reservation, they became the Navajo Code Talkers. The Navajo live in south western desert area of the United States and had avoided the conflicts that put most of the other tribes into the reservations and schools. They still possessed their own language. One of the few men outside the tribe who cold speak their language was a young intelligence officer who had been raised on the reservation by his missionary father. Ancient words and phrases were adapted to modern military equipment and a complex code was developed that could only be understood by a few dozen men. The code was never broken during the war.

Native American Education Today

The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964. Although the primary target of the law was the open discrimination against African Americans in several areas of the country, it also established rights for the Native Americans. Although many still live on the reservations they are free to come and go as they please, subject only to tribal law. The reservations are each ruled by a tribal council who can pass rules and regulations for the area. Everyone who enters the reservation is subject to tribal law.

The reservations are also free to construct their own schools and many include studies of their own language and culture in an effort to restore, as much as possible, their heritage for future generations.