Turtle Island
Welcome friends!
A few weeks ago in one of my classes discussing Australian Aboriginal history, I learned that Turtle Island was the original name for North America- how the conversation got to that discussion, I have no clue, but I was immediately intrigued. Being American in a class with mostly other Australians, I was obviously surprised that I was not aware of this, nor did I have any idea about the Native American creation story behind this name. So here's the story so you can learn as well!
In order to approach this topic properly, we need to acknowledge that Native Americans lived across the continent long before European settlers arrived and we should imagine their history from the vantage point before the times of colonisation. The Native Americans (also termed Indigenous people) that lived across the continent are estimated to have first reached this land sometime around 12,000 BC when their Asian descendants crossed into Alaska from the Bering land bridge. By the time Europeans reached the Americas, there was an estimated 50 million people on the continent with approximately 10 million living in the area that would become the United States. Over the millennia, these early inhabitants, called Paleoamericans, spread across the continent, creating their own distinct languages and cultures depending on their region. Each tribe adapted to the conditions in which they lived and learned how to use whichever resources were available to them. Scholars generally categorise the Aboriginal peoples into 10 separate areas: the Arctic, the Subarctic, the Northeast, the Southeast, the Plains, the Southwest, the Great Basin, California, the Northwest Coast, and the Plateau.
Today, there are over 560 recognised tribes in the United States (most of which live in Alaska), comprising about 1.6% of the total U.S. population. Tribes can also be referred to nations, bands, pueblos, communities, rancherias, and native villages.
See stories here:
http://www.native-drums.ca/index.php/Stories/The_Creation?tp=a
http://www.native-art-in-canada.com/turtleisland.html
http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/native-american-cultures
https://www.allabouthistory.org/native-american-history.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States
http://www.ncai.org/about-tribes/indians_101.pdf
A few weeks ago in one of my classes discussing Australian Aboriginal history, I learned that Turtle Island was the original name for North America- how the conversation got to that discussion, I have no clue, but I was immediately intrigued. Being American in a class with mostly other Australians, I was obviously surprised that I was not aware of this, nor did I have any idea about the Native American creation story behind this name. So here's the story so you can learn as well!
In order to approach this topic properly, we need to acknowledge that Native Americans lived across the continent long before European settlers arrived and we should imagine their history from the vantage point before the times of colonisation. The Native Americans (also termed Indigenous people) that lived across the continent are estimated to have first reached this land sometime around 12,000 BC when their Asian descendants crossed into Alaska from the Bering land bridge. By the time Europeans reached the Americas, there was an estimated 50 million people on the continent with approximately 10 million living in the area that would become the United States. Over the millennia, these early inhabitants, called Paleoamericans, spread across the continent, creating their own distinct languages and cultures depending on their region. Each tribe adapted to the conditions in which they lived and learned how to use whichever resources were available to them. Scholars generally categorise the Aboriginal peoples into 10 separate areas: the Arctic, the Subarctic, the Northeast, the Southeast, the Plains, the Southwest, the Great Basin, California, the Northwest Coast, and the Plateau.
Today, there are over 560 recognised tribes in the United States (most of which live in Alaska), comprising about 1.6% of the total U.S. population. Tribes can also be referred to nations, bands, pueblos, communities, rancherias, and native villages.
Although the creation story varies across the many Indigenous tribes, it seems that the Ojibwas (or Chippewa) are most often credited with the creation story leading to the name of Turtle Island (also see Lenape or Iroquois). While I'm sure my interpretation of the story does not accurately represent the stories told by the original tribes, the following is what I have gathered of the Native American creation story:
Kitchi Manitou was the Great Spirit, and he was able to dream. He had a dream, a vision, and made the good red Earth- our Mother- and all life on it. He created the Original People, Anishinabe, last. Each being was given a unique spirit and nature, and there was a place and purpose for each life. The Original People had the special gift of dreaming, just like the Great Spirit. Man had to dream to the spirits to attain other powers, since man was weaker than other animals, while woman, who had the gift of giving life, was considered powerful. The Great Spirit also created The Great Laws of Nature so that all things could live in harmony and balance. The Great Laws also dictated the rhythm of all life.
One day, the Anishinabe people began to fight and the world became flooded (the details about why the fight started and where the flood came from are fuzzy, but see the links below if you want to look at both versions of the creation story I drew from.) Only the turtle, loon, beaver, and muskrat were left unaffected by the powers of the flood. The turtle, loon, and beaver, being the bigger animals, spent all day attempting to dive to the bottom of the ocean and retrieve pieces of the Earth, our Mother. When none of them were successful, the muskrat decided it was his turn to give it a try. Everyone was skeptical that he, being so small and not known to be a good swimmer, would be able to do it if none of the others could. The muskrat took a dive, and the other animals waited for him to come up. And waited. The muskrat was underwater for so long that all the others thought he had drowned. All of a sudden, the muskrat returned, barely alive (or already dead depending on the story) with a piece of Earth clutched tightly in his paw. This bit of Earth was put on the turtle's back, and thus Turtle Island was formed.
Turtle Island is the name that many Indigenous tribes still use to refer to North America today, and the turtle offers a lot of powerful symbolism for many tribes. America was eventually named after Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer that also travelled to 'America' after Colombus and first proposed the revolutionary idea that it was in fact an entirely separate continent.
Hopefully this story helps connect you with the cultural history of the land we call home and you can start to see cool and fun things through the lens of Indigenous stories. Interesting how I've learned more things like this about my country while I've been outside of it even though I've lived there my whole life, isn't it?
That's all I have for you today, I hope you enjoyed, and thanks for learning with me!
Kitchi Manitou was the Great Spirit, and he was able to dream. He had a dream, a vision, and made the good red Earth- our Mother- and all life on it. He created the Original People, Anishinabe, last. Each being was given a unique spirit and nature, and there was a place and purpose for each life. The Original People had the special gift of dreaming, just like the Great Spirit. Man had to dream to the spirits to attain other powers, since man was weaker than other animals, while woman, who had the gift of giving life, was considered powerful. The Great Spirit also created The Great Laws of Nature so that all things could live in harmony and balance. The Great Laws also dictated the rhythm of all life.
One day, the Anishinabe people began to fight and the world became flooded (the details about why the fight started and where the flood came from are fuzzy, but see the links below if you want to look at both versions of the creation story I drew from.) Only the turtle, loon, beaver, and muskrat were left unaffected by the powers of the flood. The turtle, loon, and beaver, being the bigger animals, spent all day attempting to dive to the bottom of the ocean and retrieve pieces of the Earth, our Mother. When none of them were successful, the muskrat decided it was his turn to give it a try. Everyone was skeptical that he, being so small and not known to be a good swimmer, would be able to do it if none of the others could. The muskrat took a dive, and the other animals waited for him to come up. And waited. The muskrat was underwater for so long that all the others thought he had drowned. All of a sudden, the muskrat returned, barely alive (or already dead depending on the story) with a piece of Earth clutched tightly in his paw. This bit of Earth was put on the turtle's back, and thus Turtle Island was formed.
Turtle Island is the name that many Indigenous tribes still use to refer to North America today, and the turtle offers a lot of powerful symbolism for many tribes. America was eventually named after Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer that also travelled to 'America' after Colombus and first proposed the revolutionary idea that it was in fact an entirely separate continent.
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| A picture attempting to show how North America is in the shape of a turtle |
Hopefully this story helps connect you with the cultural history of the land we call home and you can start to see cool and fun things through the lens of Indigenous stories. Interesting how I've learned more things like this about my country while I've been outside of it even though I've lived there my whole life, isn't it?
That's all I have for you today, I hope you enjoyed, and thanks for learning with me!
Learn. Think. Engage. Reflect. Wander. Wonder. Repeat.
"When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself." ~Chief Tecumseh
"Oh Great Spirit who made all races, look kindly upon the whole human family and take away the arrogance and hatred which separates us from our brothers." ~Cherokee Prayer
"If we look at the path, we do not see the sky. We are earth people on a spirtual journey to the stars. Our quest, our earth walk, is to look within, to know who we are, to see that we are connected to all things, that there is no separation, only in the mind." ~Native American, unknown sources
"Oh Great Spirit who made all races, look kindly upon the whole human family and take away the arrogance and hatred which separates us from our brothers." ~Cherokee Prayer
"If we look at the path, we do not see the sky. We are earth people on a spirtual journey to the stars. Our quest, our earth walk, is to look within, to know who we are, to see that we are connected to all things, that there is no separation, only in the mind." ~Native American, unknown sources
http://www.native-drums.ca/index.php/Stories/The_Creation?tp=a
http://www.native-art-in-canada.com/turtleisland.html
http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/native-american-cultures
https://www.allabouthistory.org/native-american-history.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States
http://www.ncai.org/about-tribes/indians_101.pdf
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