People of the PNW before 1800 - Assignment Example

The Indigenous People of the Pacific Northwest (PNW) before 1800 Native Cultures and the Coming of Other People by William RobinsThe people of North West pacific are also known as the people of Oregon. The history of the Pacific Northwest began long ago before the visitation of the Europeans in the region. It is a region that was occupied by people from different origins including the blacks. Archaeological record places people in Oregon sometime towards the end of Pleistocene, a time when ice-age glaciers were retreating from the mountain interior of the Northwest (Robbins, 2002).

It was documented that the first African to occupy Oregon was Marcus Lopius who was a crew member of the American ship known as Lady Washington. Robert Gray was the captain of the ship which was commenced in 1788 (Robbins, 2002). The native communities who lived along river Columbia ranged widely in language, cultural organizations, living conditions and economic relations. There were two communities who lived in the upper river. They included The Dallas and chinookan. The Dallas communicated with Sahaptin languages, while chikookan languages reigned downriver (Robbins, 2002).

Coastal people tended to live in fixed village sites due to lack of food sources. During the winter, fish and shellfish were easily harvested from estuaries and streams due to the relative mildness. In the western region, people gathered roots, seeds, nuts and berries that were harvested easily from the oak savannas and foothills (Robbins, 2002).They greatly involved themselves in trade. They not only traded with the nearby villages but also occasionally traded with the voyages in seagoing canoes from the north.

The Tillamook people, occupants of the northern coast, were familiar with the trails that passed through the headlands. They also related well with the people from the North and the South. Europeans from Span, France, Russia and Britain showed interest in the last quarter of eighteenth century (Robbins, 2002). Voyages that involved Cook and Vancouver and their counterparts were made to the coast of Oregon to gather information for British, American and European communities. In addition, their exploration gave information to the world about the Native people, potential commercial resources and important information about trade (Robbins, 2002).

Columbia River Gorge National Area by Cassandra TateIn the following years, there was the development of fur trade that attracted a group of people known as the Mountain Men. They worked with the local Natives to supply beaver and other forms of fur to the Hudson’s Bay Company and many other companies (Tate, 2005). Some of the people used the black slave trade labor in their work. Also the free black mountain men for instance Moses “Black” Harris were important figures in the fur trade and later on they worked as wagon trade guides (Tate, 2005).

The people of Oregon were highly affected by a list of diseases. They most deadly ones included Malaria, small pox, measles, typhus, typhoid fever, cholera and many more. Whenever an outbreak of a disease came up, it had a wide ranging effect far beyond demographic decline (Tate, 2005). Evidence proved that cultural unfamiliarity with the new diseases, in that people did not have the knowledge of how to treat them and lack of effective medicine (Tate, 2005).They also hunted elk, deer and waterfowl in addition to fishing in local streams for salmon and freshwater fish.

They used several methods of fishing such as spearing and the use of baskets. Smoking and drying were import for preservation of their fish (Tate, 2005).ReferencesRobbins, W. G. (2002). Native Cultures and the Coming of Other People. The Oregon History Project. Retrieved from http://oregonhistoryproject.org/narratives/this-land-oregon/the-first-peoples/the-first-peoples/#.RJ8EW7WTzCMTate, C. (2005).Columbia River Gorge National Area. History Link. Web. Retrieved from http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.

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