American West
This image is a painting of Yellowstone national park and the surrounding
mountainous areas in Idaho, Colorado, Nevada and Utah. It shows the idea of
emptiness and wilderness in the West highlighting the natural beauty of the
area. In the foreground we see some rocks and empty grasslands and a river.
This can be seen to represent the availability of land and the vast space that
is in the West. The West was not yet settled as much as the East and there was
a lot of open land, much of which was set aside and kept empty for use as a
national park, as was the case with Yellowstone. In the background is a
mountain range and rock formations. These show the size a scale of mountains
that could be found in the West, chiefly the rockies. It shows what the landscape
looks like and the shear size of mountains that settlers would have to cross. Finally,
to the right of the painting we can see a small cloud of smoke. This smoke is
most likely from a campfire that belongs to a Native American tribe, most
likely the Shoshone who lived in and around Yellowstone. The smoke represents
the fact that there was human life and Native settlement in the area already
before white settlers had got there. However, the fact that the smoke is off to
the side and small suggests the view that Native life was rather insignificant
and the so called ‘savages’ had no civilised way of life.
Navajo Nation
The Navajo are a Native American tribe that live predominantly in North-eastern Arizona as well as areas of New Mexico and Utah around the Four Corners region. The Navajo Nation website is the online home of the Navajo Nation government. The homepage acts as an information hub for the Navajo people. It provides news of what the Navajo government has accomplished and general Navajo news. It also advertises a number of events and services that are available to the people of the Navajo Tribe. The website also features pages with information on the Navajo Nation itself including pages on the government and different chapters within the Nation. The most notable page, however, is the history page. This page provides information on the history of the Navajo Nation. It provides a background to several aspects of the Navajo Nation such as the land itself, the government, the language, the flag and details of the Navajo Nation museum. It provides a view of Navajo culture through History and the importance that the Navajo played in American history as a whole, most notably the role they played in World War II and the Navajo code. Finally, the details given on the Navajo Nation government suggests that the people are represented within the tribe via their different chapters. The government listens to the views of the Navajo people and then work with the United States Federal Government, expressing the views and withes of the people.
Sources
http://www.amdigital.co.uk/m-products/product/american-west/ The Newberry Library Chicago
http://native-american-indian-facts.com/Great-Basin-American-Indian-Facts/Shoshone-Tribe-Facts.shtmlhttp://www.navajo-nsn.gov/ Navajo Nation
No comments:
Post a Comment