All these museum pieces of the once-proud native Americans Essay

All these museum pieces of the once-proud native Americans - Essay Example All these museum pieces of the once-proud native Americans It is the equivalent of celebrating something that belonged to a bygone era when these tribes ruled vast areas of America, from the beginning of time to eternity but it was destined to be that way. The museums seem to be an effort by white men to expiate themselves of their sins in dispossessing these people of their ancient lands that had belonged to their ancestors. Once mighty and proud warriors have been reduced to living in reservations as if they have to be segregated on their own land and sometimes eking out a living on marginal land. A case in point would be the native American Indians in California. They had 300,000 people of different tribes when the first Spanish settlers, soldiers and priests first arrived in the area around 1769. In fact, California had the densest pre-Columbian population anywhere that is north of Mexico yet this almost disappeared by the turn of the twentieth century, less than 20,000 were left, an almost unspeakable tragedy caused by disease, wars and exploitation. The rapid population decrease led to the disappearance of around 500 distinct tribes (Margolin, 1993) and along with them their way of life, their songs and dances, customs about courtship, marriage, adolescence and growing old. Also lost were their prescribed burning practices that honors their environment, preventing degradation through siltation, floods and landslides.