Influences and Contributions
Place names all over America recall tribes once familiar there. More than half of the states of the United States, four of the Great Lakes, numerous rivers and mountains, and many communities have names of Indian origin.
Corn—called Indian corn or maize to distinguish it from the grains of the Old World—was developed by Indian agriculture from a native grass. Beans, pumpkins, squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes were other foods unknown to Europeans before they came to America. The Indians were the first to make maple sugar.
was smoked by Indians mainly on ceremonial occasions. Its use quickly spread to Europe and throughout the colonies.
The canoe, developed by the Indians, proved ideal for early European explorers and later became a popular pleasure craft.
Despite their difficult lives, Indians found time to make works of art of many products. Basketry and pottery were rarely without decoration. The designs on Indian beadwork, rugs and blankets, and silverwork influenced many artists.
Indian music is rhythmic, much of it accompanying ceremonial dances, but there are also lullabies, work songs, and love songs. Instruments are mainly drums, flutes, whistles, and rattles. Indian themes influenced Edward Alexander MacDowell and many later composers.
Indian stories and legends were told orally in great variety. They were written down by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, George Bird Grinnell, Frank Linderman, and many others.
The influence of the Indians on world literature was tremendous. The novels of James Fenimore Cooper and Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha are examples of literary works inspired by Indians. Chateaubriand, Rousseau, and Alexander Pope saw the Indian as a “noble savage,” unspoiled by civilization—a concept that played an important part in the Romantic movement. Dime novels, captivity stories, and the travels of Buffalo Bill's Wild West and similar exhibitions also contributed to the idea that the Indian was a romantic figure, and led to his use, often inaccurately, in the literatures of many countries.
