TEXT I

AMERICAN INDIANS

The ancestors of today’s Indians once had the whole of North America for their hunting grounds. They were descendants of migrants who crossed over from Asia at least before the last ice age ended, about eleven thousand years ago. A land bridge probably existed where Bering Strait is now. The Indians who stayed north of Mexico roamed the continent’s green forests and swift rivers at will. Then came the white man. Slowly, irrevocably, the Indian was driven from his land. Long, painful years of adjustment followed, during which attempts were made to pay the Indian for his losses, and some Indians tried to fit into the white man’s society.

Both the American and Canadian governments set aside for the Indians tracts of land called reservation or reserves. There the Indians could pursue their traditional pattern of living without interference. At the same time the governments provided the reservations with roads, schools, doctors, hospital service, often farming advisers and social workers. Funds were also available to help some Indians obtain a college education.

(Lands and Peoples –the world in color, New York: Grolier Incorporated, 1970, vol 6, p.17)

According to the text, the Indians: