Abstract
Indigenous maps are critical in understanding the historic and current land tenure of Indigenous groups. Furthermore, Indigenous claims to land can be seen in their connections via toponymy. European concepts of territory and political boundaries did not coincide with First Nation/American Indian views, resulting in the mistaken view that Natives did not have formal concepts of their territories. And Tribes/First Nations with cross-border territory have special jurisdictional problems. This paper illustrates how many Native residents were very spatially aware of their own lands, as well as neighboring nations’ lands, overlaps between groups, hunting territories, populations, and trade networks. Finally, the Sinixt First Nation serve as a perfect example of a case study on how an Aboriginal people are currently inputting and using a GIS representation of their territory with proper toponymy and use areas.
Highlights
Native Americans/American Indians/First Nations did not originally have access to paper for their map creation, many of them had excellent cognitive cartography concerning their environment, settlements, populations, territories, trails and trade routes
Between the Lewis and Clark statistics for the Great Plains and the Pacific Northwest to Mooney and the Handbooks, we found that statistically there is no difference
Many Native American tribes and nations have taken up the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and mapping tools to re-establish their connections to traditional lands and waters
Summary
Native Americans/American Indians/First Nations did not originally have access to paper for their map creation, many of them had excellent cognitive cartography concerning their environment, settlements, populations, territories, trails and trade routes. They were often able to communicate this spatial knowledge to EuroAmericans who were mapping said lands by drafting maps (on paper, deerskin, or on the ground in dirt and snow) and providing place-names. These maps and toponymy essentially describe how well Indigenous peoples understood the geography of their lands. This paper will illustrate the fact many Native residents were very spatially cognizant of their own lands, as well as neighboring nations’ lands, overlaps between groups, hunting territories, populations, and trade networks
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