First Chapter Of 'The Indian Farmer' By Douglas Hurt

The Indian Farmer

Introduction

In the first chapter of American Agriculture, Douglas Hurt explores the farming practices of the native American Indians Europeans began colonizing the new world. The chapter is broken into six different parts. The first five address the differences in the farming traditions in different parts of what is known as the United States. The last category explains how the American Indians viewed the land and how they understood ownership. While reading this chapter, the most interesting piece of information I came across that in almost every single area most of the tribes raised corn of some type. In addition, I was intrigued by the idea that in most tribes women were responsible for most of the farming and taking

Hurt (2002) explains two forms of land tenure, “First, villages claimed sovereignty or exclusive power ownership over an area, which other bands recognized. Second, in contrast, to communal ownership of a large area of land, another concept of land tenure involved individual control of gardens and fields within the general territory boundary” (p. 25). In addition these two methods, another key component is that women were generally responsible for the land. According to Hurt (2002), land typically was inherited through the female line with only a few exceptions in other areas (p. 25-27). Overall, the American Indian’s view of ownership was extremely different from that of white settlers in that it was seen as a gift. Hurt (2002) reports that the Indian’s version of ownership was based more on whether or not the person who claimed it was actually using it. If the land was not being used another person could cultivated it for themselves. Despite the numerous transactions between the Indians and the white settlers, Hurt (2002) states that the Indians believed, “… the land was a gift from the Great Spirit. Only he could take it away. Indian land could not be sold because it did not belong to the present generation” (p. 31). In contrast, the white settler seemed to view land as a commodity that could be bought and forever claimed. Perhaps, these differences may have been responsible for much of the trouble between the Indians and white