1.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
3.
Texas' 19th congressional district
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The current Representative from the 19th District is Republican Jodey Arrington. District 19s current boundaries were drawn up during the controversial 2003 Texas State Legislature Redistricting made famous by the Texas Eleven, the district was redrawn in such a way that two Congressional incumbents, Neugebauer and Democrat Charlie Stenholm, were pitted against one another in the 2004 Congressional elections. Neugebauer won with over 58% of the vote, the border runs along the western boundary with New Mexico, and runs along county borders to include far reaching cities. The area is rural, with the exceptions of Abilene and Lubbock, and includes many state parks, ranches. This is one of Texas most conservative districts, it has not supported a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964, republicans have held the seat since 1985, although much of this region continued to elect conservative Democrats to local offices and the Texas Legislature until 1994. The district voted 77% for George W. Bush in 2004, list of United States congressional districts Martis, Kenneth C. The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, the Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present Current Election History, office of the Secretary of State of Texas
4.
Comanche
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The Comanche people are federally recognized as the Comanche Nation, headquartered in Lawton, Oklahoma. Post-contact, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers with a horse culture, there may have been as many as 45,000 Comanches in the late 18th century. They were the dominant tribe on the Southern Plains and often took captives from weaker tribes during warfare, selling them as slaves to the Spanish and they also took thousands of captives from the Spanish, Mexican, and American settlers. Today, the Comanche Nation has 15,191 members, approximately 7,763 of whom reside in tribal jurisdictional area around the Lawton, Fort Sill, the Comanche Nation Homecoming Powwow is held annually in Walters, Oklahoma in mid-July. The Comanche language is a Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family, only about 1% of Comanches speak their language today. The name Comanche is from the Ute name for them, kɨmantsi, the Comanche Nation is headquartered in Lawton, Oklahoma. Their tribal jurisdictional area is located in Caddo, Comanche, Cotton, Grady, Jefferson, Kiowa, Stephens, membership of the tribe requires a 1/8 blood quantum. The tribe operates its own housing authority and issues tribal vehicle tags and they have their own Department of Higher Education, primarily awarding scholarships and financial aid for members college educations. Additionally, they operate the Comanche Nation College in Lawton, Oklahoma and they own ten tribal smoke shops and four casinos. The casinos are Comanche Nation Casino in Lawton, Comanche Red River Casino in Devol, Comanche Spur Casino, in Elgin, in 2002, the tribe founded the Comanche Nation College, a two-year tribal college in Lawton. Each July Comanches from across the United States gather to celebrate their heritage and culture in Walters, the Comanche Nation Fair is held every September. The Comanche Little Ponies host two annual dances—one over New Years and one in May, the Comanche emerged as a distinct group shortly before 1700, when they broke off from the Shoshone people living along the upper Platte River in Wyoming. In 1680, the Comanche acquired horses from the Pueblo Indians after the Pueblo Revolt and they separated from the Shoshone after this, as the horses allowed them greater mobility in their search for better hunting grounds. The horse was a key element in the emergence of a distinctive Comanche culture and they only just fall short of possessing all of the conveniences of the earth, and have no need to covet the trade pursued by the rest of the Indians. Their original migration took them to the southern Great Plains, into a sweep of territory extending from the Arkansas River to central Texas. They reached present-day New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle by 1700, forcing the Lipan Apache people ever southward, by 1777, the Lipan Apache had retreated to the Rio Grande and the Mescalero Apache to Coahuila. The Comanche never formed a single cohesive unit, but were divided into almost a dozen autonomous groups. These groups shared the language and culture, and rarely fought each other
5.
Lenape
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The Leni Lenape or Lenape, or the Delaware people in older references, are a Native American tribe and, in Canada, a recognized First Nations band government. Subsequently, the Lenape became subjugated and made tributary to first the Susquehannocks, then the Iroquois, iroquoian peoples occasionally fought the Lenape. As the 1700s progressed, many surviving Lenape moved west —into the upper Ohio River basin, during the decades of the 18th century most Lenape were pushed out of their homeland by expanding European colonies, exacerbated by losses from intertribal conflicts. The divisions and troubles of the American Revolutionary War and United States independence pushed them farther west, in the 1860s, the United States government sent most Lenape remaining in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory under the Indian removal policy. In the 21st century, most Lenape now reside in the US state of Oklahoma, with communities living also in Wisconsin, Ontario. Lenape kinship system has matrilineal clans, that is, children belong to their mothers clan, from which they gain social status, the mothers eldest brother was more significant as a mentor to the male children than was their father, who was generally of another clan. Hereditary leadership passed through the line, and women elders could remove leaders of whom they disapproved. Agricultural land was managed by women and allotted according to the needs of their extended families. Families were matrilocal, newlywed couples would live with the brides family, lenni-Lenape comes from their autonym, Lenni, which may mean genuine, pure, real, original, and Lenape, meaning Indian or man. Alternately, lënu may be translated as man, the tribes other name, Delaware, is not of Native American origin. English colonists named the Delaware River for the first governor of the Province of Virginia, Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, the English then began to call the Lenape the Delaware Indians because of where they lived. Swedes also settled in the area, and early Swedish sources listed the Lenape as the Renappi, traditional Lenape lands, the Lenapehoking, was a large territory that encompassed the Delaware Valley of eastern Pennsylvania. The Swedes and Dutch at New Castle, a Lenâpé-English Dictionary, From An Anonymous In The Archives Of The Moravian Church At Bethlehem. David Zeisbergers History of Northern American Indians, grammar of the Language of the Lenni Lenape or Delaware Indians. The Diary of David Zeisberger, A Moravian Missionary Among the Ohio Indians, the Diary of David Zeisberger, A Moravian Missionary Among the Ohio Indians, Volume 2. Zeisberger’s Indian Dictionary, English, German, Iroquois—The Onondaga and Algonquin—The Delaware, “The Delaware that Zeisberger translated was Munsee, and not Unami. Adams, Richard Calmit, The Delaware Indians, a history, Hope Farm Press Bierhorst. The White Deer and Other Stories Told by the Lenape, ISBN 0-688-12900-5 Brown, James W. and Rita T. Kohn, eds
6.
Shawnee
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The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking ethnic group indigenous to North America. Pushed west by European-American pressure, the Shawnee migrated to Missouri and Kansas, Other Shawnee did not remove to Oklahoma until after the Civil War. The Shawnee language, an Algonquian language, was spoken by 200 people in 2002, the language is written in the Latin script. It has a dictionary and portions of the Bible were translated into Shawnee, some scholars believe that the Shawnee are descendants of the people of the precontact Fort Ancient culture of the Ohio region, although this is not universally accepted. Fort Ancient culture flourished from 1000 to 1650 CE among a people who predominantly inhabited lands along the Ohio River in areas of southern Ohio, northern Kentucky, Fort Ancient culture was once thought to have been an extension of the Mississippian culture. But, scholars now believe Fort Ancient culture developed independently and was descended from the Hopewell culture, uncertainty surrounds the fate of the Fort Ancient people. There is a gap in the record between the most recent Fort Ancient sites and the oldest sites of the Shawnee. The latter were recorded by European explorers as occupying this area at the time of encounter, the Shawnee traditionally considered the Lenape of the East Coast mid-Atlantic region, who were also Algonquian speaking, as their grandfathers. The Algonquian nations of present-day Canada regarded the US Shawnee as their southernmost branch, along the East Coast, the Algonquian-speaking tribes were mostly located in coastal areas, from Quebec to the Carolinas. Algonquian languages have similar to the archaic shawano meaning south. However, the stem šawa- does not mean south in Shawnee, in one Shawnee tale, Sawage is the deity of the south wind. Curtin translates Sawage as it thaws, referring to the weather of the south. šaawaki is attested as the spirit of the South, or the South Wind, in account, in one of Voegelins tales. Europeans reported encountering Shawnee over a geographic area. One of the earliest mentions of the Shawnee may be a 1614 Dutch map showing some Sawwanew located just east of the Delaware River, later 17th-century Dutch sources also place them in this general location. Accounts by French explorers in the same century usually located the Shawnee along the Ohio River, where the French encountered them on forays from eastern Canada, a Shawnee town might have from forty to one hundred bark-covered houses similar in construction to Iroquois longhouses. Each village usually had a house or council house, perhaps sixty to ninety feet long. According to one European legend, some Shawnee were descended from a party sent by Chief Opechancanough, ruler of the Powhatan Confederacy 1618–1644, the party was led by his son, Sheewa-a-nee
7.
Caddo
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The Caddo Nation is a confederacy of several Southeastern Native American tribes. Their ancestors historically inhabited much of what is now East Texas, Louisiana, in the early 19th century, Caddo people were forced to a reservation in Texas, then removed to Indian Territory in 1859. Today, the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma is a recognized tribe with its capital at Binger. Descendants of the historic Caddo tribes with documentation of at least 1/16 ancestry are eligible to enroll as members in the Caddo Nation, the several Caddo languages have converged into a single language. The Caddo Nation was previously known as the Caddo Tribe of Oklahoma, the tribal constitution provides for election of an eight-person council, with a chairperson, based in Binger, Oklahoma. The tribe operates its own housing authority and issues its own vehicle tags. It operates a center, dance grounds, several community centers, the Caddo Nation Heritage Museum. As of 2012,5,757 people are enrolled in the nation, the tribe has several programs to invigorate Caddo culture. It sponsors a summer camp for children. The Hasinai Society and Caddo Culture Club both teach and perform Caddo songs and dances to keep the tradition alive and passed on to the next generations, the Kiwat Hasinay Foundation is dedicated to preserving and increasing use of the Caddo language. The Wichita and Pawnee are related to the Caddo, as both tribes speak Caddoan languages, by 800 CE, this society had begun to coalesce into the Caddoan Mississippian culture. Some villages began to gain prominence as ritual centers, where major earthworks were built, serving as temple mounds, the mounds were arranged around leveled, large, open plazas, which were usually kept swept clean and were often used for ceremonial occasions. As complex religious and social ideas developed, some people and family gained prominence over others. By 1000 CE, a society that is defined by archaeologists as Caddoan had emerged, in these villages, artisans and craftsmen developed specialties. The artistic skills and earthwork mound-building of the Caddoan Mississippians flourished during the 12th and 13th centuries, the Spiro Mounds, near the Arkansas River in present-day southeastern Oklahoma, were some of the most elaborate mounds in the United States. They were made by Mississippian ancestors of the historic Caddo and Wichita tribes, the Caddo were farmers and enjoyed good growing conditions most of the time. Archeological evidence has confirmed that the continuity is unbroken from prehistory to the present among these peoples. Their leader, named Moon, instructed the people not to look back, an old Caddo man carried with him a drum, a pipe, and fire, all of which continued to be important religious items to the people
8.
Indian reservation
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Each of the 326 Indian reservations in the United States are associated with a particular Nation. Not all of the countrys 567 recognized tribes have a reservation—some tribes have more than one reservation, some share reservations and this jumble of private and public real estate creates significant administrative, political, and legal difficulties. The collective geographical area of all reservations is 56,200,000 acres, while most reservations are small compared to US states, there are 12 Indian reservations larger than the state of Rhode Island. The largest reservation, the Navajo Nation Reservation, is similar in size to West Virginia, Reservations are unevenly distributed throughout the country, the majority are west of the Mississippi River and occupy lands that were first reserved by treaty or granted from the public domain. Because tribes possess tribal sovereignty, even though it is limited and these laws can permit legal casinos on reservations, for example, which attract tourists. The tribal council, not the local or federal government, generally has jurisdiction over reservations, different reservations have different systems of government, which may or may not replicate the forms of government found outside the reservation. Most Native American reservations were established by the government, a limited number, mainly in the East. The name reservation comes from the conception of the Native American tribes as independent sovereigns at the time the U. S, the term remained in use even after the federal government began to forcibly relocate tribes to parcels of land to which they had no historical connection. A majority of Native Americans and Alaska Natives live somewhere other than the reservations, often in big cities such as Phoenix. In 2012, there were over 2.5 million Native Americans with about 1 million living on reservations, from the beginning of the European colonization of the Americas, Europeans often removed native peoples from lands they wished to occupy. The means varied, including voluntary moves based on agreement, treaties made under considerable duress, forceful ejection. The removal caused many problems such as tribes losing means of livelihood by being subjected to an area, farmers having inadmissible land for agriculture. In 1764 the “Plan for the Future Management of Indian Affairs” was proposed by the Board of Trade, additionally, this plan dictated that the Indians would be properly consulted when ascertaining and defining the boundaries of colonial settlement. For much of North America, the American Revolution was more of a battle against the Indians than a war against the British, the treaty was seen by Americans as a confirmation of their conquest of Indian land. The private contracts that once characterized the sale of Indian land to various individuals and this protocol was adopted by the United States Government after the America Revolution. On March 11,1824, John C. Calhoun founded the Office of Indian Affairs as a division of the United States Department of War, to solve the land problem with 38 treaties with American Indian tribes. The passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 marked the systematization of a US federal government policy of forcibly moving Native populations away from European-populated areas, some of the lands these tribes were given to inhabit following the removals eventually became Indian Reservations. In 1851, the United States Congress passed the Indian Appropriations Act which authorized the creation of Indian reservations in modern-day Oklahoma, relations between settlers and natives had grown increasingly worse as the settlers encroached on territory and natural resources in the West
9.
Village
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A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town, with a population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Though often located in areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods. Villages are normally permanent, with fixed dwellings, however, transient villages can occur, further, the dwellings of a village are fairly close to one another, not scattered broadly over the landscape, as a dispersed settlement. In the past, villages were a form of community for societies that practise subsistence agriculture. In Great Britain, a hamlet earned the right to be called a village when it built a church, in many cultures, towns and cities were few, with only a small proportion of the population living in them. The Industrial Revolution attracted people in numbers to work in mills and factories. This also enabled specialization of labor and crafts, and development of many trades, the trend of urbanization continues, though not always in connection with industrialization. Although many patterns of life have existed, the typical village was small. Homes were situated together for sociability and defence, and land surrounding the living quarters was farmed, Traditional fishing villages were based on artisan fishing and located adjacent to fishing grounds. The soul of India lives in its villages, declared M. K. Gandhi at the beginning of 20th century, according to the 2011 census of India,68. 84% of Indians live in 640,867 different villages. The size of these villages varies considerably,236,004 Indian villages have a population of fewer than 500, while 3,976 villages have a population of 10, 000+. Most of the villages have their own temple, mosque, or church, auyl is a Kazakh word meaning village in Kazakhstan. According to the 2009 census of Kazakhstan,42. 7% of Kazakhs live in 8172 different villages, to refer to this concept along with the word auyl often used the slavic word selo in Northern Kazakhstan. Peoples Republic of China In mainland China, villages 村 are divisions under township Zh, 乡 or town Zh, Republic of China In the Republic of China, villages are divisions under townships or county-controlled cities. The village is called a tsuen or cūn under a rural township, japan South Korea In Indonesia, depending on the principles they are administered, villages are called Kampung or Desa. A Desa is administered according to traditions and customary law, while a kelurahan is administered along more modern principles, Desa are generally located in rural areas while kelurahan are generally urban subdivisions. A village head is respectively called kepala desa or lurah, both are elected by the local community. A desa or kelurahan is the subdivision of a kecamatan, in turn the subdivision of a kabupaten or kota, the same general concept applies all over Indonesia
10.
Kiowa
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The Kiowas are a tribe of Native Americans. They migrated from western Montana southward into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries, in 1867, the Kiowa were moved to a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma. Today they are recognized as Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma with headquarters in Carnegie. The Kiowa language is spoken today and is part of the Tanoan language family. As of 2011, there are 12,000 members, Kiowa call themselves Kaigwu, Cáuigù or Gaigwu, most given with the meaning Principal People. The first part of the name is the element Kae-, Cáui- or Gai- which means the Kiowa themselves – it may derive from the word ka or from ka-a, kae-kia means a Kiowa man, Kae-ma is a Kiowa woman. The second element -gua refers to men or people, so the meaning of the two elements is Kiowa people, to express Principal People or genuine, real or true People in Kiowa is to add the ending -hin. Ancient names were Kútjàu or Kwu-da and Tep-da, relating to the pulling or coming out of a hollow log until a pregnant woman got stuck. Later, they called themselves Kom-pa-bianta for people with large tipi flaps, the mountain pass they came through was populated heavily by grizzly bear Kgyi-yo and Blackfoot people. Other tribes who encountered the Kiowa used sign language to them by holding two straight fingers near the lower outside edge of the eye and moving these fingers back past the ear. This corresponded to the ancient Kiowa hairstyle cut horizontally from the lower edge of the eyes to the back of their ears. This was a practice to keep their hair from getting tangled as an arrow was let loose from a bow string. George Catlin painted Kiowa warriors with this hairstyle, for a time, the Kiowa are thought to have shared land, mostly in present-day eastern Colorado, with the Arapaho. An Arapaho name for the Kiowa is creek people, and the Arapaho word for creek is kohowu, for example, the Kiowa are referred to as creek people in an oral narrative recited in 1993 by native Arapaho speaker Paul Moss. Thus, it is possible Kiowa may have come from a name by which the tribe was known among the Arapaho, the Kiowa language is a member of the Kiowa-Tanoan language family. The relationship was first proposed by Smithsonian linguist John P. Harrington in 1910, parker McKenzie, born 1897, was a noted authority on the Kiowa language, learning English only when he began school. He worked with John P. Harrington on the Kiowa language and he went on to discuss the etymology of words and insights of how the Kiowa language changed to incorporate new items of material culture. McKenzies letters are in the National Anthropological Archives on pronunciation and grammar of the Kiowa language, additionally, Kiowa were one of the numerous nations across the US, Canada and Mexico that spoke Plains Sign Talk
Young County, Texas
