Plateau Indians and the quest for spiritual power, 1700-1850

Book

Plateau Indians and the quest for spiritual power, 1700-1850

Cebula, Larry, 1961- (Author).

Summary:

"For the Native peoples of the Columbian Plateau, the arrival of whites was understood primarily as a spiritual event, calling for religious explanations. Between 1700 and 1806, Native peoples of the Columbian Plateau experienced the presence of whites indirectly through the arrival of horses, some trade goods by long-distance exchange, and epidemic diseases that decimated their population and shook their faith in their religious beliefs. Many responded by participating in the Prophet Dance movement to restored their frayed links to the spirit world." "When whites arrived in the early nineteenth century, the Native peoples of the Columbian Plateau were more concerned about learning about white people's religious beliefs and spiritual power than with acquiring their trade goods: trading posts were seen as windows into another world rather than sources of goods. The whites' strange appearance and seeming immunity to disease and the unique qualities of their goods and technologies suggested great spiritual power to the Native peoples. But disillusionment awaited: Catholic and Protestant missionaries came to teach the Native peoples about Christianity, yet these white spiritual practices failed to protect them from a new round of epidemic disease. By 1850, with their world devastatingly altered, most Plateau Indians had rejected Christianity."--Jacket.

Record details

ISBN: 0803215215
ISBN: 9780803215214
ISBN: 0803222432
ISBN: 9780803222434
Physical Description: 189 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
Publisher: Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, ©2003.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:: Includes bibliographical references (pages 167-184) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:: 1. A World of Spirits 7 -- 2. Change in the Protohistoric Era 27 -- 3. First Encounters, 1800-1825 52 -- 4. The Columbian Religion, 1825-1840 79 -- 5. The Rejection of Christianity, 1836-1850 90.