First Inhabitants of the Great Lakes Region Essay -- North American Ge

The First Inhabitants of the Great Lakes Region in North America As archeological discoveries of bone fragments and fossils continue to support the existence of homo-sapiens in North America prior to the arrival of Indo-European explorers in the 15th century, this paper will attempt to explain chronologically, which Native American inhabitants lived or migrated throughout what is known today as the Great Lakes Region. This region includes lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Ontario, & Erie as well as surrounding U.S. state territories including Michigan, a significant portion of Wisconsin, small portions of Minnesota & Indiana, a small part of Illinois and the Canadian providence of Ontario toward the north. In terms of chronological dates, this paper will analyze the quaternary period, specifically the â€Å"Holocene epoch from 8000 B.C. to Present; the last 10,000 years † (Quimby 2), since this epoch involved the fundamental evolution of mankind to the present. It is important to realize that the late Pleistocene epoch had a dramatic affect on the migration patterns of homo-sapiens reaching â€Å"the Americas by 14,000 ago† (O’Brien 12), after large portions of North America encountered the last ice age, which through glaciation and glacial retreat affected the date of arrival and presence of indigenous people throughout the Great Lakes Region. Shortly following the glacial retreat of the upper Great Lakes region around 11,000 B.C., the flora and fauna in the region began to develop prior to and upon the arrival of the â€Å"Paleo-Indian tribe, circa 7000 B.C. to 4500 B.C.† (Quimby 6). Between this time period, in 6000 B.C., the basins of the upper Great Lakes became entirely ice free and moraines and depressions began forming t... ...indigenous inhabitants mentioned throughout this report. This led me to conclude that Indian life in North America was without doubt, altered if not completely destroyed of its dignity, prosperity and self-worth ever since the arrival of the white man to this very day. WORKS CITED Kubiak, William J. Great Lakes Indians. Grand Rapids : Baker Book House Company, 1970. O’Brien, Patrick K. Philips Atlas of World History. London : George Philip Limited, 1999. Quimby, George I., Spaulding, Albert C. "The Old Copper Culture and the Keweenaw Waterway" Fieldiana : Anthropology 36 no. 8 (1963): 189-201. Quimby, George I. Indian Life in the Upper Great Lakes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960. Ritzenthaler E. Robert, Quimby, George I. "The Red Ocher of the Upper Great Lakes and Adjacent Areas." Fieldiana : Anthropology 36 no.11 (1963): 243-275.