What did the open range have to do with the american indians?

Question

During the changes of the western frontier what happened on some of the open ranges? What did it have to do with Native Americans.

During the changes of the western frontier what happened on some of the open ranges? What did it have to do with Native Americans. .....what did the americans have 2 do with it?

Answer 1

It was the American Indians' livelihood; their food sources roamed on the "open range." When the white man stripped the American Indian of the "open range" (areas where buffalo, deer, elk, etc, lived) and herded the Indians on to reservations, it greatly limited the Indians ability to freely hunt for food.

The white man, on the other hand, killed "all food sources" on the open range (not just buffalo); and the white man often did it for sport, while the Indian killed to live.

Summary: It limited the Indians ability to travel and track their food. They could not travel beyond the borders or boundaries of the reservation (reservations were often worthless barren land which rarely produced crops). And, with animal migration patterns, this only allowed the Indians a narrow window of opportunity to hunt for food. The United States expansionism policies gobbled-up most of the land- well all of it now, from the east coast to the west coast.

Many Indians starved, and because of poor nutrition (lack of high protein food from the open range) and weakened immune systems, Indians easily contracted and died from diseases.
Why did all this happen? Because the Indians were different.

Answer 2

I am married to a Ojibway . From the history that I read on the matter. We all know that the Native American was the first to inhabit the plains. When the immigrants started to come over to find a better life, the Native Americans were either exterminated or put on reserves with very little food available and land that was barren that no one else wanted. Many migrated up to Canada to try to find a better life.

Answer 3

"The nomadic tribes survived on hunting, and the bison was their main food source. [...] The tribes kept moving following the migration of the bison. The Plains Indians lived in tipis because they are easily disassembled and so allow a lifestyle of following game. The Plains tribes adopted a horse culture beginning in the 17th century when escaped Spanish horses were obtained."

"Although they hunted other animals, like elk or antelope, bison was by far the most plentiful food source throughout their area."

"Over years of surviving off the hunt, Plains Indians developed an ability to survive longer off of less food through metabolism. In long intervals between hunts, Native Americans survived by this adaptation. And in times of plentiful food, Plains Indians took on a lot of extra weight to prepare for a time without food. This adaptation saved tribes from starvation in their old way, but when reservations were introduced the adaptation became a threat. Because they were confined to reservations, Natives were generally no longer able to hunt for food, so they took up other means of subsistence."

"Plains Indians" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plains_Indian

See also President Jackson's infamous "as long as Grass grows or water runs" letter.

Answer 4

Native Americans were displaced by the U.S. government during the expansion to the west. It was their land first, hence the term NATIVE American. The plains was home to several tribes that were put on reservations by the government.

Answer 5

I'm not getting your question. People lived their, other people tried to attack them...