The Umatilla Tribe of North America

Abstract

This paper discusses one of the oldest tribes that resided in North America: the Umatilla Tribe. According to the Umatilla people, their tribe has been living in these parts of North America for more than 9000 years, making them one of the oldest tribes to have roamed these lands. Further in this paper, we discuss the tribe in detail.

The Umatilla Tribe of North America

Introduction

The Umatilla Tribe is among the Sahaptin speaking Indians of North America. They originally lived in the region of the Columbia Plateau in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The Umatilla share today, (as part of the Confederate Tribes of the Umatilla reserve) the country and the state administrative structures of North American with the Cayuse and Walla Walla tribes. The reserve where the tribe lived during its time is located in Pendleton in Oregon, near the Blue Mountains. A number of places and geographic features such as the Umatilla River, the Umatilla County, the city of Umatilla and Umatilla National Forest have been named after them. The reservoir of the John Day Dam is called Lake Umatilla. The Umatilla were one of the strongest tribes of North America yet they did not play a very aggressive role in history. In fact, their existence was not discussed much till the discovery of the Kennewick Man, which shall be discussed further along in the paper.

Discussion

The Tribe's History

Although documentation shows that the tribe settled in the region during the beginning of the 1800s, the tribe themselves claim to have lived in these lands for more than 9000 years. The tribe does not have a pre-Colombian history because they claim to be living here for thousands of years. The tribe claims that this land is ideally theirs because they have been here long before the ...