Great+Basin+Diseases

Great Basin Diseases and Genocide



__The Great Basin __ The Great Basin is located in a barren area in Western America. The area contains many waterways that flow into lakes and playas, but none that flow into the sea. The cultural area of the Great Basin extends further than the actual geographic location. __First Encounters with American Trappers__ In 1828-1829, whites began trapping along the Humboldt River, where the Shoshone Indians had been trapping for some time. When the Indians demanded compensation such as food and animals, the white trappers reacted by killing numerous Shoshone. This created years of intense hostility between the Indians in the Great Basin and the Americans.

__Fort Ruby__ In 1862, the United States army constructed Fort Ruby in Ruby Valley, which had previously been an Indian reservation until they were pressured away. A slower Indian genocide then commenced as soldiers at Fort Ruby consistently and systematically killed the Indians. The soldiers had diminished the Indian population to such an extent that there was no longer any Shoshone hostility.

__Smallpox Outbreak and Tuberculosis__ In the late 1860's, an outbreak of smallpox struck the Western Shoshone people, but the Indians were lucky as the epidemic did not have devastating outcomes. The disease did not spread rapidly because most Shoshone people lived in small family groups. Beyond this, the government vaccinated some of the Indians before the smallpox outbreak could spread. In later years, Tuberculosis was more of a threat than the Smallpox outbreak and it struck out a significant number of Indians.

__Bear River Massacre__ Bear River Massacre took place on January 29, 1863 when 200 Americans attacked a Northwestern Shoshone village. The Americans were led by Colonel Patrick Edward Connor and his soldiers included 200 California volunteers. As a result of this massacre, over 250 Indians were killed, 90 of which were women and children. After the battle, some soldiers molested Indian women and brutally killed women and children who were already suffering from wounds. Furthermore, the soldiers burned the 75 Indian lodges, stole 1,000 bushels of wheat and flour, and confiscated 175 Shoshone horses.

 __Paiute Indians and Americans__ Mormon settlers are to blame for the erosion of Paiute traditions and lifestyles due to their invasion of the Indians territory in the 1850's. The Mormons settled in areas that were traditionally used as foraging and camping grounds for Paiute Indians. Therefore, starvation and disease struck the Paiute population and reduced the tribe's numbers drastically.

In the 1950's and 1960's, the Americans employed a more discreet form of cultural genocide by placing the Paiute Indians on a list of Indians to be terminated. Therefore, the Paiute tribe was displaced from their homelands and assimilated into American life with almost no compensation from the government. In essence, this was a type of genocide that aimed to kill off the culture and traditional lifestyle of the Paiute Indians.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;">Oswalt, Wendell H. //This Land Was Theirs, A Study Of Native North Americans//. 9th ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, USA, 2008. Print

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 80%;"> Holt, Ronald L. Utah.gov. // Utah to Go //. 2012. Print. <http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/american_indians/paiuteindians.html>. =====