extermination of buffalo

• how many buffalo once roamed the great plains?

  60 million
• what made large number of buffalo shipped out of the great plains?

  fur trade
• when did the mass slaughter of buffalo begin?

  1848
• who slaughtered the buffalo?

  settlers and hunters
• who gained fame for buffalo slaughter?

  Buffalo Bill
• how many buffalo did buffalo bill kill?

  4200
• what did the slaughtered buffalo provide?

  food for railroad workers
• how many buffalo did buffalo bill kill in a day?

  8
• what would railroad passengers do?

  shoot buffalo from the window for fun
• what happened to the buffalo population by the end of the 19th century?

  plummeted from tens of millions to 1000
• what did the buffalo extermination mean for indigenous?

  less reason to resist moving to reservations
• what skills did some indigenous have and what did this mean?

  raise cattle and some began cattle ranching
• what was the main impact for indigenous?

  less independent as they had to give up their nomadic way of life
• why did the extermination of buffalo decrease independence for indigenous peoples?

  relied on government for food handouts meaning they could reduce rations to punish the indigenous
• what was easier to build and why?

  railroad as the buffalo were no longer taking up grassland
• what did the indigenous peoples need to do?

  learn how to farm
• what happened to extra land?

  opened up for homesteading and ranching
• what were being phased out?

  reservations
• what were indigenous forced to do?

  assimilate to white americans way of life
• why were reservations being phased out?

  white americans thought it was a way for indigenous to cling on to their old way of life
• how were indigenous impacted politically by extermination of buffalo?

  • dawes act which weakened tribal structure
  • US gov set up a council to overtake chiefs power
  • indigenous had lost the right to govern themselves
  • indigenous joined the indian agency police where they were responsible for keeping order
• how were indigenous impacted territorially by extermination of buffalo?

  • following dawes act, indigenous were forces to accept smaller reservation sizes ans surplus land was sold
  • dawes act weakened tribal structure and allowed land to be broken up into plots
• how were indigenous impacted economically by extermination of buffalo?

  • ban on sioux leaving reservations destroyed economic foundations of their society
  • gov used bribes such as food and medical supplies in return for good behaviour among indigenous
• how were indigenous impacted religiously by extermination of buffalo?

  • children brought up as christian and they were punished if they spoke their own language or danced or kept scared items
  • feasts and dances were undermined and punishment happened if they did them
• how were indigenous impacted educationally by extermination of buffalo?

  • children sent to school off reservation and if their parents refused food rations were withdrawn
  • children at school learnt under military style conditions and were taught to have no respect for their traditional lifestyle
  • one boarding school owners motto was to 'kill the indian in him and save the man'