The Conquest of the Prairie: Native American Resitance, Evasion and Survival

The course focuses mainly on the last phase of the conquest of the prairie,the period from 1860 to 1890, seen from a Native American perspective. What kind of strategies did the different tribes develop to meet the tremendeous challenge caused by white westward expansion. The course seeks to analyze how and why Native American peoples and cultures survived into the reservation period. Despite the relative limited timephrame of the course, we will draw the long lines in native American history all the way back to pre-Columbian times.

The students are expected to understandthe last phase of the conquest of the prairie,the period from 1860 to 1890, seen from a Native American perspective. What kind of strategies did the different tribes develop to meet the tremendeous challenge caused by white westward expansion. The course seeks to analyze how and why Native American peoples and cultures survived into the reservation period. Despite the relative limited timephrame of the course, we will draw the long lines in native American history all the way back to pre-Columbian times.

Lectures and student presentations