David Quammen, People of the Horse. Horses forever changed life on the Great Plains. They allowed tribes to hunt more buffalo than ever before. They tipped the balance of power in favor of mounted warriors. And they became prized as wealth. For Native Americans today, horses endure as an emblem of tradition and a source of pride, pageantry, and healing. National Geographic magazine (NGM), March 2014.
ngm-beta.nationalgeographic.com/2014/03/articles/people-of-the-horse/
My comment:
(a) National Geographic apparently has changed its policy and allowed non-subscribers to read magazine contents online--with a caveat: One has to signed up with Facebook or an email address.
(b) There is no need to read the text at all, about Native Americans' fondness of horses. Only view an illustration (in print) --online the bottom half of the illustration, about various horse breeds, becomes a photo gallery of horses--whose heading is "Return of a Native" whose legend is right below the illustration, in roman typeface (in the online version, the heading is "The Journey Back" and legend is in italics):
"The horse originated in North America nearly two million years ago and spread to Eurasia over the Bering land bridge. Then, about 10,000 BC, horses vanished from the New World, possibly killed for food by humans who had come to the continent from Eurasia. When the horse returned with European conquistadores and colonists, it transformed the culture of many tribes. In turn, Native Americans and settlers changed the horse, developing new breeds from Old World stock.
[credit:] Fernando G. Baptista and Matthew Twombly, NGM Staff; Patricia Healy; Debbie Gibbons, NG Staff (map). Aldo Chiappe (horse art). Sources: Emil Her Many Horses, National Museum of the American Indian; Phillip Sponenberg, Virginia Tech; Jeanette Beranger, Livestock Conservancy"
(c) Online and in print, the illustration marks
(i) "Apache[:] Tribal locations at time of contact with horses"
Apache
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache
(The word Apache entered English via Spanish, but the ultimate origin is uncertain; two maps with respective legends: "Apachean tribes ca. 18th century" and "Present-day primary locations of Apachean peoples")
(ii) "England 1610" and "England 1630": Englishmen arrived at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 and Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620 (but brought in horses years later.
(iii) "Dutch 1625": New Netherland (1614-1664; capital New Amsterdam (1625-1664; renamed New York in 1665 in honor of the then Duke of York (later James II of England, who was deposed in Glorious Revolution of 1688)) Wikipedia
(iv) Pueblo Revolt
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueblo_Revolt
(d) In print, the illustration has a timeline that does not appear online:
(i)
(A) "1493-1500s [red in color for the years, which explains red arrows in the illustrations]
COLONIAL SPANISH
Expeditions carried a variety of Iberian breeds to the Caribbean. As the herds grew, Spaniards seeking gold and glory took horses to mainland North America. The first to do so: Hernán Cortés in 1519.
(B) Right underneath are three horse breeds: "Old World stock[:] Sorraia, Barb, Spanish jennet"
-------->
(ii) 1600s [purple]
(A) INTO THE MIX
In an effort to create new American breeds, colonists often turned to the Caribbean horse--sent to Quebec from France and known for its strength--and later to the swift English Thoroughbred.
Right underneath are three horse breeds: Canadian, English Thoroughbred
(B) EARLY INDIAN BREEDS
In the 1600s southeastern tribes became adept at crossbreeding Spanish horses for key traits: The marsh tacky was agile in swamps; the Choctaw's stamina served well in farm fields and on trade routes.
Right underneath are two horse breeds: Marsh tacky, Choctaw
----------->
(iii) 1700s [blue]
(A) AMERICAN ORIGINALS
The Nez Perce tribe nurtured the spotted Appaloosa; saddkebreds sprang from the southern US. The versatile quarter horse spread from the east to west and is called the first all-American breed."
(B) Right underneath are three horse breeds: American quarter horse, Saddlebred, Appaloosa
(iv) The arrows in this bottom half of the illustration show "Old World stock[:] Sorraia, Barb, Spanish jennet" gave rise to
(A) "EARLY INDIAN BREEDS" of Marsh tacky, Choctaw
AND
(B) "WILD[:] By 1529 so many had escaped that Mexican cattlemen set rules for capturing and branding the runaways, which came to be called mustangs, from the medieval Spanish word mestengo, for 'stray.' SPANISH MUSTANG[:] Some 30,000 wild horses now roam the West. With striping on their legs, Utah's Sulphurs still have the look of a primitive breed [read (1)(b) in the next posting, for the zebra stripes]."
Then the arrows from all these (breeds and mustang, too), in a melting pot, and "AMERICAN ORIGINALS: American quarter horse, Saddlebred, Appaloosa" were born..
(e)
(i) Jennet
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennet
(section 1 Spanish origin of the term)
(ii) For English Thoroughbred, see Thoroughbreden.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoroughbred(The Thoroughbred as it is known today was developed in 17th- and 18th-century England, when native mares were crossbred with imported Oriental stallions of Arabian, Barb, and Turkoman breeding; used mainly for racing)
(iii) American Saddlebred
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddlebred
(photo legend: "High-stepping action is typical of the Saddlebred, as seen in this "five-gaited" horse, performing the rack")
(iv) Appaloosaen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appaloosa
(Appaloosas were once referred to by settlers as the "Palouse horse," possibly after the Palouse River, which ran through the heart of Nez Perce country. Gradually, the name evolved into "Appaloosa"
(f)
(i) Hernán Cortés
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernán_Cortés
(1485-1547; caused the fall of the Aztec Empire)
(ii) Hernan
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernan
(It is the Latinized version of the compound name Fard-nanth, which seems to mean "gentle traveler" or "spiritual pilgrim." The House of Hernan gave its name to those with the surname Hernandez)
(iii) Cortes
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortes
(Corte, Cortes and Cortez are names of Latin origin [Latin cohors, meaning "cohort"], meaning "court(s)") |