Aboriginal Natives of the Red Lands

There are many native peoples spread across the globe, some very thinly. A couple examples I will give, however,  maintain a relatively healthy numbers of present  living members.

The peoples which now live on what we know as the Navajo Nation, who call themselves the Dine’, (Din-eh), originated from a land far colder and much farther to the north, in the north of Canada and Alaska. Ever since approximately the fifteenth century the Dine’ have shifted to the American Southwest. For over one hundred years the territory comprising their nation, which has slowly grown since establishment, has covered a large chunk of Arizona, along with a considerable section of New Mexico, and a respectable strip of extreme southeastern Utah.

What may they have in common with the Australian aboriginal inhabitants which are believed to have traveled from tropical East Asia? What quality makes their lives at least a little similar to the Native Americana that I had just mentioned?  The aboriginal groups “down under”,  who may call themselves Koori,  Anangu, or Wangkangurru  for example, depending on the area they reside in, are are understood to have come by boat form greener regions just as the Dine’. Unlike the dwellers of the Colorado Plateau in North America, the original Australians came from a much warmer climate, Tropical vs Boreal and Polar

Those are but only remote and trivial similarities, save for their mutual lengthy treks away from the original latitudes of their previous homes, and of course, the movements themselves from wetter extravagantly verdant landscapes to more arid climatic zones. Long before European sailors and settlers came, these people roamed the lands of their respective continents.They are both natives to the continent which they are to the present day calling “home”, but there is more to it than that.

To answer the former posed question, they both have for their homelands, a majestic colorful red rock landscape, unmatched in elegance and stature by few other places in the world. Also the natives, tragically, have in times past, and even today by some callous ignorant people, been considered “less than” those who later came to usurp them, by some irrational measure. The ones who took over their lands had aimed to confine them to set aside portions of land referred to as “reservations” or “reserves”.

Now days, plenty representatives of both societies live outside of these reserved lands, but often prefer the comfort of living within a community and culture that is more sympathetic to and understanding of that individual’s basic requirements, be it mental, physical, or spiritual. Navajoland and Arnhemland represent two such beautiful areas. Both are well known for producing beautiful unique art sold around the world. This is only one of many ways cultures like these to live on, by spreading knowledge of who they are and what they believe/perceive!

The globe is massive and wide variations are the general rule, yet small similarities between very far off locations of the globe can be pinpointed if sought out. These details are sometimes very obvious, but sometimes remain hidden, awaiting ties of similarity to be unearthed.  I thought it interesting to point them out to those that perhaps are little familiar with either of the two relevant great peoples of Australia and the American Southwest.

If one has the funds and the desire, I would recommend to go out and see what those peoples are all about, to absorb their cultures,  to understand their root motivations. Knowing more about different facets of varying human social communities could do nothing less than allow us to contemplate what must be known for all of humankind to comprehend one another and work alongside our fellow citizen of humanity toward a common beneficial goal!