Early Contact with the Europeans, Housing and Food

The Esselen
Name
Institution
The Esselen
Introduction
While currently, White Americans make up the greatest percentage of Americans, there existed some Native American tribes which have since culturally ceased to exist. Evidence of the existence of these tribes is indeed in droves and anthropologists together with archaeologists continue to make new discoveries. Currently, a majority of these tribes do not exist, or their cultures were absorbed and gradually lost to the point of extinction. A good example of a tribe which became culturally extinct are the Esselen. The Esselen tribe occupied the territory on the Big Sur River, the upper part of the Carmel River, and the little Sur River. They were a mountainous people and even though little evidence of their existence exists, they did leave permanent marks that cement their place in the American history. The arrival of the Europeans in America had its advantages like the introduction of civilizations. However, it also had its disadvantages like the displacement of the natives who were either attacked and chased away from their land or left of their accord after perceiving the threat the Europeans possessed. As a result of the above, a majority of them were either completely wiped out during the attacks or moved further from the places the Europeans chose to settle. Consequently, it became extremely hard for the anthropologists and archaeologists to track and trace their steps and hence the lack of information for tribes such as Esselen.
Early Contact with the Europeans
Being the only civilized individuals, the Europeans began exploring territories around the world and soon discovered America. While their intentions were initially friendly, they eventually began to feel comfortable and eventually started to claim the right of ownership of the land. As the natives, tribes such as the Esselen had to either fight or flee and the latter often made sense because of the military might of the Europeans. The Esselen came into contact with the Spanish in the 18th century, and while some of them adopted the new faith the Spaniards were spreading, others decided to flee to the Santa Lucia Mountains. According to Breschini and Haversat (2000), the Spaniards were baptizing the Esselen people and sharing with them their faith and culture. However, as time progressed fewer individuals from the Esselen tribe came for the baptism, and this prompted the Spaniards to try and forcefully transform them. Even though they were deeply cultural, the Spaniards displayed a real threat to their culture as well as existence especially if they refused to be baptized. Therefore, some of them sought refuge in the Santa Lucia mountains where the Spanish soldiers could not maneuver with their horses. Hiding made sense but did not prevent their culture from gradually becoming extinct.
Life and Culture of the Esselen
To understand how the Esselen lived, it is essential to bring their settlement’s geographical structure to mind. As already stated, the Esselen lived in the rugged Santa Lucia Mountains, and this area had a great impact on the life and culture of the Esselen. First of all, the structure and layout of the mountain made it difficult to travel which meant that they were somehow iso...