Category Archives: Social Sciences

“Quiche or K’che or Kche: Indian population of the Guatemalan highlands, largest of all ethnic groups speaking a Mayan language. The Quiche Mayas had an advanced civilization in pre-Columbian times. Records of their history and mythology are preserved in the Popol Vuh. Traditional Quiche are agricultural. Their homes are thatched huts, and they practice weaving and pottery. Nominally Roman Catholic, they conduct pagan rituals as well, Many were killed or displaced during the Guatemalan military’s counterinsurgency campaign of the early 1980s. At present they number between 700,000 and 800,000.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

“Sauk or Sac: Algonquian-speaking North American Indian people closely related to the Fox and Kickapoo who traditionally inhabited the region of what is now Green Bay, Wisconsin. In summer, the Sauk lived in bark-house villages near fields where women raised corn and other crops. In winter the village separated into patrilineal family groups that erected pole-and-thatch houses. In spring the tribe gathered on the Iowa prairie to hunt bison. By c.1800 the Sauk had settled along the Mississippi River in central Illinois, but were forced to cede these lands to the U.S. In 1832 a group of Sauk and Fox led by Black Hawk made a tragically unsuccessful attempt to return to their Illinois lands. Today about 1,000 Sauk live in Oklahoma.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

“Ojibwa or Chippewa: Algonquian-speaking Indian people who formerly inhabited a region north of the Great Lakes but who during the 17^th-18^th centuries moved west to what is now northern Minnesota. Each Ojibwa tribe was divided into migratory bands. In the autumn, bands separated into family units for hunting; in summer, families gathered at fishing sites. They grew corn and collected wild rice. The Midewiwin, or Grand Medicine Society, was the major Ojibwa religious organization. The Ojibwa are one of the largest Native American groups in North America today, numbering about 50,000 in the U.S. and over 100,000 in Canada.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.