All of America was Indian Territory at one period and the first landings at Jamestown VA. Were the beginnings of the Indian colonization theory. The alteration or destruction of an indigenous culture and patterns of social organization is Aguirre & Turner second stage of the colonization complex. General George Crook commander of the Indian wars of the pacific north west and commonly known as America best Indian fighter recognized greed as nine tenths of the problem with the Indians. The quest for more land and gold were the driving force behind the destruction of the Native Americans. To justify the actions of killing Indians in the same manner as hunting a deer or a rabbit they had to present the Indians as savages. Instead of attempting to share the land with Indians it was decided to remove them. When Indians tribes refused to be uprooted from their native lands the justification for their destruction was inevitable, from the American governments prospective. The transition of the domination of the indigenous culture and it patterns of social organization, the third stage of the colonization complex occurs with the forced moves to Indian reservations. The tribes were remove from their native homelands and force into reservations. Completely destroying the Indians custom of living from the land and being in a harmonious balance within nature. When treaties were agreed, such as the Black Hills of Dakota, and the sacred land to the Sioux Indians the United States recognized the Black Hills as part of the Great Sioux Reservation, set aside for exclusive use by the Sioux people. However, after the discovery of gold there in 1874, the United States confiscated the land in 1877. To this day, ownership of the Black Hills remains the subject of a legal dispute between the U.S. government and the Sioux. These practices By the U.S. government complicate the trust and relationship native Americans have toward the official government to this day.
