Native Americans

Native Americans, also known as First Americans, Indigenous Americans, American Indians and other terms, are the indigenous peoples of the American continents.

Background[]

Native Americans lived on the continent for millennia in relative isolation, until Christopher Columbus sailed to the Americas and informed the countries of Europe of the "New World." The European empires would sail to these formerly unknown lands and colonize them and their people. When the British and French Empires went to war in the French and Indian War, the French used their Native American allies as forces against the British troops stationed in America.^[8]

Years later, the Thirteen Colonies of the British Empire successfully gained independence as the United States in the Revolutionary War, and began to expand west.^[9] Settlers encroaching on Native American land came into conflict with various tribes, and military instillations and defensive structures like the original Prickett's Fort in Appalachia were used to defend against such attacks.^[10] Despite fierce resistance, more and more tribes were forced off of their land, and would eventually be given legal designations of land to live on known as reservations.^{[Non-game 1]} Due to this history, the names of numerous locations across the American continent have their origin in native languages and tribes, including Seneca Rocks, the Potomac River, Cheyenne Mountain and many states.

During World War II, the United States used members of the Navajo tribe as code talkers, as their language was very complex and at that time completely unwritten.^[6]

Hopewell Cave in Appalachia was a burial complex containing the remains and artifacts of members of the Adena culture, which existed in the area from 1000 to 200 BC. An anthropologist studying the site found this very striking, as the Adena typically buried their dead in burial mounds, and were not believed to have possessed the technology for stone carving. He hypothesized that the remains of the Adena might have been moved to the cave long after they ceased to exist, though he also noted it was strange for them to be buried with such respect if that were the case.^[1][11]

The Dead Horses and White Legs are two post-War tribes, descended from Native Americans, other American citizens and European tourists.^{[Non-game 2]} The Dead Horses are believed to have originated from a place known as Res, the former reservation of the Navajo people,^{[Non-game 1]} and speak a creole of English, German and Navajo.^[12] Likewise, the White Legs speak a creole of English, Spanish and Shoshone.

Notable Native Americans[]

• Raul Tejada, a companion from Fallout: New Vegas, is ethnically Mestizo, meaning of Latino and indigenous descent.^{[Non-game 3]}
• Charles Whiteknife, a pre-War actor who was typecast in Westerns as the savage Indian, often sharing the screen with Cooper Howard.

Notes[]

• Jonny, a little boy in Modoc, disappeared one day while he was out playing cowboys and Indians with his dog Laddie.^[13]
• When the United States adopted its Constitution, it was established that for the purposes of representation in the House of Representatives and direct taxation, Native Americans who did not pay taxes were not counted among the states' populations.^[14]
• In a speech, Hannibal Hamlin talks about Abraham Lincoln's military service fighting against "raiders" in the "war of the black hawks." This is a distorted reference to the Black Hawk War of 1832, a conflict between the United States (and some allied native groups) and the British Band, a mixed-nation alliance of Native Americans who entered U.S. territory with the apparent motive of reclaiming homelands they had lost in unfavorable treaties.^[15]
• One of the endings to Fallout: New Vegas draws a direct comparison between the Great Khans and indigenous groups through deployment of the term "reservations."^[16]
• Arcade Gannon offers frustration that his research into creating medicine from local flora is fruitless, claiming that "[i]f agave and mesquite were that miraculous, the locals would have figured it out a few thousand years ago."^[17]
• Supervisor Greene, a Mister Handy robot at Graygarden, can make a comment about the Sole Survivor being able to "sell ice cubes to Eskimos" with their powers of persuasion.^[3]
• Buddy, a modified Protectron, makes a joke about the Mayan calendar.^[4]
• In the face of declining sales of the Giddyup Buttercup toy line, Wilson Atomatoys decided to try to expand the market by releasing new versions of their signature pony. One of the options raised was a line of cowboys and Indians themed horses, though it was ultimately dismissed on the grounds of being insensitive.^[18]
• In the pre-War Western film Last Stand at Fort McGee, the starring duo of the Fighting Furies fought against Apache braves, as well as bandits and soldiers of the Confederate army.^[2]
• Scout Leader Jaggy mentions how Native Americans used dogwood root to lure muskrats into traps.^[19]
• There are a number of native petroglyphs found throughout Appalachia.^[20]
• The legal consequences regarding trying to sell an unearthed Native American artifact are a question in the Pioneer Scouts archaeologist exam. In the same exam, there is also a reference to the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza, and the ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu, which was discovered by Hiram Bingham III.^[21]
• The Pioneer Scouts heavily appropriated elements of Native American culture into their iconography. Their emblem features arrows, tomahawks, and a teepee,^[22] and a defaced totem pole can be found at Camp Liberty.
• A number of kids wear Native American feather headbands at Roys's birthday party in episode 1, The End, of the Fallout television series.

Appearances[]

Native American tribes are mentioned in Fallout, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, its add-on Honest Hearts, Fallout 4, its add-on Far Harbor, Fallout 76, and the Fallout television series. They are also mentioned in the design documents for Black Isle Studios' canceled Fallout 3 and would have appeared in the canceled Fallout Extreme.

Behind the scenes[]

• The term "res," the name given as to the origin of the Dead Horses, is a commonly used slang for a Native American reservation.
• The name of Hopewell Cave is a reference to the Hopewell tradition, a Native American civilization group which came after the Adena culture and had overlapping inhabitation zones. Their existence is also alluded to by the discussion of a successor culture to the Adena in the anthropologist's holotape.
• The Indian-head test pattern that is seen throughout and commonly associated with the Fallout series was a real test card, introduced in 1939 and widely adopted by broadcasting networks across North America. It largely faded out of use in the 1980s with improvements in broadcasting technology, though a few stations continued using it until the 1990s.

	The following is based on Van Buren design documents and is not canon.

• Native Americans would have been mentioned in Black Isle Studios' canceled Fallout 3 project, Van Buren. When the bombs fell and the government collapsed, there was no longer anyone to keep the Native American tribes from expanding and claiming more land beyond their reservations. Bands of people left, heading into the wasteland and going on to join various factions. Starting in 2095, multiple groups encountered and joined the Blackfoot tribe. Their survival skills and knowledge of the area proved very valuable to the Blackfoot.^{[Non-canon 1]}

	End of information based on Van Buren design documents

	The following is based on Fallout Extreme and is not canon.

• The Inuit would have appeared in the canceled Fallout Extreme. Following the Great War, they have become fiercely territorial warriors, and battle against the Brotherhood of Steel. The Cause would have fought alongside them to eliminate the Brotherhood in the region, and the Inuit would in turn support the revolutionary group in their mission.

	End of information based on Fallout Extreme and is not canon

Gallery[]

Loading screen from Fallout

A plaque found at Hopewell Cave

The stock of Medicine Stick, decorated with a Native American medicine wheel

A box of Big Chief .357 Magnum rounds

Pioneer Scout emblem, featuring tomahawks, arrows and a teepee

An arrowhead on the National Park Service 150th anniversary seal

Totem pole at Camp Liberty

References[]

Non-game

Non-canon