What Animal Did The Romans Introduce In North Africa? A. Pigs C. Horses B. Donkeys D. Camels

Sourced from MarcoPoloinSeattle.com

According to most leading scholars in history, anthropology and geography, none of the Native Tribes had horses until after Columbus. "On the contrary," say elders of the Plains Indian Tribes, "our ancestors Always had horses."

Indeed, the oldest surviving travel business relationship of an overseas explorer in the American Southwest comes from the Afghani Buddhist Monk, Hui Shen. He sailed to the West Coast of Fu Sang during the 5 ^th century Advertising. According to the monk, the Native People of Fu Sang (or ancient United mexican states) had both horses and wagons. If we jump over to the Eastward Coast, we discover a like account dating to the 13 ^th century. According to Bjorn of Iceland, he fell overboard while landing his dory in the Atlantic surf. He was rescued by a party of Celtic Natives, or Welsh Colonists, "riding on horseback."

Everywhere that explorers traveled along the Eastern Seaboard of North America during the 16 ^th , 17 ^thursday , and 18 ^th centuries, they reported seeing Indians (or Welsh settlers) riding horses. When John Cabot landed along the East Declension in 1497, he reported seeing "the dung of draft animals" (such as horses and cattle). The Natives presumably kept their livestock "out of sight" due to quite reasonable fears that alien visitors who landed forth their shores might take cattle for a festive evening repast. When Jacques Cartier explored the region of Quebec in 1535, his Native host informed him that there was a tribe in the Far West where the Indians rode on horses.

On the other hand, none of the Littoral Tribes in the Northeast that were known to French, English, and Dutch explorers in the xvi ^th century raised horses or cattle. Even so, when Colonial Pioneers crossed the Appalachian Mountains on their way into Kentucky and Tennessee in the 17 ^th century, they encountered Shawnee, Cherokee, and Chickasaw Tribes that had an exceptional breed of horses. Their smooth walking gait made them bonny for trade and theft. These smooth-gaited horses were called "Chickasaws." Like smooth-gaited horses in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida were called "Seminole ponies" or "prairie ponies." One Colonial trader noted that the Eastern Forest Horse was "different" from European breeds. They were and so-common along the Frontier that settlers said they were "pests," because they wandered into farmyards and munched on garden vegetables.

The "horse situation" was much different in Mexico. When Hernando Cortés invaded the Aztec Nation in 1519, he brought along heavy Spanish horses to carry his armored cavalry. Native horses were nowhere to exist seen. The lack of Native horses probably had several causes: the hot, dry climate of United mexican states was unsuitable for either horses or their favorite habitat – grasslands. Another trouble was an abundance of mosquitoes that carried malarial parasites every bit well equally bacteria that causes the deadly affliction of equine encephalitis. Mexicans gained about of their food from chinampas (or "floating gardens") and from maize, squash, and bean agronomics. Laborers cultivated fields. Thus, horses were not essential for farming.

Every bit the Spanish Conquistadores expanded their fighting into Central America, Peru, and Argentina, thousands of heavy horses were imported from Barcelona in order to supply the needs of armored cavalry. Spanish farmers established vast fields for the cultivation of wheat, barley, and oats. These were crops that relied upon cultivation by heavy draft animals. By the mid-16 ^thursday century, ranches were established for cattle in order to meet the growing demand for beef as a principal part of the Spanish diet. It was at this point that light, ranching horses were imported into New Kingdom of spain (or Mexico).

Castilian administrators realized that Natives could pose a threat of rebellion if they ever acquired horses. Thus, regulations in every hacienda and city forbade the sale of horses to the Indians. Nevertheless, Spanish caballeros required the assist of Indian laborers whom they trained in the skills of vaqueros (or "cowboys"). Invariably, a few horses escaped; or they were stolen by enterprising Indians.

In 1680, Indians living in the New United mexican states City of Oñate overwhelmed their Spanish overlords. Thousands of horses were released into the hands of Pueblo, Apache, and Navajo Indians. From this betoken onward, all of these marginal desert tribes maintained large herds of horses. Virtually of these mounts were light ranching horses of the Spanish-Arabian breed.

Genesis of the "Horse Extinction" and "Devious" Theories

According to nigh historians, geographers, and anthropologists, the American Indians knew nothing about horses until the 17 ^th century. Political, religious, and economic motives were backside the emergence of theories that the New World was "isolated" from the Old World and that Indians didn't take whatever horses until after Columbus. Earlier reports of Indian horses were dismissed by academic leaders as being groundless "fables." Claims by elders of the Sioux, Nez Perce, Chippewa, and Pawnee Tribes that their ancestors "always had horses" were cast bated by the academic authorities every bit existence "wishful thinking."

Several powerful movements combined to crush and stifle claims that ancestors of the Plains Indians had horses and "horse culture" for thousands of years. The showtime force to emerge came with the War of 1812. Citizens of the immature American Republic resented their British Heritage. After "Redcoats" burned the White House (in retaliation for raids past John Paul Jones along the English Seacoast), Americans turned abroad from their British roots. At this opportune moment, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1828) published his exciting book, The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus . This popular novel captured the imaginations of disenchanted former British Colonists; and it dovetailed nicely with a entrada by Pope Pius nine ^th to have Columbus sainted. Meanwhile, following the massive industrial buildup in the Northern States to win the Civil War, the Senate and the US Congress became individual clubs for wealthy industrialists and real-estate developers. Whereas the "Founding Fathers" of America had promoted isolation, neutrality, and non-interference in foreign diplomacy, the New Senate believed that the opposite strategy was preferable – at least when information technology came to making profits. Railroad barons (who had the Senate in their pockets) wanted to abolish the Indian Treaties. They sought to open up up the Western Frontier to "Culture." Therefore, the Indians and their "Reservations" had to become.

By sponsoring the "Chicago World's Fair" (a.k.a. the Columbian Exposition), the US Senate hoped to reeducate the American public with a new hero — Columbus. He embodied the qualities and vision of an empire-architect. Indeed, it was due to the Columbus voyages that Spain gained sovereignty over profitable colonies from Florida to Argentina. Indeed, Columbus was an splendid hero for promoting the goals of economic expansion into the Western Indian Frontier and to overseas colonies.

Later 1859, anti-Darwinists joined in the campaign to promote Columbus every bit a new National Hero. A leading Swiss-French botanist, Alphonse de Candolle, added his weight to the pro-Columbus Movement by declaring that the Castilian mariner was the first to bring vital New World plants (such equally maize, pineapples, pumpkins, and potatoes) back to the Old Globe in 1492. Pro-Columbus biologists declared that horses became extinct following the last Ice Age; and anthropologists promoted their own theory that all the Indians caused "horse culture" later on Columbus brought the first horses from Spain to the New Earth. None of these claims were always proven in a scientific manner. They were but the implied consequences of the "Isolationist Image" that presumed the New Globe and Onetime World were isolated from contact until after God chose Columbus to notice America.

The Columbian Exposition (1892-93) had an enormous bear upon. More than 26 meg people viewed the exhibits. Spinoff public media and educational programs impacted practically everyone else in the Country (or almost 150 one thousand thousand people). These programs were endorsed by 2 Presidents — Harrison and Cleveland. Almost everyone adopted this revised "history."

In 1992, the The states Government sponsored the Columbus "Quincentennial Commemoration." New festivities featured a yearlong exhibit at the National Museum, the Smithsonian Institution. Called "The Seeds of Alter," the National Exhibit praised Columbus for uniting ii previously isolated hemispheres and for bringing horses, maize, potatoes, and sugarcane across the Atlantic Ocean. A vast bulk of university professors and public teachers participated in spreading this propaganda for the simple reason that: 1) they believed it was true; and 2) their jobs were closely tied to supporting the traditional educational and governmental agendas.

Native Horses in the New Globe

Of course, before yous can credit a Spanish explorer with bring the "first horses" into the New Earth, y'all have to kill off all the resident stallions and mares. Educators achieved this feat by pointing out that many Ice Age (or Pleistocene) beasts didn't survive the drastic warming of the Northern Latitudes. Initially, biologists suggested that all the horses were gone from both North and South America by 12,000 BC. Supposedly, this "extinction" coincided with the inflow of Big Game Hunters from Siberia.

This "coincidental extinction" seemed to make a lot of "logical sense;" but it didn't withstand the test of time. Archeologists kept uncovering horse bones that were subjected to radiocarbon testing; and the resulting dates kept getting closer-and-closer to the Modern Era. Currently, theorists who like the Extinction Model have to be content with 5,000 BC as the horizon for their presumed event. If this trend continues, by 2050 the gap in time will probably be down to nil; and the "extinction" will get extinct.

In Asia, in that location was never an extinction of the horse. Instead, there was "a transition" from ancient horses into mod varieties. Biologists suggest that virtually domesticated horses evolved from the intermingling of three basic horse types: 1) a primitive forest horse; 2) the wild equus caballus of the Steppes (or "Przewalski"); and 3) the desert horse (or "Tarpan"). In the twenty ^th century, an effort was mounted in an endeavor to recreate the Tarpan by selective breeding of horses that manifested qualities of the more-ancient equus caballus. A similar effort was undertaken by American breeders who tried to revive the lost "Chickasaw" horse of the Eastern American Woodlands. In both cases, breeders noted that ancient equus caballus characteristics occasionally surfaced; but their frequency was bereft to opposite the direction of evolution.

Probably, a similar situation took place in the Americas. The presence of "throw-dorsum" qualities seen in photographs of some Plains Indian ponies suggests that the ancient Native equus caballus didn't actually become "extinct;" it evolved or transitioned into later breeds that were imported from the Old World.

The Native American equus caballus might have looked something like the ancient Tarpan (above, left). The horse has some features (such every bit a short cervix, short circular face, and brusk legs) that are similar to the Mongolian "kit." These features were apparent in the sketch that Rudolph Kurz made of a Blackfoot pony in 1851 (above, right). Probably, Kurz picked this horse for his drawing considering it seemed so unusual. It's non the sort of horse that is typically included in most books about horses or Indians, because it is basically an ugly horse. A contempo proposal past Chilcotin Ranchers in British Columbia to "eradicate the ugly wild horses" in the region is a reminder that such ungainly-looking beasts are occasionally encountered roaming in the northern forests. Due to widespread beliefs that "horses were extinct," nobody has made a serious effort to verify the origins of about of America'southward wild and ugly horses. They are only regarded every bit being "expendable."

In well-nigh 1884, Jean Du Pouget (Marquis de Nadiallac) toured South America. He noted that Lund's excavations at Minas Geraes, Brazil, had uncovered horse basic that were associated with homo remains and with extinct fauna from the final Ice Age (although, obviously, the horse was not extinct). Du Pouget noted that the horse bones were similar to those of modern horses. In other words, the South American wild horse had evolved across the extinct species ( Hippidion ) that is known to paleontologists.

Hippidion — the extinct wild Pleistocene horse of South America.

Former World Equus caballus Imports into Aboriginal South America

In 146 BC, Carthage cruel to the Roman Legions in Africa. It was the final Phoenician stronghold along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Romans massacred all the people who stayed in the citadel to fight the final battle. Nevertheless, this was not the end of the Phoenician Story. The proud seafarers had many ships; and these sailed off to a land of refuge across the Atlantic Bounding main. Ships were packed with subcontract animals, iron tools, and brave people who were gear up to begin new lives in the Land they called "Brazil."

Legends about uncharted lands beyond the Atlantic were widespread during the 5 ^th century BC. The Macedonian philosophers, Herodotus and Avienus, speculated nearly Phoenician Colonies in the Western Isles. In the iv ^th century BC, both Theopompus and Aristotle mentioned a "Western Continent" having forested lands and navigable rivers. In about 330 BC, the Greek navigator, Pytheas, sailed northward to the Island of Thule . Co-ordinate to his business relationship of the voyage, information technology was a "week-long" journey from Britain to the northern isle. Historians take speculated that he wound up in either Iceland or Norway. A tiny island is clearly-delineated northward of England on the map by Eratosthenes; and this is where we would await Pytheas to run pell-mell into the desolate shores of Iceland. In the one ^st century, a Sicilian geographer by the name of Didorus Siculus indicated that the Phoenicians had discovered a big, fertile land that was situated west of Africa at a distance of about one or two-k miles. According to the Greek scholar, the discovery took place prior to the 12 ^th century BC. This is what he had to say:

In that location lies out in the deep off Libya an isle of considerable size. It is situated beyond the body of water from Libya past a voyage of a number of days to the west. The land is fruitful, much of information technology being mountainous and not a little being a level plain of surpassing beauty. Through it flow navigable rivers which are used for irrigation. The isle contains many parks planted with trees of every diversity; and there are gardens in great multitudes which are traversed past streams of sweet water. (Bailey, 1973, 37)

Didorus Siculus believed that the Phoenicians kept their discovery hush-hush to foreclose contest and to keep the land as a refuge in example Carthage was invaded. They called the southern continent Colchis and the northern continent Asqua Samal (or "Neat Northward Land"). The 5 ^th century AD Greek philosopher Proclus indicated that rock pillars in Arab republic of egypt recorded the ancient history of lands that were located on the far side of the Atlantic Ocean. (Bailey, 1973, 39)

Nosotros take every reason to believe that when the survivors of the Carthaginian Empire in Northward Africa, Spain, and Portugal fled from the Romans, they took forth farm animals and many horses in their giant oceangoing ships. They landed along the shores of South America; and the survivors and their subcontract animals soon became established in villages along the major rivers in Venezuela, Brazil, and Argentina. Naturally, the resident wild horses were somewhen transitioned into the N African and Iberian breeds. As these were the same regions occupied past horses that the Spaniards and Portuguese afterwards imported into South America, it would be difficult to differentiate the beginnings of horses that were nowadays in the sixteen ^thursday century. In any case, the Inca Indians left artifacts confirming that they were familiar with horses prior to the arrival of Spaniards.

Inca statuary pins horse vs. alpaca/llama Inca mummy artifact

American Museum of Natural History Ice Maiden, Cuzco, c.1400

Bennett & Bird, Hadbook No.15, f.53, 1960

The wild horse of Argentina

Sebastian Cabot inserted a sketch of a horse in the rolling grasslands of Argentina on his World Map of 1544. All of the sketches on his map were intended to portray the principal assets of each region – and then nosotros can be sure that he noted the presence of vast herds of horses. Cabot's trek to Argentina took place in 1526 – but x years after the Spanish expedition by Juan Diaz de Solis to the Rio de Plata. Cabot's entourage of a hundred-plus men spent four years in the region. What did they eat? They probably consumed a considerable amount of horsemeat and wild cattle.

From 1536 to 1541, an expedition by Pedro de Mendoza spent five years near Buenos Aires. They also subsisted on herds of wild horses. Where did all the wild horses come from?

Some writers have suggested that these enormous herds resulted from "an explosive population" that found a favorable habitat in the Argentine grasslands. While that is partially true, if all these horses had come from just a few abandoned Castilian horses left by de Solis; then the resulting herds would accept been uniformly similar typical Spanish horses. All the same, afterward settlers noted that the Argentine horse had an unusually comfortable walking gait; and then they named these mounts Paso Fino (significant "Walks Good").

Argentine Paso Fino

Co-ordinate to a theory by Haines (1938) and Denhart (1949) Spaniards brought the first horses to America – arriving in Mexico in 1519. Light ranch horses were brought to the Boondocks of Onate in 1607; and by 1680, the herd included over a k horses. These were all taken away past Pueblo, Apache, and Navajo Indians in the rebellion of 1680. Most historians and ethnologists assume that the horses were traded northwards; and these served as "the offset" mounts that became known to the Plains Indians. Academic scholars assume that the horses arrived at about the times they were first reported by Europeans who noted the horses in their journals. However, as the Theory is based entirely on written reports (and it assumes legends are false), it is only a tape of European travels – non horse introductions. The Theory is totally inadequate, because it fails to consider claims by tribal elders that: "the Plains Tribes ever had horses."

The earliest Old World horse along the W Coast of North America might have been the Chinese Bashkir.

The Chinese Bashkir or Mountain Equus caballus was as well called "the Curly."

An Afghani Buddhist monk by the name of "Hui Shen" reported to the Emperor of China that he had visited an Eastern Land between 458 and 490 AD. According to the monk, the residents of Fu Sang had horses and wagons. Hui Shen also reported that merchants paid no taxes. Archeologist Victor Von Hagen (1960) has confirmed that the merchants of Mexico paid no tax. The policy was part of an effort to stimulate commerce.

Almost historians assume that there were no horses forth the American West Coast in the five ^th century; and so they typically presume that Hui Shen's tale is total fiction (fifty-fifty though it was recorded in the official Chinese chronicle. It is entirely possible that Chinese merchants brought horses across the Pacific Body of water in club to serve the needs of a colony on the West Coast. The discovery of Chinese anchor stones near Los Angeles is an indication that in that location was a community of Chinese fishermen and merchants in this region. The community could have been wiped out by a seismic sea wave; or the residents could have moved to another location due to the weather. In any instance, mod ranchers noted the presence of Bashkir horses in the Sonora Valley near Baja California. Some writers suggest that the horses were brought from China past the Manila Galleons; and their purpose was to serve the needs of the Franciscan Missions on El Camino Real (the Royal Highway). Skeptics insist that the curly-haired horses were escapees from a Hollywood movie that went haywire. Mexicans chosen these alien horses Chinos .

Migration of Scythian-Tartar Equus caballus Tribes from Asia to Canada

The largest number of Asian horses to reach America'due south West Coast arrived with a migration of Scythian-Tartar refugees during the xiii ^th century. Marco Polo mentioned in his Travelogue that tribes living in Northern Cathay were decimated by Genghis Khan. Chinese chronicles reported the near total annihilation of the Hia Hsia Tribe. According to the relate, survivors fled in riverboats down the Hwang Ho (or Yellow River); but where they went subsequently reaching Bohai Bay was unknown. Modern scholars have estimated that this genocide resulted in the deaths of well-nigh 4,000,000 people. Certainly, the Hia Hsia had a potent motive for fleeing their homes.

Canadian ethnologist Ethel Stewart (1991) believes she knows where the refugees somewhen landed: Fundamental Canada. Stewart noted that according to a fable among speakers of the Dene NaDene Language in Central Canada, ancestors fled a massacre by "the Crow who runs" (whom she identified every bit Genghis Khan). The legend also mentioned that the refugees followed "a concatenation of islands." Stewart identified the island chain as "the Aleutians."

The Time Detectives have noted that Plains Indian drawings and paintings of their ain horses are very similar to the xiii ^thursday century Chinese horse. Both tend to accept small heads, powerful hindquarters, and thin, short tails (as seen in the illustration above).

In Marco Polo's private letters that the writer examined in the Rossi Collection, he mentioned learning about the migration of the Hia Hsia Tribe while he was in China (1275-1292). He learned from a Syrian trader named "Biaxo Sirdumap" that the refugees had landed along the West Coast of Fucan (or Alaska) and Quivira (the Pacific Northwest). Marco later confirmed this tale past using the Tartar language to communicate with some of the inhabitants in the West Declension Region.

The presence of Scythian-Tartars along the Coast of Alaska and in Central Canada along the Mackenzie River Valley is also indicated on a map past Cornelius Judaeus in 1578. A caption on this map forth the Westward Coast of Alaska indicates: "this is where the Tartars alive." The map portrays Tartar camps with cone-shaped tents; and nearby it shows the earliest-known portrayals of bison. These were, of course, the primary game animals that Scythian-Tartars hunted in Central Canada. The map shows the location of the Mackenzie River and as well Great Bear Lake. Both were totally unknown to Europeans in the 16 ^th century. The merely place Judaeus could take acquired this information was from a Marco Polo map or Periodical. We know that such documents existed in some of the chartrooms of Europe, because correspondence betwixt John Dee and Mercator mentions "a China chart" and "a Marco Polo map" (Taylor, 1956; Thompson, 2013a, 2013b).

Cornelius Judaeus 1578.

Central: i) Strait of Anian – entrance to the Northwest Passage; 2) caption: "This is where the Tartars live; 3) Quivira Kingdom – Marco'south proper noun for the West Coast. Arrow points to Vancouver Island and Salish Ocean at 48°N Breadth.

Close-up of the Judaeus Map of 1578. Caption (ii) indicates "this region of the Anian Kingdom (or Alaska) is where the Tartars live." In Primal Canada ( Bergi or Mountain Kingdom) the map portrays Tartar tents called "tepees." This is a Turkic word that Plains Indians also used to place their cone-shaped tents. This is the oldest known map to portray bison. The Tartar camp of Bergi is situated on the Mackenzie River. Information technology was the road to the Smashing Plains.

Some other "fingerprint" from the Scythian Tartar migration in the 13 ^th century is the presence of Appaloosa horses. The Chinese Appaloosa (left) was called "the Ferghana equus caballus" or "the blood-sweat horse." This blazon of horse oftentimes has a distinctive "spotted blanket blueprint" on the hind quarters. Note also the smallish head and short, wispy tail. A Nez Perce equus caballus (1850) shows a wispy tail and a spotted pattern that was a mutual Appaloosa coat. The smaller head and cervix on the Indian horse resulted from selective breeding. During the 20 ^th century, breeders combined studs and mares of both Appaloosas and Thoroughbreds – yielding a more than-streamlined, elegant, and faster horse (every bit shown beneath).

Appaloosa in the Palouse Country, Washington Ming Appaloosa, c.1450

Horses with the spotted coating blueprint are known but from the arts of Persia and People's republic of china. They are unknown anywhere in Europe or in the Castilian Colonial Territories. According to Native Traditions, the Appaloosa was bred originally past the Nez Perce (Nee-mee Poo, or Chopunnish Tribe). The but way this breed could have reached the American West is if it were deliberately transported across the Pacific Ocean from Asia. The ancestors of the Nez Perce had both the ways and the motive for bringing this breed of horse to their new homeland in the New Earth.

Nez Perce Migration Map and Story

There's more to our story of the migration of Scythian-Tartar Equus caballus Tribes from Asia to Central Canada and the West Declension than simply the Chinese chronicles, Marco Polo's Travelogue, the testimony of a Syrian fur trader, Indian legends, a map by Judaeus in 1578, and the research of Canadian ethnographer, Ethel Stewart. In 1806, the migration of the Nez Perce Horse Tribe was even documented by the Team of Exploration led past Lewis and Clark.

In 1741, Natives living in Winnipeg (Fundamental Canada) told a French explorer, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes (Sieur de la Verendrye) that in that location was a "tribe of whites" living west of Lake of the Wood. They were a tribe of horse people that had fe tools and cats. The Indians of Winnipeg called them "the Ouachipounnes."

A branch of the Tartars that Judaeus had portrayed west of Great Bear Lake on his map of 1578, they had moved southwest to a army camp near Winnipeg by 1740. They were still on the movement – probably in an effort to notice a warmer climate and closer access to trade or buffalo herds. In 1785, the Royal British Cartographer, William Faden, indicated that a Tribe chosen "Wachipaunnes" was located in Montana. Lewis & Clark came upon them in 1806 alongside the headwaters of the Missouri River in Idaho. In the entry made in Clark's periodical, the explorer indicated that "the Chopunish Tribe" was noted for its beautiful spotted horses (the Appaloosas). Fifty years after, French trappers identified the migratory horse tribe every bit the Nez Percé (People of the "pierced nose"). They were situated along the banks of the Columbia River in Oregon.

William Faden Map, 1785: A) Nez Perce Tribe migrates from Northern to Fundamental Canada. B) Ouchipaunnes almost Winnipeg; C) Wauchipaunes in Montana; D) Chopunnish in Montana; E) Nez Perce along Columbia River. Star is Seattle.

Artworks by Nez Perce warriors show them riding Asian horses non Spanish mounts. The mounts they brought on their migration originated in Central Asia and in Northern People's republic of china. I Indian antiquity plant by archeologists and dated by radiocarbon analysis is the Utz-Oneota Tablet (c.1300). The Tablet shows a horse being pierced past an arrow.

Utz-Oneota Tablet, c.1300

Origin of Indian Saddles

Several writers have speculated that the Plains Indians didn't know how to brand saddles until they learned the craft from Spanish cowboys. The Spanish saddle consisted of a solid wooden foundation that had a curved bottom that fit snugly on top of a horse's back; and an changed curved surface with a leather covering provided a seat for the passenger'southward bottom. This mode of saddle was actually unknown among the Plains Indians.

Indian warriors preferred riding bareback or with a small pad. Riding ponies was non as difficult as sitting on a horse with full armor. The heavy horses that carried armored cavalry were frequently huge and difficult to manage. Indians and Mongols preferred low-cal horses, or ponies. Typically, they wrapped their feet effectually the horse's chest. This manner of riding was incommunicable with a heavy horse. The "Women's Saddle" was derived from the Afghan saddle or Mongol saddle that used a double-arch for support.

Plains Indians used the short, laminated, chemical compound horn-bow that was preferred by Mongol riders. The bow was sufficiently powerful to drive an arrow articulate through the body of a bison. Bows used by Marco Polo and by the Hidatsa "Canis familiaris Dancer" were essentially the same kind of weapon. It took a skilled Indian craftsman a whole month to build the complex weapon – going through all the same steps that were followed in Mongol and Chinese craft shops. Thus: Indian immigrants brought the weapon from Asia.

Marco Polo Hidatsa Tribe, Dog Dancer

Plains Indians and Mongols used the same kinds of bows and the same kinds of saddles, or they rode bareback. They used the same kinds of hunting techniques; and they rode the same kinds of horses. Actually, the Plains Indians were essentially Scythian-Tartar warriors who migrated into Central Canada.

The Castilian Horse in Post Columbian America 1492 to 1776

A comparison of Indian artworks, Chinese silk paintings, Spanish and Andalusian fine art, and tipi-paintings by Native American horsemen provide an excellent basis for evaluating the sources of Plains Indian mounts. Nearly Tribes got their horses from the thousands of Scythian-Tartar mounts that refugees brought across the North Pacific Bounding main in the thirteen ^th century. Along the East Coast, early sources included the half-dozen ^th century Arthurian-Welsh colonies, Iberian immigrants in the 8 ^th century, Welsh migrations in the 12 ^th century, and refugee farmers from Greenland in the 13 ^th century.

It was not until the 17 ^thursday century that Spaniards had a substantial affect on equus caballus herds in North America; and this bear on was principally with the Southwestern Tribes (Pueblo, Apache, and Navajo). The big intermission for Southwestern Tribes came with the Pueblo Revolt in 1680. In Florida, Seminole Indians had horses earlier the Spanish established a colony at St. Augustine in 1565. Their horses were derived mostly from Welsh and Iberian mounts brought by immigrants between 500 and 1300 Advertizing.

There were then many horses in the American Southeastern Woodlands that American historians were initially inclined to call up that they were strays from expeditions by Ponce de Leon (1513) and Hernando De Soto (1540-45). However, most early Spanish explorers brought heavy mounts that were not of much interest to the Indians. Scholars now accept the interpretation that neither De Leon nor De Soto contributed significantly to the Indian horse population of North America.

The Spanish-Iberian heavy equus caballus was great for carrying an armored rider; but it had little appeal to Indians who liked riding low-cal, fast, and agile.

Most of the Spanish artworks of the Conquest (1519-1550) show heavy horses that were suitable for carrying armored knights into battle.

It was but after Spanish governors turned their interests towards developing haciendas, industries, and cattle ranches that the armed forces suppliers in Barcelona began importing calorie-free horses into New Spain.

The principal Spanish low-cal horse was an Arabian breed (A). It was developed principally for speed, endurance, and agility – all of which were needed for controlling cattle. Apache Indians (B) fabricated excellent apply of Spanish mounts that were stolen or captured in the 1680 rebellion. Some of these horses were traded to Northern Tribes; and some of the Arabian traits were used to improve Asian horses that were the traditional mounts of the Scythian-Tartar Horse Tribes. (Sources are available in Thompson, 2013)

George Catlin made a sketch of a Crow Chief's stallion in Montana in 1851. This horse is not from Asia. It is most-similar the Andalusian brood – with a prominent neck, elegant head, and powerful body. This is a medium build horse – somewhere between low-cal and heavy. It was an splendid mount for parades or warfare; but on a buffalo chase, the chief probably picked a faster, more-agile mountain from a corral of lightweights. Whether this equus caballus descended from trade with Mexicans or from British Colonial traders is a matter of speculation. By 1750, horses of every imaginable denomination (including Mongolian ponies) were existence shipped through East Coast ports. George Washington preferred this type of stallion; and so did Napoleon. As they said back in the Colonial days: "The Horse fabricated the Man!"

Horses of the Eastern Woodlands

American Indian Tribes that were situated forth the Eastern Seaboard consisted generally of Nordic, Germanic, Iberian, Mediterranean, and African refugees. Carthaginians fled mostly to Southward America when they left backside their cities in 146 BC in club to escape the Roman Legions. The withdrawal of Roman troops from United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland in the 5 ^th century left the Welsh cities and farmlands at the mercy of invading Angles and Saxons. During this onslaught, King Arthur turned to the Western Land of Refuge as a sanctuary for his beleaguered kin. An account of the Arthurian Colony was known to Mercator who wrote a testimonial to John Dee in 1577 (Taylor, 1956, 56-68). According to Mercator, the expedition consisted of 1,800 men and 400 women. They were sent overseas in the Year 530. Of the twelve ships that comprised the colonial fleet, 5 were lost in a storm; but the rest of the vessels, their occupants, and many farm animals made it safely to port along the shores of Delaware. A Colony of New Albion (or "New England") was established. During the Medieval Warm Period, the Colony prospered; and the population of Welsh immigrants grew to many thousands of individuals and many thousands of horses, cattle, and assorted pigs, goats, chickens, and sheep. This introduction of Celtic farm animals probably included the band of horseback riding Irish who rescued "Bjorn of Iceland" from the surf along the shores of Nova Scotia in nearly 1250 AD. The tale was recorded a century later by some Icelandic monks; but historians don't similar any stories nearly sailors who vanquish Columbus; and then information technology is rarely mentioned.

In 1851, Frontier artist Rudolph Kurz made a sketch of an Indian pony that looks like it might have been built-in in an Irish gaelic stable.

Indian pony Celtic horse

From the Welsh Tribes in the Ohio Valley in that location came a pleasant breed of pony with a gentle gait. Colonial traders called it "the Chickasaw horse." Various strains of these horses spread across Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida and the Carolinas. When the Spaniards of St. Augustine imported light Arabian stock from Barcelona, the new horses rapidly mixed in with the Welsh horse. These horses were frequently chosen "Florida Crackers."

Portuguese Iberian horses from the 7 ^th century exodus as well joined the party. The resulting mix lost near of the old Chickasaw temperament and profile. In the 1970s, an try was fabricated to reconstruct the "lost" breed; but information technology had to be abandoned equally an impractical goal. In this style, many of the aboriginal breeds lost their individuality – just as the Native Peoples found themselves being either absorbed or pushed away past the "Anglo Frontier of Progress" that moved relentlessly Westwards.

In the Northeast, Indians adopted mounts from Greenland refugees in the 13 ^th century (the fjord horse), French settlers in 1535, and the English in 1620. A lot of Indian equus caballus-trading brought Spanish mounts to the north; and Mongol ponies went south – as a delightful sport horse for children. In 1925, Tsireh Awa painted a Navajo teenager riding a pony that looks a lot similar the spirited Mongol pony that was painted in Mainland china during the 13 ^th century.

Top two riders from Mongol silk paintings; bottom – Tsireh Awa, Navajo (after Chamberlain, 2006, 11).

End Notes

Bailey, James. God Kings & the Titans. New York: St. Martins, 1973.

Chamberlain, J. Edward. Equus caballus. New York: United Tribes Media, 2006.

Du Pouget, Jean. Prehistoric America. London: J. Murray, 1884.

Haines, Francis. Horse Diffusion, in the American Anthropologist, Vol. 40 (3), 1938.

Taylor, Due east.Chiliad. "Letter dated 1577 from Mercator to John Dee," Imago Mundi, x, 1953.

Thompson, Gunnar. American Discovery. Seattle: Misty Isles & Lulu.com, 2013a.

—Marco Polo in Seattle. Seattle: Misty Isles & Lulu.com, 2013b.

Source: https://rtfitchauthor.com/2016/02/20/indian-horses-before-columbus/

Posted by: galazmagentleed80.blogspot.com

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