native american indianstotem poles

occupied the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Colombia. Their numbers were numerous

and their life was prosperous. In 1774 there was the first European contact (Gunn) and

the Haida, unknowingly, let the lion out of its cage, they let white man enter their

territory. The Europeans brought trade, but they also brought colonization. A word the

Indians did not know would cause them such horror. Smallpox and many other epidemics

ravaged the Haida clan and decimated their population to 6,500 (Gunn). The Haida has

gotten to as low as 588 clan members (Gunn), but are now slowly working their way up.

The Haida, along with six other tribes that make up the Northwest Coast Pacific cultural

unit, are known as the “Totem Pole Carving People” (Gunn).

Totem poles are what we would refer to as monumental art. This definition gives

no justice for the amazing beauty, spirituality, significance, and importance of the totem

pole to the Haida. There were different reasons for designing and erecting totem poles.

The main types of poles were, house posts, house frontal poles, memorial poles, mortuary

poles, grave markers, and welcome figures. The ho

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Approximate Word count = 1590
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)