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Native Americans, also called Indians, are a group of people who live in America. They’re called ‘Indians’ because Columbus intended to sail to Indie, but arrived (without knowing) in America and called the local population Indians. The Indians have been in America for approximately 15.000 years. There were many different tribes with different norms and values. Every tribe even had their own language. There were tribes that lived in triangle tents called wigwams. These were the traveling Indians. But there were also Indians who settled themselves. In the 13th century there was a city called Cahokia, which contained more than 10.000 inhabitants, this city was bigger than any city in Europe at that time. The Indians were very hygienic, they washed themselves and knew they could catch a disease from eating the wrong food. The Europeans brought a lot of terror into the lives of the Indians. They brought diseases and wanted to take the land and its resources. When gold was discovered, complete Indian tribes were driven out of their territory. Whoever resisted, got killed. At the end of the previous century, Indian culture was as good as extinct. The remaining Indian tribes were ‘locked up’ in reserves. They weren’t allowed to live by their own standards. They could not wear their own clothes, had to cut of their braided hair and could not speak their own language anymore. They had to adapt to the ‘white American culture’. Despite all this, the Indian culture is not yet completely extinct. Nowadays, there are 566 federally recognized tribal governments in the United States.

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Martin Luther King is probably one of the most recognizable characters in the civil rights movement in the United States of America. He was born in 1929 and passed away in 1968. He wanted to achieve equal rights for Afro Americans, who where treated badly in the American society in the 60’s. His goal was to achieve this in the most peace-loving way. Mahatma Ghandi from India inspired him. He was the son of a preacher in Georgia. His mother was shot dead because of her faith and Martin attempted to commit suicide when he was 12 years old. In these years he experienced lots of race hate in the United States and he wanted to make a change. He studied theology and became a preacher at the church. He began preaching for awareness of racial inequalities, which led to an acceleration in the civil rights movement. In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give her seat in the bus away to a white American. The local police eventually took her off the bus. The black community in Montgomery began boycotting the travel by bus. They achieved victory when they were allowed to sit anywhere in the bus. Martin Luther King, who was already famous in Montgomery, was now becoming nationally recognized. In 1963, Martin performed a speech, which was visited by more than 250 thousand Americans. In the same year he came with his phrase; ‘ I Have A Dream’. This phrase made him world-famous and is for many people still important today. Martin was shot dead on his balcony in 1968.

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Halloween is probably one of the most extraordinary Holidays in the United States. At the evening of the 31st of October, many people dress up in weird costumes and go to Halloween parties or go out on the streets to ‘trick or treat’. This ‘trick or treat’ is mostly intended for the children during the holiday. The intention of this ‘trick or treat’ is to go from door to door to collect candy or fruit. Most of the population of America convert their houses and make them look scary. A striking aspect of Halloween is the pumpkin that has been hollowed out in all kinds of patterns, often a scary face. The people put a tiny candle inside the pumpkin. At night, it looks like the pumpkins are all staring at you.
But why is October the 31st celebrated with these events? It all has to do with history. In the old days, October the 31st was seen as the beginning of a new year. The harvest from summer has been collected and the winter is coming. The night between the 31st and 32nd is in many cultures recognized as the time in which spirits of the dead could come back and wonder amongst the living. This ‘return of the dead’ also had a spiritual meaning. The people saw this evening as an opportunity to honor the spirits of their ancestors. Many cultures honor their ancestors because they are seen as ‘guardians of wisdom’. From the beginning of time, fire was always a symbol of god and pureness. This is why the igniting of fires and lighting up candles cannot be missed at this night. Nowadays Halloween is more considered fun instead of spiritual but it is still an impressive event in the United States.

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The American civil war was a conflict witch lasted for four continuing years (1861 – 1865). It was a war with roughly two sides, the northern States, also called the Union,  and the Southern States, also called the Confederation. It all started with the Presidential election of Abraham Lincoln. He led a neutral campaign and won the election with the exclusive votes of the North, California and Oregon. Lincoln had the intention to avoid the expansion of the slavery towards the west. The South saw this election as an attack and on the 20th of December the first State, South Carolina separated itself. A few months later, several southern states joined. They assembled and made their own constitution. The contradictory opinions led to the first attack on Fort Sumter (South Carolina) on the 12th of April in 1861. This fort was occupied by Northern troops but located in the southern area. The Southern troops wanted the fort back but Abraham Lincoln refused. This resulted in a violent take-over where the Southern troops opened fire. The war cost many people their lives. Approximately there were 618.000 killed and half a million injured during the war. The war was technically won, when general Robert E (one of the important commanders of the Confederation) surrendered. In June 1865 the whole South surrendered and the Northern conquered the nation.