National Geographic - July 2022

07.2022

WeAreHere

NATIVE NATIONS are reclaiming their LANDS and WAYS OF LIFE.

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T RAV E L W I T H N AT I O N A L G E O G RA P H I C
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FURTHER J U LY 2 02 2

CONTENTS On the Cover

Quannah Rose Chasing-
horse, a model who
advocates for Native sov-
ereignty, stands in front
of West Mitten Butte,
located in a Diné (Navajo)
tribal park in Arizona.

KILIII YÜYAN

PROOF EXPLORE

15
THE BIG IDEA
30
Why We Should
Spare Parasites
Yes, they can be creepy
and gross, and they’re
the pariahs of the
animal world. But the
planet needs them.

BY ERIKA ENGELHAUPT

6 I N N OVATO R THROUGH THE LENS

To Know Sharks Jessica Nabongo Diving Under
Is to Admire Them She traveled to every the Pyramids
By demythologizing country on Earth and In Sudan, archaeolo-
these ocean predators’ now shares lessons gists studying ancient
lives, a photographer learned along the way. burial sites gear up
hopes to turn our and plunge down.
fears into fascination. BY HEATHER
BY NICHOLE SOBECKI
STORY AND GREENWOOD DAVIS

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALSO TOOL KIT

THOMAS PESCHAK Egyptian Iconography Crafted for Catching
Toads Go Cannibalistic See the many tools
that a Texas-based
company uses to
make baseball gloves.

BY CATHERINE
ZUCKERMAN

ALSO

Edible Invasive Species
Orchids of Madagascar

J U L Y | CONTENTS

F E AT U R E S We Are Here Why Cities Are Reviving the
Across the U.S. and Going Wild Road to Rome
Canada, a powerful From bears to coyotes, Italy’s Appian Way will
movement is building crafty critters are offer a cross-country
among Native nations choosing urban life. trek through time.
that are seeking
greater sovereignty. BY CHRISTINE BY NINA STROCHLIC
To many Indigenous
peoples, it’s about tak- D E L L’A M O R E PHOTOGRAPHS BY
ing control of their
ways of life—their lands, PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANDREA FRAZZETTA
laws, languages, foods,
arts—and getting to C O R E Y A R N O L D . . . . . P. 76 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 116
decide their futures.
Sinking Fast A B OV E : A black bear
BY CHARLES C. MANN Residents of Java, visits the back porch of
Indonesia, grapple with a home in Asheville,
PHOTOGRAPHS BY the encroaching sea. North Carolina. Because
the owners attract bears
K I L I I I Y Ü YA N . . . . . . . . . P. 36 BY ADI RENALDI with food and water, the
animals have lost their
PHOTOGRAPHS BY fear of humans.

A J I S T YAWA N . . . . . . . . P. 96

‘WE ARE HERE’ FROM THE EDITOR | J U L Y

Protecting
Sacred Land

P H OTO G R A P H B Y KILIII YÜYAN

“ T H E T R E E S A R E P R E C I O U S TO U S ,” says example of how Indigenous peoples, in The InterTribal Sinkyone
Priscilla Hunter. “We believe our ances- communities across the United States Wilderness Council in
tors’ spirits are there.” and Canada, are taking control of their Northern California pro-
land, laws, and destiny. tects ancient redwood
Hunter is a member of the Coyote stands and rainforests.
Valley Band of Pomo Indians in North- This month’s cover story, “We Are From left, the members
ern California. She’s also a founder and Here,” explores how Native nations are: top row, Mariah
chairwoman of the InterTribal Sinkyone are reclaiming their sovereignty and Rosales, Crista Ray; middle
Wilderness Council (and the person rebuilding their cultures. row, Buffie Schmidt, Mary
holding the staff in this photo). Norris, Debra Ramirez;
Thank you for reading National front, seated, Priscilla
In 1997 the council acquired 3,844 Geographic. Hunter, Michelle Downey,
acres of the Sinkyone wilderness, Mona Oandasan.
about 200 miles north of San Fran- David Brindley
cisco along California’s Lost Coast. It’s Interim Editor in Chief
“lost” because scenic Highway 1 avoids
it, cutting inland to dodge the rugged
coastal terrain. One could also say it’s
lost because less than 2 percent of the
original old-growth redwoods there
survived logging decades ago. Now the
10 tribes that formed the consortium
are working to protect and preserve
their sacred land. I asked Hunter how
they are accomplishing that.

“We’re just letting it heal. It takes a
long time to heal an area that has been
cut and cut,” she told me. “People are
saying: ‘What are you guys doing with
it?’ Letting it heal. ‘How are you guys
managing it?’ Letting it heal.”

Their efforts have gained attention.
Last December the Save the Red-
woods League, an established nonprofit
group in the area, gave the council 523
more acres of California coastal forest.
Designated as Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ—mean-
ing “fish run place” in the Sinkyone
language—the land includes nearly 200
acres of old-growth redwoods.
“We were really pleased to have a
place that still has some of the ancient
trees,” Hunter says. “It’s going to save
some trees. So the critters will have a
place to be safe—the fish and birds
and all that.”
The Sinkyone council is just one

In Motion: Blacktip sharks
circle in the depths of
South Africa’s Aliwal Shoal.
The images and words here
are drawn from Thomas
Peschak’s 2021 book, Wild
Seas, published by National
Geographic and available
wherever books are sold.

6 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

PROOF

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
VOL. 242 NO. 1

WILD ABOUT
SHARKS

LOOKING STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS
AT THE BY THOMAS PESCHAK
EARTH
FROM A lifelong passion for these ocean
E V E RY predators sparked a career in
POSSIBLE conservation photography and
ANGLE a mission to share the love.

JULY 2022 7

PROOF

Night School: Light shines into the lagoon of Bassas da India, a remote atoll west of Madagascar, revealing a gathering of
juvenile Galápagos sharks. As Peschak descended, the sharks followed him to the coral reef, waltzing in and out of the light.
8 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Visitors From Above: A whale shark vacuums up a patch of plankton just below snorkeling tourists who come from all over
the globe to the Maldives to observe in the wild the world’s largest fish.

JULY 2022 9

PROOF

Tree of Life: A blacktip reef shark traverses a mangrove forest as the rising tide submerges low-hanging branches. For many
shark species, the mangroves of Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles serve as both nursery and hunting ground. The island hosts
10 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

one of the healthiest inshore shark populations in the Indian Ocean. Also in the Seychelles, St. Joseph Atoll is prized for its
marine biodiversity and seabird colonies. The waters around it were declared a protected area in 2020.

J U LY 2 0 2 2 11

PROOF

THE BACKSTORY

SHARKS ELICIT STRONG EMOTIONS, OFTEN ALARM OR PANIC.
THIS PHOTOGRAPHER AIMS TO TURN FEAR INTO FASCINATION.

O N A M I S E R A B L E DAY in the middle response: “Of course they are.” From
of winter, I push my then 60-year- then on, all I wanted was to get closer
old mother into the icy waters of the to sharks.
Atlantic. As a nearby great white shark
comes to investigate, my mother faces After I made the switch from marine
it, then disappears under the water for biologist to photographer, sharks were
what feels like an eternity. She returns my first muses. I have now spent more
to the surface, gasping for breath but than two decades documenting their
smiling. I suppose the galvanized steel complex and somewhat secretive lives.
cage separating her and the shark had People often ask me what the most
something to do with that. dangerous part of my job is—it’s not
swimming with sharks. Statistically the
For as long as I can remember, I have most dangerous things I do are cross-
loved sharks and wanted to share that ing the road, driving my car, and toast-
passion with everyone, including my ing bread. Sharks are not as fearsome
initially reluctant parents. I saw my as they’re made out to be, but some are
first shark when I was 16, off Egypt’s formidable predators. Encountering
Sinai Peninsula. A trio of blacktips wild sharks in their element is a rare
weaved among barracuda circling privilege that I treat with equal parts
above a coral reef. I tried to get closer, respect, humility, and devotion.
finning hard into the open water, but
a fierce current held me to the reef. It’s National Geographic
When I showed my underwater photo- SharkFest’s 10th anniversary!
graphs of this not-so-close encounter, Celebrate the apex predators
explaining that the small specks were during July and August with
sharks, I was met with the dubious programming on the National Geographic
network and streaming on Disney+.

On the Nose: Bold Galápagos sharks investigate Peschak’s camera as he explores coral reefs
inside Bassas da India’s vast lagoon in the Mozambique Channel. The National Geographic
Society has funded Peschak’s storytelling around biodiversity since 2017.

EXPLORE IN THIS SECTION

Round-the-World Travel
Making Baseball Gloves
Plants for the Picking
Pyramids From Below

ILLUMINATING THE MYSTERIES—AND WONDERS—ALL AROUND US EVERY DAY

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC VOL. 242 NO. 1

E X P L O R E | THE BIG IDEA Parasites, by
the Numbers
at the University of Washington. “I just totally fell
in love with them—I like to say that they got under When we humans gaze across an
my skin.” Wood has since become a leader in a new African savanna or Australian coral
conservation movement that aims to save the world’s reef, we notice lions and zebras
uncharismatic minifauna. and colorful fish. But those animals
are the homes for most of the life
Nearly half of all known animals are parasites, hidden in front of us.
Wood says. One study projects that a tenth of them
may be doomed to extinction in the next 50 years All told, 40 percent of known
because of climate change, loss of their hosts, and animals are parasites—and that’s
deliberate attempts at eradication; other estimates just the species that have been
suggest that up to a third could disappear. Right now, described. Scientists think that’s
though, it seems few people care—or even notice. Of only about 10 percent of all
the more than 40,000 species flagged as threatened the parasites out there, leaving
on the IUCN Red List, only a handful are parasites. potentially millions more to
be discovered. In terms of species
Parasites are the pariahs of the animal world diversity, parasitic wasps alone
because at some point in their lives, they live in or probably outnumber any other
on a host and take something from that host. But group of animals, even beetles.
most parasites have evolved not to kill their hosts,
and not all of them even cause noticeable harm. Most species, it turns out, are
What’s more, only a small percentage affect humans. parasitized by multiple others. Take
humans: Despite our efforts to be
Scientists warn of dire consequences if we con- inhospitable, we’re excellent hosts.
tinue to ignore the plight of parasites. Not only are More than a hundred different
some of them useful to humans (such as medicinal parasites have evolved to live in
leeches, still employed in some surgeries), but we’re or on us, many now dependent on
also starting to understand that they play crucial us for their species’ existence.
roles in ecosystems, keeping some populations in
check while helping feed others. So when you look at a plant or
animal, think about all the parasites
Some experts say there’s an aesthetic argument for that might be living on or inside,
saving them too. If you get past the “ick” factor and silent and unseen. After all, there’s a
get to know them, you may find parasites’ pluckiness reason they’re so common. “Nature
eerily charming. They’ve evolved ingenious means abhors a vacuum,” says Chelsea
of survival, from the crustacean that becomes a fish’s Wood, a parasite ecologist. “If
tongue to the jewel wasp that controls the minds of there’s an opportunity, someone’s
cockroaches (see page 18). going to evolve to fill it.” — E E

“People think of parasites as gross and slimy and
flaccid and wiggling, and that’s true some of the
time,” Wood says. “But if you look at them under the
microscope, they are just staggeringly beautiful.”

PA RA S I T I S M H A S E VO LV E D as a way of life again and
again, over billions of years, from the smallest, sim-
plest microbes to the most complex vertebrates. There
are parasitic plants, parasitic birds, a bewildering
array of parasitic worms and insects, and even a
parasitic mammal—the vampire bat, which survives
by drinking the blood of cows and other mammals.
Of the 42 major branches on the tree of life, called
phyla, 31 are mostly parasites.

Yet we’ve barely begun to identify all the parasites,
much less learn their lifestyles or monitor their pop-
ulations. “That’s just not something that we’ve ever
really prioritized,” says Skylar Hopkins, an ecologist
at North Carolina State University. So a few years
ago, Hopkins pulled together a group of scientists
interested in parasite conservation, and they started
sharing what they knew. In 2020 they published
the first ever global plan for saving parasites in the
journal Biological Conservation.

One of the problems is what’s called the paradox
of co-extinction. Since parasites by definition rely on

16 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

ILLUSTRATIONS: ENZO PÉRÈS-LABOURDETTE J U LY 2 0 2 2 17

E X P L O R E | THE BIG IDEA

other species, they’re particularly vulnerable. Take, PARASITISM HAS EVOLVED
for example, the endangered pygmy hog-sucking AS A WAY OF LIFE AGAIN AND
louse. It lives only on another endangered species, AGAIN, OVER BILLIONS OF
the pygmy hog, which is disappearing from the grass- YEARS, FROM THE SMALLEST,
lands it inhabits in the foothills of the Himalaya. SIMPLEST MICROBES TO THE
Then there’s the California condor louse, which MOST COMPLEX VERTEBRATES.
became the unofficial poster child for parasite con-
servation through an ironic twist of fate. In the 1970s, ourselves. Some people with Crohn’s disease have
desperate to save the California condor, biologists even purposely infected themselves with intestinal
began raising the birds in captivity. Part of the pro- worms to try to restore their guts’ ecological balance,
tocol was to delouse every bird with pesticides, on with mixed results.
the assumption that parasites were bad for condors,
though it’s not clear they actually were. The Califor- That said, scientists aren’t eager to save all para-
nia condor louse hasn’t been seen since. sites. The Guinea worm, for instance, gets a hard pass
from even hard-core conservationists. It grows to
Similarly, the New England medicinal leech adulthood inside a person’s abdomen, often reaching
hasn’t been sighted for more than a decade, and several feet long, then travels to the leg and emerges
overfishing has probably done in the marine fluke painfully through the foot. Former president Jimmy
Stichocotyle nephropis, which depended on rays and Carter’s foundation has set out to drive the worm to
skates. Untold other parasitic worms, protozoans, extinction, and few will miss it.
and insects are presumed to have gone down with
the ship, so to speak, as their hosts died out. If anyone would want to get rid of all parasites,
you’d think it would be Bobbi Pritt. As medical direc-
W H I L E T H E D E M I S E O F life’s hangers-on might seem tor for the Mayo Clinic’s human parasitology lab, Pritt
like no big deal, or even something to strive for, ecolo- identifies parasites found all over the country and in
gists caution that wiping them all out would probably every body part. In a typical day she may work with
spell planetary doom. Without parasites keeping blood carrying malaria parasites, brain tissue full of
them in check, populations of some animals would Toxoplasma gondii, or toe scrapings with sand fleas
explode, just as invasive species do when they’re picked up by walking barefoot on the beach.
transplanted away from natural predators. Other
species likely would crash in the ensuing melee. Yet even Pritt has a soft spot for parasites. She
writes a blog called Creepy Dreadful Wonderful
Big, charismatic predators would lose out too. Parasites and spends weekends studying the ticks
Many parasites have evolved to move into their next outside her vacation cabin. As a physician, she favors
host by manipulating the host they’re in, which eradicating parasites in places where they cause
tends to drive that host into a predator’s mouth. disease and suffering. “But as a biologist,” she says,
Nematomorph worms, for example, mature inside “the idea of actually going out and purposefully
crickets but then need to get to water to mate. So they trying to make something extinct just doesn’t sit
influence the crickets’ brains, driving the insects to well with me.”
jump into streams, where they become an important
food source for trout. Similar phenomena feed birds, Ultimately, the goal of conserving parasites isn’t
cats, and other predators the world over. to make everyone love them. It’s just to call a détente
in our war against all of them, because there’s still
Even human health wouldn’t entirely benefit from so much we don’t understand. j
wiping out parasites. In countries such as the United
States, where we have eliminated most intestinal Erika Engelhaupt is a science writer and editor whose work has
parasites, we have autoimmune diseases that are been published in print and online by National Geographic, NPR,
virtually unheard-of in places where everyone still and other media. Her book Gory Details: Adventures From the
has those parasites. According to one line of thinking, Dark Side of Science was published by National Geographic Books.
the human immune system evolved with a coterie
of worms and protozoan parasites, and when we
killed them off, our immune systems began attacking

A stroll and a meal

For a classic example of ghoulish parasitism, consider the
jewel wasp Ampulex compressa. The female of the spe-
cies has a devious strategy: She will sting a cockroach in
the head, then lead the “zombie” roach to a burrow by
its antenna, like a dog on a leash. There, the wasp lays
an egg on the roach and buries them together. The
roach becomes her larva’s first meal. — E E

PHOTO: EMANUELE BIGGI,
NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY

Original documentary
Now streaming

E X P L O R E | BREAKTHROUGHS

D I S PATC H E S Finny Icons of Ancient Egypt
FROM THE FRONT LINES
Two denizens of the Nile—the catfish
OF SCIENCE (right) and the tilapia—were among the
AND INNOVATION animals ancient Egyptians mythol-
ogized. Magic, regeneration,
and fertility were cred-
ited to these fish; amulets
depicting them were said
to have powers, including pro-
tection from drowning. — E L I S A C A S T E L

INVASIVE SPECIES PLANT SCIENCE

TOO MANY MOUTHS? Pollinators
see more
AFTER OVERPOPULATING AN ADOPTED HOMELAND, than yellow
THIS TOAD IS CANNIBALIZING ITS OWN SPECIES.
Sunflowers are
Known as the marine toad, giant toad, and cane toad, Rhinella lovely to behold—
marina feasts on insects in its native South America. So in 1935, and doubly so for
101 toads were brought to Australia in hopes of ridding sugarcane pollinators. They
plantations of beetles. The poisonous amphibians did little to see the flowers
curb the beetle population and quickly became pests, multiplying in the ultraviolet
rapidly and taking a toll on native species. spectrum, which
reveals a colored
Today the more than 200 million cane toads in Australia are bull’s-eye at the
far too many for anyone’s liking—including the toads’, whose center of the bloom.
intraspecies competition for resources has evolved a gruesome It was long thought
new behavior: cannibalism. that sunflowers’
bull’s-eye pattern
In a study published in the journal Ecology and Evolution, evolved only to
scientists found that after cane toad tadpoles in Australia detect draw pollinators,
a toxin in eggs of their own species—the same toxin that makes the but new research
toads poisonous to predators—the tadpoles become ravenous and suggests otherwise:
eat the eggs and hatchlings. This behavior is virtually unknown in Molecules that make
cane toads in their native range; it’s thought to have arisen recently up the bull’s-eyes
among those in Australia as a way to reduce competition. “They’re also help the plants
definitely their own worst enemy in Australia,” says study co- endure stresses
author Michael Crossland of the University of Sydney. —ANNIE ROTH such as drought
and extreme
temperatures. —A R

PHOTOS (FROM TOP): BRIDGEMAN IMAGES; MICHAEL CROSSLAND; MARCO TODESCO, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

EXPLORE

INNOVATOR JESSICA NABONGO

B Y H E AT H E R G R E E N WO O D DAV I S P H OTO G R A P H B Y E M I LY B E R L

Visiting every nation
on Earth made her a
proponent of ethical,
sustainable travel.

Jessica Nabongo never set out to be
an advocate. But after visiting all 195
countries and 10 territories, that is
exactly what the 38-year-old Detroit
native has become. Author of the new
National Geographic book The Catch
Me If You Can, Nabongo was inspired
in part by her well-traveled parents
when in 2017 she decided to attempt
a daunting feat: being the first Black
woman to document having gone to
every country around the globe.

By 2019, the former United Nations
consultant and boutique travel agency
owner had completed that mission. But
seeing firsthand some of the problems
facing the planet, such as discrimina-
tion and the way poorer countries have
been left to handle the world’s waste,
prompted a new mission—to advocate
for ethical and sustainable travels.

Today’s travelers should embrace
humility, she says, instead of going to
faraway places to confirm what they
think they already know. Developing
an inclusive and curious mindset
deepens journeys for individuals and
encourages support of the diversity
that makes travel so rewarding in the
first place. “We all need love. We all
need community. No matter who you
are, where you’re from, those things
don’t change,” she says. Travel helps
show us that “we’re more similar than
we are different.” j

Nabongo’s book, The Catch Me If You Can,
is available wherever books are sold.

E X P L O R E | TOOL KIT 3

1 5
4

2

CRAFTED FOR CATCHING

24 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

6

10
11

7 1. Leather laces
Used to hold the glove
9 together, they come in dif-
ferent widths and lengths.
8 2. Cutting die
There are over 20 dies for
PHOTOGRAPH BY REBECCA HALE various glove parts. The
one shown forms the palm.
I F B A S E B A L L I S A M E R I C A’ S national pastime, then the Nokona 3. Wooden last
glove factory is a national treasure. The family-run leather-goods This helps shape the fin-
company in Texas has been handcrafting baseball gloves since 1934. gers. The metal tool inserts
“We were making purses and wallets,” says Executive Vice President thumb and heel pads.
Rob Storey, “but Granddad said during the Great Depression if 4. Cosmoline
you wanted to sell a wallet for a dollar, you had to put a dollar in A waxlike petroleum
it.” Glovemaking stuck—as has customer loyalty. “We’re one of the product, it glues the palm
only companies that will take our gloves back for repair,” Storey to the leather liner.
says. “We get some that are 70 years old.” — CATHERINE ZUCKERMAN 5. Hole punch
Some gloves require this
method of making open-
ings for the laces.
6. Lacing needle
A clip on one end holds
and guides the leather
lace through holes. Also
pictured: tools for posi-
tioning the thumb and
pinkie adjustment loops.
7. Partially laced glove
Lacing one glove takes
about 45 minutes.
8. Chopping mallet
Workers wield this to slice
up material left over from
making inserts to reinforce
the thumb and pinkie.
9. Leather gauge
Before glove construction
begins, the leather’s thick-
ness must be measured.
10. More mallets
Rawhide and steel mallets
create crisp folds in the
leather. A thicker glove
mallet helps mold the final
shape of the product.
11. Bobbins of thread
Stitching is the hardest job
to master, taking almost a
year to learn, Storey says.
“It’s kind of a lost art.”

J U LY 2 0 2 2 25

E X P L O R E | PLANET POSSIBLE PLANET

Invasive plant species are a For more stories about how
problem across the United to help the planet, go to
States. One remedy: Try natgeo.com.
making them into treats.
1. HIMALAYAN
BY JENNY L. BIRD BLACKBERRY
Native to Armenia, the plant
It’s fine to shop at farmers has thorny thickets that
markets and grocery stores smother other species, block
for recipe ingredients. But access through woods, and
what if you could gather injure livestock. Its fruit starts
some of them by foraging— to ripen in midsummer along
and, at the same time, help the edges of forests and fields
rid your region of non-native and in parks across the United
plant species that are harm- States. Add the berries to
ing America’s ecosystems? baked goods such as muffins.
According to the National
Wildlife Federation, about 42 2. SOW THISTLE
percent of today’s threatened Its creeping roots crowd out
or endangered species are at useful crops and suck water and
risk because of invasive spe- nitrogen from the soil. Native
cies. Be sure to forage only in to Europe and western Asia,
nonpolluted areas, and verify sow thistle grows in forests,
plant identity with an expert meadows, and riverbanks all
or a smartphone app. Here are over North America in spring
four invasives to look for—and and summer. Try sautéing the
ideas for serving them up. leaves in olive oil and adding
them to a quesadilla.

3. WATERCRESS
European settlers brought this
leafy green to the Colonies.
It spread along waterways,
crowding out native plants.
Watercress now grows in most
of the 50 U.S. states and Puerto
Rico. Harvest it from the edge
of a running stream in spring
and fall to make proper
watercress tea sandwiches.

4. KUDZU
Brought to the U.S. from
Japan, the kudzu vine can
grow a foot a day, depriving
other plants of sunlight. Its
fragrant purple flowers bloom
from July to September, but
its leaves, roots, and vine tips
are more readily available.
Kudzu sprouts in forests from
Texas to Massachusetts, and
in Oregon and Washington.
Pick flowers to use in making
the thirst quencher below.

When Life Gives You Kudzu, temperature, then strain the
Make Kudzu Lemonade liquid to remove the flowers. Add
one cup of freshly squeezed lemon
Combine one and a half cups of juice, and serve this bright drink
sugar and eight cups of water over ice on a hot summer day. For
in a large pan; bring to a simmer, more information about the plants
stirring. When the sugar fully and dishes mentioned here, visit
dissolves, remove the mixture natgeofamily.com/invasives.
from the heat and add four cups
of rinsed kudzu flowers. Let
them steep for an hour at room

PHOTOS (CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT): MARK THIESSEN; SDYM PHOTOGRAPHY; FLORALIMAGES;
HEMIS; NICK KURZENKO (ALAMY STOCK PHOTO: FOUR PLANT IMAGES)

DISCOVERY | E X P L O R E

ON THE ISLAND
OF ORCHIDS

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHAN HERMANS

F RO M T H E S H OW STO P P E R Cymbidiella and National Geographic Explorer. In
pardalina, with its operatic scarlet her 22 years of award-winning work in
lip (pictured), to the thumbnail-size defense of island flora, she has helped
yellow Angraecum rhynchoglossum, create a dozen refuges to protect plant
about a thousand species of orchids species from deforestation and habitat
call Madagascar home. Known for loss. What continues to motivate her is
their delicate details, these flowers the astonishing rate of flora discovery
exhibit remarkable resistance to here. Even just “as a traveler, you could
wildfire and the severe drought now see an orchid that is new for science,”
plaguing this biodiverse Indian Ocean she says. — K AT I E K N O ROV S K Y
island. Orchids with underground
tubers act as survival powerhouses, Learn more about the National
says Jeannie Raharimampionona, a Geographic Society’s support
Malagasy botanist, conservationist, of Explorers’ work protecting critical
species at natgeo.com/impact.

E X P L O R E | THROUGH THE LENS

Diving Under
the Pyramids

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS
BY NICHOLE SOBECKI

I I C O U L D F E E L M YS E L F S U F F O C AT I N G . Each step down
the bedrock passageway brought me closer to what
THE PYRAMIDS IN EGYPT I’d long imagined: the pool of khaki water, the flooded
ARE MORE FAMOUS, BUT tunnel it hid, and the moment I’d have to enter that
THE ONES IN SUDAN HIDE darkness. The crumbling grandeur of a pyramid
ROYAL BURIAL SITES THAT loomed above.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS CAN Here, at the ancient necropolis of Nuri in Sudan’s
EXPLORE—AS LONG AS THEY northern desert, Kushite royals were laid to rest mil-
lennia ago in a series of underground burial cham-
DON’T MIND DIVING. bers beneath mighty pyramids. Now the chambers
were flooded with groundwater leaching from the
30 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C nearby Nile. Archaeologist Pearce Paul Creasman,
funded in part by a National Geographic Society
grant, was leading a team that would be the first to
attempt underwater archaeology below a pyramid.
Initially, I’d been calm, even excited, about going
along to photograph this ambitious and risky effort,
in 2020. But as I walked deeper underground, my
heart raced, and I could barely breathe.

I’d known this existential anxiety before. Nine years
ago, from crouching in a drainage pipe in Libya as
belt-fed machine guns peppered the ground above.
Seven years ago, under attack by Al Shabab terrorists
in a shopping mall in Nairobi as pop music eerily
played on. Four years ago, on a lawless beach in Soma-
lia. Here, there was no outward enemy but something
in my own mind screaming at me, Do not descend.

Creasman and dive master Justin Schneider saw
my concern. “Give me a moment,” I said. Holding
tightly to my camera, a weight belt slung across my
chest, I bit into my regulator and sank cross-legged
below the waterline. Breathe. Just breathe.

Surfacing, I nodded to my companions: I was ready.
We descended, funneling ourselves through a narrow
chute and down into the disorienting blackness.

Archaeologist
Pearce Paul
Creasman
prepares to
enter a flooded
tomb in the
necropolis of
Nuri, in Sudan.

J U LY 2 0 2 2 31

E X P L O R E | THROUGH THE LENS

and despite the small space, it was shockingly easy

to get lost and find yourself swimming in circles. A

hand connected with mine, and we emerged into the

second chamber, where the collapsed ceiling resulted

in a welcome air pocket. By flashlight, work began.

Traditional dirt-excavation skills were useless

here, so Creasman’s team had to develop new tech-

niques—often on the fly—to uncover the secrets of

this overlooked kingdom. Underwater archaeology

is now a specialized field, but in its early days, the

skills and tools were adapted from shipwreck salvag-

ers and rarely had been used in such tight confines.

No room for bulky scuba tanks either, obviously.

We breathed instead through sunshine yellow hoses

Discoveries in the flooded necropolis include shabtis, that ran back the way we entered, connecting us to the

funerary figures intended to serve the king in the afterlife. air above. The risk of a cave-in couldn’t be absolutely

eliminated, but the entrance was reinforced with 50

linear feet of steel beams, and risk was just not talked

Every culture of the world has death traditions, about much. Team members looked for anything of

to ease the passage of loved ones into the next life and interest—gold leaf, figurines, pottery—and noted

soothe those left behind in this one. This 2,300-year- their findings with waterproof boards and markers. A

old tomb was the resting place of Nastasen, a king thin cord ran from the third and final burial chamber

who led Kush for roughly two decades. Before him, to the world above, our guide through the darkness.

several of the Kushite kings, known as Black pha-

raohs, became so powerful that they ruled all of T H E WO R K AC Q U I R E D a rhythm. Creasman would

Nubia and Egypt. Nastasen was the last of them to be descend into the final chamber, which held what

buried at Nuri before threats from rivals forced the might have been Nastasen’s unopened sarcophagus.

Kush to move their capital south. They left behind A few minutes later, he’d return with a filled bucket;

extraordinary temples, pyramids—and it would be carried outside to team mem-

their interred pharaohs. bers who’d examine and sort its contents.

EGYPT About an hour into this routine, Creas-

E XC AVAT I N G N U R I , with its treasures AFRICA man surfaced in the second chamber,
hidden underwater, was an especially
formidable challenge. A century ago, SUDAN Nuri took a breath, and called out, “Shabti!”
Harvard Egyptologist George Reisner
royal He tenderly lifted the funerary figurine
necropolis
for us to see. Gazing at it in his palm, I

visited Nuri to explore, among others, realized my breath had slowed to normal

the burial chamber of King Taharqa, who and my mind had cleared. The carved

ruled all of Egypt in the seventh century man was broken down the middle, but

B.C. and even earned a mention in the Old Testament retained his dignified, dutiful expression. He looked

for rallying his troops to defend Jerusalem. ready to fulfill his destiny. Thousands of years ago—a

Many of the other Nuri tombs, though, were left span so long I can’t really fathom it—the figures were

unexplored. The waters have since risen higher, believed to revive in order to serve their masters in

influenced by climate change, the growing agricul- the afterlife. Now here I was, in the underworld with

tural needs of the area, and the modern dams that them. My fear washed away, and awe flooded in.

are transforming the Nile. In my line of work I’ve had a few opportunities like

Since Creasman’s work began, Sudan has expe- this: to experience an ancient marvel as most people

rienced a coup, a global pandemic, record-setting never will and to photograph it for the world to see.

floods, and a 2019 revolution. When protesters top- I focused on the glistening-wet shabti; the camera

pled the 30-year dictatorship of Omar al Bashir— shutter blinked, making the ephemeral permanent.

whose government tried to erase Sudan’s pre-Islamic Nastasen had rested here in darkness for two mil-

history—they chanted the names of Nubian royals: lennia, kept company by hundreds of tiny caretakers.

“My grandfather is Taharqa, my grandmother is a Soon I’d return to the world aboveground, with its

kandaka (queen)!” Bashir is now facing charges at impossibly blue skies. But not yet. First, I shot frame

the International Criminal Court. Protesters in the after frame, freezing this place in time and willing

streets denounce the military that grabbed power myself to remember those things beyond my ability

and sabotaged the country’s democratic transition. to capture. j

History long submerged has begun to surface. Nichole Sobecki is a photographer, filmmaker, and National

I S WA M T H RO U G H A DA R K channel into the tomb’s Geographic Explorer based in Nairobi, Kenya. Learn more
chambers. Clouds of sediment obstructed all visibility, about the National Geographic Society’s support of Explorers
at natgeo.com/impact.

NGM MAPS

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC J U LY 2 0 2 2

F EAT U R E S Native Sovereignty..... P. 36
Urban Wildlife . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 76
Flooding in Java .......... P. 96
Italy’s Appian Way...... P. 116

116 BEGUN IN 312 B.C., ITALY’S
APPIAN WAY WAS THE FIRST
MAJOR HIGHWAY IN EUROPE.
NOW THIS ‘QUEEN OF ROADS’
IS ON THE ASCENDANCE
AGAIN, AS A WALKING ROUTE.

PHOTO: ANDREA FRAZZETTA



N O RT H A M E R I C A’ S I N D I G E N O U S N AT I O N S
ARE RECLAIMING THEIR SOVEREIGNTY:

CONTROL OF THEIR LAND, LAWS, AND HOW THEY LIVE.

BY Quannah Rose Chasinghorse, protect what’s left.” She is
CHARLES C. MANN a groundbreaking Indigenous Hän Gwich’in and Sičangu/
model, uses her fame to sup- Oglala Lakota, but was born
PHOTOGRAPHS BY port her activism, reminding on Diné (Navajo) land in
K ILIII YÜYA N people “whose land you’re Arizona. Here, Chasinghorse
living on.” Native sovereignty, stands in Tse’Bii’Ndzisgaii
she says, is key to “defend- (Monument Valley), a park
ing my ways of life, trying to administered by the Diné.

“We Are Here” appears in the languages of these Indigenous peoples, identified by color: 37

Q Tla-o-qui-aht Q Siksikaitsitapi Q Chahta Q Karuk Q Onondaga Q Mohawk



An extreme sport
spun from the horse
traditions of the plains,
Indian Relay is a break-
neck bareback race
on painted steeds, with
riders switching from
one galloping horse
to another every lap.
The event has spread
across the North Amer-
ican West, putting a
distinctive Indigenous
stamp on agricultural
fairs like this one in
Kalispell, Montana.



Carrying cedar boards
to repair a walkway,
Joe Louie passes the
welcome sign to the
Tla-o-qui-aht’s Meares
Island tribal park, near
Vancouver Island in
British Columbia. The
island has been effec-
tively controlled by
the nation since the
1980s, when it stopped
loggers from working
there. Today Tla-o-
qui-aht parks guard-
ians, including Louie,
maintain and protect
the land.

SOVEREIGNTY to Native nations means both the FREEDOM
to decide one’s actions and the RESPONSIBILITY to
keep THE WORLD IN BALANCE, an idea the Siksikaitsitapi
(Blackfoot) express by the word AATSIMOIYIHKAAN.

42 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

Chapter One

RECLAIMING THE LAND

Tla-o-qui-aht • British Columbia

For nearly two decades, THE BLOCK OF RED CEDAR was about six
the Tla-o-qui-aht have feet long and three feet high and almost as
been in negotiations wide. Gordon Dick was slicing off its rounded
over their homeland, top. The chainsaw bit into it, spraying saw-
which includes rugged dust. Noise-canceling headphones on, Joe
Radar Beach on Van- Martin crouched to watch where the blade poked
couver Island. Because through. With his right hand he made little sig-
most of British Colum- nals—up a bit, down, good. The air filled with
bia’s first peoples never the sharp, almost medicinal scent of cedar.
signed treaties with
Canada, they maintain Martin is a Tla-o-qui-aht artist on the west
the country’s constitu- coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia.
tion guarantees that Dick, another carver, is from the Tseshaht, a
the land is still legally neighboring nation. They were making the first
theirs—along with its rough cuts on a statue of a wolf sitting on its
valuable forests and haunches—a short totem pole, in effect. Nearby
fisheries. Increasingly, were two larger poles, almost complete, 24 feet
Canadian courts have and 30 feet tall. Up one side of each pole, stacked
agreed with them. atop each other, were symbolic figures: bears,
suns, mythical sea serpents, more wolves.
The National
Geographic Society, This summer, Martin will erect one of the
committed to illuminat- poles in his family’s home village of Opitsaht on
ing and protecting the Meares Island, near the Vancouver Island resort
wonder of our world, town of Tofino. Opitsaht had hundreds until an
has funded Explorer 1884 Canadian law forced Native peoples to let
Kiliii Yüyan’s storytelling collectors and museums freely take them—which
around Indigenous peo- they did. Like stained glass windows in cathe-
ple and conservation drals, totem poles are visual representations of
since 2021. traditional teachings. But their imposing pres-
ence makes them more than that, Martin told me.
ILLUSTRATION BY JOE MCKENDRY “They say, ‘We are here. This is our space.’ ”

Meares Island is part of the Tla-o-qui-aht
homeland. So are Tofino and scores of islands
in Clayoquot Sound (Clayoquot is an older spell-
ing of the nation’s name). Canada says these 400
square miles are a mix of national park, provincial
timber zones, and private land, with a few tiny
Native village sites. But the Tla-o-qui-aht say it’s
all their territory and always has been. They have
declared the entire area to be tribal parks.

Much of this area has been logged—badly, by
firms that stripped the country of its valuable

This totem pole will
rise in the village
of Opitsaht on Meares
Island to commem-
orate the Tla-o-qui-
aht’s recent history.
The skulls (at far right)
symbolize victims of
COVID-19, students
who died in residential
schools, and murdered
and missing Indigenous
women. “When the
Europeans came, they
said we were illiterate,”
explains Joe Martin,
the master carver who
is overseeing the pole’s
creation. “But so were
they—they couldn’t
read our totem poles.”



ancient cedar and created erosion and ruin. Tla-o-qui-aht
“They came and left,” said Saya Masso, head of British Columbia
the Tla-o-qui-aht natural resources department.
“That was 50 years ago. And they didn’t restore WHAT DOES
the land, and neither did British Columbia or SOVEREIGNTY
Canada. So we’re doing it.” MEAN TO YOU?

The Tla-o-qui-aht are rechanneling streams, ‘Language is part
re-creating the prelogging ecosystem, protect-
ing herring spawning areas, and blockading of who we are,
logging roads in delicate spots where visitors and so who we are
shouldn’t go. On top of the conservation work, is trying to relearn
they are beginning the tedious but vital business our language
of nation building: starting their own education and regrow as a
programs, hiring their own rangers (known as
parks guardians), and, possibly most impor- community.’
tant, persuading businesses to add something
akin to a sales tax—a voluntary one percent TIMMY MASSO
surcharge—to their customers’ bills to support language activist
the nation’s endeavors.
HIGHLIGHTING the recovery of
When Native people talk about this work, Nuu-chah-nulth, the Tla-o-qui-aht
they often use the word “sovereignty.” Typically, tongue, Masso displays two masks—
sovereignty means “self-rule.” But people like one with no mouth to symbolize
Masso and Martin mean more than that by the the loss of the language, one with
term. It stands for a vision of Native societies as an open mouth to show its revival.
autonomous cultures, part of the modern world Beginning in the 1830s, Canada
but rooted in their own long-standing values, forced about 150,000 Indigenous
working as equal partners with nontribal govern- children into residential schools and
ments at every level. “The closest English term forbade them to use their mother
that I know to what we mean by sovereignty is tongues, which nearly put an end to
‘self-actualization,’ ” said Leroy Little Bear of the them. Masso wrote a song and his
Kainai (Blood). An emeritus law professor at brother, Hjalmer Wenstob, carved
the University of Lethbridge, Little Bear played these masks for a performance
a key role in the enshrinement of Indigenous they created to promote learning
rights in the Canadian Constitution in 1982. Nuu-chah-nulth—a vital part of
“Sovereignty is having access to all of ourselves.” reestablishing Tla-o-qui-aht culture.

The Tla-o-qui-aht are not alone, or even
exceptional. All over Turtle Island—a common
Indigenous name for North America, from ori-
gin stories about the world being atop a turtle’s
shell—its original inhabitants are reclaiming a
status that they have never surrendered, and
in the process are changing their own lives
and those of their neighbors. And—perhaps
most remarkable—they have gained a measure
of acceptance from the nontribal world.

The effects range from tribal police in Mon-
tana successfully defending their right to detain

Listen to the podcast “This
Indigenous Practice Fights
Fire With Fire.” Use your phone’s
camera to scan the QR code.

46



Queen Char
Port Hardy lotte Str. BRITISH
COLUMBIA
R
E Campbell
V River
U
O
C
N
A
V
NUU-CHAH-NULTH

CANADA Tla-o-qui-aht territory CANADA

Vancouver PA C I F I C (Ha'huulthii) Vancouver
Island
Tseshaht
UNITED
STATES OCEAN ISLAND

Indigenous community The borders extend Str Salish
Canadian Indian reserve into the ocean to . of Juan de Fuca Sea
Nuu-chah-nulth cultural region include fishing and
whale-hunting waters. 25 mi Victoria
Sacred parks 25 km
UNITED
The Tla-o-qui-aht, one of the S TAT E S
14 nations of the Nuu-chah-nulth on
Vancouver Island, established four Tla-o-qui-aht territory (Ha'huulthii)
adjacent tribal parks as an expres-
sion of their inherent rights to over- Ahousaht Wah-nah-jus –
see the land, air, water, and spirit of Hilth-hoo-is
the territory—as they have done for Clayoquot (Meares Island)
millennia. The nation manages the Sound Tribal Park
watershed, ecotourism, and polic-
ing by parks guardians. Indigenous Opitsaht Meares Tranquil
land-use methods are restoring ter- Tofino Island Tribal Park
rain ravaged by timber operations.
Esowista Ha’uukmin
Tribal Park (Kennedy Lake

Radar Watershed)
Beach Tribal Park

PA C I F I C Kennedy
Lake

OCEAN Toquaht

5 mi Ucluelet Ucluelet
5 km First Nation

non-Natives whom they suspect of committing to regain sovereignty methodically—one lawsuit,
crimes on their lands to boards in Canada that one negotiation, one law, one program at a time.
take input from Indigenous and government For decades the Tla-o-qui-aht protested that they
representatives and jointly oversee environ- had never signed a treaty with British Colum-
mental issues across nearly 1.7 million square bia, and thus had given up none of their rights
miles—about 40 percent of the country. Most of or land. Until 1993, the province refused even to
this work is small scale, almost under the radar, negotiate. Only in October of last year, after 19
such as the collaboration among the Nakoda years of talks and several side agreements, did
(Assiniboine), the Aaniiih (Gros Ventre), and it agree to a framework for discussions. The pro-
the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to restore cess has been grindingly slow, but the change is
prairie land in Montana. But some of it has as undeniable as the roadside sign that greets
thunderous impact, like the U.S. Supreme Court visitors entering tribal territory: Tla-O-Qui-Aht
ruling in 2020 that led lower courts to affirm Ha’houlthee—Tla-o-qui-aht Homeland.
nearly half of Oklahoma is Native land.
None of this is foreordained to continue. More
Much as African American activists pushed than 42 percent of the officially recognized tribes
civil rights through litigation and legislation that in the United States have no federally or state-
built incrementally, Native nations have pushed recognized reservation, and the reservations of

ROSEMARY WARDLEY AND PATRICIA HEALY, NGM STAFF
SOURCES: GISELE MARIA MARTIN; TLA-O-QUI-AHT TRIBAL PARKS; NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA; FIRST NATIONS HEALTH AUTHORITY

tribes that possess them are a tiny fraction of what The government
they had in the past. Native peoples are among not only went
the poorest and unhealthiest on the continent,
with some of the highest rates of drug-overdose after tribal land,
deaths of any racial or ethnic group. Indigenous it also went
women in particular face violence at horrific
rates. Most worrisome for activists, the U.S. and after the tribes
Canadian governments retain the power to dis- themselves,
mantle Native victories at any time.
setting dates to
When I asked Saya Masso what he hoped to see ‘terminate’ them
in five or 10 years, he gave me a list: improved as legal entities.
health care; a museum and cultural center; a
tribal longhouse to replace the one destroyed
in the 19th century; a bigger, higher-paid parks
guardian force; better sewage treatment; an
entire Tla-o-qui-aht school system. The key to
all that is building the tribal economic base, he
said. “And the root of doing that is sovereignty,
nation to nation.”

“The world doesn’t know we’re equal,” he said.
“But we’re getting better at telling them.”

Chapter Two sticks charging in my direction. Did I mention
that the game is played without padding or hel-
LET THE GAMES BEGIN mets? That some people play barefoot? The guys
plowed into me. One reached out a hand to help
Chahta • Oklahoma me up. “Now you’re Choctaw for today,” he said,
kindly. “You’re ready to play,” said another.
THE FIRST TIME I TRIED to use the ishtaboli
sticks was at the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma’s In the old days the game was played in the
Labor Day Festival, the biggest official gathering open countryside, often with hundreds of play-
of the Chahta, as they call themselves. Held in ers on each side. Entire communities gathered.
Tuskahoma, the nation’s capital, it’s in some Competition was so intense that ishtaboli is
ways like any county fair—and in some ways known as the little brother of war. It was some-
not. One of the biggest nots is ishtaboli. times used to settle disputes. Some of that
rowdiness is still present. Games stop for little
A team sport older than any played by their col- but jump balls and injuries. The crowd yells and
onizers, ishtaboli is called stickball in English. bangs drums as people collide on the field. When
Each team puts 30 players on a soccer-like field players catch the ball, opponents pile onto them.
with a 12-foot post at each end. Every player has “I’m not sure I’m ready to play,” I said.
two sticks—always handcrafted—with the wood
bent over and lashed into a loop at the end. The The Chahta homeland was the fine bottomland
loop has leather strips that form a pocket barely of Mississippi. After Europeans arrived, Chahta
big enough for the small, leather-covered ball. leaders played Spain, France, and England
Using only their sticks, players carry, pass, or against each other, trading with all sides and cre-
shoot the ball—hands aren’t allowed. Each side ating prosperous farms and ranches. The nation’s
tries to hit its goalpost with the ball while pre- first decades with the new United States were
venting the other from doing the same thing. Few largely peaceful—the Chahta even allied with it
rules limit how the players can do this. against Great Britain and its Native allies in the
War of 1812. The great Chahta leader Pushmataha
When some Chahta acquaintances at the festi- was commissioned as a brigadier general.
val tried to teach me how to catch the ball, I could
barely do it. One of the few times I was successful, Despite their alliance, the Chahta became in
they rushed me. I looked up to see four guys with 1830 the first of more than 40 nations forced to

W E A R E H E R E 49



The Chickasaw Nation
owns and operates
the huge WinStar World
Casino and Resort in
Thackerville, Oklahoma.
The nation has 31
casinos and gaming
operations that help
pay for, among other
things, education, hous-
ing, and health care
for its 73,000 citizens,
as well as the salary
of its ambassador to
the United States.

MUSCOGEE
Oklahoma

Principal Chief David
Hill was at the forefront
of the fight that led to
the landmark McGirt v.
Oklahoma decision in
2020. The U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that the
Muscogee reservation
still exists legally, which
led to similar recog-
nition of tribal lands
for five other Native
nations in the state.

52 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

CHEROKEE
Oklahoma

WHAT DOES
SOVEREIGNTY
MEAN TO YOU?

‘Sovereignty

is the right
for us to
decide what
we want

to become.’

SARA HILL
Cherokee Nation
Attorney General

THE MCGIRT DECISION is
a hot-button issue in the state, and
Hill now spends much of her time
wrestling with the consequences,
including what it means for the Cher-
okee Nation’s sovereignty. “I tend to
think about it in terms of not only
preserving what was,” she says, “but
the right to be a separate people
with a separate destiny.” For her,
that means the tribe’s descendants
creating their own future. “People
took away Cherokee children for a
century, putting them in boarding
schools so they could become what
others wanted them to be.”

CANADA

UNITED
STATES

Oklahoma

Sovereignty reaffirmed

In the 1830s the federal government
forced members of dozens of nations to
resettle in Indian Territory, which became
part of the new state of Oklahoma in
1907. A landmark Supreme Court decision
in 2020 reaffirmed the existence of the
Muscogee Nation’s reservation based on
its 1833 treaty boundaries. That recogni-
tion of tribal land has been extended to
five other nations in Oklahoma.

1890
Indian Territory is cut in half by the newly
established Oklahoma Territory.

PUBLIC LAND STRIP KANSAS MO.ARKANSAS

INDIAN OKLAHOMA INDIAN
TERRITORY TERRITORY TERRITORY

1854–1890 1890 1890

TEXAS

leave their homelands and move to what was
then called Indian Territory (now Oklahoma).
Their journey inaugurated the infamous Trail of
Tears. In return for ceding their land, the Chahta
made one crucial demand: sovereignty. In the
treaty the U.S. promised that “no territory or
State shall ever have a right to pass laws for the
Government of the Choctaw Nation … and that
no part of the land granted them shall ever be
embraced in any territory or State.”

That promise was not kept. In the next few
decades much of the new Chahta homeland
was parceled off to other Native nations. The
rest was converted from communal to private
land and distributed to tribe members who were
often strong-armed into selling it to settlers. In
1907 Indian Territory was incorporated into
the new state of Oklahoma. Indigenous nations

ROSEMARY WARDLEY, PATRICIA HEALY, AND SOREN WALLJASPER, NGM STAFF
SOURCES: HISTORIC PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT, CHOCTAW NATION OF OKLAHOMA; OKLAHOMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY; U.S. CENSUS BUREAU; USGS

Nineteen-year-old
Andrew Amos runs
for a pass in a co-ed
practice game of
ishtaboli (stickball)
in Durant, Oklahoma.
A member of Tvshka
Homma, the Choctaw
Nation’s men’s team,
Amos has played since
he was seven—in contrast
with previous genera-
tions, which faced
government efforts to
suppress the game and
other expressions of
Native American culture.
Players are in constant
motion and wear no
padding, no helmets,
no gloves, and, some-
times, no shoes.

outside Oklahoma faced similar losses. Today been forbidden in the old Indian schools.
the average reservation is 2.6 percent of the All the while, nations across Turtle Island were
size of the original homeland.
fighting to escape state laws that restricted their
Not only did the government go after tribal actions, often keeping them from having an eco-
land, it also went after the tribes themselves, set- nomic base. After two legal battles that reached
ting dates to “terminate” them as legal entities. the U.S. Supreme Court, establishing that Native
The Chahta came within a whisker of termina- nations are not subject to many local or state
tion. Other nations weren’t so lucky. laws, Congress in 1988 passed a law that cleared
the way for them to run gaming operations.
If there’s a single beginning for the turnaround
in Native America, it may be the passage of the Today the Choctaw Nation has seven casinos
Indian Self-Determination Act in 1975. Pushed in southeast Oklahoma—and more than 200,000
through by a wave of Indigenous activism, it enrolled members. The nation has become a
created mechanisms for tribes to establish and, powerful economic force, responsible for almost
most important, direct their own programs. It 100,000 jobs. And it’s rebuilding its land base,
meant bringing back Chahta dance and Chahta having bought some 60,000 acres. With the
language, which had been suppressed by mis- income from their casinos and businesses, the
sionaries. And it meant the first openly played Chahta construct roads, support schools, put up
games of ishtaboli in decades—the game had clinics, and build homes for their elders. They

W E A R E H E R E 55



Yurok have erected 17 community centers—one in
California almost every town in the nation.

WHAT DOES “Sovereignty is at the basis of everything we
SOVEREIGNTY do,” Sue Folsom, the cultural project manager
MEAN TO YOU? for the nation, told me. Folsom supervised the
development of the new cultural center, which
‘As a sovereign opened last year. One of its most prominent
exhibits treats the contentious history of the
nation, we never Chahta and the U.S. government. It’s called
gave up our right “Protecting Our Sovereignty.”
to use fire. We gave
up a lot of things, Chapter Three
but fire wasn’t
RENEWING THE WORLD
one of them.’
Karuk • California
MARGO ROBBINS
Basket Weaver “KARUK PRAYERS DON’T sound like Christian
prayers,” Leaf Hillman said. “I don’t close my
AS SHE GREW UP, Robbins eyes and bow my head—those are acts of subser-
watched U.S. fire suppression policies vience that are not part of Karuk belief systems.”
transform the forests around her
into monocultures of Douglas fir that One way to describe Hillman would be to
no longer sustained species impor- say he’s the former longtime director of natu-
tant to the Yurok people. Particularly ral resources and environmental policy for the
painful was the loss of new hazel Karuk Tribe. A second would be to note that he’s
shoots, essential to making baskets, an officiant during Pikyávish, the annual cere-
caps, and, especially, cradles. Not monies that renew the world. A third would be
wanting to see her grandchildren as a key strategist of a long struggle that resulted
raised without Yurok cradles, she in one of the most consequential environmental
co-founded the Indigenous Peoples agreements in North America in many decades.
Burning Network, which teaches But I like to think of him as the man who helped
fire-setting techniques to maintain ruin Warren Buffett’s big day.
the landscape as her ancestors did.
The morning we met, Hillman was standing
next to Bill Tripp, now the natural resources
director. We were on a ridge, looking down at the
center of the world. Hillman wore a T-shirt with
a drawing of a salmon. His hair was neatly tied
back, and there was a pencil behind his ear. A
gray baseball cap shadowed Tripp’s forehead and
eyes. His T-shirt said, “Karuk Fire Management.”

Below us was the confluence of the Salmon
and Klamath Rivers—rushing together in a high-
sided bowl ringed by mountain peaks. Near the
junction was a gravel flat: the site of Katimîin,
a former Karuk village and one of the places
where the Karuk renew the world.

World renewal is a ceremony to align Karuk
people with the living processes around them.
Humans can lose the balance between giving
and taking. The rites seek to correct for this.

“The prayers at world renewal tell the spirit
people what we’re doing,” Hillman said. “It’s like,

W E A R E H E R E 57

Low flames in cool
weather—set during
a Yurok-led training
exercise—burn
harmlessly through
underbrush near
Orleans, California,
consuming fuel that
could drive dangerous
conflagrations. After
miners, farmers, and
state and federal gov-
ernments took their
lands, Native nations
were forced to stop
protective burning—
a major reason that
today’s wildfires are
so destructive.