HIST 100: Engineering The Past

Defining Engineering

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The word engineering itself has much history to it. It can be used in many contexts but in my opinion, the main idea of the word engineering is to mean the build up of one thing. If you look at mechanical engineering, you are learning to build or fix something mechanical such as a car. If you look at civil engineering, it means the build up of the Army’s forces. In the way we use it, is the build up of historical events that brought us here today with the playing terms of the economy, laws created, peace treaties, or something as simple as water. An example that I can use to show this from our class would be module 9, the most recent dealing with the Native Americans. Time after time, new treaties were made, new adjustments in living were made, some of these things could have cause much conflict, and they did, but it got us to where we are today.

Water Rights

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I would say that on the lawful side of this question, they may have been compensated for what they have lost originally in the 1800’s. They got only positive outcomes out of that deal in terms of aches of land and the treated water, but other problems did arise out of this deal. The rights of water use are stated to be linked to many other plagues on the community, mainly unemployment, single parent families and illegal drug activities. So with all this considering, I believe that the people have not been given a fair deal. Sure we have given them some land to them to do what they please, but we cannot really expect that to fix the problem. Just giving people land and leaving it like that only made matters worse. It’s stated in the The Tohono O’odham article that problems today could be called even more challenging than that of twenty years ago. The people who are angry the most about this situation are actually the younger generations. And all honesty, who would blame them? They had to grow up under these conditions and because of it probable made them bitter. They don’t even take advantage of the college prorgrame there. People who are an enrolled member of the Tohono O’odham Nation can go to college at almost no out-of-pocket expense, which is great, but little actually do it.

To summaries, I believe that the people there have gotten the short end of the stick. They had their land removed and relocated and that really messed up their community with many problems to go with it.

Native water use and rights

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The Tohono O’odham (Desert people) are indians that mainly lived in the Sonoran Desert. In ancient times they were called Papago. The problem between them and the United States began in 1853 when the Gadsen Purchase took place. The purchase created a border between Mexico and the United States, cutting through the middle of the Tohonos main land. This cause much conflict and forced many native Tohonos to live on the Mexico side or the US side. In 1850 the Apache warriors began killing Natives and seeling their children as slaves in Mexico. To help, the United States set aside a reserve only for the Tohono O’odham native indians. They now have the second largest Native Indian reserve in the US. Throughout the years the indians have developed their own government and started having jobs and going to college.

Do I think they were compensated for their loses, yes. They receive education benefits and equality, and their own land reserved in the US. They still hurt form their loses because they believe that the border ruins wildlife habitat and makes it hard for them to see their families in Mexico. If it were anyone, if ones beliefs and way of life were damaged or had to be rearranged, anyone would be hurt but when it comes down to it, life can sometimes just not be fair, you just have to deal with it. With all the new developments and economical issues arising, different guidelines and ways of living are going to be made to keep peace and help keep citizens safe.