This paper is to explore the American Indian people’s historical development on the basis of The Way to Rainy Mountain. It is of great significance to study the American Indian people’s historical development because the American Indian people is fairly representative in the United States which is a multinational country and has traveled a long and winding road. From that, this paper will try to provide some helpful suggestions for Chinese minorities to avoid the similar misfortune happened in American Indian people and how to go ahead for prosperity.
This paper is made up of five parts. The first part is Introduction. The historical development of the American Indian people will be introduced briefly in second part. Then an analysis of the ethnic issues of China and the United States will be stated and this part will also focus on some similarities and differences in multinational conditions between China and the United States. The fourth part will give some suggestions for Chinese minority’s development on the basis of the lessons got from the research. The last part is a conclusion about the objective and significance of this thesis.
In this paper, some research methods will be used including comparative research method, literature study method and history analysis method.

II. Historical Development of American Indian People

2.1 The History of Kiowas Ancestors in The Way to Rainy Mountain
The essay The Way to Rainy Mountain is written by N. Scott Momaday who is one of the foremost American Indian writers. In this essay, Momaday blends a moving narrative of the stories of the Kiowas with a lyrical and pictorial description of the landscape where his ancestors once ranged in their golden age and he also traces back the three stages of his people’s history: emergency, evolution and decline.
According to their origin myth, they entered the world through a hollow log. “From one point of view, their migration was the true of an old prophecy, for indeed they emerged from a sunless world.” (Momaday 140)
The author reveals the emergency of his people with myth and prophecy which seems amusing and interesting but indeed his people came from “a sunless world.” Kiowa people lived in western Montana about in 17th century and then they migrated to the south and east. 《通往雨山的路》的主题分析(2):http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_31081.html