KGOU: Cherokee man creates living map of indigenous nations

“I started to understand their struggle to gain federal recognition. At the same time I got involved with the American Indian Movement,” Carapella said. “I started meeting people from all kinds of different tribes.”

Carapella asked native acquaintances if they had ever seen a map with accurate information on their tribes. He said that question would kind of stun people, and they would say “no.”

Carapella, a self-described “voracious” reader, started reading Indian history books and contemporary native books.

“I was discovering just how many nations there were and then juxtaposing that with looking at these cheesy maps that would have like 50 to 100 tribes on them,” Carapella said. “I just felt like there wasn't really justice being done.”

Carapella did a free-hand a drawing of the United States and Canada and started writing in tribal names as he learned them. Thus began a nearly 15 year project.

“To my best ability I have put up every tribe that you see on the map is in its original location and this sometimes confuses people or even has upset a few people because they don't really understand the concept behind the map,” Carapella said.