Yes. Some cultures were monogamous, some were polygamous, some were polyamorous. At the time of the initial colonization, there were approximately 600 different nations in what is now the continental United States. These nations had their own individual cultures, languages, social structures, and mores.
Having more than one wife was an established part of life for some Native peoples before Europeans tried to end the practice. At many times and places, monogamy and other forms of marriage have coexisted peacefully—as they're increasingly doing in the US today.
And unlike some folks who claim a Native American identity based on some distant and sometimes unsubstantiated ancestor, my entire family—at least the biological relatives—are Native American. Of course, polyamory is not a traditional Native American practice.
Plural marriage was somewhere between an exception and a rule among Plains Indian tribes. Plenty of chiefs and warriors, such as the respected Lakota leader Red Cloud, had one wife. Many had two or three, and some had as many as seven.
The problem was, however, that prairie First Nations people had lived with diverse forms of marriage-including monogamy, polygamy and same-sex marriage-for centuries, to happy and harmonious effect.
Among some Aboriginal groups, at least, marriages were often polygynous (with a husband having two or more wives): a wife, on the other hand, would have only one husband at a time, although usually she would be married to several husbands in succession, as the former husband died or the marriage broke up.
Ancient Greece and ancient Rome
The ancient Greeks and Romans were monogamous in the sense that men were not allowed to have more than one wife or to cohabit with concubines during marriage.
Many indigenous communities recognize at least four genders (feminine female, masculine female, feminine male, masculine male), and most indigenous communities and tribes have specific terms for sexual and gender fluid members. The Two-Spirit tradition is primarily a question of gender, not sexual orientation.
Having more wives meant that the work could be shared. Many men were killed in war and hunting, so there were more women than men. If a man's brother died, he would be expected to marry the widow to take care of her children. To the Sioux Indians, Polygamy seemed a perfect solution.
The typical Native American family had around three to four children. This was small compared to the average European family at the time, which typically had around six or seven children.
It was only permitted to court one woman at a time, though there are examples of polygamist marriage and same sex co-habitation in the ancient culture. Marriages were carefully negotiated and the courtship required the approval of both of the clans, by a Clan Grandmother.
“The prevalence right now of young people is somewhere around 4-5 per cent of people might be involved in a polyamorous relationship, and about 20 per cent have probably tried one.”
The Comanches were a warrior society, and the men dominated. Women were not allowed to speak at council, and often were not free to choose whom they would marry. Most observers have concluded their lives were hard. The men were polygamous, but an adulterous wife could be killed or have her nose cut-off.
Humans are now mostly monogamous, but this has been the norm for just the past 1,000 years. Scientists at University College London believe monogamy emerged so males could protect their infants from other males in ancestral groups who may kill them in order to mate with their mothers.
According to the New York Times, a 2011 paper showed that early humans, or hominids, began shifting towards monogamy about 3.5 million years ago—though the species never evolved to be 100% monogamous (remember that earlier statistic).
Ancient and Present-Day Egypt
And many African countries today, particularly (but not limited to) those of a predominantly Muslim faith, still practice a form of polygyny. And in Muslim Malaysia, Rawang has a Polygamy Club that purports to have 300 husbands and 700 wives.
Few modern Eastern Cherokee marriages conform to these rules. Marriages were usually monogamous, but polygyny was permitted and occasionally practiced.
In most Native American cultures, nearly all adults were married, yet marriage was not seen as permanent. It was recognized that people would be together in a married state for a while and then separate.
Divorce was the most common practice used by the Indians; and divorce grounds available to them proved to be similar to contemporary North American customs. The consequences of divorce varied with different Indian tribes, but all tribes studied hod similar attitudes toward coring for children of divorced parents.
As a result, Native peoples have some of the lowest documented condom use rates. However, innovations in culturally integrating condoms and safe sex messages into Native cultural ideals are proving beneficial.
Genetically, Native Americans are most closely related to East Asians and Ancient North Eurasian. Native American genomes contain genetic signals from Western Eurasia due in part to their descent from a common Siberian population during the Upper Paleolithic period.
In most colonial texts squaw was used as a general word for Indigenous women.
In essence, men are only socially monogamous rather than genetically monogamous.
Toxic monogamy, as defined by Hillary Berry in her article “Toxic Monogamy Culture,” refers to “monogamy as a cultural institution [that] has been interpreted and practiced in ways that are unhealthy.” These ideas are often romanticized or perpetuated in media, cultural norms, and social expectations.
As Christianity emerged in the Roman Empire in the first centuries AD, it embraced monogamy and took it further, insisting that two people must reserve their bodies and desires for each other, marriage becoming 'an everlasting threesome with God'.