The Gulf of Tonkin incident (Vietnamese: Sự kiện Vịnh Bắc Bộ), also known as the USS Maddox incident, was an international confrontation that led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War. It involved both a proven confrontation on August 2, 1964 and a claim of a second confrontation on August 4, 1964 between ships of North Vietnam and the United States in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. The original American report blamed North Vietnam for both incidents, but the Pentagon Papers, the memoirs of Robert McNamara, and NSA publications from 2005 suggest that the dismissal of legitimate concerns regarding the truthfulness of the second incident by the Department of State and other government personnel was used to justify an escalation by the US to a state of war against North Vietnam.
The food sources of Native Americans of the North and Northwest differed from that of Natives that lived in the West and Southwest due to the impact of climate which determined the types of food that were available. People in the North and Northwest did not farm. Irrigation allowed the people in the west to farm in dry areas.
In an effort to consolidate power in the region and unify their people, these kings (according to the Bible) emphasized belief in a single deity, Yahweh, creator of heaven and earth, and so initiated monotheistic belief in Canaan.
