Native Americans

Native Americans Revised by: Tracy Sikes, Mount Bethel Elementary

Eastern Woodland Tribes

The Eastern Woodland Area is located from Canada in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the south and from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Mississippi River in the west.

This area contains coasts, rivers, lakes, mountains, valleys, plateau, and low plains. The entire region was covered in forests.

The people were divided into 3 groups: • Algonquian and Great Lake Tribes • Iroquois • Creek Confederacy

The Algonquian group lived in the northeast. They were mostly hunters, but did some farming. They made clothes from elk and deer hides. The Algonquian group lived in wigwams. They loved to make dreamcatchers.

The Great Lake Tribes were in the northeast. They were hunters, farmers, and ate wild rice. Their clothes were made from elk and deer hides. The Indians in the Great Lake region lived in wigwams.

The Iroquois tribes lived in the northeast. They were hunters and farmers. Their clothes were made from deer skin. The Iroquois lived in longhouses.

The Cherokee and Seminole Indians belonged to the group called the Creek Confederacy. They lived in the southeast and were farmers and hunters. They lived in homes made of wood and/or thatch. Some houses were raised without walls and were called chickees. Their clothes were made from hides and plant fibers.

Southwest Indians

The Southwest region covered the area which in now Utah and Colorado through Arizona and New Mexico into parts of Texas and California. This area contained steep-walled canyons, plateaus, and sandy deserts. To the south were mountains. Four rivers run through this area: the Rio Grande, Colorado, Gila, and Salt.

The Pueblos lived in the southwest. They were farmers growing mostly corn. They lived in pueblos. These were a type of apartment building made of clay. Their clothes made from cotton.

The Hopi are among the oldest Indian groups in the Southwest. They are one of several groups known as the Pueblo Indians. They used irrigation to grow beans, squash, and corn, their most important crop. The Hopi stored their extra corn and crops in storage rooms in the pueblo. Religion was important to the Hopi. They felt they were caretakers of the land. Hopi were among the first to fire their pottery with coal.

The Navajo lived in the southwest. In the early years they were hunters and trappers. Later the Navajo became shepherds and farmers. Their clothes were made from hides. Later they copied the clothes of Mexicans. The Navajo became expert weavers. Navajo Indians lived in hogans.

The Apache lived in the southwest. Their clothes were made from deer hides. Later they copied the clothes of Mexicans. They were raiders and hunters. They lived in a thatched wickiup. They had one in the mountains and one in the desert.

The Plateau Tribes

Nez Perce • Tribe of Native Americans who live in the Pacific Northwest region (Columbia River Plateau) of the United States. • The Nez Perce, as many western Native American tribes, were migratory and would travel with the seasons, according to where the most abundant food was to be found at a given time of year. • last great battle between the U.S. government and an Indian nation. After surrendering, Chief Joseph stated his famous quote: "Hear me, my chiefs, I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."

Northwest Coastal Tribes

The Northwest Coastal Indians lived in what is now Alaska along the Pacific Ocean down the coast to Northern California. This area contains small islands, deep inlets, and narrow beaches. Mountains rise to the shore. Thick forests of spruce, cedar, and fir cover the land. Many rivers and streams cross this area.

The Northwest Coastal Indians lived in the northwest. They were fishermen, hunters and gathered food from the forests. The Northwest Indians lived in plank homes. They placed totem poles in front of their homes. Little clothing was worn in the summer. In the winter they made clothing from fiber, and skins, and basket hats.

The Kwakiutl • The Kwakiutl Indian tribe made large dugout canoes by hollowing out cedar logs. • The Kwakiutl Indians were fishing people. Kwakiutl men caught fish and sea mammals from their canoes. They also hunted deer, birds, and small game. Kwakiutl women gathered clams and shellfish, seaweed, berries, and roots. • Kwakiutl women gathered plants, herbs and clams and did most of the child care and cooking. Men were fishermen and hunters and sometimes went to war to protect their families. Both genders took part in storytelling, artwork and music, and traditional medicine. The Kwakiutl chief was always a man, but the clan leaders could be either men or women.

The Far North

The Far North area is covered with ice and snow a large part of the year.

The Inuit people(Eskimos)lived in far north. They made their clothes from seal and caribou hides. They were fishermen and hunters. Inuit people made igloos when out hunting. Their more permanent homes were built of stone and earth.

Plains Indians

The Plains area reached from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to Mexico. It was hotter than 100 degrees in the summer, and could drop to 40 degrees below zero with heavy snows in the winter. This region was so dry that when it rained it often flooded. The rolling land was covered with grassland and a few mountains. Few Indians lived on the Great Plains before white men brought the horse in the 1600’s.

The Plains Indians lived in the middle of North America. They hunted buffalo. Their clothes were made from buffalo hides. Plains Indians lived in teepees.

Pawnee • The Pawnee Indians are original people of Nebraska and Kansas. The Pawnee tribe was forced to move to a reservation in Oklahoma during the 1800's, and most Pawnee people are still living in Oklahoma today. • Pawnee men were hunters and sometimes went to war to protect their families. Pawnee women were farmers and also did most of the child care and cooking. Only men became Pawnee chiefs, but both genders took part in storytelling, artwork and music, and traditional medicine. • Pawnee Indian leaders sometimes wore the long warbonnets that Plains Indians are famous for. More often, Pawnee men shaved their heads except for a scalplock (one long lock of hair in back) and wore a porcupine roach on top. Pawnee women wore their hair either loose or braided. The Pawnees also painted their faces for special occasions. They used different patterns for war paint, religious ceremonies, and festive decoration. • The Pawnees were farming people. Pawnee women raised crops of corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers. The men worked together to hunt buffalo and antelopes. Originally, Pawnee hunters would drive buffalo onto marshy land where it was easier to shoot them, but once they acquired horses, they hunted buffalo from horseback.

The End

Native Americans