Plains People

1. Plains People By: Andrea, Maddie and Jamal

4. Population • Nehiyawak (Cree) • Nahkawiniwak (Sauleaux) • Nakota (Cassiniboine) • Dakota and lakota (Sioux) • Denesuline (Chipewyan) • Blackfoot • Objibwa • Assiniboine • Entered the Northern plains approximately 11,000 years ago

5. Language • -The Assiniboine and both Stoney and Dakota Sioux spoke a Siouian language • -This language was most common with the Plains people • Athapaskan was also spoken to a mild extent. • Other languages such as Algonkin were spoken by the Blackfoot, Plains Cree and Plains Ojibwa.

6. Work • Women • -Women of the Plains had to do the most work and a tribe would not have been able to survive without them. • -Women would tan hides to make clothing or a tipi cover. • -Women would do all the cooking and gathering, make the tribes clothing and they had to raise their children. • Men • -the main job of the men was to hunt buffalo. • -If the man was not in battle he was hunting and it would take days or even weeks to locate a heard of buffalo.

7. work • Children • -children did not take much part in work until they were older (seventeen). • -In the meantime they would usually play games such as shinny which is similar to hockey.

8. Economy • -Plains people traded with Europeans • -Famous for fur trading and beads • -First trade between the Spanish and the Wichita tribe

9. Gender roles • -Plains men owned the family’s lodge and majority of the content • -Plains women tanned hides, tended crops, gathered wild foods, cooked, made clothing, and took down and erected tipis. • -Women had the right to have a divorce and keep custody of their children • -Women tended to socialize with other women and not play an engaging role in political life except indirectly

10. Political Structure • -Each Plains people band picked two chiefs • -Peace chief and war chief • -Chiefs could not force the people to do anything • -Only held power if people agreed with decisions • Democratic

11. Diet • -Survived off of mainly buffalo heart, liver, kidney and tongue. • -White tail • -Mule • -Deer • -Roots • -Berries

12. Home life • -Lived in tipis • -Made from pole frames covered with buffalo hides

13. Inventions/Contributions • -Buffalo skull was painted and use in their religious ceremonies • -Hide from neck was used for warrior shields • -Teeth were used for necklaces • -Bladder was used for a food bag

14. Significance of People/Animals: • -Plains were split into the Blackfoot confederacy • -Blackfoot confederacy consisted of three tribes: The Siksika (Blackfoot), The Keinai (Blood) and The Pikuni (Peigan) • -Blackfoot, Blood and Peigan spoke Algonkian and are considered to be the earlier inhabitants of the plains

15. -The use of Shamans was important. They acted as medicine men and tended to the sick (doctor) • -Some ways of treatment was simply walking up to them and convincing them that they were not actually sick. Another way was using natural medicine from mixing fruits and vegetables into a potion • The Earth was considered the female God responsible for providing resources that could be used • Before horses, dogs were used to transport equipment

16. Significance of Places: • -First recorded history of encounter between Europeans and Plains Indians occurred in the Texas, Nebraska and Kansas between 1540-1542 • -Same time the Spanish crossed in what is now Oklahoma creating the Do Soto Trail as the Spanish at the time thought the plains were rich in gold • -The Plains Indians would travel to the south when times came where dogs were not enough to transport their equipment. Raiding parties involved stealing horses from the south • -The introduction of the horse after 1730 made them more prosperous and efficient • -The stealing of the horses led to conflict between the nations but nothing compared to the upcoming changes the Europeans would bring

17. -The Plains Indians would travel to the south when times came where dogs were not enough to transport their equipment. Raiding parties involved stealing horses from the south • -The introduction of the horse after 1730 made them more prosperous and efficient • -The stealing of the horses led to conflict between the nations but nothing compared to the upcoming changes the Europeans would bring

18. Significance of Events: • -The Sun Dance took place in the mid summer months. An individual from the tribe would arrange it based on a request for supernatural aid or as a response to a vision • -Took place over eight days, four of those days were ritual days and the last four days were erecting a sacred dance pole on to a sacred lodge • -On the final day several dances occurred • -Sun gaze dances symbolized torture, captivity and escape and the dances involved self torture • -These dances gave the Indians a emotional experience and opportunity to renew arranged marriages and exchange property

19. Interesting facts • -The use of horses began in 1700 • -Many men were killed in hunting accidents and battles, so women tended to hold more of the population • -Men and women had fairly equal sonority • -Honored warriors and leaders earn the right to wear war bonnets, headdresses with feather, usually golden or bald eagle feathers • -The Native Americans would surround the bison, and then try to herd them off cliffs or into places where they could be more easily killed. A commonly used technique was the Piskin method. The tribesmen would build a corral and have people herd the bison into it to confine them in a space where they could be killed.