Transcript Native Americans

Native American Region
Artic
Northwest Coast
Plateau
Great Basin
California
Southwest
Great Plains
Northeast Woodlands
Southeast
Cultural Characteristics
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Native Americans
Native Americans were the people who
lived in America before people from
other countries came here.
Native Americans respected nature.
They took care of the earth and only
used what they needed.
Native Americans used natural resources
to meet their needs.
trees
water
stones
buffalo
Natural resources are things in nature that
people can use.
Native Americans lived in
culture groups.
The people in a culture group have
the same way of life.
A culture group is a group of people
who live in the same region.
Each region had different physical surroundings.
Some regions had
forests.
Others were mostly
desert.
Still others had oceans nearby.
Each region had different natural resources.
Each culture group used the natural
resources in its region to meet its needs.
For this reason, Native American culture
groups had different homes.
Those who lived near deserts used clay or
stones to build their homes.
Those who lived on the Plains used buffalo
skins to make their homes.
Still others lived near forests.
They built their homes of wood.
Physical surroundings affected how the
Indians traveled, too. All Indians walked.
Plains and Southwest Indians got
horses from Spanish explorers.
Indians in the Eastern Woodlands,
Northwest Coast, and California
Intermountain regions used canoes.
What is present-day Arizona was home to the
Hohokam people. They were geniuses in the way
they were able to squeeze water out of the
sunbaked soil.
Many Native American culture groups built
their homes in villages or cities.
These are the remains of an ancient
Anasazi cliff village.
Anasazi AD 1 TO AD 1300
• Built great stone dwellings called pueblos.
• Pueblo Bonito- 4 stories high and hundreds of rooms.
Complex roads connecting Pueblo Bonito with other
villages.
The Intuits lived in the Artic and are thought to be
the last migrants that came across the land bridge
into North America.
Inuit built igloos. Their clothing is made of furs and
sealskins which were both warm and waterproof.
Other culture groups, like the Great Plains,
were nomadic.
They could not live in one place. They
had to move around to follow the buffalo.
Used the buffalo for everything food,
clothing, shelter, tools, etc. Spaniards
brought horses to Mexico in 1500s
eventually made their way north and they
adapted horses to their lifestyle.
The Plains Indians had special ceremonies
before big hunts. They danced to the
music of drums. They thought this would
bring them good luck on the hunt.
The physical surroundings of each region
also affected how each culture
group got its food.
Native Americans in the Northeast
Woodlands were very lucky. That region
had forests, lakes and rivers, a nearby
ocean, and good climate. These Native
Americans could farm, hunt, and fish for
food.
Mound Builders lived in the Northeast
Woodlands and were the Adena and
Hopewell. They built huge mounds used as
burial chambers.
These are all over Mount Sterling!!!
Cahokia was a huge settlement that was
part of the Mound Builders. Over 16,000
people lived here!! Dominated by a great
pyramid shaped mound.
There were no forests in the Southwest
region. The land was rocky and uneven.
There were many mesas, or large rocks
with flat tops. The Indians who lived in
this region were farmers. They planted
their crops on the tops of mesas.
The physical surroundings of the regions
affected each culture group’s way of
life in other ways, too.
There was much clay in the Southwest.
Native Americans that lived in this region
used the clay to make beautiful pottery.
Hopi, Acoma, Zuni – 1,000 of years
Made homes out of dried mud brick called
adobe. Raised corn as their basic food
Apache and Navajo – Pushed here by
Europeans.
Originally hunters and gatherers but
began to settle down into communities.
Native Americans in the California region
were known as gatherers.
There were few natural resources in this
region. These Native Americans
gathered acorns, seeds, and fruits. They
also dug up plant roots to eat for food.
Native Americans in the California region were
expert basket weavers.
They made beautiful baskets
out of grasses and plants.
Indians from the Northwest Coast hunted
sea animals in the Pacific Ocean.
There were many salmon in the
rivers for them to eat.
They also hunted animals in nearby forests.
The Northwest Coast region had many
forests. The Native Americans in this
region used wood from the forests
to carve tall totem poles.
The carvings on each totem pole told
about a family’s history.
Great Basin
• This area east of the Sierra
Nevada Mountains is in
present day Nevada.
• It received little rainfall
and was very dry.
• People were subsistence
farmers (they produced
only enough to feed their
families) and hunters and
gatherers.
Plateau
• The Plateau Indians lived
in parts of present day
Oregon, Washington, and
Idaho.
• They also lived in a dry
environment where they
lived by hunting and
gathering.
The Southeast was a wooded area but with
warmer climate. The Creek, Chicksaw, and
Cherokee lived here.
Grew corn, tobacco, squash, and other
crops.
Let’s review. We know:
Native Americans were the first Americans.
Native Americans respected nature.
Native Americans used natural resources.
Native Americans lived in different regions.
Native Americans had different homes.
Native Americans got food in different ways.
Native American culture groups had different
ways of life due to their different physical
surroundings and natural resources.
What Region?