Transcript Cultures of North America

Cultures of North America
Chapter 1 Section 2
Culture
 Culture
is the entire way of life developed by a
people.
 Example: customs, ideas, beliefs, homes, clothes,
religion, economy, language, skills taught to new
generations.
Mound Builders
 Some
things that archeologists discovered about
Mound Builders are:
 Mounds were used as burial grounds for important
leaders.
 Shells and turquoise were found in the mounds
which showed that they traded with other peoples.
 Mounds were used for religious ceremonies.
Anasazi
The Anasazi lived in Southern Utah, Colorado, Northern
Arizona, and New Mexico.
 The Anasazi used irrigation to farm.
 They built their homes are large cliffs made from adobe
(sun dried brick) to protect themselves from attacks by
other tribes.
 They were skilled at making baskets, pottery, and jewelry.
 They were involved in trade.

Hohokams
 The
Hohokams lived in Arizona.
 They used irrigation from the Salt and Gila Rivers
in present day Arizona to farm.
 They traded seashells which they used to make
jewelry and used them during religious
ceremonies.
Ways of Life
 The
Native Americans can be classified as living in
several cultural areas.
 A cultural area is a region in which groups of
people have a similar way of life.
 Although regions were different, the Native
American groups shared some basic traits.
Basic Traits
Women collected roots, wild berries, nuts, acorns, and
seeds.
 Men hunted for game and fish.
 Native Americans learned to grow crops native to the
climate in which they lived.
 They used pointed sticks to dig holes in the ground.
 They also used bones and shells to help cultivate the land.

Shared Beliefs
 Native Americans
felt a close relationship to
nature.
 They believed in spirits of nature and these spirits
were a part of their everyday life.
 Storytellers memorized history and beliefs and
then recited them.
 This is how tradition was passed from generation
to generation.
Native Americans of the Far North
Inuit were the Native Americans who lived in the far
North.
 They lived in harsh conditions where much of their land
was covered with ice year round.
 They lived on fish, shellfish, and birds.
 They hunted caribou, moose, bear, and smaller
 animals.
 They used kayaks to hunt seals, walruses,
 whales.
 Kayaks are small boats made from animal
 skins.

The Native Americans from the North
West
The Native American tribes who lived in the North West
stretched from Alaska to Northern California.
 They lived off of deer, bears, berries, roots, and salmon.
 High ranking people of the North West practiced a custom
called Potlatch.
 A Potlatch is a custom where the host showered his guests
with gifts such as woven cloth, baskets canoes, and furs.

Native Americans of the Far West

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
The Native American tribes who lived in the far west could face
very cold winters in the North and desert-like conditions in the
South.
In California, the warm summers and mild winters allowed for an
abundance of food.
Some Native Americans lived in pit houses and others lived in cone
shaped houses made from bark.
The Native Americans of the South
West
 The
Native American of the South West lived in
Arizona, New Mexico, Southern parts of Utah and
Colorado.
 These people faced dry times as well as wet lands
due to the ever changing weather.
 These people farmed, and were able to find a way
to store water during times of drought.
Pueblo People
 The
tribes such as the Hopis and the Zunis built
large apartment houses out of adobe.
The Native Americans of the Great
Plains
 The
People of the Great Plains lived in area that
stretched between the Mississippi River and the
Rocky Mountains.
 They lived mainly from farming.
 Women planted corn, beans, and squash in the
river valley.

Great Plains cont.
 The
people who lived on the Plains built their
houses from wooden sticks and animal skins in the
form of teepees.
 Some people dug pits and lived near their field that
they grew their crops on.
 Hunters followed the buffalo where they ate the
meat, used their skin for teepees, and bones for
tools.
Eastern Woodland
 The
Native Americans from the Eastern
Woodlands lived in Southern Canada, The Great
Lakes, and along the Atlantic Coast to Virginia.
 These people lived off of hunting, fishing and
foraging for nuts and berries.
 Algonquians lived in the Southern Canada to Great
Lakes area.
 The Iroquois lived in the New York area.
Iroquois
 The
Iroquois were made up of five distinct nations.
 Each nation had its own clan or family that were
related to one another.
 Membership in a clan was passed on from mother
to child.
 Women held great importance to the Iroquois.
 Women chose the sachem or tribal leader.
The League of the Iroquois
 During
the 1500’s, the 5 nations went through a
period of constant warfare.
 The Iroquois leaders convinced their people to
make peace.
 They formed the Union of the League of the
Iroquois.
 It established a council to make laws to keep the
peace.