Southwest Native Americans

NATIVE AMERICANS Southwest Native Americans

• Where did they live? built out of adobe bricks.

Southwest Native Americans lived in clay + sand + water + straw = adobe bricks the southwestern part of the United States. They lived in New Mexico, Arizona, and in the The bricks were dried in the sun and then south of Utah and Colorado. used to build homes. Adobe homes were stacked on top of each other. Sometimes • What were some of the famous tribes from four homes could be stacked together! this region? Natives could get from level to level using ladders. Today, some Native Americans still Navajo, Pueblo, and Apache live in pueblos that are over 1,000 years old!

• How did the group get their food? The Navajos did not live in pueblos. They built hogans. Hogans were made with ✓! Hunter-gatherers wooden poles. The poles were covered with mud, clay and tree bark. Hogans were very ✓! Farmers dark because most did not have windows. The front door of the hogan would always The Southwest Native Americans were face east so the natives could see the sun hunters, gatherers, and farmers. Corn was rise in the morning. an important crop to these people. They made corn flour and mixed the flour with • What did they wear in this region? water to make Cakes. They grew other fruits and vegetables like squash, melons, and The Southwest Native Americans wore beans. clothing to stay cool. They lived in a hot place! Men did not wear much clothing. Sheep were important to the people, They usually just wore breechcloths or kilts. too. They could eat the sheep’s meat and Breechcloths were small pieces of leather use their wool for clothes, shelter, artwork, tucked into a belt to cover their fronts and and tools. Southwest natives rode on horses backs. Kilts were wool skirts that were to hunt other animals. They hunted deer, comfortable to work and live in. Women rabbits, goats, and prairie dogs. wore light cotton dresses called mantas. These dresses were very colorful. • How did the Native Americans in this They tied around the waist with a sash. The region live their everyday lives? cotton and wool that the people used to make clothing came from sheep. ✓! In permanent homes

FUN FACT: The language spoken by the Migrating a lot Navajo tribe is so hard to learn that it was

used as a secret code language during Most Southwest Native Americans World War II. lived in homes called pueblos. Pueblos were

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Jewelry was made from stones, bones, and rocks that the natives found where they lived. Turquoise and silver were used in nicer pieces of jewelry. Colorful materials found from the earth were also used a lot in the clothing and jewelry of these people.

• What did they believe?

Because the people of this region depended on nature to stay alive, they worshipped nature gods. Southwest Native American tribes called the natural spirits they believed in kachinas. Special kachina dolls were made by hand and decorated. These dolls were made for each of the over 300 spirits in the Native American religion. Masks were also made to worship the spirits. A special room called a kiva was built at the bottom of pueblos for religious ceremonies. The Native Americans would go here to worship the kachinas. The natives believed it was very important for religious ceremonies to be held inside the kiva. Each village had a priest that was in charge of leading the ceremonies.

• How were they governed?

Southwestern Native Americans (like the Hopi and Navajo) did not have one main government. Instead, these people lived and worked together in small groups. Each family group lived near the land they farmed and hunted. The family groups were responsible for taking care of themselves.

The Pueblo tribe had a more organized government. Each village had its own council. Each tribe had one council called the tribal council. The tribal council worked hard to fix problems that affected the whole tribe. Each village picked one person to be on the tribal council. This person was in charge of sharing the village's needs when big decisions were made in the tribal council.

Word Count: 669 ©Teaching is the Sweetest Thing 17 NATIVE AMERICANS Plains Native Americans

• Where did they live? utensils, tools, and weapons. Native Americans even found a way to make glue Plains Native Americans lived in the from buffalo hooves! middle of the United States. This area is called the Great Plains. It stretches from The Plains people were also farmers. Texas all the way up to southern Canada. It Corn was the most important crop they was the biggest area settled by Native grew. It is still the most important crop in the Americans during this time. Plains Indians are Great Plains region today! the most famous group of Native Americans in American history. • How did the Native Americans in this region live their everyday lives? • What were some of the famous tribes from this region? In permanent homes

Sioux, Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Comanche, ✓! Migrating a lot and Crow The Plains Indians were nomads. This • How did the group get their food? means they were always moving from place to place. They followed herds of buffalo ✓! Hunter-gatherers around. Plains Native Americans lived in teepees. Teepees are shaped like cones. ✓! Farmers They are tents that are made out of wooden sticks and animal skins. They came in all The Plains Native Americans hunted different sizes. The biggest tents could easily buffalo and bison. They followed these big hold up to 40 people! Native Americans animals long distances. These natives did not lived in teepees because they could be have guns before the Europeans came, so packed up quickly when they decided to they had to be smart about hunting. They move. sometimes tricked the buffalo. One trick the natives used was running herds of buffalo off the edge of cliffs. They also tried to trick buffalo into leaving the herd to save a fake baby buffalo. Once the buffalo was away from the others, the natives would kill it.

The Plains Native Americans mostly hunted while riding horses. They usually used spears and arrows. They could use the buffalo for a lot more than just food. The Plains people did not waste any part of the animals they killed. Buffalo hides were used to make homes, clothes, beds, and more. Animal bones were used as eating

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Teepees lasted a long time, were easy to set up, and were useful in all seasons. The women in the tribe were in charge of taking care of the teepee because the men were too busy hunting buffalo.

• What did they wear in this region?

Most of the clothing that the Plains Native Americans wore came from animal hides. Buffalo hides would be tanned, or turned into leather. Then, they were made into clothes. Women cut, stitched, and decorated the hides. Feathers, beads, and fur were added to make the clothes look fancy. Men only wore shirts during the winter. To protect themselves from the cold, they wore leather coats and leggings. The Plains people wore fancy war shirts during battle and had armor made out of animal bones.

• What did they believe?

Religion was very important to the Plains Native Americans. They believed that everything in life had a spirit. There was one main spirit called the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit ruled over the whole world. Some of the tribes had different names for the Great Spirit: • “Old Man” for the Blackfoot people • “Wakan Tanka” for the Sioux people But, all tribes believed there was one main spirit that watched over the entire earth. The Plains Native Americans believed they could talk to these spirits in their dreams. Each tribe had a medicine man, or spiritual leader. The medicine man was in charge of leading religious ceremonies. Medicine men used herbs and potions to help heal the sick and injured. People also went to see medicine men to get advice.

• How were they governed?

Native American tribes lived in small groups called villages. Every adult man in the village was a member of the village council. The village council would pick one man to lead the entire village. This man was called the chief. The chief served the village for his entire life. Chiefs from every village served on the tribal council. The tribal council picked one tribal chief to serve as the leader of the entire tribe. The purpose of the village council was to make sure that all of the villages in the tribe were treated fairly. Finally, the tribal chief represented his tribe in the national council. Multiple tribes came together to form what was known as a nation. For example, there were seven large tribes that made up the Sioux Nation. Each of the chiefs of the seven Sioux tribes served on the national council and represented the interests of their respective tribes.

FUN FACT: Only the bravest Sioux men got the honor of wearing a grizzly bear claw necklace as a symbol of their courage.

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• Where did they live? • How did the Native Americans in this region live their everyday lives? Great Basin Native Americans lived between two areas: the Pacific Northwest In permanent homes and the Great Plains. Today, this area includes Idaho, Nevada, and Utah. This ✓! Migrating a lot group of Native Americans is not as well- known in American history because they Like the Plains Native Americans, the were one of the last groups of natives that Great Basin people moved around all the the Europeans met. time. The area they lived in was mostly desert. So, they had to constantly hunt for • What were some of the famous tribes from food and resources. Some of the natives this region? owned horses and could travel great distances quickly. However, most tribes Ute, Shoshone, and Washo traveled on foot. Because of the lack of food and resources available, Great Basin Native • How did the group get their food? Americans usually traveled in small groups so they could all help each other. ✓! Hunter-gatherers In order to be able to move around a Farmers lot, Native Americans in the Great Basin region lived in hogans. Hogans were made The Great Basin Native Americans using wooden poles. These poles were were hunters and gatherers. The area they covered with mud, clay, and tree bark. They lived in had very few resources, so they usually did not have windows, so they were would eat any food they could find. The main part of their diet came from seeds, berries nuts, wild plants, and small animals. They stored the nuts they gathered in the spring, summer, and fall for the wintertime.

As soon as the native children were old enough to help, they were sent out to gather food. Rabbit and deer were the main animals that the Great Basin Native Americans hunted. But, both were hard to find. Finding enough food to feed the entire family was always a struggle for the Native Americans in this region.

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very dark. The front door always faced east so the natives could see the sun rise in the morning. Great Basin Native Americans usually built their hogans near water.

• What did they wear in this region?

The Great Basin region had crazy temperatures! In the summer, it was very hot. In the winter, it was very cold. There was not much in between! Because of this, the Native Americans in this area had to dress very differently in each season. They did not wear much clothing during the summer. Some tribes made aprons and breechcloths from tree bark and animal hides. In the winter, the Great Basin people wore robes and blankets made out of rabbit skins. The Great Basin Native Americans that were lucky enough to own horses could wear clothing made out of the hides of the buffalo that they hunted.

• What did they believe?

Like many other Native American groups, the Great Basin people believed that everything on earth had spirits. This included animals, plants, rocks, water, and more. The natives believed these spirits lived on earth before humans. They also thought that the spirits created human life. Because of this, the Great Basin Native Americans worshipped these spirits, or gods.

The Native Americans held dances, festivals, and other ceremonies to worship their gods. One example of this is the Sun Dance. The Sun Dance was a summer festival they had every year. It honored the sun for four days. It included dances, fancy and other rituals. The natives thought the celebrations would bring them good luck in the future.

• How were they governed?

Great Basin Native Americans traveled in small groups because there was not much food or resources available in their area. A small group might just have a man, a woman, and their children. A family like this was called a kin clique. Because they were always moving around, these natives did not have a tribal council or any other type of government.

FUN FACT: Ute Native Americans enjoyed eating grasshoppers and other bugs. They thought it was gross to see the Spanish eat eggs!

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• Where did they live? Most tribes in this region settled in places close to water. Because of this, they Eastern Woodlands Native Americans became skilled fishermen. Natives fished settled in the eastern part of the United more in the summer and hunted more in the States. This region stretched from the winter. Meat could be roasted over a fire Mississippi River to the Atlantic Ocean and and eaten right away or dried through a from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian slow-smoking process and preserved. This border. This is the group of Native Americans style of cooking created meat that is similar that the European explorers first met when to the beef jerky that Americans eat today! they arrived in North America. Despite the all of the many food options that the Eastern Woodlands had, their • What were some of the notable tribes from hunting and fishing trips were not always this region? successful. Sometimes they struggled to find enough food. However, because the Algonquian (Great Lakes), Cherokee Eastern Woodlands people believed that (Carolinas), Shawnee (East Coast), nobody in the tribe should go without food, they always shared amongst themselves. Seminole (Florida), and Iroquois (New York) • How did the Native Americans in this region live their everyday lives? • How did the group get their food? ✓! In permanent homes ✓! Hunter-gatherers ✓! Frequently migrating ✓! Farmers The area that the Eastern Woodlands The Eastern Woodlands Native Native Americans lived in was big and had Americans were hunters, gatherers, farmers, a variety of climates! Because of this, and fisherman. The men did the hunting different tribes lived in different kinds of and fishing while the women did the homes. The type of home that each group farming and gathering. Once young boys were old enough, their fathers would teach them how to hunt and fish. Men hunted animals big and small – ranging from bears, moose, and bison to rabbits, beavers, and raccoons – with a bow and arrow. The most important animal of all was the deer. Deer were hunted for their meat, skin, and antlers. The women grew crops like squash, melons, and pumpkins and gathered all types of nuts and berries that were native to the region. Rice was a staple for the tribes that lived near the Great Lakes.

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lived in depended on their location and way of life.

For example, the Iroquois tribe, which lived the New York area, built huge wooden homes called longhouses. Longhouses were very long buildings (up to 200 feet long) made from long poles of wood that were covered with tree bark. These homes could last for up to 20 years! Several families would live in the same longhouse. The longhouse would be divided into sections for each family. Instead of measuring longhouses by feet or meters, these homes were measured based on the number of fires that could fit inside the house. Fires were used for cooking, sewing/making clothes, and staying warm.

Most Eastern Woodlands Native Americans living in the northeastern part of the region lived in longhouses. However, some lived in another type of home called a wigwam. Wigwams were temporary homes that were smaller and easier to build than longhouses. The Algonquian tribe lived wigwam homes. Wigwams were round houses built out of logs. These logs were covered with tree bark, animal hides, and/or mud. Wigwams could not be packed up and moved like the teepees that the Plains Native Americans lived in, but the animal hide that was used to cover the outside of the house could be reused. The Eastern Woodlands Native Americans took the hides with them when they changed locations. Usually only one family lived in a wigwam at a time. However, multiple generations of the same family (grandparents, parents, and children) sometimes lived together.

The Seminole Native Americans lived in log homes called chickees. Chickees were very different than longhouses. They had raised floors, open sides, and a thatched roof. They were much smaller than longhouses and took considerably less time to build. Because of this, only one family lived in each chickee. Chickees were sometimes called “huts.” All of the materials needed to build the house were found in the region. The roof was made from the leaves of the Palmetto tree. The Palmetto tree was (and still is) commonly found in the southeastern U.S. It is South Carolina’s state tree! Chickee floors were built three feet above the ground to protect the natives from flooding that was common in the region. The raised floors also protected the people from swamp animals. Chickees were supported by long posts. These posts kept the huts from sinking into the swampy soil. These homes did not have walls to keep the Seminole people cool in the warm climate.

• How did the physical environment influence the type of clothes they wore?

Everything the Eastern Woodland Native Americans used to make their clothes came from the forest. The native men wore buckskin shirts and pants during the winter. Buckskin is animal skin without the hair or fur. Men also wore buckskin moccasins, a type of leather shoe. Women wore skirts that were woven out of different types of natural grasses. These skirts were covered with animal fur for warmth in the winter. During the summer, men wore nothing but breechcloths. Children didn’t wear much clothing, if any at all.

The Eastern Woodlands Native Americans were famous for their war paint. Because they lived in such a large area, tribes were always fighting over territory. The men would paint their faces before to going into battle to honor their gods. The paint also made them look fierce in battle.

• What were their beliefs and religious practices?

Eastern Woodlands natives believed that everything in the world had souls or spirits. They believed that rocks and thunderstorms had spirits just like people do. The natives made a spiritual

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object called a Dreamcatcher. Dreamcatchers were supposed to keep away evil spirits while the natives were sleeping. The Eastern Woodlands Indians held lots of different ceremonies. The Cry Ceremony was held when a person in the tribe died. During the ceremony, five knots were tied in a plant. One knot would be untied each day after the death. Another popular ceremony for these people was the Green Corn festival. This ceremony included music and dancing to celebrate the corn crops.

The Native Americans in the southeastern region of the Eastern Woodlands had a different set of religious beliefs. These people thought there were three worlds –the “This World”, the “Upper World”, and the “Lower World”. Their view of the Upper World and the Lower World was similar to the Christian view of heaven and hell. “This World” was the world where the natives lived. These people believed spirits could move between the worlds. They thought it was their responsibility to make sure the world was in order.

• How were they governed?

The Eastern Woodlands Native Americans lived in orderly societies. Their government looked similar to the government of the United States today a lot of ways. Each tribe was divided into classes. The chief and his family were at the top of society and the common people were at the bottom. However, commoners were still well-represented in the tribe. Male council members were picked by each clan, or extended family. They tried to take care of what the common people needed. Council members would meet to discuss the tribe’s issues and make important decisions. The Iroquois people had two chiefs in each tribe. One chief was responsible for overseeing the daily activities of the tribe. The other chief acted as the judge of the tribe.

• Where did they live? baked and steamed the food they cooked. The natives would heat rocks and stones in a The Pacific Northwest Native hot fire and then drop the hot rocks in a Americans settled in the northwestern wooden box full of water. Once the hot corner of the United States and rocks cooled off, they were replaced with Canada. Today, this region stretches from fresh hot rocks. Eventually, the water in the northern California up to southern Alaska. wooden box would come to a boil. Fresh seafood and vegetables were cooked in • What were some of the notable tribes from the boiling water. this region? • How did the Native Americans in this Tlingit, Kwakiutl, and Salish region live their everyday lives?

• How did the group get their food? ✓! In permanent homes

✓! Hunter-gatherers Frequently migrating

Farmers The Pacific Northwest Native Americans lived in homes called plank The Pacific Northwest Native houses. These homes were built to protect Americans were skilled fishermen. They built the natives from the cold climate. Plank canoes out of cedar wood. They used these houses were very similar to the longhouses canoes to hunt whales and salmon all year that the Eastern Woodlands Native long. Whale hunting was very dangerous! A Americans lived in. However, these two whale could tip a canoe in a heartbeat! types of homes also had their differences. However, the amount of meat, blubber, and Both were very large structures that took a other resources made the risk worth it to the long time to build. Multiple families lived in natives. The natives used a type of spear the same plank house. But, individual called a harpoon to hunt the whales. It took families sometimes built their own smaller many days to kill a whale, but when they plank houses. Plank houses were made out did, the village could eat for months. of planks from cedar trees. These trees are

The people of this region had plenty of food. Rivers were packed with salmon. The ocean was full of seafood. The forests had tons of deer, elk, and fruit. These Native FUN FACT: Pacific Northwest Native Americans came up with a way to dry and Americans did not have a written store food so they did not have to hunt and language, so totem poles were used to gather during the winter. tell stories, myths, and legends through carved images. Families would cook their food inside their houses. Because their houses were so big, the natives could store several weeks’ worth of food inside the house. Most natives

commonly found in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S. Native Americans in this region used tools made from stones and animal bones to chop down the towering cedar trees. The roofs were built slightly lower than the roofs of longhouses. This helped heat the plank house more easily. Because it took a lot of time and effort to build a plank house, it was not common for these natives to move. Another reason they did not move very often because of all the food and resources they had access to in this region.

• How did the physical environment influence the type of clothes they wore?

Similar to Native Americans in other parts of the country, the Pacific Northwest people wore clothing that made out of the materials from the region they lived in. Women made shirts, skirts and capes out of strips of cedar wood. Animal hides were added to clothing in the winter to make it warmer. Men wore breechcloths to stay cool while hunting and fishing in the summer. Most natives went shoeless year-round.

Both men and women made decorative clothing and blankets to be worn at the famous Potlatches. Festival clothing was more colorful than the clothing that they wore on an everyday basis.

• What were their beliefs and religious practices?

These Native Americans were known for the fancy parties that they threw. These parties were called Potlatches. Potlatches were festivals that included gifts, dancing, weddings, stories, and much more. Tribes showed their wealth through these parties. Native Americans took pride in their Potlatches.

The natives of this region believed that guardian spirits watched over everything on earth. They were very connected to these guardian spirits. Young boys had to find their own personal spirit before they were considered men. Each boy would go off on their own into the wilderness until the spirit revealed itself. This usually happened during a natural event, like a storm.

Totem poles were another way that the natives worshipped the spirits they believed in. Totem poles were made out of big cedar posts and were displayed in front of plank houses. They showed the social rank and history of the family. These poles were painted and sculpted with animals and other symbols. The Native Americans

did not worship the totem poles themselves, but the poles were meant to honor the guardian spirits. Totem poles were different for each tribe in this region.

• How were they governed?

Pacific Northwest Native Americans were divided up into clans, or groups. Each clan had its own symbol, such as an eagle or a raven. Men were not allowed to marry women from their same clan.

Unlike some other Native Americans, the people in the Pacific Northwest did not have an orderly system of government. Wealth determined the amount of power a family had within the village. The amount of power a village had depended on the amount of slaves, riches, and family connections it had. This is why these natives wanted to throw the most elaborate Potlatch they could afford.