Native North Americans

Guiding Question: How does geography affect the movement and settlement of people and the development of society?

At some point within the last 35,000 years, prehistoric humans walked from the tip of Asia across a land bridge to Alaska, from where they spread through the unpeopled continents of North and South America.

?What else do we know about the arrival of these earliest Native Americans? Not much. The scant evidence available from archaeological sites suggests it could have been anywhere from 15,000 to 33,000 years ago.

Most (if not all) of the indigenous peoples of North America descend from peoples from Siberia, who then spread and diversified into hundreds of culturally distinct nations and tribes.

By 12,000 years ago, people had settled throughout North America, and archaeological evidence shows they had even made their way down to Mexico and South America.

Predict!

• Where did Native Americans settle? How did they live? What type of cultures did they develop?

• What factors do you need to take into consideration in order to answer this question?

Native Americans are distributed in distinct geographic areas.

Each region is characterized by a different environment.

I. Southwest

The Native Tribes of the Southwest lived in the areas of the “Four Corners” of Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico.

Predict!

• What challenges would people of the Southwest face when settling? What types of houses would they build? What foods would they eat?

The native peoples of the Southwest settled on top of large plateaus.

The Southwest climate is hot and dry. There is little rainfall, but there are several large rivers.

The Native Americans in the Southwest developed a complex civilization with cities made from stone and mud houses of multiple stories.

Near rivers like the Colorado, they farmed the “three sisters:” corn, beans, and squash.

II. Pacific Northwest

The greatest civilizations of the Pacific Northwest lived in the Columbia River Valley, as well as in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California.

Predict!

What challenges would people of the Northwest face when settling?

What types of houses would they build? What foods would they eat?

Geography of the Pacific Northwest

The native people of the West lived primarily in fishing villages, and also collected wild foods such as acorns and berries.

The Haida are known for their totem poles and stylized designs.

Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest utilized pine trees for building, boating, and art.

III. The Plains

• The native people of the Great Plains settled in central North America.

• These groups include the Cheyenne, Sioux, and Dakota.

Predict!What challenges would people of the Plains face when settling?What types of houses would they build? What foods would they eat?

Geography of the Great Plains

The Great Plains are made up of flat grasslands that are hot and dry in the summer, but cold and snowy in the winter.

Many peoples of the Great Plains lived in temporary structures called tipis. People like the Sioux and Pawnee were nomadic buffalo hunters.

IV. The Southeast• The native people of

the Southeast settled along the Mississippi River.

Predict!What challenges would people of the Southeast face when settling?What types of houses would they build? What foods would they eat?

Climate of the Southeast

This area is hot and humid, but has great growing conditions most of the year.

The main group was known as the Cohokia, and they had the largest city north of Mexico – around 20,000 people. It was larger than London in the Middle Ages!

V. The Northeast• The native people of the

Northeast settled east of the Appalachian Mountains throughout the Atlanta coast.

• These groups include the Iroquois and Algonquin.

Predict!What challenges would people of the Northeast face when settling?What types of houses would they build? What foods would they eat?

Geography of the Northeast

Dense forests and plenty of year-round rainfall make for a lush natural environment.

The native peoples of the East included the 5

nations of the Iroquois.

They lived in permanent structures called “Long Houses” and planted corn, squash, and beans.

Today, there are approximately 2.7 million Native Americans from 563 tribes living in the United States.

Review: How did geography influence the settlement and culture of these groups?