Name:______Class:______Date:______

Native Americans

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EASTERN

-Some of the tribes in the Eastern United States were

•Iroquois

-group of 5 different tribes, called themselves the Iroquois Nation or Iroquois League

-Lived in what we now know as New York

-Hiawatha was one of the League’s great leaders

•he was a peacemaker who helped bring the 5 tribes together

•Eastern Woodlands

-practiced a farming method known as slash-and-burn

-Native American Tribes in the Eastern United States typically lived in lodges or longhouses

•longhouses are made from bent poles of wood covered in sheets of bark

•Some mound-building tribes also settled along the Mississippi River

-Native Americans in this region hunted and grew maize (corn), beans, and squash

MIDWESTERN

-Some tribes from this region included

•Cheyenne

•Kiowa

•Lakota-Souix

-These tribes were often focused on hunting buffalo

•this meant they had to follow the herds around, never settling in one place (nomadic)

•these tribes often lived in tipis (teepees) made from wood and buffalo hide

•to many of these Native Americans, the buffalo held special spiritual meaning

-they let nothing on the buffalo go to waste, everything was used

•brains were used to tan leather

•tails became whips and brushes

•sinews were used as bowstrings

•the meat for food

•skulls were often used in religious rituals

WESTERN

-Some tribes in the Western U.S. included

•Inuit (artic)

-diet included seal, walrus, fish, and wales

-lived in igloos for most of the year (nomadic or settled?)

-Also known by the name Eskimo

•Cahuilla (California Desert)

-dusy, dry climate

-practiced dry farming (required irrigation)

-diet included berries and cactus

-lived in adobe houses

•Tlingit (Pacific Northwest)

-mild, wet climate

-hunted seals and wales

-also gathered much of their food - the climate was good for finding wild vegetation

-built a large trade network

•used canoes to move surplus food or goods

•because of trade, they became a very wealthy tribe

Assignment

If you could have lived in one of the Native American tribes listed above, which would you choose? Why? What about that tribe makes it better than the rest? Why do you think that you would fit best there? Write 4 complete sentences on this sheet explaining your choice.

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