Standard 4-1: Native American NotesName ______

  1. According to the Land Bridge Theory, Native Americans migrated from Asia to North America across the land bridge during the Ice Age.
  2. During this period, low temperatures caused the level of water in the ocean to drop. Because the frozen water caused the level of the oceans to drop, the land that once was under water became exposed, creating a long land bridge that connected North America to Asia.
  3. By following herds or animals, hunter-gatherer people may have crossed this land bridge from Asia to North America and then continued across North America and spread into South America.
  4. The everyday lives of Native Americans depended on the region in which they lived and how they interacted with their physical environment.
  5. Eastern Woodlands:

Lived in the eastern part of North America from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River, including the Great Lakes region and south to the Gulf of Mexico

  • Everyday Life:
  • Hunters, fisherman, farmers
  • Lived in wigwams or longhouses
  • Made canoes
  • Environment:
  • Environment provided everything they needed
  • Woods-hunting deer, beaver, elk
  • Rivers & lakes-water, fresh fish
  • Grew corn, squash & beans
  • Culture:
  • Shared & cooperated with each other
  • Felt strong connection to land, trees, animals
  • Thanked animals & land for providing food
  1. Plains:

Lived on the Great Plains of central North America from north of what is today the Canadian border to present-day southern Texas.

  • Everyday Life:
  • Nomadic-moved around hunting buffalo
  • Lived in tepees which were easy to put up and take down
  • Used travois-sleds pulled by dogs to carry supplies
  • Environment:
  • Grasslands-from Canada to Texas
  • Culture:
  • No part of buffalo was wasted-hides, meat, bones
  • bartered-traded buffalo for corn
  • used horses brought by Spanish
  1. Southwest:

Lived in the region that included what is today Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado and Utah.

  • Everyday Life:
  • Built their homes in the large, shady cracks of cliffs
  • Also lived in pueblos-made of stone or adobe
  • Grew corn, beans, squash, cotton, tobacco
  • Hunted small animals
  • Environment:
  • Land was hot and dry
  • Culture:
  • Close family relationships
  • Corn was important-would save some of their crop in case there was a bad harvest
  • Kachina-a spirit that would bring rain-dance all night
  • Snake dance-for rain
  1. Great Basin:

Lived in the region east of the Northwest coast in today’s Nevada, Idaho, and Utah

  • Everyday Life:
  • Their dome-shaped houses were made of brush. They usually lived lakeside.
  • They hunted and gathered. They harvested and ate pine nuts, seeds of various grasses, roots, and beans.
  • Environment:
  • Land features included high mountains, plains, deep canyons, and lakes, located near some desert lands.
  • The climate is variable.
  • Culture:
  • They practiced individual or group religions.
  • The Round Dance was a recreational activity as well as a thank you dance.
  • They wove baskets.
  1. Pacific Northwest:

Lived in the region that included what is today southern Alaska to northern California.

  • Everyday Life:
  • Had plenty of everything-salmon, bears, elk, beaver-for food and clothing
  • Did NOT farm
  • Environment:
  • Pleasant climate, heavy rainfall
  • Lots of forests-used trees to build dug-out canoes
  • Culture:
  • Culture based on gathering wealth
  • Chiefs, nobles, commoners, slaves
  • Had time to develop arts & culture
  • Totem poles-tell a story about the family who made it-animal designs
  • Held potlatches (means “party”) to celebrate important events-host would give away much of his wealth