Exploring the Diverse American Indian Cultures: Migration, Regions, and Lifestyles

1. Chapter One The First Americans

2. Migration Routes of the First Americans • Across a Land Bridge • Beringia • Reach America 10,000-20,000 years ago (7000BCE) • American Indian thoughts on this • Migrating East and South

3. American Indian Cultural Regions • Cultural region=people who share a similar language and way of life • 1400ce around 2 million American Indians live in 10 major “cultural regions” • (modern construct) • Extra credit: how many tribes

6. North West Coast American Indians • Hunters made different kinds of weapons for different animals harpoons=sealsand nets=fish • Lived next to forests so they had wood for boats and houses and used soft bark for blankets and coats • North of Oregon

7. California • Food=salmon, pine nuts, acorns, small game • The California region is from Oregon to Baja • Temperature was mild • Over a hundred small tribes there • Diverse area

8. American Indians of the Great Basin • Between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky mountains • The temperatures go to extremes • It was mostly desert • Only dried plants and small animals lived there which made food hard to find • It was hard environment to live in • ….so groups often moved • #mijaltyped

9. American Indians of the Plateau • Surrounded by cascade range to the west, the Rockies to the east, and the Fraser river to the north • Mountains had dense forests, flat area was dry • Winters were long and cold, Summers were gentle • Plateau people lived along major rivers • Relied on Fish & Plants such as camas. In fall hunted antelope & deer • Main rivers: Columbia& Fraser • Had reliable Food source

10. American Indians of the Southwest • They lived in desert valleys • Had little rainfall because the tall mountains blocked out the rain • They used adobe for their house because they had no wood • They farmed corn, squash, and beans on mesas • Mesas are tall flat lands • Most of the Mesa Indians were Nomads wanderers • While some lived next to the little streams for water and used the little amount of drift wood for their small huts

11. The Americans of the Great Plains • This area is treeless with mile after mile of tall grasses • Had harsh winters and hot summers • Had buffalo and other small animals, rabbits and jackrabbits • They hunted the buffalo with a bow and arrow • Buffalos provided food and close • Extra meat was dried for the harsh winters when food was scarce • The hid was used also for the tipis too

12. The Americans in the Eastern Woodlands • During the winter there it snows and during the summer it is very nice weather • Have dense forests & large rivers that are supplied by snowmelt • The dense forests provide deer and bears. The rivers provide beaver and salmon • Their name is Iroquois • The bears and deer provided food and shelter • Men hunted and women farmed

13. American Indians of the Southeast • Environmentally diverse region as well • Which made for diverse tribes, which led to intertribal warfare • Food=corn, squash and beans (agriculture) • Cold winter and hot/humid summers (environmental hazards) • Mound building and permanent structures Ex. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mound_builder_(people))