Native Americans of the American West. Native Americans were descendants of ancient hunters who migrated from Asia to America across the Bering land bridge

Native Americans of the Native Americans of the American WestAmerican West


• Native Americans were descendants of ancient hunters who migrated from Asia to America across the Bering land bridge– thirty to forty thousand years ago.

• Continental glaciers block movement into the American West except for brief periods when a narrow corridor opened along the eastern slope of the Rockies.


• The first inhabitants of the American West inhabited the northern Great Plains, spreading southward the Clovis culture developed.

• About ten thousand years ago global warming radically altered the climate of the American West. Distinct cultures develop in the six distinct ecosystems that developed.


Plateau Indians

•Found in the high plateau region between the Rocky Mountains and the coastal mountain system

•Hunter and gathers– Fish, deer, elk, bear, caribou, and small game

•Plateau tribes constantly fought amongst themselves

•An expansive trade network enabled the exchange of goods, ideas, and even people, as slavery was common in the region.

•Innovations- mat-covered houses and pit houses, the carving of animal motifs in wood and bone, and cremation and scaffold burials.

Pacific NorthwestPacific Northwest• – Coastal area of Washington, Oregon, and

British Columbia.

• The richest Indians of North America– wealth was based on the salmon.

• Relied on sea for food– Seals, salmon, sea otters and whales

• Lived in log homes

• Known for their Totem Poles – The carvings may symbolize or commemorate

cultural beliefs that recount familiar legends, clan lineages, or notable events.

Great Basin IndiansGreat Basin Indians

• Intermountain region of Nevada and Utah.– The high desert regions between the Sierra

Nevada and the Rocky Mountains – arid to semiarid, with annual average

precipitation ranging from as little as 2.1 inches

• led the most difficult lives surviving in a very harsh environment on the strength of will and ingenuity

– Extreme tempetures

• Renowned for their basket making.

• Participated in religious dances– Ghost Dance– Bear Dance – Sun Dance

California IndiansCalifornia Indians

• Most of current California excluding the SW part.

• Hunters and gatherers with fishing on the coast

• Life was relatively easy and the tribes were peaceful and tolerant

• The California Indians had the largest population.

• Oral literature-the art form for which native Californians were most renowned.

Southwestern IndiansSouthwestern Indians

• Present day Arizona and New Mexico– cool, arid plain from which the Colorado

and Rio Grande systems have carved deep canyons.

• Farmers used sophisticated irrigation

• Built multi-storied houses made of adobe

• Known for making jewelry

• Vicious fighters, preferring defense to offense.

• .

Plains IndiansPlains Indians• West of the Mississippi River and East of the

Rockies.

• Consisted of six distinct American Indian language families

• The horse most dramatically changed Plains life– making it a more of a nomadic & hunting culture than it

had been.

• Hollywood movies- Plains Indians– convinced Americans all Indians were like

the Plains Indians

• Among the last indigenous peoples to be conquered in North America


• In the myth of western conquest, Indians were nomadic hunters and gatherers (foragers) but in reality the fishermen and farmers far outnumbered the native nomadic hunters and gatherers.


• There were important differences between Native Americans and Europeans.

• To Europeans Indian tribes seemed like little nations and so designated them as such. The tribes, however, were complicated systems of kinship known as clans with common ethnic, linguistic, and territorial identities. They had no unified governments even within the same tribal identity. They were not nations.


• Indian societies were synergistic. – That means that the success of the leadership

was judged not by wealth and power it accumulated but rather by how well it disbursed resources to the clans and families.

• A good chief was often an impoverished chief.


• Nowhere in North America did Native American cultures employ the concept of individual ownership of land.

• You can not own the land any more than you can own the sky.


• Most Native American religions were polytheistic and believed in a kinship with all other living things. – A wide variety of supernatural forces

linked together all of nature.– If that chain were broken, the great cycles

were broken, and illness and disorder ensued.


• Christians were monotheists, attracted to the simplicity of grand designs and single causes. – the Bible taught them they were separate

and distinct from the rest of nature, granted dominion over “every living thing that moved upon the earth.”

• The Christian God revealed himself as a man, not as a coyote or a raven.

The West MapThe West Map• Using your text books, and the text books behind

the LSU flag, label the following on your map:• All states shown• All the major rivers shown • Shade the Louisiana Purchase • Label Colorado Springs • The Rocky Mountains • Salt Lake City/Great Salt Lake

• This map will be used as your guide for the entire class. So be sure it is accurate and neat. You may color it however will help you best remember where things are

Documents

Native Americans of the American West. Native Americans were descendants of ancient hunters who migrated from Asia to America across the Bering land bridge