Native Americans
Native Americans were the people who
lived in America before people from
other countries came here.
Native Americans respected nature.
They took care of the earth and only
used what they needed.
Native Americans used natural resources
to meet their needs.
trees
water
stones
buffalo
Natural resources are things in nature that
people can use.
Native Americans lived in
culture groups.
The people in a culture group have
the same way of life.
A culture group is a group of people
who live in the same region.
Native Americans lived in six
different regions.
Each region had different physical surroundings.
Some regions had
forests.
Others were mostly
desert.
Still others had oceans nearby.
Each region had different natural resources.
Each culture group used the natural
resources in its region to meet its needs.
For this reason, Native American culture
groups had different homes.
Those who lived near deserts used clay or
stones to build their homes.
Those who lived on the Plains used buffalo
skins to make their homes.
Still others lived near forests.
They built their homes of wood.
Many Native American culture groups built
their homes in villages or cities.
These are the remains of an ancient
Anasazi cliff village.
Other culture groups, like the Plains
Indians, were nomadic.
They could not live in one place. They
had to move around to follow the buffalo.
The physical surroundings of each region
also affected how each culture
group got its food.
Native Americans in the Eastern Woodlands
were very lucky. That region had forests,
lakes and rivers, a nearby ocean, and good
climate. These Native Americans could
farm, hunt, and fish for food.
There were no forests in the Southwest
region. The land was rocky and uneven.
There were many mesas, or large rocks
with flat tops. The Indians who lived in
this region were farmers. They planted
their crops on the tops of mesas.
Native Americans in the California Intermountain region were known as gatherers.
There were few natural resources in this
region. These Native Americans
gathered acorns, seeds, and fruits. They
also dug up plant roots to eat for food.
Indians from the Northwest Coast hunted
sea animals in the Pacific Ocean.
There were many salmon in the
rivers for them to eat.
They also hunted animals in nearby forests.
Buffalo were a natural resource in the Plains
region. The meat was used for food.
The skins were used for shelters and clothing.
The bones were used for tools.
The physical surroundings of the regions
affected each culture group’s way of
life in other ways, too.
There was much clay in the Southwest.
Native Americans that lived in this region
used the clay to make beautiful pottery.
The Northwest Coast region had many
forests. The Native Americans in this
region used wood from the forests
to carve tall totem poles.
The carvings on each totem pole told
about a family’s history.
There were many buffalo in the Plains
region. Native Americans who lived
in this region were hunters.
The Plains Indians had special ceremonies
before big hunts. They danced to the
music of drums. They thought this would
bring them good luck on the hunt.
Native Americans in the California Intermountain region were expert basket weavers.
They made beautiful baskets
out of grasses and plants.
Physical surroundings affected how the
Indians traveled, too. All Indians walked.
Plains and Southwest Indians got
horses from Spanish explorers.
Indians in the Eastern Woodlands,
Northwest Coast, and California
Intermountain regions used canoes.
Let’s review. We know:
Native Americans were the first Americans.
Native Americans respected nature.
Native Americans used natural resources.
Native Americans lived in different regions.
Native Americans had different homes.
Native Americans got food in different ways.
Native American culture groups had different
ways of life due to their different physical
surroundings and natural resources.
Photo Credits
Page 1 - Spotted Tail’s family
Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library
Page 14 – Fruit gatherer
Northwestern University Library, Edward S. Curtis's 'The North
American Indian': the Photographic Images, 2001.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award98/ienhtml/curthome.html