The Plateau Culture Area is the area between the Cascade Mountains and the Rocky Mountains in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia, and Western Montana. From north to south it runs from the Fraser River in the north to the Blue Mountains in the south. Much of the area is classified as semi-arid. Part of it … Continued
The Northern Plains include what is now North and South Dakota, Eastern Montana, northeastern Wyoming, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. This was an area which was the traditional homelands for the buffalo-hunting peoples, such as the Blackfoot, Assiniboine, Gros Ventre (Atsina), Sioux, Crow, Northern Cheyenne, Plains Chippewa (Ojibwa), and Plains Cree. It … Continued
Bands or tribes known collectively as the Apache ranged widely throughout the (American) Southwest at the time of the first Spanish exploration and invasion. The Apache are Athabascan-speaking and migrated into the Southwest from Canada perhaps as early as 850 CE, but most likely between the late 1200s and early 1400s. In her entry on … Continued
The Northeastern Atlantic Coast of the U.S. was dominated by Algonquian-speaking nations who practiced agriculture supplemented by hunting, fishing, and gathering. In general, tribes tended to be localized along major river drainages with a tendency for the people along each drainage to divide themselves into upstream and downstream groups. Since much of the Native culture … Continued
Bands or tribes known collectively as the Apache ranged widely throughout the American Southwest at the time of the first Spanish exploration and invasion. The Apache are Athabascan-speaking and migrated into the Southwest from Canada perhaps as early as 850 CE, but most likely between the late 1200s and early 1400s. In her entry on … Continued
Among the Cherokee, spirituality (religion) was embedded into everyday life and was not seen as something apart. In her book Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change, 1700-1835, historian Theda Perdue writes: “The Cherokees did not separate spiritual and physical realms but regarded them as one, and they practiced their religion in a host of private … Continued
The Ute Indians were traditionally mountain-dwelling bands whose traditional territory extended from the southern Rocky Mountains in present-day Colorado, west to the Sevier River in Utah. Their traditional territory extended as far south as the upper San Juan River in present-day New Mexico and as far north as southern Wyoming. As with other Great Basin … Continued
An important part of daily life among many traditional American Indian people was-and for many still is-the maintenance of harmony. Harmony is about living with other human beings and non-human beings, about living with the environment, and about living within the physical limitations of your own body. Living in harmony with other human beings … Continued
The area along the Pacific Coast north of California and between the Cascade Mountains and the ocean, is the home to many Indian nations who traditionally based their economy on the use of sea coast and river ecological resources. The Suquamish are the people of the clear salt water. For more than 10,000 years they … Continued
When the Europeans first began their invasion of what would become known as New England, they encountered people-American Indians-whose origins and existence puzzled them. They were firm in their conviction that they knew the true history of the world and that this history had been written down in their holy book. Since American Indians were … Continued
