Native Americans

Native Americans were the people who

lived in America before people from
other countries came to what is now the
United States.

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 groups 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 familys 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.

Lets 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 Tails 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