GCSE SCHOOLS HISTORY THE AMERICAN WEST INTERACTIVE THE AMERICAN WEST INTERACTIVE Why did the Native Indians lose the Battle for the Plains?

History Interactive Key Stage 4 History THE AMERICAN WEST INTERACTIVE These are sample slides. There is no audio, document links or internet links. History Interactive©

Pacific Ocean Atlantic Ocean The West This region is very dry. Tribes like the Nez Perce gathered seeds and berries. They lived in skin tipis. Tribes tipis The Arctic Tribes Tribes like the Eskimo hunted polar bears and whales in the frozen wastes. They lived in igloos. The Mid-West Tribes Tribes like Mohawks grew crops and hunted deer and moose. They lived in bark covered houses. moose Route taken by the Native Americans Alaska Siberia The Great Plains Tribes Tribes like the Blackfoot and Sioux lived difficult and dangerous lives hunting buffalo. They lived in skin tipis.buffalotipis The North West Tribes Tribes like the Nootka fished in the deep fast flowing rivers and lived in villages of wooden houses and totem poles.totem poles. North America North American Tribes 44

Horns - Spoons Horns - Spoons Tongue - Food Tongue - Food Hair - Rope, stuffing Hair - Rope, stuffing Stomach - Cooking Pot Stomach - Cooking Pot Hide - Tipi covers, Blankets, Clothing Hide - Tipi covers, Blankets, Clothing Meat - Food Meat - Food Tendons - Thread Tendons - Thread Dung - Fuel Dung - Fuel Bones- Scrapers Bones- Scrapers The buffalo was the central feature of Plains Indian culture. The Indians believed the Great Spirit put buffalo on the Earth to provide for them. Buffalo provided food, shelter, clothing, fuel, toys, ceremonial objects, and weapons among other things. Almost all the parts of the buffalo were used including the bones, teeth, tail, hair, skin, muscle fiber, tendons, horns, skull, meat, fat, tongue, dung, hooves, intestines, and brain. ceremonial 15

Rocky Mountains From the late 1840s the government was driven by the idea of ‘Manifest Destiny’. They wanted to control all of America and have white people living all over America. The desire to complete Manifest Destiny encouraged the government to help homesteaders and cattle ranchers move onto the Plains. The building of the transcontinental railroad made this easier.homesteaders The thirteen original states In 1800 only thirteen states formed the United States of America. By 1850 many more states joined as Britain, France and Mexico either gave up or sold their land to America. Mexico Mormon Trail California Trail Oregon Trail Between 1839 and the end of the 1850s thousands of men, women and children left their homes in the west to go on the Plains or further west. These trailblazers set routes across America that others were to follow.trailblazers The discovery of gold led to even more people moving west. 24 Expansion West

Homesteaders Not many people seriously thought that anyone but the Indians could live on the Plains. They certainly didn't think that anyone could farm the land and grow crops. However, by the end of the 19th century thousands of families had settled on the Plains. These people were known as the homesteaders. They came from the east of America and from Europe to escape poverty and over-crowding. Many more people went west after the American Civil War ended in Thousands of freed black slaves became homesteaders.homesteaders The government encouraged this settling of the Plains with the following laws Homestead Act - each family was given 160 acres of land as long as they farmed it for five years Timber Culture Act - a further 160 acres of land was given as long as 40 acres was planted with trees. The one thing which made it all possible though, was the railroad. People could travel with their belongings on a train much more easily than in a wagon. More than this, the United States government gave the railroad companies the land near their railroads. They sold this to the settlers and used the money to build more railroads. An American family make their way West on one of the wagon trails. 27 GCSE Schools History The American West