1. Who were the First Americans?
500 Nations Introduction
and Creation Stories

2. File: The Americas

3. Americas Geography - Varies
North America
Pacific Coast (West)
Rocky Mtns (West)
Great Plains (Mid/Flat)
Thick Forests/ (East)
Coastal Plains

4. Americas Geography - Varies
South America
Deserts
Rain Forests
Mountains
Grasslands

5. Americas Geography - varies
Different environments shape different cultures

6. Who were the First Americans?
First Americans had culture.
Culture: Way of life
homes, clothing, religion, gov’t, arts, economy
Archaeologists study artifacts and
find clues about culture
Artifact: object made by a human gives
clues to the past.

7. Who were the First Americans?
Ice Age (Not just a movie)
1/3 of earth covered under glaciers
Glacier = thick sheets of ice
As glaciers froze, sea levels fell
exposing a land bridge between Asia
and North America (Alaska) appeared.

9. Who were the First Americans?
People (hunters) crossed the land
bridge to North America hunting wooly
mammoths.

11. Who were the First Americans?
When global temperatures rose, glaciers melted and covered the bridge.
people were stuck in North America and
adapted to the new land
after thousands of years, descendants
(family members) had spread to
No. and So. America

12. Americas Early People Review
Came across a land bridge from Asia to North America
Melting ice (glaciers) covered the land bridge

13. People of North America
Organized into tribes
All adapted to their environment!!

14. Group Time
Fill out the chart for the Native American group I assign you.
Use pages in textbook to help you.
Also use the sheets at the tables
Focus is: How will these tribes adapt to their environments?

15. Adapting to Environment Native Americans
FOOD
CLOTHING
SHELTER
Northwest
Hunted deer and bear; caught fist
Made from animal skins
Wooden homes; made totem poles

16. Adapting to Environment Native Americans
FOOD Clothing Shelter
Arctic
Eastern Woodlands
Great Plains
Southwest

18. Who were the People of North America?
Arctic - Far north of North America (Alaska and Canada)
Inuit –Eskimos- (People of the Arctic) Geography: frozen seas, icy, treeless
- Adapted Culture to harsh environment
- food: fished, hunted seal, walrus, whale
used whale bones to make fish hooks and spears

19. Who are the People of North America?
- clothing: – seal furs and skins, bear
-shelter: lived in igloos – house of
snow and ice, stone houses, earth houses
- warmth – lamps filled with seal oil
- built kayaks – small skin boats to
spear seals, whales, walrus

20. Who were the First Americans?
Inuit (Eskimo) Village

21. Who were the First Americans?
Building an igloo

22. Who were the First Americans?
Inside the igloo of the Inuit

23. Start at 3:30

24. Who were the People of North America?
Northeast Natives – Maine to Maryland
(including New York)
Eastern Woodlands (Iroquois of NY)
Geography: Atlantic Ocean, fertile soil,
hills, lakes, streams
adapted culture to/from their environment

25. Who were the People of North America?
food: hunted deer, fished, gathered nuts
and berries;
farmed three sisters
corn, beans, squash
clothing: animal skins (deer, fox)
shelter: long houses: long
wooden houses covered in bark
*families lived together in house

26. Sachems: council of chiefs settle disputes among 5 tribes
Women: had influence – owned property
Could select sachems

27. Who were the First Americans?
Iroquois Longhouse

28. Wampanoag Longhouse and Canoe

29. Who are the People of North America?
Iroquois government
a) League of the Iroquois – group
of 5 Iroquois Nations who agreed
not to fight one another
i) Mohawk
ii) Onondaga
iii) Oneida
iv) Seneca
v) Cayuga
(MOOS and a C)

30. Who are the People of North America?
By joining together they ended war
between each other and became
united against their enemies
At meetings they discussed problems,
voted on solutions
Women had political power
Chose the clan (group of families)
leaders – shaman – head leader

31. Women Chose the Political Leaders

32. Start at 5:50

33. Who are the People of North America?
Great Plains – Between Rocky Mtns and Mississippi River – ex: North and South Dakota, Kansas
Geography: Grasslands, few trees
Adapted culture from environment
Food: Buffalo meat (dried = jerky)
Clothing: Buffalo
skin (leather) – fur coats, blankets

34. Who are the People of North America?
Geography of the Great Plains – few trees

35. Who are the People of North America?
Sioux (Lakota) Plains Indians Tepees

36. Who are the People of North America?
Shelter: Buffalo
tepees cone- shaped tents made
from buffalo skins –
easy to move while traveling
buffalo chips -burn for keeping warm
Nomadic – moved from place to
place following buffalo
a) rode horses to travel far
Tribe Names: Lakota (Sioux); Blackfoot

37. Who were the First Americans?
Plains Indians
Tepees

39. Who are People of North America?
Southwest – Arizona, New Mexico
Geography: Dry, desert region, hot, little rain or farmland
Adapted culture to/from environment
Food: Irrigation (water) ditches from
rivers for farming: three sisters
three sisters: corn, beans, squash
Clothing: weaved cotton

40. Who were the Southwest Native Americans?
Southwest Native American (Navajo, Hopi) Geography

41. Who are People of North America?
Shelter: Pueblo (village) homes made from
adobe: sun-dried clay bricks
(apartments)
hogan: round building from
wood/earth/mud
cliff dwellers: carved homes in cliffs
kiva:underground chamber for ceremonies
d) Tribes: Anasazi, Hopi, Navajo

42. Who were the First Americans?
Anasazi
Cliff Dwellers

43. Who are the People of North America?
Southeast – Southern US and along Atlantic Ocean – Alabama, Florida
Geography: Fertile (good for farming)
soil, forests, plentiful rain
Adapted culture from environment
Food: farming corn, hunting
deer, fishing
Clothing: Hides (skins) from
animals – deer, fox

44. Who are the People of North America?
Shelter: used young trees to
build homes called wigwams
Leaves and grasses used
Tribe Names: Cherokee

45. Who are the People of North America?
Southeastern Native Americans (Cherokee) Geography

46. Who were the First Americans?
Southeast Native American Wigwam

48. Who are the People of North America?
Northwest Coast – Western Canada, Washington State and Oregon
Geography: Along Pacific Ocean, tall forests
adapted culture from environment
had plenty of food – fish - salmon,
deer, moose
clothing – deer skins, bear furs

49. Who are the People of North America?
shelter – wooden plank houses
potlatch – ceremonial dinner
to share wealth – totem poles
of bear, ravens, beaver, whale
Totems tell a story about an
important event or person
Tribe Name: Nez Perce

50. Who were the First Americans?
Northwest Native American
Plank house

51. How did the Native American tribes adapt to their environment and allow their culture to grow?
Highlight the topic sentence
Circle in a different color any vocabulary (Do Now) words
Double underline the definition of the vocabulary words with the same color
Underline the examples of culture
Put a box around the summary sentence