1. II. Native American Cultures
A. Culture Areas of North America
1. A culture area is a region in which people share a similar way of life.
2. Each culture area was home to many different tribes.
a) A tribe is a community of people that share common customs, languages, and rituals.
3. Native Americans developed a variety of ways to meet their basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter.
a) some hunted and gathered.
b) some depended on the sea.

2. II. Native American Cultures
4. Other tribes lived mostly by farming, planting corn, beans, and squash.
a) Native Americans developed many types of corn.
5. Indian tribes traded with one another for goods not found within their own region.
a) Goods sometimes traveled 1,000 miles from where they were made.
b) Northwest = dried salmon, shells, fish oil, & whale bone.
c) Great Basin = black obsidian.
d) Great Plains = skins and dried buffalo meat.

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B. Climate, Resources, and Culture
1. Climate and natural resources helped shape Native American cultures in different regions.
a) They influenced Crops and animals that were hunted.
b) They influenced clothing and shelter.
2. Climate and resources affected tribal organization.
3. Frozen seas and icy, treeless plains made up the world of the Inuits, who lived in the arctic region.
a) They lived in pit houses, houses dug into the ground and covered with wood and skins.
b) Lamps filled with seal oil kept their homes warm.

4. II. Native American Cultures
c) Women made warm clothing out of furs and waterproof boots out of sealskins.
4. Among the people of the Plateau region were the Utes and Shoshones.
a) Collected pine nuts and dug for roots.
b) Hunted mountain sheep and rabbits.
c) Few possessions.
5. Elsewhere in North America the climate was kinder, which helped more complex cultures to emerge.
a) Northwest coast had milder temperatures and abundant food supplies.
b) Rich harvests of fish.

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c) Forests were used to make planks and canoes.
d) People stayed in one place.
e) Families might hold a potlatch, or ceremonial dinner, to show off its wealth.
6. Many tribes inhabited the Southeastern region of North America.
a) Natchez from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
b) Natchez calendar of 13 months.
c) Ruler was known as the Great Sun and was worshipped as a god.
d) Below the leader were his family or “little suns”.
e) Marriage laws ensured that membership in each class kept changing.

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C. Shared Beliefs
1. Central to Native American beliefs was a deep respect for the earth.
a) Prayers and ceremonies were designed to maintain balance between people and the forces of nature.
2. Native Americans believed the world was full of unseen forces and spirits.
3. In farming areas, tribes held special ceremonies to ensure good rainfall.
a) At midsummer, Pueblo villages in the Southwest rang with cries that the Kachinas spirits were coming.
b) Kachinas were represented by masked dancers..
c) Kachinas were believed to bring good harvests.

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4. In the Southwest, many tribes held a Green Corn Ceremony when the corn ripened in the fall.
a) Old year to the new year.
b) Coals from the festival fire were then split among the families for their own fires.
D. The Iroquois Confederacy
1. Among the many Native American groups in the Eastern Woodlands were the Iroquois people.
a) Mostly in NY State.
b) “The People of the Longhouse”
c) Longhouses were typically 150 ft. long and 20 ft. wide.
d) 12 or more families per longhouse.

8. II. Native American Cultures
2. Women had a special place in Iroquois society.
a) Owned all household property.
b) In charge of planting and harvesting.
c) When a man married, he moved in with his wife’s family.
3. Women also had political power.
a) They chose the clan leader.
b) A clan was a group of two or more related families.
c) Women could remove a clan leader.
4. The Iroquois included 5 nations that spoke similar languages.
a) Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga

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b) Around 1570, the five Iroquois nations formed an alliance to end fighting.
c) According to legend, a religious leader named Dekanawida inspired Hiawatha to organize the alliance.
d) This alliance became known as the League of the Iroquois.
e) 50 specially chosen tribal leaders known as sachems met once a year.
f) Women chose the sachems.
E. Looking Ahead
1. About 2.5 million people lived north of Mexico.

10. II. Native American Cultures
a) This way of life existed until the late 1400s when European settlers started inhabiting the Americas.