1.2.3 Study: Civilizations in Eastern North America

Algonquian language groups

Groups of Indigenous peoples who lived in eastern North and Central America. Each group was known for hunting, fishing, gather wild plants, and moving areas seasonally.

Siouan language group

Two groups of Indigenous peoples who lived in the Great Plains area. They, like other groups in the Plains, conformed to “bison culture” and often collected wild rice. Included the Dakota and Lakota Sioux. They were mostly in the North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska areas.

Shawnee peoples

An Algonquian language group that lived primarily in the Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana areas. They hunted, fished, and gathered in the warm seasons, and stayed in wigwams when it was cold.

Mi’kmaq peoples.

Algonquian Indigenous group who lived in Maine, Massachusetts, and nearby Canadian lands. They hunted seals and gathered shellfish along the East coast when it was warm, and moved inland to hunt moose in the winter.

Wampanoag peoples

Like the Mi’kmaq, they were an Algonquian group found in Massachusetts — and Rhode Island as well. They were known for staying in large camps during the summer, bunking in wetus.

Iroquois Confederacy

An alliance amongst a group of four Iroquoian Indigenous tribes. They all signed a constitution agreeing to the “Great Law of Peace,” which influenced the democratic nature of the US Consitution.

Which groups were a part of the Iroquois Confederacy?

The Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, and the Oneida.

Lakota Siuox

A group of Indigenous peoples living in the Great Plains who were a part of the Siouan language group. They made bison a large symbol in their ritual practices.

Dakota Sioux

Siouan speaking Indigenous peoples who were skilled in setting controlled fires to keep prairie grass healthy for grazing. They hunted bison, deer, and elk in the upper Great Plains.

South Appalachian Mississippian

A Mississippian Indigenous people group that was unique from others for their ceramic art.

Caddoan Mississippian

Were primarily in an area of the states that formed somewhat of a square: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana. They built mounds as foundations for their homes, temples, and tombs. They also made pottery.

Middle Mississippian

A group of Mississippian Indigenous that settled more so around the MS. River Valley. At one point, their most important city (Cahokia), which is 5 square miles large, contained 10,000 people.

Choctaw

A people group in the Great Plains who were most known for being peaceful. They also had two beliefs about their origins: that they either migrated from the West, or arose from Nanih Waiya.

Chickasaw

A people group noted for storing their corn crops in large houses.

Cherokee

This indigenous people group emphasize equality, community, and shared property.

Muscogee (Creek)

A union of tribes from Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.

Seminole

The name of this group means “wild people” or “runaway,” and their group was formed from smaller groups.

Arapaho

Moved to the Great Plains from the Great Lakes. Expanded the Plains through trade, alliance, and war. They collected horses from other groups, which they used for hunting and transport. Allied with the Cheyenne.

Cheyenne

They were forced to move west by other Indigenous peoples and Europeans, resulting in their alliance with the Arapaho.

Blackfoot

Moved to the Great Plains from the northeastern woodlands; conformed to bison culture, utilizing the entire bison.