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Pre-Columbian North America

Northwest and California

  • Settlements: Lived in permanent longhouses with peoples separated by distance

  • Diet: Hunting, fishing, and gathering along the Pacific Coast

  • Culture: Used totem poles to carve legends and myths

Great Basin and Great Plains

  • Settlements: Mainly nomadic hunting tribes with some permanent farming tribes situated along rivers

  • Diet: Mostly buffalo

  • Culture: Used buffalo for food, decorations, weapons, and tools; after horses were introduced by the Spanish there were many more hunters since it was easier to follow buffalo herds

Eastern Woodlands

  • Settlements: More permanent settlements due to an abundance of resources

  • Diet: Hunting, fishing, and farming

  • Culture: Iroquois Confederation between five tribes

Southwest

  • Settlements: Lived in caves, under cliffs, and in multistoried buildings

  • Diet: Farming based

  • Culture: Developed irrigation systems to support farming

Overview

  • 1 to 10 million in population

  • Diverse array of languages

  • Slower development due to a lack of corn production (corn had allowed Meso-American tribes to develop much faster as it was a plentiful and well-growing crop)

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Pre-Columbian North America

Northwest and California

  • Settlements: Lived in permanent longhouses with peoples separated by distance

  • Diet: Hunting, fishing, and gathering along the Pacific Coast

  • Culture: Used totem poles to carve legends and myths

Great Basin and Great Plains

  • Settlements: Mainly nomadic hunting tribes with some permanent farming tribes situated along rivers

  • Diet: Mostly buffalo

  • Culture: Used buffalo for food, decorations, weapons, and tools; after horses were introduced by the Spanish there were many more hunters since it was easier to follow buffalo herds

Eastern Woodlands

  • Settlements: More permanent settlements due to an abundance of resources

  • Diet: Hunting, fishing, and farming

  • Culture: Iroquois Confederation between five tribes

Southwest

  • Settlements: Lived in caves, under cliffs, and in multistoried buildings

  • Diet: Farming based

  • Culture: Developed irrigation systems to support farming

Overview

  • 1 to 10 million in population

  • Diverse array of languages

  • Slower development due to a lack of corn production (corn had allowed Meso-American tribes to develop much faster as it was a plentiful and well-growing crop)

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