Lesson 3 Early Regional Cultures

Lesson 3 Early Regional Cultures

Early Regional Cultures

• Indian cultures differ from one region to another

• 4 basic groups

• Woodland

• Mississippi River (Mississippian)

• Great Plains

• Pacific Nothwest

Woodland Indians and Adena Burial Mounds

• Woodland Indians lived east of the Mississippi River

• Lived in forest areas near streams and lakes

• The Adena and Hopwell were Woodland Indians

• Hunter/gatherers and mound builders

• Adena built burial mounds with small log rooms inside

• Adena lived in villages of less than 500 people

Hopewell People's Snake Mound

• Farmers; barley, sunflowers and squash

• Snake Mound - 17 feet long

• Mouth swallowing a huge egg

• was a symbol of growth and change

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City of Cahokia

• Largest settlement of Mississippians in North America (20,000 people)

• Located where 3 rivers come together: Missouri, Illinois and Mississippi Rivers

• Planned city with public buildings, surrounded by a palisade (wooden fence)

• Mound builders, built 120 mounds

• Monk's Mound - largest mound in North America

• By 1500, people of Cahokia had disappeared

City of Moundville

• Mississippian settlement built on high bluff overlooking Black Warrior River

• In center of settlement was 26 earthen mounds

• Large supply of maize, or corn

• Made excellent pottery, coper pieces, and stonework

• By 1500 Moundville was abandoned

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Why were Iroquois Important

• Descended from the Mississippian Indians

• 6 tribes called Iroquois created peace treaty called "Great Law of Peace"

• Organized themselves into a democracy

• Their great leaders Hiawatha and Seneca still remembered for their great speeches

• When Europeans arrived, Iroquois were most powerful Indians in North America

Great Plain Indians

• Place of flat grasslands, rivers, streams and a few mountains, not many trees

• Summers hot and dry, winters very cold

• Plain Indian tribes were Sioux, Cheyenne, Comanche and Blackfoot

• Hunted buffalo

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Pacific Coast Indians

• Pacific Coast Indians had access to seafood, especially salmon

• Woods filled with wildlife, nuts, berries and root vegetables

• Pacific Coast Indians always had enough food

• Built longhouses

• Showed their wealth through potlatch - giving away gifts

Inuit

• Eskimos "eater of raw meat"

• Intuit meant "real people"

• Hard lives, lived in harsh frozen environment

• Built shelters out of blocks of ice called igloos

• hunted sea mammals and caribou

• known for delicate carvings of ivory and soapstone