Native American leaders are achieving greater political success in fighting for the rights of their peoples. In addition, recent widespread concern over human rights has prompted governments and others to respect Native American cultures and traditions when responding to their needs. Teach your students about the history of Native Americans and present-day Native American cultures with interactive online activities, book resources, games, and art projects.
Create a List. List Name Save. Rename this List. Rename this list. List Name Delete from selected List. Save to. Save to:. Save Create a List. Create a list. Save Back. An Overview of Native American History. Grades 3—5 , 6—8 , 9— View not found. Download the PDF from here. Related Subjects. Appears in This Collection. Grade s PreK The Arctic culture area, a cold, flat, treeless region actually a frozen desert near the Arctic Circle in present-day Alaska , Canada and Greenland, was home to the Inuit and the Aleut.
Both groups spoke, and continue to speak, dialects descended from what scholars call the Eskimo-Aleut language family. Some of its peoples, especially the Inuit in the northern part of the region, were nomads, following seals, polar bears and other game as they migrated across the tundra. In the southern part of the region, the Aleut were a bit more settled, living in small fishing villages along the shore. The Inuit and Aleut had a great deal in common. Many lived in dome-shaped houses made of sod or timber or, in the North, ice blocks.
They used seal and otter skins to make warm, weatherproof clothing, aerodynamic dogsleds and long, open fishing boats kayaks in Inuit; baidarkas in Aleut.
By the time the United States purchased Alaska in , decades of oppression and exposure to European diseases had taken their toll: The native population had dropped to just 2,; the descendants of these survivors still make their home in the area today. The Subarctic culture area, mostly composed of swampy, piney forests taiga and waterlogged tundra, stretched across much of inland Alaska and Canada. In the Subarctic, travel was difficult—toboggans, snowshoes and lightweight canoes were the primary means of transportation—and population was sparse.
In general, the peoples of the Subarctic did not form large permanent settlements; instead, small family groups stuck together as they traipsed after herds of caribou. They lived in small, easy-to-move tents and lean-tos, and when it grew too cold to hunt they hunkered into underground dugouts.
Its inhabitants were members of two main groups: Iroquoian speakers these included the Cayuga, Oneida, Erie, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora , most of whom lived along inland rivers and lakes in fortified, politically stable villages, and the more numerous Algonquian speakers these included the Pequot, Fox, Shawnee, Wampanoag, Delaware and Menominee who lived in small farming and fishing villages along the ocean. There, they grew crops like corn, beans and vegetables.
Life in the Northeast culture area was already fraught with conflict—the Iroquoian groups tended to be rather aggressive and warlike, and bands and villages outside of their allied confederacies were never safe from their raids—and it grew more complicated when European colonizers arrived.
Meanwhile, as white settlement pressed westward, it eventually displaced both sets of Indigenous people from their lands. The Southeast culture area, north of the Gulf of Mexico and south of the Northeast, was a humid, fertile agricultural region. Many of its natives were expert farmers—they grew staple crops like maize, beans, squash, tobacco and sunflower—who organized their lives around small ceremonial and market villages known as hamlets.
Perhaps the most familiar of the Southeastern Indigenous peoples are the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole, sometimes called the Five Civilized Tribes, some of whom spoke a variant of the Muskogean language.
By the time the U. In , the federal Indian Removal Act compelled the relocation of what remained of the Five Civilized Tribes so that white settlers could have their land. The Cherokee called this frequently deadly trek the Trail of Tears.
The Plains culture area comprises the vast prairie region between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, from present-day Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
Before the arrival of European traders and explorers, its inhabitants—speakers of Siouan, Algonquian, Caddoan, Uto-Aztecan and Athabaskan languages—were relatively settled hunters and farmers. After European contact, and especially after Spanish colonists brought horses to the region in the 18th century, the peoples of the Great Plains became much more nomadic.
Groups like the Crow, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Comanche and Arapaho used horses to pursue great herds of buffalo across the prairie. The most common dwelling for these hunters was the cone-shaped teepee, a bison-skin tent that could be folded up and carried anywhere. Plains Indians are also known for their elaborately feathered war bonnets.
As white traders and settlers moved west across the Plains region, they brought many damaging things with them: commercial goods, like knives and kettles, which Indigenous people came to depend on; guns; and disease. With settlers encroaching on their lands and no way to make money, the Plains natives were forced onto government reservations.
The peoples of the Southwest culture area, a huge desert region in present-day Arizona and New Mexico along with parts of Colorado , Utah , Texas and Mexico developed two distinct ways of life. Sedentary farmers such as the Hopi, the Zuni, the Yaqui and the Yuma grew crops like corn, beans and squash. After initial friendly relations, hostilities developed as settlers became increasingly reliant on Native Americans for food and fighting eventually broke out between the two groups.
The local chieftain was killed by the English and the colony was eventually abandoned. On May 14, , the first lasting English settlement in North America was established. Captain Newport led the expedition, staying until June 22nd, when he sailed back to England for supplies. These settlers were unprepared, and did not plant the right crops or eat the right foods. They soon encountered starvation and famine, despite stealing food from the Native Americans. Throughout the period of European colonisation, millions of Native Americans were killed, either in fighting or by outbreaks of European diseases to which their bodies had no immunity, such as smallpox.
Those settlers that survived, together with new arrivals, began to cultivate the land, growing crops such as tobacco. As more settlers arrived, more Native American land was taken, and the Native Americans began to fight back. This lesson asks pupils to investigate the early contact between Europeans and Native Americans. Using primary source diary extracts, pupils are able to understand and appreciate the first encounters between European settlers and the indigenous people of North America.
Pupils are asked to explore the different aspects of these encounters and why they may have changed. To what extent were certain stereotypes already in place while the English settlers were writing these statements? How and why did they subsequently develop and shift? It is important to explore also what is missing from these sources.
Who wrote these journal extracts, and what might their goals be? What other sources should be consulted? Why might that be? What are the limitations in using one perspective? You could discuss with students why the National Archives holds a collection of documents under this name. The early period covered in this lesson was followed by centuries of colonisation marked by wars, broken treaties, and discriminatory policies that decimated the indigenous North American populations and still impact Native Americans today.
Since these sources only show the perspectives of the English settlers, teachers may want to bring in other sources from Native American points of view. The National Museum of the American Indian is a good place to start.
Key stage 3: the development of Church, state and society in Britain the first colony in America. Virtual Jamestown A site giving a lot of information about the original settlement at Jamestown, including a 3D reconstruction of the settlement and information about the people who lived there.
This guide offers contemporary Native perspectives about the historical experiences of the Native Americans of the Chesapeake, in particular, the Powhatan, Nanticoke, and Piscataway peoples. Includes examples of and information on treaties between European settlers and Native American tribes.
Related resources James I What were the key areas of dispute? This website uses cookies We place some essential cookies on your device to make this website work. Set cookie preferences.
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