Native American Culture

1
Native AmericanCulture
2
Main Menu
Cultural Areas
Vocabulary
Iroquois
Aztecs
Mayas
Review
Incas
Olmecs
3
Vocabulary
Click title to go back to Main Menu

• Native American Vocabulary
• Glacier
• Causeway
• Quipu
• Culture
• Adobe
• Pueblo
• Mound Builders
• Cultural areas
• Tribe
• Potlatch
• Kachina
• Clan
• League of the Iroquois
• sachem

4
Glacier
Click on title to return to vocabulary menu

• A glacier is a thick sheet of ice.

5
Causeway
Click on title to return to vocabulary menu

• A causeway is a raised roads made of packed
  earth.

6
Quipu
Click on title to return to vocabulary menu

• Quipu is a cord or string with knots that stood
  for quantities and used by the Incas for record
  keeping.

Return to Review
7
Culture
Click on title to return to vocabulary menu

• Culture is the entire way of life of a people.

Return to Review
8
Adobe
Click on title to return to vocabulary menu

• Adobe is sun dried brick used by Native
  Americans in the Southwest cultural area to build
  dwellings.

9
Pueblo
Click on title to return to vocabulary menu

• Pueblo is the Spanish word for village.

10
Mound Builders
Click on title to return to vocabulary menu

• Mound builders is the name given to various North
  American cultures that built large earth mounds
  beginning about 3,000 years ago.

11
Cultural Areas
Click on title to return to vocabulary menu

• A cultural area is a region in which people
  share a similar way of life.
• North American Cultural Areas

12
Tribe
Click on title to return to vocabulary menu

• A tribe is a community of people that share
  common customs, language and rituals.

13
Potlatch
Click on title to return to vocabulary menu

• A potlatch was a ceremonial dinner held by some
  Native Americans of the Northwest Coast to show
  off their wealth.

14
Kachina
Click on title to return to vocabulary menu

• A kachina was a masked dancer at religious
  ceremonies of the Southwest Indians.

15
Clan
Click on title to return to vocabulary menu

• A clan is group of two or more related families.

16
League of Iroquois
Click on title to return to vocabulary menu

• The League of Iroquois was an alliance of the
  five Iroquois Nations. Also called the Iroquois
  Confederacy.
• Learn more about the Iroquois by clicking the
  flag.

Return To Review
17
Sachem
Click on title to return to vocabulary menu

• A sachem was a member of the tribal chief
  council in the League of Iroquois.

18
North American Cultural Areas
Click title to go back to Main Menu

• A cultural area is a region in which people
  share a similar way of life. Each cultural area
  was home to many different tribes. In each
  cultural area, Native Americans adapted to the
  geography to survive. In each cultural area,
  Native Americans had a unique life that different
  in some way to other Native Americans in other
  cultural areas.
• Click here to see map of cultural areas.

19
North American Cultural Areas
Click on pictures in each cultural area to learn
more.
20
Arctic and Subarctic
Click title to go back to cultural area map

• Way of Life
• Lived as nomadic hunters and food gathers in cold
  climate.
• Honored ocean, weather and animal spirits

Return To Review
21
California/Great Basin/ Plateau Cultural Areas
Click title to go back to cultural area map

• Way of Life
• Lived as hunters and gathers in small family
  groups
• Ate mainly fish, berries, and acorns

22
Southwest

• Way of Life
• Lived in villages in homes made of adobe.
• Built irrigation systems to grow corn and other
  crops
• Honored earth, sky and water spirits

Click title to go back to cultural area map
Return To Review
23
Southeast
Click title to go back to cultural area map

• Way of Life
• Grew corn, squash, beans and other crops.
• Held yearly Green Corn Ceremony to mark end of
  year and celebrate harvest.

24
Eastern Woodlands

• Way of Life
• Lived in farming villages, but also hunted for
  food.
• Long houses used to house several families.
• Women shared social and political parties.

Click title to go back to cultural area map
Return To review
25
Northwest Coast

• Way of Life
• Lived in villages
• Benefited from rich natural resources in forest,
  rivers and oceans.
• Held potlatches, ceremonial dinners, where host
  families gave gifts to quests to show wealth and
  gain status

26
Olmec Civilization
Click title to go back to Main Menu

• Earliest known civilization in the Americas
• Located in Central America.
• They lived along the Gulf of Mexico about 3,500
  years ago.
• Built huge stone heads some ten feet tall and
  weighing several thousands of pounds.

Main Menu
27
The Maya Civilization
Click title to go back to Main Menu

• Culture was influenced by the Olmecs.
• Lived in rain forests in what is now the modern
  day country of Quatemala.
• Drained swamps to create farmland.
• Corn was major part of their diet
• Click on the below links to learn more about the
  Mayas.
• Social Classes
• Accomplishments

Main Menu
28
The Maya Civilization Social Classes
29
Priests

• Priests were very powerful in Maya culture. They
  conducted the religious ceremonies

30
Nobles

• Nobles were under priests. They served as
  warriors and government officials.

31
Farmers

• Farmers grew corn, squash

32
Accomplishments

• Priests created advanced calendars based on their
  observations of the sun, moon and stars.
• Had an accurate 365 day calendar
• Had a number system which included the concept of
  zero.

Calendar
Return To Review
33
Aztecs
Click title to go back to Main Menu
Click on boxes to learn more
34

• Located in central Mexico
• Capital city was Tenochtitlan
• Tenochtitlan was located on an island out in
  middle of Lake Texaco.
• Traded with neighboring cities
• Tenochtitlan had a population of 60,000 people
• Aztec empire flourished between 1300-1519 when
  they were conquered by Spanish conquistadors led
  by Hernando Cortes.

General Information
http//library.thinkquest.org/27981/
35
Aztec Empire's Location

• Located in Central Mexico
• Capital was Tenochtitlan

Return To Review
36
Religion

• Aztecs worshipped the sun god.
• Called themselves Warriors of the Sun
• Believed the Sun needed human sacrifices in order
  to rise each day.
• Thousands of captives were sacrificed each year.
• Believed in many other gods as well.

37
Social Classes
38
Great Plains

• Way of Life
• Lived in tepees
• Animals hunted by men, crops grown by women
• Relied on buffalo to meet basic needs for food,
  shelter and clothing.

Click title to go back to cultural area map
Return To Review
39
Accomplishments

• Used causeways to connect their island city,
  Tenochtitlan, to the mainland.
• Used drawbridges to protect entrances into the
  city from attack.
• Used canals to get around city.
• Used chinampas, floating gardens, to grow crops
  like corn.

Chinampas
Return To Review
40
Click title to go back to Main Menu
The Incas
http//www.kidskonnect.com/AncientInca/AncientInca
Home.html
41
The Incas

• Had the largest empire in the Americas.
• 2,500 miles long
• Capital was called Cuzco
• Located on the west coast of South America along
  the Andes Mountains.
• Cuzco had huge temples and palaces made of stone

Return To Review
42
Social Classes
43
Accomplishments

• Built stepped terraces into mountain to grow
  crops.
• Built huge system of roads to connect the empire
  together. 10,000 miles of roads
• Developed system of record keeping that consisted
  of a string with knots with each knot
  representing quantities of different items.
  Called theses strings with knots quipu.

44
Location

• Incas were located in South America along the
  West Coast.

45
Sapa Inca

• The Sapa Inca was the emperor of the Inca empire.
  
• It was believed that the emperor was regarded as
  a god who descended from the sun god.

46
Iroquois
Click title to go back to Main Menu
47
Location

• The Iroquois lived in the Eastern Woodland
  cultural area in what is now New York State.

Return to Review
48
Adaptation to Environment

• Called themselves People of the Longhouse
  because they lived in longhouses built from the
  trees from the forests in which they lived.
• Learned to fish and hunt the animals located
  within the Eastern Woodland.

49
Roles of Men and Women

• Men were the warriors, hunters and chieftains in
  Iroquois culture.
• Women held much power in Iroquois culture. They
  owned all the household property and were in
  charge of all the planting and harvesting of the
  crops.
• Women also held political power. They chose clan
  leaders and they also selected the sachems for
  the Iroquois Confederacy.

50
Spatial Patterns

• The Iroquoiss villages were located on hilltops
  and close to streams or rivers.
• They built their villages on hilltops for
  protection, so they could see enemies
  approaching.
• They located their village close to rivers,
  streams and lakes to irrigate their fields, for
  travel and for drinking water.
• Every village had a large fence that encircled
  the village to protect against enemy attack. The
  fields in which they grew crops were located
  outside of the wooden fence.

51
Iroquois Confederacy

• Consisted of five nations that spoke the Iroquois
  language the Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida,
  and Cayuga.
• Around 1570 the Five Nations were united into an
  alliance to end the fighting between the five
  tribes.
• The five nations were united by a religious
  leader named Dekanawida and a Mohawk chief named
  Hiawatha.
• This alliance became known as the League of
  Iroquois.
• A council of 50 specially chosen tribal leaders
  called sachems met once a year. These sachems
  made decisions for the League.

52
Dekanawida
Religious leader who, according to legend, helped
Hiawatha organize the Iroquois Confederacy.
53
Hiawatha

• Mohawk chief who organized the Iroquois
  Confederacy

54
Review

• 1. Vocabulary term meaning the entire way of life
  of a people?

Main Menu
Answer
55
Review

• 2. Name given to the alliance of the five nations
  of the Iroquois?

Answer
56
Review

• 3. Ancient empire that was located in central
  Mexico?

Answer
57
Review

• 4. Name given to device used by Incas for record
  keeping?

Answer
58
Review

• 5. Name two accomplishments of the Aztecs?

Answer
59
Review

• 6. This was the largest of the three ancient
  civilizations in the Americas and it was located
  in South America.

Answer
60
Review

• 7. This group lived in New York State?

Answer
61
Review

• 9. What cultural area is shown in this picture?

Answer
62
Review

• 8. In this cultural area, Native Americans
  adapted to the environment by using irrigation
  systems to water their crops and adobe to build
  their homes?

Answer
63
Review

• 10. Give one accomplishment of the Mayas.

Answer
64
Review

• 11. Which cultural area is shown in this picture?

Answer
65
Review

• 12. Which cultural area is represented in this
  picture?

Answer
66
Directions

• If no action buttons are on the page( ),
  then click the title at the top of each slide to
  return to the main page.