Native%20Americans

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Native Americans

• Native Americans were the people who lived in
  America before people from other countries came
  here.

2
Native Americans respected nature.
They took care of the earth and only used what
they needed.
3
Native Americans used natural resources to meet
their needs.
trees
water
stones
buffalo
Natural resources are things in nature that
people can use.
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• Native Americans lived in culture groups.

• The people in a culture group have the same way
  of life.

• A culture group is a group of people who live in
  the same region.

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Native Americans lived in six different regions.
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Each region had different physical surroundings.
Some regions had forests.
Others were mostly desert.
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Still others had oceans nearby.
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Each region had different natural resources.
Each culture group used the natural resources in
its region to meet its needs.
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For this reason, Native American culture groups
had different homes.
Those who lived near deserts used clay or stones
to build their homes.
Those who lived on the Plains used buffalo skins
to make their homes.
Still others lived near forests. They built
their homes of wood.
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Many Native American culture groups built their
homes in villages or cities.
These are the remains of an ancient Anasazi
cliff village.
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Other culture groups, like the Plains Indians,
were nomadic.
They could not live in one place. They had to
move around to follow the buffalo.
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The physical surroundings of each region also
affected how each culture group got its food.
Native Americans in the Eastern Woodlands were
very lucky. That region had forests, lakes and
rivers, a nearby ocean, and good climate. These
Native Americans could farm, hunt, and fish for
food.
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There were no forests in the Southwest region.
The land was rocky and uneven.
There were many mesas, or large rocks with flat
tops. The Indians who lived in this region were
farmers. They planted their crops on the tops of
mesas.
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Native Americans in the California Inter-mountain
region were known as gatherers.
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There were few natural resources in this region.
These Native Americans gathered acorns, seeds,
and fruits. They also dug up plant roots to eat
for food.
16
Indians from the Northwest Coast hunted sea
animals in the Pacific Ocean.
There were many salmon in the rivers for them to
eat.They also hunted animals in nearby forests.
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Buffalo were a natural resource in the Plains
region. The meat was used for food. The skins
were used for shelters and clothing. The bones
were used for tools.
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The physical surroundings of the regions affected
each culture groups way of life in other ways,
too.
There was much clay in the Southwest.Native
Americans that lived in this region used the clay
to make beautiful pottery.
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The Northwest Coast region had many forests. The
Native Americans in this region used wood from
the forests to carve tall totem poles.
The carvings on each totem pole told about a
familys history.
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There were many buffalo in the Plains region.
Native Americans who lived in this region were
hunters.
The Plains Indians had special ceremonies before
big hunts. They danced to the music of drums.
They thought this would bring them good luck on
the hunt.
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Native Americans in the California
Inter-mountain region were expert basket
weavers.
They made beautiful baskets out of grasses and
plants.
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Physical surroundings affected how the Indians
traveled, too. All Indians walked.
Plains and Southwest Indians got horses from
Spanish explorers.
Indians in the Eastern Woodlands, Northwest
Coast, and California Intermountain regions used
canoes.
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Lets review. We know

• Native Americans were the first Americans.

• Native Americans respected nature.

• Native Americans used natural resources.

• Native Americans lived in different regions.

• Native Americans had different homes.

• Native Americans got food in different ways.

• Native American culture groups had different ways
  of life due to their different physical
  surroundings and natural resources.

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Photo Credits
Page 1 - Spotted Tails familyWestern
History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public
Library
Page 14 Fruit gathererNorthwestern University
Library, Edward S. Curtis's 'The North American
Indian' the Photographic Images, 2001.
http//memory.loc.gov/ammem/award98/ienhtml/curth
ome.html