SHELTER

The Indians had different kinds of homes. The reason that they had different homes is they lived in different kinds of climates and different building materials. The Haida Indians built large houses where many families together. The Pomo Indians, who live in California, built simple huts that could house a few people.

A wig wam is a dome-shaped house that is made of bark or leaves and has a pole framework. Many Indians used these houses in the Eastern Woodlands. The Iroquois Indians used long houses. The long houses were large and rectangulare. Most of these houses are 100 ft. (30 m) long. Wickiups were used by the Apache and Paiute Indians.

A wickiup is made up of brush and matting to make simple huts. Earth Lodges were used by some North American tribes. These Indians built their houses in pits and roofed the structures with sod. The Navajo hogan was formed with earth. Cone-chaped tepees of buffalo skins were built by the Plains Indians. The Indians, in other area, covered the tepees with animals skins or with tree bark.

At the southern tip of South America, the Indians used skins to cover their windbreaks. Adobe, sun-dried bricks, were used by the Cliff Dwellers and other Pueblo Indians to make many-storied "apartent houses." In Mexico and Andes Mountains of South America, the Indians used adobe too.

HUNTING AND FISHING

The Indians hunted birds for their feathers. Also, they prized some of the animals. Such animals like: (1) beaver and (2) vicuna. The Indians hunted these animals for their furs.

The important animals of game of North and South America are: (1) deer, (2) rabbits, and (3) other small game. Other small game include: (1) ducks, (2) geese, and (3) herons. Sea mamals that include: (1) seals, (2) sea lions, (3) whales, (4) turtles, and (5) snakes. Only in North America, bears, buffalo, caribou, elk, and moose lives. In South America, the guanaco, jaguar, peccary, rhea, and tapir were hunted.

The Indians hunted with weapons they used for war. Bows and arrows, spears, and clubs had their own special features for hunting. The Hopi Indians stunned their small games with a kind of boomerang.

They(the Indians) caught fish with traps, nets, spears, hooks and lines, and harpoons. Indain tribes, who were from the Northwest coast, used long poles called herring rakes. The herring rakes had points that were jagged and could ctch a number of herring at one time. Indians, who lived in tropical South America, shot fish with bows and arrows. They got these bows and arrows from the sand bars in the rivers.

Indians, who lived in North and South America, used drugs to capture fish. The Indian fisherman chopped up a certain number of plants and dropped them in the water. Walnut bark was used by the Cherokee and Iroquois Indians. The roots of the soap plant was used by the California ribes. Indians, who lived in the Tropical Forest, used 100 plants or more of tropical plants. The plant drugs paralyzed the gills of the fish for a few moments. The fish would come up for air, and the Indians would catch them.

FARMING

Farming was based on corn, squash, and beans by Indians. Other crops that the Indians had included: (1) avacados, (2) cacao, (3) cassava, (4) coco, (5) cotton, (6) guavas, (7)peanuts, (8) pepper, (9) potatoes, (10) tobacco, and (11) tomatoes.

The farming tools the Indians had are painted sticks for digging, and hoes made of wood, stone, bone, or shell. Indian tribes, who lived in the eastern U.S., used dead fish to fertilize the soil. The Hohokam Indians, who lived in the desert areas of the southwestern U.S., dug long irrigation ditches to bring water to their crops.

Irrigation was developed even more in Mexico and the Andean people. Also, these Indians cute hillside terraces to increase the amount of farmland by using mountain slopes. Indians, who lived in the Eastern Woodlands and the Tropical Forest, used the slash-and-burn farming methods. They would plant their crops among the tree trunks. The ashes served as fertlizer.

Indians, who lived in the southern U.S., Mexico, and the Caribbean area, raised turkeys. The Andean Indians raised llamas and alpacas for food and wool. Also, they used them as beasts of burden. Dogs were the only tame animals in North and South America.

TRANSPORTATION

The Indians would travle by water. This is the common means of trasnportation. Some of the Indians used bark canoes. The bark canoes were light and easy to carry. Also, the Indians made light boats out of reed. The Plains Indians would make a bullboat. The bullboats were made out of stretched out buffalo skins over a round frame. Indians, who lived in the snowy north, developed snowshoes and toboggans. The Inca nobles traveled on wooden frames that were carried by their servants.

The Plains Indias used dogs and horses to pull a load carrying frame called travois. The Indians were often supported a heavy load on their back with a pack strap called a tumpline. The straps are attached to both ends of the pack and stretched across the forehead.

PAINTING

The Indians used painting with other arts. The Aztec and Maya Indians made wall paintings for important ceremonies and historic events. Some of the wood carvings of the northwest tribes had painted designs. The Pueblo Indians were the first to make sand paintings. The Navajo Indians improved the sand paintings to ceremonial arts.

LITERATURE

Some of the Indian groups told thier folk tales and ppetry by word of mouth for centuries. The Chippewa Indians recored their trbial songs on bark. The Naya Indians left behind manuscripts to be told of their ancient history.

The Indians had no one set religion. Their religious beliefs were widespread. The Indians belief was the mysterious magic force in nature. The Indians thought the spirit power was superior to humans.

BELIEFS

The Indians believed that the spirit power was gained by certain people or ceremonies. This certain power was centered either on animals, areas, or things. This might make these things dangerous. Other tribes may have a different name for the spirit power. The Iroquois Indians called it orendo. The Sioux Indians called it wakonda. The Algonkian Indians called it manito.

Some of the tribes believed in the great spirit. The great spirit was a powerful god.

The tribes feared greatly of the ghosts of the dead. Few of the Indians gave thought to life after death.

Click here to go to page 4 Native Americans

Email: lopezgirl@hotmail.com