North American Societies around 1942

Diverse Societies

The native groups of North America were as diverse as the environments in which they lived. The North American continent provided for many different ways of life, from nomadic to the kind of fixed, nonmigratory life of farming communities.

NORTHWEST COAST

SOUTHWEST

CALIFORNIA

EASTERN WOODLANDS

Native Americans Share Cultural Patterns

TRADING NETWORKS

LAND USE

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

Native American Village Life

Not one land, but many lands—that’s how the Kashaya Pomo and
other native peoples regarded the region that is now California.

Peoples such as the Kwakiutl, Nootka, and Haida collected shell-
fish from the beaches and hunted the ocean for whales, sea otters, and seals.

The Pueblo built new settlements near waterways such as the Rio Grande,where they could irrigate their farms.

The Iroquois:Built villages in forest clearings and blended agriculture with hunting and gathering. They traveled by foot or by canoe.

The biggest factors in bringing Native
American peoples into contact with one another.

The Nootka of the Northwest Coast mastered whaling. The Ojibwa of the
upper Great Lakes collected wild rice. The Taos of the Southwest made pottery.

They regarded the land as the source of life, not as a commodity to be sold. “We cannot sell the lives of men and animals,” animals,” said one Blackfoot chief in the 1800s.

Native Americans disturbed the land only for the most important activities such as food gathering or farming.

Some cultures believed in one supreme being,
known as “Great Spirit,” “Great Mystery,” “the Creative Power,” or “the Creator.”

THE HOME

HUNTING

AGRICULTURE

SOCIAL LIFE

RELIGION

A tobacco field appears to the left of this field, and other corn fields and a pumpkin patch appear below it.

Men hunt for deer.

Huts, whose sides can be rolled up for ventilation,
are woven from thick plant stems.

Villagers prepare for a community feast.

Residents dance around a circle of idols in a religious cere-
mony.

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

The tasks assigned to men and women varied with each society. The basic unit of organization among all Native
American groups was the family.

The division of labor according to:

gender, age, or status

Some tribes further organized the families into clans, or groups of families descended from a common ancestor.

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Kwakiutl:slaves performed the most menial jobs, while nobles ensured that Kwakiutl law was obeyed.

Iroquois: members of a clan often lived together in huge bark-covered longhouses. All families participated in community decision making.

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