Download Section Summary - Mr. Jean Louis Class

Name___________________ Date_______ Period _____
Cultures of North America
Section 2 Focus Question
How did geography influence the development of cultures in
North America? To begin answering this question,
• Learn about the earliest peoples of North America.
• Note what diverse groups of Native Americans had in common.
• Explore the impact of geography on Native American cultures.
The first cultures of North America developed between the
Appalachians and the Mississippi Valley and in the Southwest.
Trade and a belief in nature spirits were common traits. Yet each
culture adapted its particular way of life to the environment.
First Cultures of North America
People in North America developed unique cultures, or ways of
life. The Mound Builders began to emerge about 3,000 years ago
between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi Valley.
They constructed large mounds to use as burial places and as the
base for public buildings. One group of Mound Builders, the
Mississippians, built the first North American cities, including
Cahokia in Illinois. It may have held as many as 40,000 people.
The Anasazi were a very different culture located in southern
Utah, Colorado, northern Arizona, and New Mexico. They made
baskets, pottery, and jewelry. Their homes were cliff dwellings,
which they mysteriously abandoned by 1300.
From 300 B.C. to A.D. 1450, the Hohokam people farmed in the
deserts of present-day Arizona, digging canals to irrigate their
crops. To create jewelry and religious items, they traded for shells
with people of the Gulf of California.
Ways of Life
Scholars organize Native Americans into culture areas, or regions
in which groups of people have a similar way of life. Many
culture areas share some basic traits. For example, women in
many culture areas gathered edible plants while men hunted and
fished. People grew crops suited to the climate, making farming
tools from sticks, bones, and shells. Farming areas had higher
populations than nonfarming areas.
Native Americans believed that spirits dwelled in nature, and
they held a close relationship with their environment. Spiritual
rituals included the Green Corn Ceremony, a tradition of the
Southeast that offered renewal after the growing season. The
Pueblo Indians revered benevolent spirits called kachinas.
Native Americans of North America
By A.D. 1500, culture groups of North America had adapted their
ways of life to their environment.
Native Americans of North America
Far North: Arctic people lived in a mostly ice-covered land. They
survived on fish and birds and hunted marine mammals from
kayaks, small boats made from skins. In the subarctic region,
which was also too cold for farming, dense forests provided
people with plants and animals.
Northwest: From southern Alaska to northern California, abundant
game and plants allowed people to live in permanent settlements
without farming. High-ranking people practiced the potlatch, a
ceremony in which hosts gave guests gifts as a show of status.
Far West: Environments ranged from northern forests and
grasslands to southern deserts. California offered mild weather
and abundant food. Housing included pit houses dug into the
ground, cone-shaped houses covered with bark, and houses of
wooden planks.
Southwest: This region was dry, except after summer thunderstorms. Southwest groups farmed, and some hunted. People
stored water for the dry season. The Hopi, Zuni, and other Pueblo
people built towns with homes of adobe, or sun-dried brick.
Great Plains: People in the eastern Plains farmed and lived in earth
lodges, or log frames covered with soil. The treeless west was
unsuited to farming. People there lived in tepees or dug pits for
shelter. Buffalo supplied meat, hides for tepees, and bones for tools.
Eastern Woodlands: People hunted, fished, and foraged for
plants in the heavy forests. Some began farming by A.D. 1000. The
Algonquian people dominated southern Canada and the Great
Lakes. The Iroquois, in what is now New York, comprised five
nations. Each nation had clans, or groups of families related to one
another. Women owned all clan property and chose the clan’s
sachem, or tribal chief.
Southeast: A mild climate and steamy, hot summers supported
farming. The Cherokees and Creeks built cool, dry houses of
wooden frames covered with straw mats and mud. The Natchez
of the Gulf Coast created a complex society with a ruler, nobles,
and commoners.
Check Your Progress
1. Why did culture groups differ in the way they built homes?
2. Why did Native Americans revere nature?