What best explains the differences in the shelters used by Native Americans in the Northeast and the Great Plains?

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Plains Indian, member of any of the Native American peoples inhabiting the Great Plains of the United States and Canada. This culture area comprises a vast grassland between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains and from the present-day provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada through the present-day state of Texas in the United States. The area is drained principally by the Missouri and Mississippi rivers; the valleys of this watershed are the most reliable sites from which to obtain fresh water, wood, and most plant foods. The climate is continental, with annual temperatures ranging from below 0 °F (−18 °C) to as high as 110 °F (43 °C).

Buffalo Bill's Wild West show Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Perhaps because they were among the last indigenous peoples to be conquered in North America—some bands continued armed resistance to colonial demands into the 1880s—the tribes of the Great Plains are often regarded in popular culture as the archetypical American Indians. This view was heavily promoted by traveling exhibits such as George Catlin’s Indian Gallery, “Wild West shows” such as the one directed by Buffalo Bill, and a multitude of toys, collectibles, pulp novels, films, television shows, and other items marketed to consumers.

Six distinct American Indian language families or stocks were represented in the Plains. Those speaking the same language are generally referred to as a tribe or nation, but this naming convention frequently masks the existence of a number of completely autonomous political divisions, or bands, within a given tribe. For instance, the Blackfoot (Blackfeet) tribe included three independent bands, the Piegan (officially spelled Peigan in Canada), Blood, and Blackfoot proper (Northern Blackfoot).

Each language family included groups that lived in other culture areas, and the speakers of the several languages within a stock were not always geographically contiguous. Thus the speakers of Algonquian languages included the Blackfoot, Arapaho, Atsina, Plains Cree, and Saulteaux (Plains Ojibwa), all in the northern Plains, while Cheyenne, also an Algonquian language, was spoken in the central Plains.

Native American History Quiz

Who was the Shawnee chief, orator, military leader, and advocate of intertribal Indian alliance who directed resistance to white rule in the Ohio River valley? In the War of 1812 who joined British forces for the capture of Detroit and the invasion of Ohio? Test your knowledge. Take this quiz.

The speakers of Siouan languages included the Mandan, Hidatsa, Crow, Assiniboin, Omaha, Ponca, Osage, Kansa, Iowa, Oto, and Missouri. Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota were spoken by the bands of the Santee, Teton, and Yankton Sioux tribes, respectively (see Sidebar: The Difference Between a Tribe and a Band; Sidebar: Native American Self-Names).

The Pawnee, Arikara, and Wichita were Caddoan speakers, whereas the Wind River Shoshone and the Comanche were of the Uto-Aztecan language family. The Athabaskan (Na-Dené) stock was represented by the Sarcee in the northern Plains, while the Kiowa-Tanoan stock was represented by the Kiowa.

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Two other communication systems bear mention. The Métis of the Canadian Plains spoke Michif, a trade dialect that combined Plains Cree, an Algonquian language, and French. Michif was spoken over a wide area. In other areas many tribes used Plains Indian sign language (PISL) as a means of communication. This was a system of fixed hand and finger positions symbolizing ideas, the meanings of which were known to the majority of the tribes of the area.

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See All Good Facts

The introduction of the horse had a profound effect on the material life of the Plains peoples. Horses greatly increased human mobility and productivity in the region—so much so that many scholars divide Plains history into two periods, one before and one after the arrival of the horse. Horses became available gradually over the course of at least a century; before 1650 ce horses were fairly rare, and by 1750 they had become relatively common.

Stretching from Canada to Texas, the Great Plains region was too dry to support large groups of people around 10,000 years ago. But over time the climate became warmer and rainier, allowing grasses to grow. That brought herds of bison—and people weren’t far behind. Starting around A.D. 1200, tribes from the north, east, and southeast regions of what’s now the United States and the Canadian prairies moved to this area to hunt bison for food, shelter, tools, and clothing.

COOL CULTURE

Many tribes, including the Crow and Arapaho (pronounced uh-RAH-puh-hoh), survived by following bison herds as they migrated from place to place. These groups needed homes that could be quickly taken down and rebuilt again, so they lived in tent-like structures made of buffalo skins called tepees. (The Wichita people and a few other Plains tribes stayed in one place to farm the land, living in beehive-shaped houses made of grass.)

In the mid-1700s, Plains tribes started riding horses that had been brought over from Europe. Groups such as the Blackfeet, Sioux (pronounced SOO), and Comanche (pronounced kuh-MAN-chee) became master riders and warriors, and they controlled huge hunting grounds that supported thousands of members. For instance, at one point, the powerful Comanche tribe had more than 40,000 people.

Because the Plains tribes were spread across so much land, they spoke many different languages—so they developed a single sign language for people of all tribes to communicate with. They also shared a tradition of dance: Different tribes practiced ceremonial dances. The Cheyenne (SHY-an) performed the Animal Dance, meant to send luck to hunters so they would bring back enough food for the tribe. The Caddo (CAD-oh) performed the Turkey Dance, which celebrated the return of warriors from battle; and several tribes performed the Sun Dance, in which dancers prayed for spiritual healing and the welfare of their communities.

LIFE TODAY

Plains tribes didn’t hunt more bison than they needed to survive, so the population of these animals remained stable—that is, until European settlers arrived. By the 1880s these newcomers had hunted the bison almost to extinction. Once these tribes lost their main source of food, the U.S. government forced many of them to move to reservations, which are lands reserved for Native Americans. These were often located far from their traditional homelands in present-day Oklahoma, North Dakota, and South Dakota believed to be unsuitable for farming or settlement.

Today the Plains tribes are keeping their culture alive. Many host traditional celebrations for the public to watch, and some have created apps to make sure their languages aren’t forgotten. They’re also helping preserve their natural resources: Tribes in Texas are working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to restore the region’s longleaf pine forests, and other Plains tribes are trying to bring back bison to the region.

• In 2002, John Bennett Herrington, an astronaut and member of the Chickasaw (pronounced CHIK-uh-saw) tribe, became the first Native American to walk in space. He brought with him a strand of braided grass from his ancestral land, two arrow heads, six eagle feathers, and the Chickasaw Nation flag.

• Hidatsa (pronounced hee-DOT-suh) tribal members used sweathouses. They poured water on hot stones to create steam as they prayed inside.

Text and photos adapted from the Nat Geo Kids Encyclopedia of American Indian History and Culture.