2019

THE GREAT PLAINS

Students’ names: Lucchesi Florencia,

Cantos Martina
Teacher’s name: Lorena Carrieri
Subject: American history and
literature
 The Great Plains
GEOGRAPHY
The Great Plains is the broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and
grassland that lies west of the Mississippi River tall-grass prairie in the United States and
east of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S and Canada. The Great Plains is divided into
Northern, Intermediate, Central and Southern Great Plains. It embraces:

 The entirety of the U.S. states of Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota
 Parts of the states of Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma,
Texas, and Wyoming
 The southern portions of the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and
Saskatchewan

SETTLEMENT
The first humans to inhabit the Great Plains were Native Americans, who likely settled over
10,000 years ago. Plains Indians, Interior Plains Indians or Indigenous people of the Great
Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band
governments who have traditionally lived on the Great plains in North America.

SOURCES OF FOOD/AGRICULTURE
One of the most important sources of food for early inhabitants were bison. Prior to the
introduction of the horse, Native American tribes would work in teams to herd wild bison into
pens or corrals for slaughter. Bison provided both food and hides for those that hunted them.

EUROPEANS AND HORSES

Life on the Great Plains changed dramatically following the arrival of Europeans. The
introduction of the horse from Europe forever changed Native American ways of life. Bison
hunting, for example, could now be done on horseback by a single man. Once Europeans
began to settle the region, they sought to push out the old inhabitants to make room for
agriculture and a more 'civilized' way of life.
The Plains Indians found by Coronado had not yet obtained horses; it was the introduction of the
horse that revolutionized Plains culture. The horse enabled the Plains Indians to gain their
subsistence with relative ease from the seemingly limitless buffalo herds. Riders were able to
travel faster and farther in search of bison herds and to transport more goods. The first Spanish
conqueror to bring horses to the new world was Hernán Cortés in 1519. However, Cortés only
brought about sixteen horses with his expedition. Coronado brought 558 horses with him on his
1539–1542 expedition.

PLAINS INDIANS TRIBES

Plains Indians are divided into two broad classifications which overlap to some degree. The first
group became a fully nomadic horse culture during the 18th and 19th centuries, following the
vast herds of buffalo, although some tribes occasionally engaged in agriculture. The second
group of Plains Indians were semi-sedentary, and, in addition to hunting buffalo, they lived in
villages, raised crops, and actively traded with other tribes.
Nomadic tribes survived on hunting and gathering. People hunted the American Bison (or
buffalo) to make items used in everyday life, such as food, cups, decorations, crafting tools,
knives, and clothing. The tribes followed the seasonal grazing and migration of the bison. The
Plains Indians lived in tipis because they were easily disassembled and allowed the nomadic life
of following game.

GENDER ROLES
Plains Indian women had different roles but complementary to men's roles. They typically owned
the family's home and the majority of its contents.
In traditional culture, women tanned hides, tended crops, gathered wild foods, prepared food,
made clothing, and took down and erected the family's tepees.
Plains women in general have historically had the right to divorce and keep custody of their
children. Because women own the home, an unkind husband can find himself homeless. A
historical example of a Plains woman divorcing is Making Out Road, a Cheyenne woman, who
in 1841 married non-Native frontiersman Kit Carson. The marriage was turbulent and formally
ended when Making Out Road threw Carson and his belongings out of her tepee (in the
traditional manner of announcing a divorce). She later went on to marry, and divorce, several
additional men, both European-American and Indian.

SOCIETY, CULTURE AND RELIGION

Many tribes focused on nature. They were based on the observation that all things are alive and
possess spirits. Earth was the mother of all spirits. Daily prayers could be performed by an
individual or be part of group ceremonies. The most important group ceremony is the Sun Dance,
an intertribal ceremony on the Plains that involves personal sacrifice for the good of loved ones
and the entire community.
Certain people are "blessed" as medicine men or women with spiritual roles in the community.
The buffalo is particularly sacred to many of the Plains peoples; their horns and hides are
sometimes used as sacred regalia during ceremony. In Plains cosmology, certain items possess
spiritual or talismanic power. Medicine bundles are particularly sacred and are only entrusted to
specialized bundle keepers. Other items with great spiritual power include war shields, war shirts,
and ceremonial pipes, many of which have been cared for by tribes for centuries.

WARFARE

The earliest Spanish explorers in the 16th century did not find the Plains Indians especially
warlike. Three factors led to a growing importance of warfare in Plains Indian culture:
1. First, was the Spanish colonization of New Mexico which stimulated raids and counter-
raids by Spaniards and Indians for goods and slaves.
2. Second, was the contact of the Indians with French fur traders which increased rivalry
among Indian tribes to control trade and trade routes.
3. Third, was the acquisition of the horse and the greater mobility it afforded the Plains
Indians. What evolved among the Plains Indians from the 17th to the late 19th century
was warfare as both a means of livelihood and a sport.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_on_the_prehistoric_Great_Plains
 http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.ag.052 : Baillargeon, Morgan.
"Native Cowboys on the Canadian Plains." Agricultural History 69 (1995), 547–62.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Plains
 Indianhttp://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Plains_Indians