Native Americans

Group members:

Nguyễn Ngọc Đức Ái

Dương Đức Thiện

Trương Tuyết Lâm

Table Of Contents
1. Origin
2. Cultural Regions of North
America
3. Clothing and Languages
4. Religion and Beliefs
5. Food
6. American Indian Wars
7. How did Native American culture
influence American culture?
8. Native American Today
9. Indian Reservations In The
Continental United States
 1. Origin
These first Americans descended or came from
cavemen of Asia. These were the first people to live
in North America. That is why we call them Native
Americans.
2. Cultural Regions of North America
 a. Northwest Coast
• They lived between the ocean and rugged mountain
ranges.
• The growing season was short, and the climate was too
wet for much agriculture.
• There was plenty of fish, especially salmon. There were
also deer and bears.
• Northwest Coast Indians travelled in dugouts, or boats
made from large hollowed out of logs.
 The Chinooks
- Best known as traders.
- Lived near the coast.
- Held potlatches which were
celebrations to show off wealth.
The Makahs
- Whales were plentiful along the
Northwest Coast.
- Built canoes to hunt the whales
at sea.
- Made wooden harpoons - long
spears with sharp shell points
for whale hunting.
b. Southwest

• Climate: very dry or arid.

• Land: desert.
• Temperature: fierce heat during the day and sharp cold at night.
• Ecosystem: few animals.
 Hopis
- Hopi means “Peaceful One”.
- Lived in Pueblos adobe houses of many
rooms next to or on top of one another.
- The early Hopis lived in present-day
Arizona.
- Most of their villages were built on top of
mesas.
Navajos
- Settled in the area of the Southwest known
as the Four Corners.
- Navajos built their hogans in small, family
size groups, miles apart from one another.
- Hogan - a cone shaped frame covered with
mud or grass.
 c. Great Plains

• Indians known as The Plains lived in

the Great Plains.
• Buffalo was the most important
natural resource of the Plains
Indians.
• Indians of the Great Plains lived in
tepees.
• The Plains Indians were hunters.
d. Eastern Woodlands

• The Eastern Woodlands region covered the east coast of

what is today known as the United States, west to the
Mississippi River.
• Because these Indians lived in the forests, they were called
the Eastern Woodland Indians.
 The Iroquois
• The Iroquois: a group of five
tribes that lived near each other
and spoke similar languages.
• The five Iroquois: Seneca,
Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida and
Mohawk.
• In 1570, the five tribes formed
the Iroquois league.
The Cherokees
• Lived in the river valleys of the
Southern Appalachian Mountains.
• Cherokees were farmers and hunters.
• Several families of the same clans
shared the same house.
Clothing
Moccasins

Moccasins: a type of footwear, made of

animal hide and traditionally made and
worn by various Indigenous peoples in
America.
Female:
Hairstyles

Male:
 Indian Headdresses
Native American
warbonnets were important
ceremonial regalia worn
only by chiefs and
warriors. Also, only men
wore warbonnets.
Trailing Headdress Halo Headdress Straight Up

Battle Roach Buffalo Warbonnet Sioux Buffalo Headdress

Headdress were more
ceremonial. Warbonnets as
well for declaring war,
Roachs were more often
worn to battle.
Languages
Due to the geographical division,
the Native American language
system has become extremely
complex with more than 300
spoken languages, of which dozens
of languages are considered a
separate language family not
related to any other language
system.
Languages
About writing, Native Americans
did not have a script, they only had
hieroglyphic letters and each letter
represented a word or an idea. But
the most common is sign language,
unlike spoken language, Native
Americans are almost in
agreement with each other on sign
language.
4. Religion And Beliefs
Most Native American tribes believe that
spirits exist everywhere and in
everything. They believe that ancient
spirits can connect through omens
through dreams. In addition, the Native
Americans had a ritual known as the Sun
Dance.
The ancient Sun dance was often performed
by important figures in the tribe, whereby the
person would dance for days until he
collapsed from exhaustion, while
unconscious between the living and the dead,
he would dream of important omens for the
fate of his tribe.
 Kachinas
• Kachinas were Hopi spirits or gods
which lived within the mountains.
• These spirits were called on to bring
rain, make crops grow, heal the sick, or
find animals to hunt.
• Hopi’s Kachinas talked to the gods by
singing and dancing, like for rain.
• The Hopi’s made Kachina firgues
representing the spirits and used them to
teach children about tribal religious
beliefs.
Food
Ways to get food:
1) Hunting and Fishing
2) Agriculture/ Farming/ Gathering
Hunting and Fishing
 Agriculture/ Farming/ Gathering

Other foods that could be found naturally in the Americas

were eggs, honey, maple syrup and sugar, salt, nuts, and
fruit, and a wide variety of beans, roots, and greens.
 Native American Weapons
1) 2) 3)

4) 5) 1) Bow and Arrow

2) Spear
3) Plains Indian war club
4) Tomahawk
5) Knife
7. American Indian Wars
Date 1609–1924
Location North America

Result The sovereignty of various

combatants extended or lost.
Massive indigenous population
declined.
Deportation and forced assimilation
of indigenous tribes.
 American Indian Wars
The American Indian Wars, were fought by European
governments and colonists in North America, and
later by the United States and Canadian governments
and American and Canadian settlers, against various
American Indian and First Nation tribes.
After the American Revolution, many conflicts were
local to specific states or regions and frequently
involved disputes over land use; some entailed cycles of
violent reprisal.
 American Indian Wars
As settlers spread westward across North America after 1780,
armed conflicts increased in size, duration, and intensity
between settlers and various Indian and First Nation tribes.
The climax came in the War of 1812 when major Indian
coalitions in the Midwest and the South fought against the
United States and lost.
The Indian Removal Act of 1830 authorized the American
government to enforce Indian removal from east of the
Mississippi River to Indian Territory west of the American
frontier, especially what became Oklahoma.
Native American
• When the United States was created, established Native American
tribes were generally considered semi-independent nations, as they
generally lived in communities separate from white settlers.
• Native American cultures across the United States are notable for
their wide variety and diversity of lifestyles, regalia, art forms and
beliefs.
• In the early years, as Native peoples encountered European
explorers and settlers and engaged in trade, they exchanged food,
crafts, and furs for blankets, iron and steel implements, horses,
trinkets, firearms, and alcoholic beverages.
8. Native American Today
• Since the 1960s, Native American self-determination movements have
resulted in positive changes to the lives of many Native Americans,
though there are still many contemporary issues faced by them.
• Today, there are over five million Native Americans in the United States,
78% of whom live outside reservations: California, Arizona, and
Oklahoma have the largest populations of Native Americans in the
United States. Most Native Americans live in small towns or rural areas.
• Native American cultures across the United States are notable for their
wide variety and diversity of lifestyles, regalia, art forms and beliefs.
 9. How did Native American culture influence
American culture?
• Native Americans have made many valuable contributions to
American culture, particularly in the areas of language, art,
food, and government.
• Agriculture is another area in which Native American had a
great and lasting influence. Being skilled farmers, the Native
Americans of North America taught the newcomers many
things about farming techniques and crops.  
• In addition, many of the foods we eat today were introduced to
the Europeans by Native Americans. For example, potatoes,
corn, chocolate, and peanuts were unknown in Europe. Now
they are staples in the American diet.
10. Indian Reservations In The Continental
United States
THANK YOU!
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