American West: The Plains Indians

Buffalo
1. How the 'Indians' learnt to survive on the plains
  1. Hunted the Buffalo around the plains, moved along with them.
    1. Started using basic weapons, bows and arrows etc.
      1. Used horses when introduced by the Spanish (16th century)
2. Food from meat
3. Shelter (tipi) from hide
4. Tools & Weapons from bones
5. Clothing from furs
The Plains
1. Vast Landscape
  1. No landmarks, easy to get lost
2. Wild Animals
  1. Buffalo
3. Sparse Landscape
  1. No water or lumber for long distances
4. Bad Weather
  1. Dry, extremely hot summer
  2. Freezing, unforgiving winter
5. Arid & Unfarmable
  1. Europeans were traditionally farmers
Beliefs
1. Everything has a spirit
  1. Animals
  2. Plants
  3. Streams
  4. Rocks
2. Only take from nature what you need, always leave enough for tomorrow
3. The Circle is important
4. Human beings came from the earth, and would return after death
5. The Great Spirit gives life to everything
6. Contact the spirit world through visions
Family Life
1. Originally from Asia, went to America by a land bridge that no longer exists.
2. Housing
  1. Tipis from Buffalo hide
  2. Had to be able to move quickly
  3. Could be made into a Travois for travelling
3. Travelled in small groups (10 to 50 families)
  1. Men
    1. Looked after horses
    2. Defended Camp
    3. Hunted Buffalo
  2. Women
    1. Looked after children and the tipi
    2. Collected Water
    3. Made clothing
  3. Children
    1. Taught what they needed to know to be adult Indians
  4. Elderly & Sick
    1. Gave advice, trusted for wisdom
    2. Looked after
    3. Left behind if too ill
Fighting
1. The Great Spirit owns the land, so they did not fight to control it
  1. Whites believed they could own the land, and so fought.
2. Indians decorated their weapons
  1. Whites designed weapons just to kill
3. Individual men were important
  1. A single US man was not important, there were hundreds of thousands
4. Against other Indian tribes, battles had strict rules
  1. White men fought to win, they had no rules. They killed women and children.
5. An individuals skill on a horse was highly respected
  1. Whites depended on military technology such as rifles and cannons.
6. Took the scalps of their enemies to improve spirit
  1. Whites had no interest in bodies of the enemy.
    1. They found it disgusting, and believed Indians were savages.

Next up

American West: The Plains Indians

Description

Resource summary

Similar

	Created by James McConnell almost 11 years ago