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The region now recognized as the Great Plains has been characterized in many ways, not all of them laudatory. Part of the region was branded the Great American Desert following the explorations of Zebulon Pike (1806) and Stephen Long (1820), though this aspersion was never widely accepted by the American public.
- Mississippian Culture
- Southwest
- West Coast
- Great Basin and The Plateau
- Far North
- Great Plains
- Eastern Coast and Woodlands
- Southeast
Key Groups: Cahokia (AD 1100), Moundville Religion and Culture: The Mississippians built towns with large temple-mounds and central plazas. The rulers’ and nobles’ homes stood on pyramids surrounding the central square. Agriculture: The Mississippian Culture’s most significant contribution to agriculture is their introduction of the hoe as a farmin...
Key Groups: Hohokam (200 BC), Anasazi (200 BC), Zuni, Hopi, Acoma, Apache, Navajo Religion and Culture: Early cultures in the Southwest probably developed around 2,000 years ago, and were linked with cultures in Mexico through trade. Anasazi culture grew eastward, spreading their multistory adobe buildings (named pueblos by the Spanish) to other cu...
Key Groups: Kwakiutl, Haida, Pomo, Hupa, Yurok Religion and Culture: The American Indians on the northwest coast (Kwakiutl and Haida) were skilled woodworkers and carved elaborate totem poles and masks after being introduced to iron tools. They had access to rich resources and held feasts where they would provide guests with valuable gifts. The Pom...
Key Groups: Ute, Shoshone, Nez Percé Religion and Culture: As a result of the challenges of living in the dry Great Basin, the Utes and Shoshones had rather small populations, but were exceptional artists, creating elaborate religious and ceremonial beadwork. Like their neighbors in the Great Basin, the Nez Percé created elaborate beadwork. Agricul...
Key Groups: Inuits, Aleuts Religion and Culture: There are few archeological artifacts from these cultures, most likely because of rising sea levels after the Ice Age, which covered settlements on the coast. Aleut culture is based heavily on the sea, and they are known for their basketry. Inuits lived in an icier area, and were more mobile than the...
Key Groups: Sioux, Pawnee, Cheyenne Religion and Culture: The cultures of the Great Plains were largely migratory, following the movement of the bison, which the tribes depended on for survival. Because of the constant movement, they needed portable homes, and invented the tepee, which could be easily put together and taken down. They believed in m...
Key Groups: Iroquois (included the Mohawks and Oneidas), Chippewa, Fox, Sauk Religion and Culture: The Iroquois lived in longhouses, which were large wooden buildings with a central hall with living spaces on either side, clusterd in large villages. The longhouse was central to Iroquois culture, and they often called themselves "people of the longh...
Key Groups: Choctaw Religion and Culture: Some groups continued Mississippian practices into the 1500s and beyond, and another group created elaborate carved shells, which archaeologists believe had religious meaning. Agriculture: A warm climate, fertile land, and plenty of rain made several crops a year possibly for American Indians of the Southea...
People also ask
Why is the Great Plains called the Great American desert?
Why was the Great Plains an enigma to the humid peoples?
Is the Great Plains the granary of North America?
When was the Great Plains first used?
The term "Great Plains" is used in the United States to describe a sub-section of the even more vast Interior Plains physiographic division, which covers much of the interior of North America. It also has currency as a region of human geography, referring to the Plains Indians or the Plains states. [citation needed]
The Plains and its People. In many ways the Great Plains has been an enigma to the humid peoples. James Malin, Kansan, historian, and one of the godfathers of environmental history, divided North Americans into humids and arids. Arid peoples were created out of their Plains experiences; they evolved into something different from residents of ...
For approximately 6,000 years, between about 8,000 and 2,000 years ago, the Archaic period in the Great Plains was a time of human adjustment to changing ecological conditions. Paleo-Indian bison hunting decreased markedly after about 9,000 years ago, due to a steady deterioration of ecological conditions. Subsequently there were several late ...
The traditional line for marking the eastern boundary of the Great Plains was the 100th west meridian, but others say it should be drawn farther to the east, near the 97th meridian, and based on the amount of rainfall—between an area that receives 20 inches (500 mm) or more of rainfall per year and one that receives less than 20 inches (500 ...
The Great Plains, sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located just to the east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. It is the western part of the Interior Plains, which also include the mixed grass prairie, the tallgrass prairie between the Great Lakes and Appalachian Plateau, and the Taiga Plains and ...
