Page 38 - American Stories, A History of the United States

nuts and berries, and then about 7,000 years ago, they discovered how to cultivate certain
plants. Knowledge of maize (corn), squash, and beans spread north from central Mexico. 1.1
The peoples living in the Southwest acquired cultivation skills long before the bands liv-
ing along the Atlantic Coast. The shift to basic crops—a transformation that is sometimes
termed the Agricultural Revolution—profoundly altered Native American societies. agricultural revolution The 1.2
The availability of a more reliable store of food helped liberate nomadic groups gradual shift from hunting and
from the insecurities of hunting and gathering. During this period, Native Americans gathering to cultivating basic food
crops that occurred worldwide
began to produce ceramics, a valuable technology for storing grain. The harvest made about 7,000 years ago. 1.3
permanent villages possible, which often were governed by clearly defined hierarchies
of elders and kings, and as the food supply increased, the population greatly expanded,
especially around urban centers in the Southwest and the Mississippi Valley. Although 1.4
the evidence is patchy, scholars currently estimate that approximately 4 million Native
Americans lived north of Mexico when the Europeans arrived.
The vast distances and varied climates of North America gave rise to a great diver-
sity of human cultures employing a wide variety of ingenuous strategies for dealing 1.5
with their unique regional environments (see Map 1.2). Some native peoples were
unable to take advantage of the Agricultural Revolution. In the harsh climate of the far
north, Inuit living in small autonomous kin-based bands developed watertight vessels 1.6
called kayaks that allowed them to travel and hunt seals in frigid Arctic waters. Many
Indian peoples, like those of the Great Plains, combined agriculture with hunting,
living most of the year in permanent villages built along river valleys with the men
dispersing to seasonal hunting camps at certain times. To attract game animals, espe-
cially the buffalo, Plains Indian communities burned the grasslands annually to pro-
mote the growth of fresh, green vegetation. Some Native American groups were even

Read the Document Thomas Harriot, The Algonquian Peoples of the Atlantic Coast (1588)

Columbia R.
NORTHWEST Okanagan SUB-ARCTIC
COAST Columbia R.
Makah Kutenai Chippewa Micmac
(Ojibwa)
Quinault PLATEAU Malecite
Chehalis Colville Blackfoot Assiniboin
Chinook Spokane Gros Ventre Chippewa Algonquin Abenaki
Tillamook Yakima R Missouri R. (Ojibwa) St. Lawrence R.
Umpqua Nez Flathead Hidatsa Ottawa
Perce O Mandan Mahican Pennacook
Cayuse Menominee Huron
Arikara
C
Yurok Klamath Sauk Iroquois Massachusetts
Bannock K Wampanoag
G r e a t L a k e s
Modoc Northern Kiowa Sioux Fox Oneida
Shasta Paiute Y Cheyenne Potawatomi Seneca Onondaga Narragansett
Hupa Shoshoni Winnebago
Mohawk
Maidu Ponca Kickapoo EASTERN
Cayuga
Pomo Goshute M Comanche Omaha Iowa WOODLAND Susquehannock
CALIFORNIA GREAT BASIN O Miami Erie
Pawnee Lenni-Lenape
Miwok U Arapaho Illinois (Delaware)
Colorado R.
Costanoan Southern Colorado R. N GREAT PLAINS Mississippi R. Powhatan
Ohio R.
Tutelo
Yokuts Paiute Ute Missouri APPALACHIAN MTS.
Kansa Shawnee
T
Navajo A Tuscarora
Chumash Mohave Pueblo Jicarilla Kiowa Osage
Apache
Serrano Hopi I
Zuñi N Quapaw Cherokee Catawba
Cahuilla Yavapi SOUTHWEST ATLANTIC
Yuma Pima S Chickasaw
Papago OCEAN
Maricopa Mescalero Wichita SOUTHEAST
PACIFIC Western Apache Caddo Choctaw Creek Yamasee
OCEAN Apache
Lipan Timucua
Opata Apache Natchez Biloxi Apalachee
Cochimi Seri Concho Tonkawa Atakapa
Tarahumara
Cahita Rio Grande Karankawa
NORTHERN Calusa 0 150 300 miles
Yaqui MEXICO Gulf of Mexico
0 150 300 kilometers
Aztecs
MaP 1.2 THE FirsT aMEriCaNs: loCaTioNs oF Major iNdiaN GrouPs aNd CulTurE
arEas iN THE 1600s The Native American groups scattered across North America into the 1600s had
strikingly diverse cultures.
5