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1.2 Native American Societies Before European Contact

4 min readdecember 31, 2022

Will Pulgarin

Will Pulgarin

Jillian Holbrook

Jillian Holbrook

Will Pulgarin

Will Pulgarin

Jillian Holbrook

Jillian Holbrook

https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/fiveable-92889.appspot.com/o/images%2Ftestcrop2.jpg?alt=media&token=33fedc57-cfec-458a-a906-ce9a18d03a72

Native peoples in the Southwest began constructing these highly defensible cliff dwellings in 1190 CE and continued expanding and refurbishing them until 1260 CE before abandoning them around 1300 CE. Andreas F. Borchert, Mesa Verde National Park Cliff Palace. Wikimedia. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany.

The marker of serves as a division between the Native American world and the world that came after European exploration, colonization, and invasion. In , both North and South America were inhabited by flourishing and highly complex civilizations. In particular, North America was home to hundreds of tribes, cities, and societies. in North America are often grouped by similarities in their adaptations to the environments (desert vs arctic vs woodland societies).

Indigenous societies in North America before Europeans were vastly more complex than College Board requires for the exam, which focuses on the major tribes and societies within seven identified geographical areas and some basic components of their lifestyles. The intricacies missing from this curriculum are political, social, and cultural:

  • What were the languages spoken?

  • Where were the regional trade centers?

  • How were conflicts resolved among different societies, and what were those conflicts?

While some of these details are lost to history due to the events that unfold on this continent after contact with Europeans, there are many, many more histories that are still preserved by indigenous people and communities today, even if they are not covered in the APUSH curriculum.

Permanent Settlements

The spread of maize cultivation from present-day Mexico northward into the present-day American Southwest and beyond supported economic development, settlement, advanced irrigation, and social diversification among indigenous societies. Through farming corn, beans, maize, and squash, tribes like the , , and built into the ledges of Mesa Verde.

Along the Northwest coast and in California, tribes developed communities along the ocean to hunt whales and salmon, building wooden lodgings, totem poles, and canoes from surrounding forests. These tribes included the , , , and .

In the Northeast, the Mississippi River Valley, and along the Atlantic seaboard, some indigenous societies developed mixed agricultural and hunter-gatherer economies that favored permanent villages.

Nomadic Hunting and Gathering Tribes

In contrast to the fixed societies of the Southwest, Natives in the and surrounding grasslands retained mobile, nomadic lifestyles. Based on the aridity, or dryness, of the conditions, the was more suitable for hunting and gathering, with food sources consisting of rabbits, snakes, birds, nuts, and insects. The lived in cone-shaped huts built with wooden poles, covered with dried grasses and brush that could be packed and transported as the tribe moved.

The major groups and regions of First Nations Peoples to know for AP US History are:

Geographical Area

Arctic and Subarctic

Northwest Coast and California

Plateau

Great Basin

Southwest

Northeast (Eastern Woodlands)

Southeast

Major Tribes

and

, , , &

, , and

Iroquois, Mohawk

, Seminole

, Cheyenne

Housing

Igloos

Wooden houses; often sheltering several related families

Bison-high teepees; rounded homes of wood

Cone-shaped huts built with wooden poles, covered with dried grasses and brush.

Built homes on the ledges of Mesa Verde

Mound builders for burial

Reed and bark huts. 

Teepees

Food Supply

Hunting and fishing.

Whales and other sea mammals; salmon

Salmon (fish)

Rabbits, snakes, birds, nuts, and insects

Corn, beans, maize, and squash

Deer; corn, beans, squash, tobacco

Tobacco, squash, melons, cabbage, peas, and corn

Bison; wild edible plants and roots

Clothing & Tools

Waterproof clothing and blankets; Tools made from bone and teeth

Animal skin clothing; spoons, masks, canoes, and totem polls

Deerskin clothing and robes of rabbit skin; Bows and arrows, spears, knives

Women wore strips of bark, sandals, and fur; baskets

Not stated

Clothing not stated; used forests to make tools, homes, fuel, and food

Clothing not stated; bows and arrows, blow guns, and traps

Bison fur; dogs were used to carry supplies.

Present-Day

Canada and Greenland

Canada, California, Washington, and Oregon

Oregon, California, Idaho, and Canada

Nevada, California, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Oregon

Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado

Stretched from New England to the Gulf of Mexico

Texas to West Virginia, down to Florida

Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, from Canada to Texas

Key Terms to Review (26)

1491

: This term refers to the year before Christopher Columbus arrived in America (in 1492), symbolizing a time when indigenous cultures thrived across North America without European influence or interference.

Apache

: The Apache are Native American tribes that traditionally lived in the Southwestern United States including Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and parts of Colorado.

Arctic and Subarctic Region

: This region refers to areas around Earth's North Pole (Arctic) or just below it (Subarctic), characterized by extremely cold temperatures, ice-covered seas and treeless landscapes.

Cherokee

: The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern woodlands, who were forcibly relocated westward to Oklahoma on what became known as 'The Trail of Tears.'

Chinook

: The Chinook are Native American tribes who lived in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, particularly along the Columbia River. They were known for their fishing skills and plank houses.

Chumash

: The Chumash are a Native American people who historically inhabited the central and southern coastal regions of California, particularly around Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, as well as three Channel Islands.

Coos

: The Coos are a Native American tribe from the Pacific Northwest, specifically in what is now Oregon. They traditionally lived along the Coos River and South Slough of Coos Bay.

Cree

: The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations Native Americans in North America. They live across Canada and parts of the United States including Montana and Oklahoma.

Eskimo

: The term "Eskimo" is used to describe the indigenous people who inhabit the Arctic regions of Alaska, Greenland, Siberia, and Canada. They are known for their ability to adapt to extremely cold environments.

First Nation Peoples

: The term "First Nations" refers to indigenous peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. In broader context, it can also refer to original inhabitants of any land before colonization.

Great Basin Region

: The Great Basin Region is an arid expanse covering parts of Nevada, Utah, California, Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon. It's characterized by desert conditions with numerous mountain ranges running north-south.

Great Plains

: The Great Plains is a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, that lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada.

Mesa Verde National Park Cliff Palace

: The Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America, located in Mesa Verde National Park. It was built by Ancestral Puebloans around 1190 AD and showcases their architectural, cultural, and societal achievements.

Navajo

: The Navajo are a Native American tribe primarily living in Arizona and New Mexico. They are known for their complex clan system, weaving, and code talking during World War II.

Nez Perce

: The Nez Perce are a Native American tribe who traditionally lived in the Plateau Region. They were skilled horsemen and hunters known for their distinct culture and resistance against U.S. expansion into their lands.

Nomadic Hunting and Gathering Tribes

: These tribes did not settle permanently in one location but moved regularly following game animals (hunting) and seasonal growths of plants (gathering). This lifestyle was common among many early human societies across North America before agriculture developed.

Northeast (Eastern Woodlands) Region

: The Northeast or Eastern Woodlands Region refers to a geographical area that includes states from Maine down to Maryland along with parts of Canada. This region was home to various Native American tribes including Iroquois Confederacy and Algonquin-speaking tribes.

Northwest Coast and California Region

: This term refers to the geographical area along the Pacific coast of North America, stretching from southern Alaska to northern California. It is known for its diverse indigenous cultures.

Permanent Settlements

: Permanent settlements refer to places where people have decided to live indefinitely. These are typically characterized by permanent structures like houses, schools, and other buildings.

Plateau Region

: The Plateau Region is an area in the United States located between the Cascade Range and Rocky Mountains, primarily in parts of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. It's known for its high plains and plateaus.

Pueblo

: The Pueblo are a group of Native American people in the Southwestern United States, particularly New Mexico and Arizona. They are known for their unique architecture, including multi-story houses made from adobe or stone.

Shoshone

: The Shoshone are a Native American tribe with diverse groups spread across parts of what are now Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah and California.

Sioux

: The Sioux are a group of Native American tribes that historically lived in the Great Plains region of North America. They are known for their warrior culture and resistance against U.S. expansion into their territories.

Southeast Region

: The Southeast Region refers to the geographical area of the United States that includes states like Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and others. This region is known for its diverse cultures and histories, including significant Native American populations such as the Cherokee and Seminole tribes.

Southwest Region

: The Southwest Region in the context of AP US History refers to the geographical area that includes states like Arizona, New Mexico, parts of Texas and Oklahoma. This region was home to Native American tribes such as the Navajo, Apache, and Pueblo.

Tlingit

: The Tlingit are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America, specifically Alaska. They have a rich cultural heritage with complex social structure and art forms.

1.2 Native American Societies Before European Contact

4 min readdecember 31, 2022

Will Pulgarin

Will Pulgarin

Jillian Holbrook

Jillian Holbrook

Will Pulgarin

Will Pulgarin

Jillian Holbrook

Jillian Holbrook

https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/fiveable-92889.appspot.com/o/images%2Ftestcrop2.jpg?alt=media&token=33fedc57-cfec-458a-a906-ce9a18d03a72

Native peoples in the Southwest began constructing these highly defensible cliff dwellings in 1190 CE and continued expanding and refurbishing them until 1260 CE before abandoning them around 1300 CE. Andreas F. Borchert, Mesa Verde National Park Cliff Palace. Wikimedia. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany.

The marker of serves as a division between the Native American world and the world that came after European exploration, colonization, and invasion. In , both North and South America were inhabited by flourishing and highly complex civilizations. In particular, North America was home to hundreds of tribes, cities, and societies. in North America are often grouped by similarities in their adaptations to the environments (desert vs arctic vs woodland societies).

Indigenous societies in North America before Europeans were vastly more complex than College Board requires for the exam, which focuses on the major tribes and societies within seven identified geographical areas and some basic components of their lifestyles. The intricacies missing from this curriculum are political, social, and cultural:

  • What were the languages spoken?

  • Where were the regional trade centers?

  • How were conflicts resolved among different societies, and what were those conflicts?

While some of these details are lost to history due to the events that unfold on this continent after contact with Europeans, there are many, many more histories that are still preserved by indigenous people and communities today, even if they are not covered in the APUSH curriculum.

Permanent Settlements

The spread of maize cultivation from present-day Mexico northward into the present-day American Southwest and beyond supported economic development, settlement, advanced irrigation, and social diversification among indigenous societies. Through farming corn, beans, maize, and squash, tribes like the , , and built into the ledges of Mesa Verde.

Along the Northwest coast and in California, tribes developed communities along the ocean to hunt whales and salmon, building wooden lodgings, totem poles, and canoes from surrounding forests. These tribes included the , , , and .

In the Northeast, the Mississippi River Valley, and along the Atlantic seaboard, some indigenous societies developed mixed agricultural and hunter-gatherer economies that favored permanent villages.

Nomadic Hunting and Gathering Tribes

In contrast to the fixed societies of the Southwest, Natives in the and surrounding grasslands retained mobile, nomadic lifestyles. Based on the aridity, or dryness, of the conditions, the was more suitable for hunting and gathering, with food sources consisting of rabbits, snakes, birds, nuts, and insects. The lived in cone-shaped huts built with wooden poles, covered with dried grasses and brush that could be packed and transported as the tribe moved.

The major groups and regions of First Nations Peoples to know for AP US History are:

Geographical Area

Arctic and Subarctic

Northwest Coast and California

Plateau

Great Basin

Southwest

Northeast (Eastern Woodlands)

Southeast

Major Tribes

and

, , , &

, , and

Iroquois, Mohawk

, Seminole

, Cheyenne

Housing

Igloos

Wooden houses; often sheltering several related families

Bison-high teepees; rounded homes of wood

Cone-shaped huts built with wooden poles, covered with dried grasses and brush.

Built homes on the ledges of Mesa Verde

Mound builders for burial

Reed and bark huts. 

Teepees

Food Supply

Hunting and fishing.

Whales and other sea mammals; salmon

Salmon (fish)

Rabbits, snakes, birds, nuts, and insects

Corn, beans, maize, and squash

Deer; corn, beans, squash, tobacco

Tobacco, squash, melons, cabbage, peas, and corn

Bison; wild edible plants and roots

Clothing & Tools

Waterproof clothing and blankets; Tools made from bone and teeth

Animal skin clothing; spoons, masks, canoes, and totem polls

Deerskin clothing and robes of rabbit skin; Bows and arrows, spears, knives

Women wore strips of bark, sandals, and fur; baskets

Not stated

Clothing not stated; used forests to make tools, homes, fuel, and food

Clothing not stated; bows and arrows, blow guns, and traps

Bison fur; dogs were used to carry supplies.

Present-Day

Canada and Greenland

Canada, California, Washington, and Oregon

Oregon, California, Idaho, and Canada

Nevada, California, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Oregon

Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado

Stretched from New England to the Gulf of Mexico

Texas to West Virginia, down to Florida

Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, from Canada to Texas

Key Terms to Review (26)

1491

: This term refers to the year before Christopher Columbus arrived in America (in 1492), symbolizing a time when indigenous cultures thrived across North America without European influence or interference.

Apache

: The Apache are Native American tribes that traditionally lived in the Southwestern United States including Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and parts of Colorado.

Arctic and Subarctic Region

: This region refers to areas around Earth's North Pole (Arctic) or just below it (Subarctic), characterized by extremely cold temperatures, ice-covered seas and treeless landscapes.

Cherokee

: The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern woodlands, who were forcibly relocated westward to Oklahoma on what became known as 'The Trail of Tears.'

Chinook

: The Chinook are Native American tribes who lived in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, particularly along the Columbia River. They were known for their fishing skills and plank houses.

Chumash

: The Chumash are a Native American people who historically inhabited the central and southern coastal regions of California, particularly around Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, as well as three Channel Islands.

Coos

: The Coos are a Native American tribe from the Pacific Northwest, specifically in what is now Oregon. They traditionally lived along the Coos River and South Slough of Coos Bay.

Cree

: The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations Native Americans in North America. They live across Canada and parts of the United States including Montana and Oklahoma.

Eskimo

: The term "Eskimo" is used to describe the indigenous people who inhabit the Arctic regions of Alaska, Greenland, Siberia, and Canada. They are known for their ability to adapt to extremely cold environments.

First Nation Peoples

: The term "First Nations" refers to indigenous peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. In broader context, it can also refer to original inhabitants of any land before colonization.

Great Basin Region

: The Great Basin Region is an arid expanse covering parts of Nevada, Utah, California, Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon. It's characterized by desert conditions with numerous mountain ranges running north-south.

Great Plains

: The Great Plains is a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, that lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada.

Mesa Verde National Park Cliff Palace

: The Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America, located in Mesa Verde National Park. It was built by Ancestral Puebloans around 1190 AD and showcases their architectural, cultural, and societal achievements.

Navajo

: The Navajo are a Native American tribe primarily living in Arizona and New Mexico. They are known for their complex clan system, weaving, and code talking during World War II.

Nez Perce

: The Nez Perce are a Native American tribe who traditionally lived in the Plateau Region. They were skilled horsemen and hunters known for their distinct culture and resistance against U.S. expansion into their lands.

Nomadic Hunting and Gathering Tribes

: These tribes did not settle permanently in one location but moved regularly following game animals (hunting) and seasonal growths of plants (gathering). This lifestyle was common among many early human societies across North America before agriculture developed.

Northeast (Eastern Woodlands) Region

: The Northeast or Eastern Woodlands Region refers to a geographical area that includes states from Maine down to Maryland along with parts of Canada. This region was home to various Native American tribes including Iroquois Confederacy and Algonquin-speaking tribes.

Northwest Coast and California Region

: This term refers to the geographical area along the Pacific coast of North America, stretching from southern Alaska to northern California. It is known for its diverse indigenous cultures.

Permanent Settlements

: Permanent settlements refer to places where people have decided to live indefinitely. These are typically characterized by permanent structures like houses, schools, and other buildings.

Plateau Region

: The Plateau Region is an area in the United States located between the Cascade Range and Rocky Mountains, primarily in parts of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. It's known for its high plains and plateaus.

Pueblo

: The Pueblo are a group of Native American people in the Southwestern United States, particularly New Mexico and Arizona. They are known for their unique architecture, including multi-story houses made from adobe or stone.

Shoshone

: The Shoshone are a Native American tribe with diverse groups spread across parts of what are now Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah and California.

Sioux

: The Sioux are a group of Native American tribes that historically lived in the Great Plains region of North America. They are known for their warrior culture and resistance against U.S. expansion into their territories.

Southeast Region

: The Southeast Region refers to the geographical area of the United States that includes states like Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and others. This region is known for its diverse cultures and histories, including significant Native American populations such as the Cherokee and Seminole tribes.

Southwest Region

: The Southwest Region in the context of AP US History refers to the geographical area that includes states like Arizona, New Mexico, parts of Texas and Oklahoma. This region was home to Native American tribes such as the Navajo, Apache, and Pueblo.

Tlingit

: The Tlingit are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America, specifically Alaska. They have a rich cultural heritage with complex social structure and art forms.


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AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.


© 2024 Fiveable Inc. All rights reserved.

AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.