Group

Location

Livelihood

Cultural Differences

Arctic

Coasts of Alaska and northern Canada

Long, dark winters- no farming, hunted seal and caribou, fished

Tents in summer, round, well-insulated frame structures covered with skins and blocks of sod in winter, in Central Canada winter houses made of blocks of ice.

Subarctic

Major part of Canada from Atlantic Ocean to Rocky Mountains

Hunted moose and caribou, fished

Nomadic (moved from place to place) lived in tents or sunken round houses, used canoes in summer, sleds in winter

Northwest Pacific Coast

West coast of North America from Southern Alaska to Northern California

Hunted sheep, goats, elk, gathered berries, edible roots and tubers similar to potatoes and fished

Dense population living in wooden houses 100 ft. long with extended families, sometimes slaves, used iron knives, staged elaborate religious dramas in winter

California Intermountain

Mountain ridges and valleys of Utah, Nevada, and California

Hunted deer, sheep, birds, fished, gathered pine nuts and wild grain

Thatched houses, little clothing in summer, advanced processing and storing of food, used shells for money.

Plateau

Idaho, eastern Oregon, Washington, western Montana, and Canada

Ate from salmon runs, roots and tubers

Lived in sunken round houses in winter, mat houses in summer, dried salmon and roots. Ran a trading center in Oregon.

Southwest

Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Northern Mexico

Hunted, gathered nuts, ground grain into flour, grew maize

Lived in adobe houses, irrigated their fields, learned to raise sheep and horses from Spanish.

Eastern Woodlands

Minnesota and Ontario to Atlantic Ocean and South to Carolinas

Hunted deer, gathered wild grain, ground seeds into flour, fished and gathered shellfish

Carved beautiful stones, mined copper in Great Lakes area, built towns on top of large mounds with temple on highest, thousands killed by epidemics.