Lesson 1 Commentary: The Native Americans—The American Plains and the American Woodlands

The American Plains

At the time the Spanish arrived in Mexico, the Indians of North America were poised to move into Aztec territory. The Indians along what is now the border between the United States and Mexico were very similar to the Aztecs, but they were still hunter-gatherers, and the prosperity of the Aztec lands must have been appealing.

They had traded with the Aztecs, so they knew what was there. These Indians, called Plains Indians, lived by following the buffalo, north in the summer and south in the winter. They moved in family groups and relied on the buffalo for their food, clothing, and shelter. They killed buffalo with spears, or possibly by driving them over a handy cliff. They also gathered roots, berries, and grains. Sometimes they planted some tobacco for use in their peace pipes, but rather than return to harvest it, they helped themselves to another group's tobacco if they found it at harvest time. The success of the group depended on their skill as hunters.

The American Woodlands

To the east, game was plentiful and wood was available for housing, so the people became seminomadic. Some became permanent settlers. They grew crops, hunted with bow and arrow for what meat they needed, and gathered berries and roots to eat. Fishing provided a source of food and fertilizer for their corn. Their houses were often surrounded by fences for protection from animals and other Indians. Along the Great Lakes, the Iroquois united into a confederation that was so powerful it imposed hundreds of years of peace, collected taxes on trade on the lakes, and later influenced the ideas of Benjamin Franklin. The Iroquois were unique in the power they gave to women. While other native groups saw women as beasts of burden—those who raised the children, provided the food and clothes, and skinned and cut up the meat—the women of the Iroquois had a higher status. They still raised the children and crops and prepared the food and clothing, but they also chose the leaders of the nation, electing the best hunter to lead the hunt and the best warrior in time of war. All actions were taken with the approval of the one woman chosen as "mother" to the group.