North American Cultural Map Activity

Created by Mr. Stephenson

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North American Cultural Map

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The 10 Different Native American Cultural Groups of North America

Click on each group to find out more about that group

Northwest Subarctic

Arctic

Southeast

Southwest

CaliforniaGreat Basin

Northeast

Great Plains

Plateau

Arctic Cultural Group

• Food: Mainly seals, but also sea otters and fish.

• How food was obtained: Hunting and Fishing.

• Housing: Igloos

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Subarctic Cultural Group

• Food: Caribou, elk, moose, fish, seals, nuts, and fruit. Favorite dish was Pemmican which was made from dried meat.

• How food was obtained: Hunting, Fishing, and Gathering.

• Housing: Lean–to Houses

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Northwest Cultural Group

• Food: Lots of fish, acorns, and camas root. Seafood and fish included porpoises, seals, sea otters, salmon, halibut, cod, clams, oysters, mussels, crabs, and even a few large whales.

• How food was obtained: Mainly fishing and gathering.

• Housing: Plank houses

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Plateau Cultural Group

• Food: Edible vegetables and fruits, including camassia, bitterroot, kouse root, serviceberry, chokecherry, huckleberry, and wild strawberry. Meat included salmon. Occasionally, they hunted bison, deer, and elk.

• How food was obtained: Mainly gathering, with some fishing and hunting.

• Housing: Pit houses

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Great Plains Cultural Group

• Food: Hunters sought bison (buffalo), wolves, deer. Farmers grew corn, beans, and squash.

• How food was obtained: Hunting AND Farming.

• Housing: Hunters used tepees, Farmers used Earth lodges (try to glue both types on packet).

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Northeast Cultural Group

• Food: corn (maize), beans, squash, deer, fish (mainly salmon), waterbirds, leaves, seeds, tubers, berries, roots, nuts, and maple syrup.

• How food was obtained: Mainly hunting and gathering.

• Housing: Longhouses

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Great Basin Cultural Group

• Food: Mainly roots like the camas plant (like onions), and sunflower seeds. Meat, when possible, included bighorn sheep, antelope, deer, bison, squirrels and rabbits.

• How food was obtained: Mainly gathering, some hunting.

• Housing: Hogan type houses

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California Cultural Group

• Food: Mainly acorns, but also included buckeye, pinion nuts, and native grasses. Meat included deer, elk, rabbits, and sometimes salmon.

• How food was obtained: Mainly gathering, but they also hunted.

• Housing: Wigwams AND Wickiups (try to glue both types on the packet).

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Southwest Cultural Group

• Food: Mainly corn, but also squash, beans, and sunflower. Very little meat.

• How food was obtained: Farming.

• Housing: Pueblo type clay houses.

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Southeast Cultural Group

• Food: Wild meat, especially wild hogs and white-tailed deer. Grains included corn, beans, pumpkins, dried fruit, and nuts.

• How food was obtained: Mainly hunting and gathering.

• Housing: Houses using “Wattle and Daub” building techniques.

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