American Indians Before European Settlement (1959)

[Music] early settlers in that part of America that is now the United States found the land already inhabited by a race of primitive people they called Indians scientists today believe that the first Indians were originally Asians who migrated to America possibly 30,000 years ago Crossing mainly over land and possibly by boat from Asia to America in the region where the two continents now nearly meet these people were Hunters perhaps following great herds of mammoths or mastadons that were in search of new feeding grounds so into America the came and spread throughout the American continents over many thousands of years migrations continued these people became the American Indians in the part of America that is now the United States nearly a million Indians were living at the time of early European settlement they followed ways of life that were shaped by the region or environment in which they lived east of the Mississippi forests covered most of the land here were the Eastern Woodlands the land was thick with trees and vegetation the soil was rich rain was plentiful and plants grew well wild animal life was abundant in The Woodlands fish were plentiful in the many rivers and lakes of the region w Indians constructed their homes of wood and bark and built many together forming Villages from the Trees of the region some of the woodland tribes made canoes by hollowing out the trunks of the trees others use canoes built of wooden frames covered with birchbark from the skin of the deer and other animals of the woodlands the Indians of the region made their clothing The Woodlands also provided the Indians with materials for making baskets and bags and wooden utensils the rich soil encouraged the development of Agriculture women did the farming and with simple farm implements raised maze or Indian corn squash beans and other vegetables that are familiar to us today the men Hunted and fished and made War The Woodlands provided them with all they needed for leading settled nearly civilized lives here in this region of the Eastern Woodlands live the patan the senica and Mohawk tribes of the iroy Confederacy the Winnebago the Illinois the shauni west of the woodlands were other Indians living in a different way in the Great Plains this was a region of grassy nearly Flatlands with little rain a grazing land for great herds of Bison the American buffalo the Indians at the early Spanish explorers and French settlers met in the Great Plains were buffalo Hunters Plains Indians went on Long hunting trips once or twice a year in the days before they had horses leaving behind their permanent winter homes which were made of Earth the members of a tribe would have to go by foot carrying everything that was needed for the long hunt when PLS Indians went on hunting trips they lived in tepes made from Buffalo skins stretched across poles buffalo skin was also used for clothing and robes but the meat of the Buffalo was most important to the the Plains Indians after horses were brought to America by the Spaniards in the 1500s the Plains Indians quickly found that they could hunt Buffalo more efficiently by using horses many tribes then gave up their permanent homes and what little farming they had done and turned their full attention to the hunting of Buffalo from then on teps became the only homes for many of these nomadic Plains Indians horses made it possible for whole tribes of Indians to continually follow the herds of Buffalo grazing across the Great Plains here on the plains lived such nomadic tribes as the sue the Blackfoot the kamanche the Cheyenne Southwest of the Great Plains lived another group of Indians in a region that now is part of our Southwestern States it was as it is today a region mainly of Rocky desert lands and fertile river valleys the Spaniards who first settled the region found it was a land with few animals and few plants growing wild agriculture was a major activity of the Indians of the region for they had to grow most of what they ate the men did the farm farming for it was the most important work of the tribes and Maze or Indian corn was their major crop but the Indians were always concerned that the rains would not come in this arid region so rain dances were held regularly to help bring on the needed rains when rain did not fall the crops died and the streams dried up from the rocks and soil of the area many of the Indians built their homes some used bricks of dried mud and straw held together with wet mud that quickly dried in the hot sun the early Spaniards called this Adobe the Indians usually built many houses together in what the early Spanish explorers called ablo which is Spanish for Village the women made fine pottery from the clay of the region the tribes made good use of what little was available to them near their villages in the dry Rocky desert lands of the Southwest here tribes like the Hopi Zuni and akoma followed their way of life west of this region to the Pacific coast and a little North are three Geographic areas a plateau Basin and Coastal area where other Indians lived in a region which we call the Far West here was mainly a mixture of grasslands and forests and the land was covered with many plants whose seeds and Roots could be eaten Indians of this region depended for food mainly on what they could gather from the wild plants of the area on the ground beneath the many oak trees of the region the Indians found acorns which they gathered every fall in great numbers and made into a kind of meal acorns were the main food of many tribes especially in the California area for seed Gathering baskets rather than Pottery vessels were most useful and so the Indians became expert basket makers in this region of the Far West here live the Shoni the pyute and Pomo Indian tribes to the North other Indians lived in a region that is called the northwest coast this is a land of great trees and extensive forests of wide rivers and the Pacific Ocean fishing was the principal means of obtaining food for the Indians of the northwest coast the ocean and the rivers provided them with salmon Cod hbet and many other fish in great abundance which the Indians caught with simple hooks snares and Nets from the great cedar trees of the forests the Indians May dug out canoes that could travel on the rivers or in the ocean the forests also provided Indians of the northwest coast with building materials for their large wooden houses the Indians elaborately carved tree trunks into totem poles which told a story of their family the women performed household tasks weaving drying fish and caring for the children in this region rivers and the Sea gave a rich life to such Indian tribes as the hoopa and chanuk on the northwest coast so we've seen that where Indians lived shaped their way of living five great regions of Indian life in the land that became our country these are the ways Indians lived before settlers came to America their coming would eventually cause great changes in the ways of Life of the American Indian [Music]