What Is Native American Culture?

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Native American culture (Native American Art History, 2014) Native Americans have a very rich culture littered with struggle, strife and success. Their stories are steeped in tradition, spirituality and closely tied with Mother Nature. Many aspects mainstream culture are adapted from Native American cultures. Symbols such as the sun on the New Mexico flag are actually taken straight from Native American culture. Other symbols often used are teepees, totem poles, peace pipes, and moccasins. Below are several Native American cultural facts that may help in the understanding of the rich history of Native Americans and the important role they’ve played in shaping modern culture. Everything in Native American culture is considered to contain…show more content…
In fact, by the time European adventurers arrived in the 15th century A.D., scholars estimate that more than 50 million people were already living in the Americas. Of these, some 10 million lived in the area that would become the United States. As time passed, these migrants and their descendants pushed south and east, adapting as they went. In order to keep track of these diverse groups, anthropologists and geographers have divided them into “culture areas,” or rough groupings of contiguous peoples who shared similar habitats and characteristics. Most scholars break North America—excluding present-day Mexico—into 10 separate culture areas: the Arctic, the Subarctic, the Northeast, the Southeast, the Plains, the Southwest, the Great Basin, California, the Northwest Coast and the…show more content…
Before the arrival of European traders and explorers, its inhabitants—speakers of Siouan, Algonquian, Caddoan, Uto-Aztecan and Athabaskan languages—were relatively settled hunters and farmers. After European contact, and especially after Spanish colonists brought horses to the region in the 18th century, the peoples of the Great Plains became much more nomadic. Groups like the Crow, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Comanche and Arapaho used horses to pursue great herds of buffalo across the prairie. The most common dwelling for these hunters was the cone-shaped teepee, a bison-skin tent that could be folded up and carried anywhere. Plains Indians are also known for their elaborately feathered war

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