The Plains Indians

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  • Created by: sydn3y_14
  • Created on: 17-04-17 01:40
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  • The Plain Indians
    • Why they were on the Plains
      • They were originally forced onto the Plains by the rapid growth of the East of America in the early 1800s
      • The Plains were given to the Indians, and in 1832 the US government established the Permanent Indian Frontier.
        • The land was supposed to be protected for life; however the US government also hoped that by pushing the Indians onto the Plains that they would no longer be an irritation to 'white society'
      • The whites brought with them many diseases and so threatened the Indians, they would be safer on the Plains
      • The Plains were empty of other people but full of Buffalo, which they would use to survive
    • The Buffalo
      • The Indians used every part of the Buffalo - none was wasted
        • The bones were used as arrowheads and knives
        • The hide was used for clothes and tipi covers
        • The dung was used for fuel
        • The intestines were used as buckets
      • The hunting of the Buffalo was very difficult - the Indians would have to follow the herds wherever they went. They could not kill too many at a time either, or else there would not be enough to sustain them
    • Homes
      • The Indians did not believe you could own land - therefore being nomadic was part of their lifestyle
      • The Indians lived in tipis
      • These were designed to withstand the extreme conditions of the Plains
      • They were cool in the summer yet warm in the winter. They were shaped like a cone so they would not fall over in the high winds
      • Everything was done inside the tipi - sleeping, cooking, and often the tipi would fill up with very dense smoke due to the open fires
    • Religion and lifestyle
      • The Indians believed in Polytheism - that there is more than one God
      • The most famous religious ceremony was the Sun Dance - this was performed in order to get help from the spirit world
      • The Sun Dance was performed in a circle - the circle was sacred to the Indians
      • Women were very important - they did most of the work, including all the food preparations and keeping of the homes. The men's role were simply to fight and hunt
      • They believed in Polygamy - you were allowed to have more than one wife. Many men had at least three or four wives
      • During battle, the Indians scalped their enemies - this was believed to be removing the spirit of his enemy so that he could not go into the afterlife
      • It was considered braver to touch a live enemy in war than to kill him. This was called counting coup
      • Indian tribes had to follow the Buffalo to stay alive. When relatives got too old and frail to move with them, they left them to die - exposure
    • Problems they faced
      • The gradual invasion of the white settlers - trailblazers and homesteaders interrupted their lifestyle and that of the buffalo
      • The US government always wanted the principle of Manifest Destiny to be invoked one day
      • The Indians and the government would never get along whilst their lifestyles were so different - polygamy vs monogamy, polytheism vs monotheism, the right to own land etc

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