The Plains Indians

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  • Created by: Beth10000
  • Created on: 26-04-17 14:36

The Plains

  • Flat land
  • Lack of water and trees
  • Extreme weather
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The Tipi

  • Crucial to survival of the Indians
  • Made of Buffalo skin and held together with pegs
  • Owned by the women in the tribe(even after divorce)
  • Took 10 minutes to take down
  • Had flaps which open up to let wind in and smoke out
  • In winter a fire was in the centre and the floor was covered with Buffalo fur
  • Conical shape for resistance to strong winds
  • Decorated with tribal paintings of wars, hunts, acts of bravery
  • Scalps of defeated enemies hung at the top
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Family Life

  • Most Indians lived within bands of 10(50 families)
  • Polygamy existed(having more than 1 wife) because alot of men die in war and all women needed to be cared for
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Role of Men

  • Hunt
  • Look after horses
  • Protect women and children
  • Young men would impress women with hunting skills, bravery, stealing horses to show love and ability to provide for family
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Role of Women

  • Expected to have skills in craft and making good homes
  • Make food and collect water
  • Highly respected as child bearers
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Children

  • Highly valued as future of tribe
  • Learnt essential surival skills(using weapons, making tipi)
  • White people thought Indian children were wild
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Old people

  • Respected for wisdom and advice
  • Educated children
  • When too old and slow to travel, they would be left behind (exposure)
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Organisation

  • Crucial for survival of Plains Indians
  • Strong sense of custom and tradition, Indians who did something wrong would be humilated and punished infront of the band
  • Chiefs became chiefs because of their wisdom, power, spiritual and warrior skill. They were not elected
  • Important decisions were made in council meetings, the men smoked to inform spirits of their decisions
  • Warrior societies organised hunts, travelling and protection for bands
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The Buffalo

  • Crucial for Indians survival
  • Indians performed the Buffalo Dance before hunting Buffalo, they believed this would make the buffalo come closer
  • Indians dressed in wolf skin to sneak up on buffalo before shooting them with arrows
  • Some Sioux would drive the buffalo off a cliff egde to kill more of them
  • Main source of food 
  • Rawhide(leather made from Buffalo skin) was used for clothes and to make the tipi
  • Fat used as soap, hair grease and for cooking
  • Bones used for tools, arrowheads, brushes and paint
  • Skull used in religious ceremonies
  • Dung used as fuel
  • Hooves used to make glue
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Warfare

  • Essential part of Indian life 
  • Usually occurred in the form of raids(stealing horses for revenge)(the more horses the richer you were)
  • Rivalries over land and hunting areas
  • Warriors decorated shields and body with paint for protection
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Fighting

  • Opportunity for men to prove bravery and attract wife
  • Not heroic to die in battle, better to stay alive and protect family
  • Capture horses and weapons
  • Hurting enemy was brave
  • Scalping was done to show success and so that enemies could seek revenge in the after life(same reason for mutilation)
  • Hunting caused more injuries
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Religion

  • Big part of Indian life
  • Indians believed the great spirit Wakan Tanka created all life of earth
  • They believed spirits could influence their lives 
  • They believed in the circle of nature(circlef life, the sun)
  • The land was their mother and sacred, nobody could own it
  • The Black Hills were sacred because they were tall an close to the spirit work, it was also where the dead were buried 
  • Sioux would fight to the death to protect sacred land
  • Sioux would contact spirit world through vision
  • Visions occured by starving and then going to a sweat lodge(ceremonial sauna)
  • Medicine man would interpret vision
  • Women were praised/respected for ability to attain visions
  • Dances and ceremonies used to contact spirits and to pray
  • The sun dance was used to determine if a man was warrior material
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The Medicine Man

  • Used the power of the spirits to cure the sick
  • Used herbal remedies
  • Made charms
  • Were a part of every tribal decision
  • Plains Indians were usually fit because of their active lifestyle
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Settlement of Plains

  • The settlers believed in ownership of land and came to the Plains for wealth
  • The settlers thought Indians were savages(took and used everything they could find for themself)
  • White Americans believed in Manifest Destiny(it was their god given right to take over the Plains)
  • The railroad helped the settlement by making travelling quicker and more efficient
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Why did most people want to settle in the Plains?

  • Government offered free land
  • For adventure
  • The railroad made travelling to the Plains easier
  • Europeans hopes to escape poverty
  • Ex-slaves hoped to escape racism and persecution
  • Talks of gold in the mountains
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