If you could belong to one of the pre-Columbus Native American

[Strong Atheist]

Poll question: If you could belong to one of the pre-Columbus Native American

tribes, which would you choose, and why?

We have completed the Native American Unit in my 6th grade Social Studies class, which got me to wondering about this. It seems to me that some of the Eastern Woodlands tribes had the most resources, but it could be colder than further south (which I don't like), and some of them were warlike... I would like to belong to a peaceful tribe, with peaceful neighbors...

Anyway, I vote for Eastern Woodland.


BTW: There are over 500 tribes recognized by the sites I have visited, so don't complain that I left out one you like; I can't list them all! Pick an area that they lived in (for the poll), or explain why your choice is one I should have listed (in a post).

P.S. Don't bother explaining to me how bad medical conditions were pre-Columbus. We all know that medicine was not what it is now. I just want to know what tribe/area you would have liked to have lived with/in in the pre-Columbus Americas ...

[leftofthedial]

1. definitely desert southwest

Hopi, Anasazi, Pueblo

I think the Navajo lifestyle would be too isolated for me.

[kwassa]

2. you should separate out the Northwest Coast Indians from the other western

tribes, as they had a very distinct culture that was very different than the California Indians.

I would probably choose them, as I would like the food and the art.

[XemaSab]

3. Me too!

Salmon.... yummah!

[Strong Atheist]

4. Yeah, yeah, yeah...

our text did that... but polls only have ten spaces ...

[LibertyLover]

5. Definately Eastern Woodlands

the Lenni Lenape.

[realisticphish]

6. Ohio Valley area

if we went WAY pre-Columbus, i would say Hopewell or Adena

[puerco-bellies]

7. I am Apache

I would like to have lived my life in my cultures Pre-Columbian way.

[Strong Atheist]

9. I hear you. I wish we were a LOT better about the

environment. Your ancestors would have done the science/nature thing right, given enough time to develop....

[Bridget Burke]

8. Northwest Pacific tribes....

Did you know that the Kwakiutl are now called the Kwakwaka'wakw? Here's an old photo of a Northwest Pacific "play"--don't know if these are Kwakwaka'wakw.



(I'd also like to see Tenochtitlan--if I could avoid being eaten!)

[Strong Atheist]

10. "Did you know that the Kwakiutl are now called

the Kwakwaka'wakw?"

Sorry. Used the word our (10 year old) textbook used.

[Bridget Burke]

12. I'm not blaming you!

The change is fairly recent, although the Kwakwaka'wakw have probably been pronouncing it that way for centuries now.

Mostly, I thought it was an interesting word.

[wildhorses]

11. I am 1/16 Cherokee and 1/16 Creek Indian and

the rest of me is German, Scotch-Irish, English ... and I guess I should vote for what I am cause I like the Cherokees and I think the Creek would also be considered Eastern Woodland too..I think Apache would be cool, hey wait can I go back and change my vote...

[Strong Atheist]

13. 3/8 Czechoslovakian, 1/8 Irish,

1/8 French/German (Alsais Loraine area), 3/8 alley cat ...

[Xithras]

14. Plains, definitely. The woodland cultures were too primitive and violent

The woodland tribes had some interesting spiritual and ceremonial practices, but in most ways they were no more advanced than their hunter-gatherer ancestors who'd crossed the Bering land bridge 12,000 years before. They tended to be territorial, violent, and their survival centered on hunting and was largely dependent on the availability of game. A bad summer for deer could easily mean death for whole villages.

The plains Indians, on the other hand, had developed a sedentary neolithic farming culture and had begun to develop trade networks between their stationary villages. They hadn't yet achieved what we would call a "civilization", but they were well on the road to it. Most importantly, unlike their neighbors in the southwest or their aztec cousins far to the south, they were largely peaceful.

Plains Indians didn't become nomadic until after the introduction of the horse by the Europeans. Prior to that, buffalo were too hard to catch and kill for the tribes to rely on in any major way.

[Strong Atheist]

15. Interesting. Thanks! nt.

[yellowdogintexas]

16. Adena, they went caving....and built the mounds in southern INdiana nt