How did the environment influence the american indian cultures of the northwest and southwest?

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Land  

The Indians thought of land very differently to the white man. The land was sacred, there was no ownership, and it was created by the great spirit. They could not sell their land to others, whereas the white people could fence off the land which belonged to them, and sell it freely to whoever they wanted. The Europeans didn't think that the Indians were using the land properly, so in their eyes, they were doing a good favour to the earth. To the Indians, the land was more valuable than the money that the white man had brought with him, even though it didn't belong to them.  

Indians lived all over America, in many different environments including the flatlands, the forests, the mountains, the deserts, the prairies, on the coast, and even in the arctic. All these Environments affected the different Indians in different ways, so that different Indians evolved over time.  

Religion  

Religion was a very big part in many Indians life. Almost every part of Indian life is related to religion, the land is sacred, and religion plays a part in what can be done with it, the first Indians had many different religions, and they continued to have religion for the whole of their lives. Dress was affected, many Indians wore special clothes and jewellery of religious importance. Religion often changed family life, the children respected their elders, especially their grandparents, and the Indians believed in divorce and marriage. Education was religious, the boys were taught to hunt, and the girls to treat leather and prepare food. The Indians believed all life to be sacred, but it could be hunted, as long as it was treated with respect, so this affected the way they hunted, and what food they had.  

Shelter  

The environment also affected the Indians shelter in many ways. Depending on where they lived, the Indian tribes had different ways of protecting themselves from the elements using the available resources, and different designs for the general climate. For example, the Indians living in the mountainous and semi-desert areas of the south west lived in light twig shacks and log huts, whereas the Inuits of the sub arctic north America built igloos, and the woodland Indians lived in bark covered houses.  

Food  

The Indians food was decided by the environment that they lived in. Most of the food that the Indians ate was hunted, so that means that the main part of their diet was the animals that lived around them in the same environment as them. Buffalo in the plains, Deer and Rabbit in the south west, Elk, Moose and Deer in the north east, and mainly Fish in the south east.  

The food that was produced by Indians was also important for family life, and religion; if you can provide for your family well, then you'd make a good husband / wife. This was shown when two Indians are attracted, the parents of each would take a leg of venison to the other, and say, "my son killed this deer", or a dish of beans that their daughter had prepared.  

The First Americas  

People think that the first Indians crossed to America thousands of years ago, in the ice age. Because of the water freezing, the sea level drops, and it was possible to cross via a thin bit of land which had been revealed when the sea fell between America and Siberia. They might have been hunting and slowly followed the animals across. There was many different cultures, in different groups of Indians, but most of them died away, including the Magan culture, the Aztecs, Anasazi, Hopewell, and the Omlecs. When the Europeans came and found some Indians, along with the remain of the many cultures, a lot of them found it very difficult to believe that the Indians could be so civilised, or as powerful as the remains suggest.  

Education  

The environment changed the way in which the young Indians were taught, and also what they were taught. But Education was probably one of the least affected thing by the environment, all Indians were taught to respect their elders, from an early age, especially their grandparents, who were the ones who taught them everything, not the parents, although they may teach a little. Boys were taught to hunt, and girls to prepare food and pick berries etc.  

Dress  

Most Indians used materials from the local environment for clothing, until the whites came and trading began. Clothing was usually made from deerskin. The women spent a long time preparing the skin, and took pride in how well the clothes were made. The clothes that Indians wore were of great religious importance too. When an Indian was preparing to be a warrior, he would often have all his hair pulled out, and his ears cut around the edges so that ear rings and other ornaments could be worn.