Plateau Indians

The history of the Native Americans didn’t start when Columbus bumped into the Americas, “… it began when their ancestors fell from the sky, emerged from under the earth, were transformed from ash trees into people, entered the world through a hollow log…” (pg. 14). Many people who don’t know any better, or just don’t research, still believe that before any outsiders came, that Natives lived horrible lives; never had enough food, weren’t that intelligent, and had no concept of “civilized life.” Of course the reality was the complete opposite; numerous generations of Indians had already inhabited the area, developed survival techniques to suit particular areas, established small/large communities, appointed leaders, kept in contact “with their
In California the hunter-gathers that were there cultivated the forest, used fire to control the land so they could grow crops. In the Northwest coast their main food source was salmon, which there was a large amount of, they were able to control the river, built technology to catch the fish, had permanent villages, and even had concepts of land ownership. Plateau Indians would move with the seasons, to the rivers to hunt the buffalo, deer and bison during the rainy seasons. Great Basin Indians, ones in Nevada, for most of the year resided in stationary communities, and in other areas “people harvested wild plants and small game, a subsistence strategy that required intimate knowledge of the land and its animals, regular movement to take advantage of seasonal diversity and changing conditions, and careful exploitation of the environment (24).” In the Southwest they cultivated maize, and developed canals and irrigation systems for the flood plains. Northeast/Southeast Indians grew maize, beans, squash, fruits, and also used fire to clear out areas to cultivate it. In the Southeast they had big settlements, large chieftains, and influential