Indians of the Northeast

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Indians of the Northeast

Major Tribes	Economy	Society	Region
Early History	Culture	Religion	Links

Major Tribes

Iroquois
Huron
Delaware
Illinois
Chippewa
Menominee

Economy

farming: grew corn, beans, pumpkins, tobacco, and squash
tapped maple trees for sugar
expert canoeists
fished in rivers
Atlantic coast tribes hunted whales and seals
groups in the Great Lakes area gathered shellfish and wild rice and hunted
traded using wampum as a form of money

Society

Atlantic coast villages joined into confederacies under chiefs
Iroquois union contained five tribes with a central government, founded by Hiawatha
simple hunting tribes, male dominant except for Huron and Erie who gave women a higher status
men did the hunting, war making and trade
women did the farming

Region

earliest inhabitants first settled in the southwestern portion of the region
as glaciers melted, they followed the Ohio and Delaware rivers to the West and East into virgin forests

Early History

early inhabitants lived in tiny, scattered bands, hunting and gathering
agriculture reached the eastern woodlands 3,000 years ago
Hopewell culture stretched from Atlantic to Kansas
Hopewell's were carefully organized craftsmen with a political structure

Culture

Northeastern Indians built wigwams, round, and domed houses with pole framed covered with bark
tipis (cone-shaped structures used by traveling hunters)
long houses (Iroquois): rectangular structures up to 100 feet long, occupied by 8-10 families

Religion

Iroquois believed in "orenda," an invisible spirit force that flamed through the universe
held dream festivals
seaboard tribes believed in one major spirit and several lesser spirits
adolescents went on dream quests, seeking revelations about their adult names and status

Links