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Facts_about_mexico.com

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Mexico | Mexican Culture, Map, Flag, People, Religion, History, Food, Vacations, Aztecs, Maya

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A to Z Kids Stuff

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pirate activites for school age children

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Information, history facts, and activities on Canada for school-age children.

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Oneworldjourneys.com

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The Aztecs -- probable descendants of Teotihucuan, Zapotec and Mixtec peoples -- had two kinds of warrior elite: the Jaguar Warriors of the night, and the Eagle Warriors of the day. The Aztec empire had no influence on the Maya, other than that their easy defeat by the Conquistadors left open the western door to the Maya region.

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National Geographic Kids

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PEOPLE & CULTURE

Mexico is the product of a rich Native American heritage, three centuries of Spanish rule, and a shared border with the world's richest country, the United States. Today, many Mexicans are mestizos, which means they have a mix of Native American and Spanish blood.

Throughout its history, Mexico has been home to great artists. The Maya and other Native Americans made impressive murals, sculptures, and jewelry. Modern Mexican artists include great painters, photographers, sculptors, and muralists.

Mexicans take sports seriously. In ancient times, losers of a ritual ball game were once put to death. In some dangerous sports, like bullfighting and rodeo (which was invented in Mexico), competitors still put their lives on the line.

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PEOPLE & CULTURE Mexico is the product of a rich Native American heritage, three centuries of Spanish rule, and a shared border with the world's richest country, the United States. Today, many Mexicans are mestizos, which means they have a mix of Native American and Spanish blood.

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What documents or requirements are needed to visit Mexico? Many countries including the US, Canada, the European Union do not need a Mexican Visa to visit Mexico for up to 180 days. Your passport is required and must be... Read More

In Mexico, there are many nicknames or terms of endearment to express in a playful way our feelings toward others. Abue Short for Abuelo (a) grandparent Amor my love. Bebé baby. Cariño Sweetheart. Chaparrita (o) Short one. Chino (a) Curly one. Chirris ... Read More

The two most important celebrations in Mexico are December 12 celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe and May 10 Mother's Day in Mexico. In a sense, both dates celebrate mothers and show the importance of mothers in the Mexican Culture. Continue reading

From the sun comes positive energy, and to him, "Tonathiu", the highest honors are given in the festivals and traditions that come from the "life cycles" - the same cycles which are associated with the arrival of Spring. Continue reading

Cuenta la leyenda que guiados por un hombre sabio, los primeros pobladores de Bolonchen llegaron al lugar en el que encontraron nueve cenotes, o pozos creados por los dioses para recoger el agua de lluvia... Continue reading

Spanish Cinco de Mayo Hero When "Cinco de Mayo" is mentioned in Mexico, one of the most symbolic battles in the Mexican collective unconscious immediately comes to mind: the Battle of Puebla. General Ignacio Zaragoza, with only a small army,... Read More

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What documents or requirements are needed to visit Mexico? Many countries including the US, Canada, the European Union do not need a Mexican Visa to visit Mexico for up to 180 days. Your passport is required and must be... Read More In Mexico, there are many nicknames or terms of endearment to express in a playful way our feelings toward others.

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InsideMexico.com

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What documents or requirements are needed to visit Mexico? Many countries including the US, Canada, the European Union do not need a Mexican Visa to visit Mexico for up to 180 days. Your passport is required and must be... Read More

In Mexico, there are many nicknames or terms of endearment to express in a playful way our feelings toward others. Abue Short for Abuelo (a) grandparent Amor my love. Bebé baby. Cariño Sweetheart. Chaparrita (o) Short one. Chino (a) Curly one. Chirris ... Read More

The two most important celebrations in Mexico are December 12 celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe and May 10 Mother's Day in Mexico. In a sense, both dates celebrate mothers and show the importance of mothers in the Mexican Culture. Continue reading

From the sun comes positive energy, and to him, "Tonathiu", the highest honors are given in the festivals and traditions that come from the "life cycles" - the same cycles which are associated with the arrival of Spring. Continue reading

Cuenta la leyenda que guiados por un hombre sabio, los primeros pobladores de Bolonchen llegaron al lugar en el que encontraron nueve cenotes, o pozos creados por los dioses para recoger el agua de lluvia... Continue reading

Spanish Cinco de Mayo Hero When "Cinco de Mayo" is mentioned in Mexico, one of the most symbolic battles in the Mexican collective unconscious immediately comes to mind: the Battle of Puebla. General Ignacio Zaragoza, with only a small army,... Read More

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What documents or requirements are needed to visit Mexico? Many countries including the US, Canada, the European Union do not need a Mexican Visa to visit Mexico for up to 180 days. Your passport is required and must be... Read More In Mexico, there are many nicknames or terms of endearment to express in a playful way our feelings toward others.

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Schoolhouse Rock

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Schoolhouse Rock- How a Bill Becomes a Law

Schoolhouse Rock- How a Bill becomes a law. Enjoy. And plz watch my other vids at Necrovir.

Launched as a beta version in 2009, SafeShare.tv has gained popularity as the safest way to Watch and Share YouTube and Vimeo videos, and is widely used all around the globe by educators so their students can watch educational material without the fear of inappropriate videos showing up.

Are you sure you want to do this?

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Schoolhouse Rock- How a Bill Becomes a Law... - SafeShare.tv

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add-color add-playlist-dark add-playlist-green add-playlists add-safeview-green add-safeview add-white arrow-down-white arrow-down icon /arrow-left-lila Created with Sketch. arrow-yellow birthday book books browser calendar-small calendar cards-white icon /checkmark-small Created with Sketch. checkmark-white checkmark circles-add circles-remove circles-unlimited-2 circles-unlimited circles cissors close-white close coin-gold coin-purple icon /confetti Created with Sketch. cross-gray-small cross-yellow-small cut dashboard icon / deactivated-mark Created with Sketch.

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Mrnussbaum.com

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This is an interactive map of Mexico. Students simply click on the points of the map to learn all about Mexico.

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A to Z Kids Stuff

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Brazil

Federative Republic of Brazil
Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world and covers three time zones.
It is the largest and most populous country in South America.

Capital: Brasilia

The largest city in Brazil is Sao Paulo.

Brazil has a large coastline along the Atlantic Ocean, stretching 7491 km (4655 miles) in length.

Brazil has the world's second longest river, the Amazon (after the Nile).

The Brazil flag is green with a yellow diamond in the center. Inside the diamond is a blue globe with stars that make up the Southern Cross with some other constellations around it. The stars (constellations) on Brazil's flag was seen in Rio de Janeiro on the morning of 15 November 1889, the day the Brazilian Empire was replaced by a republic. Written in green is Ordem e Progresso ('Order and Progress').

Brazil is known for the mining of precious gems; especially diamonds. Black diamonds are only found in Brazil and the Central African Republic. Brazil produces most of the world's aquamarines, topazes, amethysts, tourmalines and emeralds.

Brazil has the second-largest herd of beef cattle in the world. Brazilian cowboys are called gauchos in southern Brazil and vaqueiro in northern Brazil.

Land

The climate in Brazil is mostly tropical, but temperate in the south.

A biome is a specific environment that's home to plants and animals suited for that place and climate. Brazil is home six biomes.

The Amazon is the world's largest rainforest. Most of Brazilian wildlife is found in the Amazon.

The Cerrado region is a vast tropical savanna. It is the largest savanna region in South America. In its wooded grasslands and shrubbery large mammals can be found, jaguars, maned wolves, and giant anteaters.

The Caatinga is in the northeast of Brazil. It consist of dry lands and forest composed of stunted trees and thorny bushes.

The Pampa has dry grasslands and is a good area for raising cattle.

Pantanal is in the far west, along the border with Paraguay and Bolivia, It is a swampy area enclosed by mountains, one of the most extensive swamplands in the world.

The Atlantic region is located in a mountainous region near the Atlantic Ocean. It is the most populated with two of Brazil's largest cities, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

The Atlantic Forest has a variety of forest biomes from rainforest, humid tropical forests, low forests, and Mangrove swamps. It is a rainforest that is not as hot as the Amazon.

There are an enormous rich variety of plants and animals. An extraordinary number of species are found only in this are and nowhere else in the world. It contains a rich variety of flora and fauna. More than 50% of the trees and plants found here are only located in this area.

Animals

Brazil has the greatest variety of animals of any country in the world.

The national animal of Brazil is the jaguar - The largest cats in the Western Hemisphere.

Flora

Brazil derives its name from the brazilwood tree.

There are a range of plants in Brazil that are found nowhere else in the world. About 55,000 plants are native to Brazil. Brazil has an impressive range of plants; 200 species of orchids, 390 variety of palms to 90m-tall hardwood trees.
Cacti

Explorers

Amerigo Vespucci names each newly discovered place along Brazil's coast after the saint on whose day it was discovered.

Stories

Turtle was a gifted flutist. One day a greedy man shut Turtle in a cage. Find out how Turtle escapes in this Brazilian folktale.

Sports

Football (Soccer) is the most popular sport in Brazil.
Pelé
Pelé (born Edson Arantes Do Nascimento) is a legend in Brazil and the best soccer player to ever play the game.

He was noted for his speed, balance, powerful shot and skillful ball control and for his spectacular goals. During his career Pele played in 1,363 games and scored 1,281 goals.

In 1993, Pelé was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame.
Pele color page

Ronaldo
Ronaldo (born Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima)is another Brazil soccer player that is considered one of the greatest soccer players.

Recommended Book

Schwartz & Wade
ISBN: 0375835997

Young Pele: Soccer's First Star
by Lesa Cline-Ransome

A picture book biography that tells of the struggles of Brazilian-born Pele. His rise from poverty to soccer stardom. The focus of the book is on Pele's childhood; a poor Brazilian boy who played barefoot with a ball that was a sock stuffed with rags. Who would become one of the greatest soccer player's of all time. An engrossing book that will grab children's attention.

Music Review

An incredible mix of musical styles. Take a musical journey from the rainforests of the Amazon to the beaches of Rio de Janeiro. A reflection of the diverse music of Brazil.

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pirate activites for school age children

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Brazil Federative Republic of Brazil Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world and covers three time zones. It is the largest and most populous country in South America. Capital: Brasilia The largest city in Brazil is Sao Paulo. Brazil has a large coastline along the Atlantic Ocean, stretching 7491 km (4655 miles) in length.

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Brazilian Fashion:  What Do People Wear in Brazil?

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Brazilian Fashion:  What Do People Wear in Brazil?

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If, as they say, clothes make a man, then Brazilian fashion has a lot to say about the country and its people. It conveys the mind-sets of the people and paints a picture of what Brazil wants to project to the world.

Brazilian people are very much aware of fashion and know what appeals to them. Even if a new line of clothing is the latest fad in other countries, it may not sell so well in Brazil if the residents don't find it appealing. In Brazilian fashion, it is not all about trends but more on the individual's sense of style.

Influences on Brazilian Fashion

One of the biggest factors that determine fashion in Brazil are media and movie celebrities. Soap operas called "novelas" which air for about six months are produced by Brazilian television networks

These novelas are often a hit with TV viewers, especially those that belong to the middle and lower classes. The wardrobe worn by the actors are what people are watching out for. The networks will often keep a line open for callers who inquire about the wardrobe and where they are sold. For those who can't afford the budget to buy the originals, low quality knock-offs and fake copies are sold in stores at a lesser price.

Pretty much like other places in the planet, people get Brazilian fashion ideas from film and media celebrities. They keep an eye on foreign celebrities as well. Media can sometimes endorse a new type of fashion, hence, stores and clothes designers strive hard to be the center of press attention.

The Brazilian people's fixation to show skin has a heavy impact on fashion and clothing. You will notice that their clothing tend to expose more of their bodies. Brazilians take pride in their bodies and will even go to extremes to keep them attractive and in good shape. Many plastic surgeons are making big business in Brazil and Rio is one of the major world cities with the most number of fitness clubs and spas.

What Do People Wear in Brazil?

Brazilians generally wear casual and comfortable clothing. Men tend to get involved as much as women in Brazilian fashion. In fact, men are fussier than women when it comes to footwear. Their flip flops are mostly Havaianas. They also like to wear comfortable yet classy dress shoes. For casual wear, they prefer slacks and shirts that are common to most men everywhere. Clothes of lightweight material like cotton are worn during warm weather.

In Brazilian fashion, jeans are a basic part of women's clothing. They like their jeans to have a tight fit and which tapers down at the bottom. These jeans have nice designs on the lower legs as well as sequins. More and more women are also wearing low rise jeans.

Regardless of what shape they're in, Brazilian women are proud of their bodies and are willing to expose more of it. They like wearing halter tops that are daring yet tasteful. They generally wear their dresses and skirts with hemlines cut above the knee. This holds true for both older and younger generation of females.

Brazilians do not attempt to conceal their bodies behind clothes. On the beach, women will often be seen in bikinis with a shirt or piece of sarong for cover to be used only when necessary. As a rule, clothing should be snug enough to hug the body, not loose-fitting or baggy.

Brazilian Fashion: Dressing for Business
While they can be fun and carefree in their casual attires, they can also be prim and proper in their business wardrobe. Men would normally be in dark-colored conservative suits, particularly if they are in the executive or managerial level.
In a business environment, women are expected to wear suits or stylish dresses that accentuate their femininity. Nicely manicured hands are a requirement. Brazilians are more interested in a person's overall appearance and not in a particular piece of clothing or make-up.

The local residents have specific preferences when it comes to Brazilian fashion. They know what looks good on them and will prefer clothing that's comfortable and fashionable. Special occasions are times to dress elegantly and anything casual will be frowned upon. Some public places will not allow individuals in flip flops or sneakers to enter. Jeans with tears (intentional or not) are also considered improper.

More than half of Brazil's population are people under thirty, which can influence the design for youth apparel. However, there are a lot of people from different generations picking the same style of clothing. After all, many middle-aged and senior citizens still prefer to keep up with the younger generation when it comes to Brazilian fashion.

Brazilian people are cultured when it comes to clothing. They understand Brazilian fashion which is why they go for quality and style. The type of clothes they prefer to wear tells a lot about themselves, how they appreciate their body and how they perceive life as a whole.

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Brazilian Fashion - What do People Wear in Brazil? " Natal

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If, as they say, clothes make a man, then Brazilian fashion has a lot to say about the country and its people. It conveys the mind-sets of the people and paints a picture of what Brazil wants to project to the world. Brazilian people are very much aware of fashion and know what appeals to them.

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BBC

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Overview

The exploitation of the Amazon rainforest, much of which is in Brazil, has been a major international worry, since the wilderness is a vital regulator of the climate. It is also an important reservoir of plant and animal life.

A drive to move settlers to the Amazon region during military rule in the 1970s caused considerable damage to vast areas of rainforest.

Deforestation by loggers and cattle ranchers remains controversial, but government-sponsored migration programmes have been halted.

In 2005 the government reported that one fifth of the Amazon forests had been cleared by deforestation.

Deforestation has been slowed down by extra policing and pressure from environmental and consumer groups. The government has fined illegal cattle ranchers and loggers, while the food industries have banned products from illegally deforested areas, such as soya beans and beef.

Officials estimate that deforestation in 2010 fell to 5,000 sq km for the year, down from 7,000 sq km the year before and a peak of 27,000 sq km in 2004.

Brazil's natural resources, particularly iron ore, are highly prized by major manufacturing nations, including China. Thanks to the development of offshore fields, the nation has become self-sufficient in oil, ending decades of dependence on foreign producers.

There is a wide gap between rich and poor, but the World Bank has praised the country for progress in reducing social and economic inequality.

Much of the arable land is controlled by a handful of wealthy families, a situation which the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST) seeks to redress by demanding land redistribution. It uses direct protest action and land occupation in its quest.

Social conditions can be harsh in the big cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, where a third of the population lives in favelas, or slums.

Brazil's Aids programme has become a model for other developing countries. It has stabilised the rate of HIV infection and the number of Aids-related deaths has fallen. Brazil has bypassed the major drugs firms to produce cheaper, generic Aids medicines.

Brazil is revered for its football prowess. Its cultural contributions include the music of classical composer Heitor Villa-Lobos and Bossa Nova icon Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Facts

Leaders

President: Dilma Rousseff

Dilma Rousseff is the first woman to be elected as Brazil's president. She is former chief of staff to, and favoured successor of, outgoing president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

In the October 2010 elections to succeed President Lula, she narrowly failed to win an outright majority in the first round.

The result meant Ms Rousseff faced the second-placed candidate, Sao Paolo mayor Jose Serra of the main opposition Social Democracy party, in a run-off vote on 31 October.

Ms Rousseff, 62, was little known to her compatriots until Mr Lula selected her as his favoured successor after a number of high-profile candidates were forced out by corruption scandals during his time in office.

She joined the government in 2003 as energy minister. In 2005, Mr Lula made her his chief of staff, a post she held until March 2010, when she launched her campaign for the presidency as the Workers Party (PT) candidate.

During the election campaign, Ms Rousseff made it clear that she represented continuity with the Lula government, under which millions of Brazilians saw their standard of living rise.

She is known to favour a strong state role in strategic areas, including banking, the oil industry and energy.

Dilma Rousseff was born in 1947 and grew up in an upper middle class household in Belo Horizonte, in the coffee-growing state of Minas Gerais.

Her father, Pedro Rousseff, was a Bulgarian immigrant.

Her seemingly conventional background changed in the mid-1960s, when she was in her late teens. She became involved in left-wing politics and joined the underground resistance to the military dictatorship that seized power in 1964.

She has said that she was never actively involved in armed operations, but in 1970 she was jailed for three years and reportedly tortured.

After her release at the end of 1972 she studied economics and went on to become a career civil servant.

Ms Rousseff is twice divorced and has one daughter. In August, she became a grandmother.

In 2009, she was treated for and recovered from lymphatic cancer.

Media

South America's biggest media market is home to thousands of radio stations and hundreds of TV channels. TV has long been the most influential medium.

Media ownership is highly concentrated. Domestic conglomerates such as Globo, Brazil's most-successful broadcaster, dominate the market and run TV and radio networks, newspapers and pay-TV operations.

Brazilian-made dramas and soaps - known as telenovelas - are aired around the world. Game shows and reality TV attract huge audiences.

The constitution guarantees a free press and there is vigorous debate in the media about political and social matters.

However, US-based Freedom House warned in 2011 that court injunctions were hampering reporting of key criminal cases. Journalists, particularly those in provincial areas, are vulnerable to physical attack.

Many homes subscribe to pay TV. Brazil is rolling out digital TV and aims to switch off analogue signals from 2016.

By December 2011, more than 79 million Brazilians were online (Internetworldstats.com), many of them via internet cafes.

Brazilians are among the world's top users of blogs and social networks. Internet access is not generally restricted. However, the judiciary has grown "increasingly aggressive" in its attempts to regulate content, says Freedom House.

Leading sites include UOL and Globo's G1. Google's Orkut and Facebook are the main social network rivals.
The press Television Radio News agencies/internet

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The exploitation of the Amazon rainforest, much of which is in Brazil, has been a major international worry, since the wilderness is a vital regulator of the climate. It is also an important reservoir of plant and animal life.

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Maria-Brazil.org

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Maria-Brazil.org Home of Brazilian Culture on the Web

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Brazilian Culture, Brazilian Gestures, Brazilian Body Language, Doing Business in Brazil, Food Shopping in Brazil, Brazilian Markets, Brazil Nut, Brazil Nut Recipes, Brazil Nut Ice Cream, Brazil Nut Dessert, Brazilian Fruits and Vegetables, Brazilian recipes, Brazilian food, Brazilian cafezinho, cachaca, caipirinha, batidas, feijoada, churrasco, Brazilian vegetables, jilo, chuchu, maxixe, Brazilian

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Mrnussbaum.com

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Mr. Nussbaum - Amazon Rainforest Wildlife

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This section contains articles of 22 iconic species of Amazon wildlife including the Blue Morpho, Scarlet Ibis, Jaguar, Harpy Eagle, Capybara, Green Anacon

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Explorers

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Video: Top 10 Famous Explorers In The World
Space Explorers and their Explorations

Famous Space Explorers: Quick facts, photos, and information about their space exploration
Video: 25 Epic Expeditions And The Explorers That Made Them
Explorers-EnchantedLearning.com: Brief biographical information on famous explorers; Search alphabetically or by date or continent

PBS: The Conquistadors (Cortes, Pizarro, Orellana, Cabeza de Vaca): Historical facts, timeline

Wikipedia: Canadian Explorers: Alphabetical listing of Canadian explorers with links to biographies

Conquest of America:This Site describes the 15 year Conquest of Native America. The story of the arrival of the first explorers to America; links to each explorer with biographical information; links within articles for further historical information

Exploration of the Northwest Passage - from Wikipedia: Complete historical information about these historical expeditions: Strait of Anián, Northern Atlantic, Northern Pacific, Cook and Vancouver, 19th century, Franklin expedition, McClure expedition, John Rae, Amundsen expedition, and later expeditions

Exploration and the Spice Trade - from Wikipedia: Background, Middle ages, The New World, Trade under colonialism, Cultural exchanges, Recent Trends

Explorers by Sea: Early Navigation Methods: Historical Background with pictures of how the early explorers navigated

Spanish Exploration and Conquest of Native America: Complete Historical background with photos

Discovery and Exploration Maps from the Library of Congress:Documents the discovery and exploration of the Americas with both manuscripts and published maps. Many of these maps reflect the European Age of Discoveries, dating from the late 15th century to the 17th century when Europeans were concerned primarily with determining the outline of the continents as they explored and mapped the coastal areas and the major waterways. Also included are 18th and 19th century maps documenting the exploration and mapping of the interior parts of the continents, reflecting the work of Lewis and Clark and subsequent government explorers and surveyors. SEARCHABLE by Keyword or Creator Index, Geographic Location Index, or Title Index

*Early explorers explored the world for many reasons: Some of the reasons were: to learn more about the world, to find gold and silver, to find new trade routes, and often to expand their empire.

* Portuguese Explorers were the first Europeans to explore the world in the fifteenth century, and the first to sail around the tip of Africa.

*The Vikings were a vicious group of warriors who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe and the North Atlantic islands from the late 790 A.D. to the 1100 A.D.9/[k

Between the years 1519-1522 Magellan became the first explorer to circumnavigate the globe, sailing from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

*The French began exploring to expand their fur trade.

* Video:The Spanish Explorers of America

*The world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik, was launched by the Russians on October 4, 1957.

Before manned space flight could take place, Albert II, a Rhesus Monkey, was sent into space to determine if man could survive space flights.

* Yuri Gagarin, a Russian cosmonaut, was known as the "First Man in Space". His flight took place in April of 1961.

Alan Shepard was the first American astronaut in space. His flight took place on May 5, 1961.

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Video: Top 10 Famous Explorers In The World Space Explorers and their Explorations Famous Space Explorers: Quick facts, photos, and information about their space exploration Video: 25 Epic Expeditions And The Explorers That Made Them Explorers-EnchantedLearning.com: Brief biographical information on famous explorers; Search alphabetically or by date or continent PBS: The Conquistadors (Cortes, Pizarro, Orellana, Cabeza de Vaca): Historical facts, timeline Wikipedia: Canadian Explorers: Alphabetical listing of Canadian explorers with links to biographies Conquest of America:This Site describes the 15 year Conquest of Native America.

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Mrnussbaum.com

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This interactive map allows students to learn all about Brazil's cities, landforms, landmarks, and places of interest by simply clicking on the points of t

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Epic! books for kids

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Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

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Patrick Henry: Voice of Freedom Patrick Henry was one of the leading lights of the American Revolution, a voice that would not be silenced until Americans were free and could govern themselves.

Samuel Adams: Ringleader of the American Revolution Described as a firebrand, a revolutionary, and a patriot, the young Adams was perhaps the most vocal of his generation to demand independence from Great Britain. He believed in the higher cause of independence, and he didn't often let laws that he thought unjust stand in his way.

Franklin was one of the most famous people of his generation, his country, and his country's history. He was as close as Colonial America came to having a Renaissance man.Benjamin Franklin: America's Renaissance Man
Benjamin

John Hancock: The Money Behind the Revolution
John Hancock is perhaps best known for his very large signature on the Declaration of Independence. However, he was much more important to the American Revolution and the Revolutionary War as a businessman who had large sums of money at his disposal and used that money to support the American cause.

The Boston Tea Party
What caused Americans to get so upset about tea? Find out in this easy-to-read article.

The Great Fire of Rome
For six days in July 64, the city of Rome was consumed by fire. Summer temperatures and winds were already high; many buildings were made of wood and poorly constructed; and, according to some sources, high-ranking officials hampered efforts to control the blaze. As a result, many people died and 10 of the 14 city regions were either heavily affected or ruined. To this day, historians cannot agree on some basic elements of the story, including who, if anyone, might have caused the blaze. Rome at that time was a city of 2 million people, many of whom were poor, living in slums. It was in one of these areas, at the Capena Gate, a marketplace near the huge stadium Circus Maximus, that the fire began, late on the night of July 18. The stadium quickly went up in flames, as did a large part of the city. Hot summer winds fanned the flames. ...

The Seneca Falls Convention for Women's Rights
The Seneca Falls Convention was a gathering of Americans from around the country to further the cause of women's rights, including the right to vote (or suffrage). The convention took place on July 19 and July 20, in 1848, in Seneca Falls, N.Y. Two of the leaders of the women's suffrage movement, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, had attended the Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840. They and all other women who attended were denied the opportunity to take part in any of the discussions; in fact, the men forced the women to sit behind partitions, as if they weren't there. They determined to make their own way of things. ...

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

The European Union

The European Union is an international economic and political organization comprising most of the countries of Europe. It dates to 1992 but had its origins in the wake of World War II. The
The Development of Austria Before Habsburg Rule
Like many other areas of Europe, what is now Austria has a past that includes Celtic and Roman influences. Other pre-Habsburg rulers included the Holy Roman Empire and a handful of Babenbergs.

Leopold the

Illustrious

Albert II: Duke of Austria
Albert II was Duke of Austria and Styria for more than two decades in the 14th Century, sharing power with his brother Otto. With his mind on succession, Albert established the Albertinian House Rule, stipulating that the principle of primogeniture (the right of the firstborn child-and, ideally, son-to inherit his father's main estate, lands, and titles) should apply.

Rudolf IV: Duke of Austria
Rudolf IV was Duke of Austria and Styria for seven years in the mid-14th Century. Denied a role as an elector for choosing the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf issued the Privilegium maius, a series of "found" documents that elevated Austria to the status of an archduchy and, in the duke's minds, deserving of elector status.

Albert III: Duke of Austria
Albert III was Duke of Austria for three decades in the 14th Century, sharing power with his brother Leopold.

Austria was ruled for an extended period of time, and at various intervals, by a series of Holy Roman Emperors.
European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) began as an attempt to forestall yet another military conflict between France and Germany. French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman proposed a common market for coal and steel, an agreement that would unite those two countries (West Germany, since the post-World War II division) in an economic and political association aimed at cooperation and common benefit. It wasn't just France or West Germany onboard; also joining were Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. (All but Italy were already engaged in negotiations that would eventually create the Benelux Union.) The parliaments of all six nations voted in favor of creating and joining the ECSC and so it came into being, signed on April 18, 1951 and beginning operation on July 23, 1952. Eventually, 40 years later, the EU emerged.
The African Union
The African Union is a 55-member body that looks to address issues common to all African nations. Member states founded the African Union (AU) on May 26, 2001, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and its operations began the following year, on July 9, 2002, in Durban, South Africa. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was the first head of the African Union. The Ethiopian capital is the political center of the AU. Most of the body's important decisions are made as a result of a semi-annual meeting of the heads of state called the Assembly of the African Union, which meets once a year. A head of state from of the member states serves as the Chairperson of the AU for a year. The chairperson represents the AU at international meetings, including the G-8 and the G-20. The post rotates among the continent's five geographic regions: Central, Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western.

The Gulf Cooperation Council
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a political organization that works to serve the collective interests of its six members: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The member nations founded the GCC in 1981, as a way to foster cooperation in economic, scientific, environmental, and social issues. The GCC has several political bodies. The Supreme Council is the highest decision-making body; the Council meets annually, and each member nation has one representative who has one vote. Presidency of the Council rotates annually. Substantive decisions of the Supreme Council must be unanimous; procedural matters can be approved by a majority. Foreign ministers make up the Ministerial Council, which meets every three months, and make policies and recommendations to the Ministerial Council. The GCC's executive branch, the Secretariat General, implements decisions made by the two Councils. The head of this apparatus is the Secretary-General, who serves a three-year term. Member nations have pursued collective economic efforts in recent years, forming a common market in 2008 and a monetary council the following year and then a customs union in 2015. A move to incorporate a common currency is ongoing.

THE HISTORY AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF AUSTRIA

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Social Studies for Kids is a site with articles, subjects, and tons of links for all subjects of social studies, with a focus on what kids and their teachers/parents are learning.

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An idea has to go through several stages before it becomes a new law. You could call it a seven-step process.

1) An idea is discussed and approved by cabinet: a group of advisors chosen by the Prime Minister from the majority party in the House of Commons.Cabinet which then writes it up as a bill. A bill is a proposed law.

2) The Cabinet introduces the bill to the House of Commons: the body of elected representatives who meet in Ottawa to make laws and debate questions of government.House of Commons and the members of the House read it. This is called the first reading.

3) The bill is discussed and voted on in the House of Commons. This is called the second reading and is the most important stage.

4) The House of Commons sends the bill to committee where a smaller group of its members examines the bill in detail and makes changes.

5) Then the revised bill is voted on by the House of Commons which either accepts or rejects the whole bill. This is third reading.

6) If the House passes the bill it is sent on to the senate: the upper and smaller branch of parliament (the legislature); its members are appointed.Senate which discusses it and generally approves it.

7) The final step is Royal Assent. The Governor General: the representative of the monarch (crown), appointed on the advice of the Prime Minister for a term of five years.Governor General, on behalf of the Crown, signs the bill to make it officially law.

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Canada A Country by Consent: The Canadian Government: How Laws are Made

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An idea has to go through several stages before it becomes a new law. You could call it a seven-step process. 1) An idea is discussed and approved by cabinet: a group of advisors chosen by the Prime Minister from the majority party in the House of Commons.Cabinet which then writes it up as a bill.

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When some people think about Mexican clothing, they immediately conjure up images of women in flowing skirts and men in giant sombreros. The fact is, Mexican people wear all manner of clothing, much of it akin to the jeans and T-shirts popular in the United States and Europe. However, there are some striking differences in Mexican fashion that you can find during special events or in specific regions.

There are three primary types of Mexican clothing. There is daily clothing which varies according to profession and economic class but in general consists of slacks or jeans with a button-down shirt or T-shirt for men and a skirt or slacks with a blouse or T-shirt for women. Then there is traditional Mexican clothing, which varies by region but often includes shirts made from natural fibers such as cotton and agave, shawls known as rebozos (which are also wrapped and used to carry babies), leather cowboy boots and, for men, sarapes, or big blankets worn over the shoulder for warmth. Finally, there is ceremonial clothing worn for indigenous dances, cultural festivals and other special occasions.

Children and teenagers often wear jeans and T-shirts but, during the week, most of them are in school uniforms because even public schools require them. A typical school uniform consists of a white or light-colored polo shirt with the school's name and insignia on the chest. Boys wear slacks, usually navy blue, and girls wear skirts that go just past the knee. Students wear thick-soled black shoes and the girls wear long white socks that extend over the knee.

Some of the key features of Mexican clothing that make them stand out from its United States counterparts include natural dying and hand-stitching. These traditions have faded in popularity over time because they are time-consuming, but the low cost of labor in Mexico still makes a hand-embroidered blouse or handmade leather shoes affordable. Natural dyes are typically plant-based, integrating leaves, grasses, flower petals and ground-up seeds to create the dye. Ceremonial skirts, dresses and blouses may also feature hand-beading, fringe, braided ribbons and fabrics woven from backstrap looms.

Different regions of Mexico specialize in different types of manufacturing, making certain clothing more fashionable in certain areas. For example, the colonial heartland of Mexico, including Leon, Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende and a host of smaller villages, is known for its leather work. Shoes, belts, vests and boots come in many colors and styles, with buckles, metal studs, embossing and cutout designs popular. In Chiapas and Oaxaca, indigenous culture is prominent and daily dress may consist of a variety of traditional clothing such as bright huipil tunics, thick furry skirts, and brightly-colored blouses with contrasting embroidery.

One of the primary differences between Mexican fashion and that of the United States regards modesty. Most Mexican people who live inland do not wear short shorts. Even modest shorts or skirts that almost reach the knee can be too revealing to wear inside a cathedral. Likewise, semi-transparent shirts and skinny-strap tank tops are not common in Mexico's smaller towns and the more conservative southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas.

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When some people think about Mexican clothing, they immediately conjure up images of women in flowing skirts and men in giant sombreros. The fact is, Mexican people wear all manner of clothing, much of it akin to the jeans and T-shirts popular in the United States and Europe.

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National Geographic Kids

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OFFICIAL NAME: Federal Republic of Brazil

FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Democratic federal republic

CAPITAL: Brasilia

POPULATION: 208,846,892

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Portuguese

MONEY: Real

AREA: 3,286,470 square miles (8,511,965 square kilometers)

MAJOR MOUNTAIN RANGES: Serra do Mar, Serra do Espinhaço

MAJOR RIVERS: Amazon, São Francisco, Paraná, Tocantins

Brazil is the largest country in South America and the fifth largest nation in the world. It forms an enormous triangle on the eastern side of the continent with a 4,500-mile (7,400-kilometer) coastline along the Atlantic Ocean. It has borders with every South American country except Chile and Ecuador.

The Brazilian landscape is very varied. It is most well known for its dense forests, including the Amazon, the world's largest jungle, in the north. But there are also dry grasslands (called pampas), rugged hills, pine forests, sprawling wetlands, immense plateaus, and a long coastal plain.

Northern Brazil is dominated by the Amazon River and the jungles that surround it. The Amazon is not one river but a network of many hundreds of waterways. Its total length stretches 4,250 miles (6,840 kilometers). Thousands of species live in the river, including the infamous piranha and the boto, or pink river dolphin.
Map created by National Geographic Maps

PEOPLE & CULTURE

Most Brazilians are descended from three ethnic groups: Amerindians, European settlers (mainly from Portugal), and Africans. Starting in the 19th century, waves of immigrants from Europe, the Middle East, and even Japan added to this mix. This diversity of cultures has created a rich religious, musical, and culinary culture.

Brazilians are soccer crazy, and their country has produced some of the best players. The most famous of all is Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé. Brazil has won the World Cup soccer finals five times, more than any other nation.

Brazil has the greatest variety of animals of any country in the world. It is home to 600 mammal species, 1,500 fish species, 1,600 bird species, and an amazing 100,000 different types of insects. Brazil's jungles are home to most of its animal life, but many unique species also live in the pampas and semidesert regions.

In the central-western part of Brazil sits a flat, swampy area called the Pantanal. This patchwork of flooded lagoons and small islands is the world's largest wetland. Here live giant anacondas, huge guinea pig relatives called capybaras, and fierce South American alligators called caimans.

For thousands of years, people have been exploiting the jungles of Brazil. But since Europeans arrived about five centuries ago, forest destruction has been rampant. Most of Brazil's Atlantic rain forest is now gone, and huge tracts of the Amazon are disappearing every year. The government has established many national parks and refuges, but they only cover about 7 percent of the country.

GOVERNMENT & ECONOMY

Brazil is a federal republic with a president, a National Congress, and a judiciary. From 1888 until recently, the country struggled with democracy. But in 1985, the military government was peacefully removed, and by 1995, Brazil's politics and economy had become fairly stable.

Brazil has many different soils and climates, so it can produce a great variety of crops. Its agricultural exports include sugarcane, latex, coffee, cocoa beans, cotton, soybeans, rice, and tropical fruits.

Brazil is also South America's most industrial nation, producing chemicals, steel, aircraft, and cars.

Until recently, scientists thought Brazil was first settled by Asians about 10,000 years ago. But new evidence shows there were people living there at least 32,000 years ago. Some experts think they may have arrived from islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Brazil was added to the map of the world during the great European explorations in the late 15th century led by Portugal and Spain. When Europeans first reached the coast of Brazil, the country was home to about 30 million indigenous people, or Amerindians. Today, only about 300,000 remain, living primarily in Brazil's remotest places.

Portugal established its first colony in Brazil in 1530. Colonists created sugarcane plantations along the coast and sent diamonds and gold back to Europe. Soon, people from West Africa were brought to Brazil to work as slaves. The discovery of large inland gold reserves brought thousands of people from the coasts and as far away as Europe to the interior of the country.

In 1789, Brazilians tried to kick out their Portuguese rulers. The rebellion was soon put down, but it started a movement toward independence. By 1822, Brazil was a sovereign nation. Kings of Portuguese blood ruled until 1888, when military leaders and landowners expelled the king, and Brazil became a federal republic.

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Brazil Country Profile - National Geographic Kids

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Brazil is the largest country in South America and the fifth largest nation in the world.

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Learn about the world's great explorers and their ships, voyages, and navigational tools. Read about the Age of Exploration and Discovery.

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Overview

Back to History
The three most dominant and advanced civilizations that developed in the Americas prior to the arrival of the Europeans were the Aztecs, the Maya, and the Inca.

Map of Aztec, Mayan, and Incan Civilizations
by Ducksters
Aztecs
The Aztec Empire was located in central Mexico. It ruled much of the region from the 1400s until the Spanish arrived in 1519. Much of the Aztec society centered around their religion and gods. They built large pyramids as temples to their gods and went to war to capture people they could sacrifice to their gods.

The capital city of the Aztec Empire was Tenochtitlan. This city was founded in 1325 on an island in Lake Texcoco. At the height of its power, the city likely had a population of 200,000 people. At the center of the city was a large temple complex with pyramids and a palace for the king. The rest of the city was planned out in a grid-like fashion and divided up into districts. It had causeways built to get to the mainland and aqueducts to bring fresh water into the city.

The Aztec called their ruler the Tlatoani. The Empire reached its height under the rule of Tlatoani Montezuma I. Around 1517 the priests of the Aztecs began to see omens of doom. They felt that something bad was going to happen. They were right. In 1519 Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes arrived in Mexico. By 1521 the Spanish had conquered the Aztecs. They tore down much of the city of Tenochtitlan and built their own city on the site called Mexico City.

Maya

The Maya civilization began as early as 2000 BC and continued to have a strong presence in Mesoamerica for over 3000 years until the Spanish arrived in 1519 AD. The Maya were organized into powerful city-states. Over the course of Maya history, different city-states came into power such as El Mirador, Tikal, Uxmal, Caracol, and Chichen Itza.

The Maya were located in Central America in a region that is today made up of southern Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, Belize, and northern El Salvador. They built hundreds of cities filled with large stone structures. The Maya are perhaps best known today for their many pyramids. They built pyramids to their gods that towered hundreds of feet tall above the jungle.

The Maya were the only American civilization to develop an advanced written language. They also excelled in mathematics, art, architecture, and astronomy. The golden age of the Maya civilization occurred during what is called the Classic Period from 250 AD to 900 AD.

Inca

The Inca Empire was centered in Peru and ruled over much of the west coast of South America from the 1400s to the time of the Spanish arrival in 1532. This wide ranging empire did not have the wheel, iron tools, or a writing system, but its complex government and system of roads created a society where everyone had a job, a home, and something to eat.

The emperor of the Inca was known as the Sapa Inca. The first Sapa Inca was Manco Capac. He founded the Kingdom of Cuzco around 1200 AD. The city of Cuzco would remain the capital of the empire as it expanded in the coming years. The Inca expanded into a great empire under the reign of Pachacuti. Pachacuti created the Inca Empire which the Inca called the Tawantinsuyu. At its height, the Inca Empire had an estimated population of over 10 million people.

The Inca were conquered by the Spanish and conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1533. The empire was already severely weakened by civil war and diseases such as smallpox when Pizarro arrived.

Activities
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Recommended books and references:

Aztec, Inca, and Maya an Eyewitness Book by Elizabeth Baquedano. 2005.

The Aztec Empire by Sunita Apte. 2010.

Great Civilizations: The Aztec Empire by Sheila Wyborny. 2004.

Gods and Goddesses of the Ancient Maya by Leonard Everett Fisher. 1999.

The Inca by World Book. 2009.

The Inca Empire by Sandra Newman. 2010.

Works Cited
Back to History

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Kids learn about the ancient civilizations of the Americas including the Aztecs, Maya, and Inca Empires.

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Aztec History, Inca History, Mayas History

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History of Ancient Indian Civilizations, History of the Aztecs, History of the Incas, History of the Mayas.

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Softschools

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Aztec Timeline
Timeline Description: The Aztec people were made up of three nations which ruled what is now Mexico. The Aztecs were destroyed by Spanish explorers in the 16th century. This is a timeline of their rule.

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Aztec Timeline Timeline Description: The Aztec people were made up of three nations which ruled what is now Mexico. The Aztecs were destroyed by Spanish explorers in the 16th century. This is a timeline of their rule.

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Maya Civilization
About 2,800 years ago, people known as the Maya lived in farming villages on the Yucatan Peninsula and the highlands to the south. From about A.D. 250 to A.D. 900, they built city-states in Central America that included great pyramid temples and public plazas featuring huge stone columns that recounted their history. Excavations at Tikal, Guatemala, one of the greatest and oldest Maya centers, have revealed thousands of structures and artifacts. The findings include temples, pyramids, ball-playing courts, stone monuments, tools, ceremonial objects, and a great many pottery fragments.

The limestone of the Yucatan Peninsula was easily quarried and used for building and tool making. In the south, volcanoes stretched over the highlands and yielded valuable resources. The fertile volcanic soil allowed the people to grow crops.

Incan Civilization
The Inca began settling in the Valley of Cuzco in the Andes Mountains of central Peru around the year 1200. Between 1440 and 1500, they expanded their empire until it extended nearly 2,500 miles from north to south and included as many as 16 million people. The lands they occupied included mountains, coastal desert, and low-lying jungle.

The Incan central government at Cuzco maintained a strong military and passed laws to create official customs and an official language and calendar. The Inca engineered 14,000 miles of roads, including tunnels and bridges, and built the great fortress of Sacsahuaman. They also developed highly advanced terracing and irrigation methods to allow farming in difficult mountain terrain.

Aztec Civilization
The center of the Aztec civilization was in the Valley of Mexico, a huge high-elevation basin in the Sierra Madre Mountains. This valley had a mild climate that was good for agriculture. The surrounding lowlands offered a hotter, wetter tropical climate and an abundance of natural resources.

Around 1325, the Aztecs settled on an island in Lake Texcoco, where they built their capital and largest city, Tenochtitlán. They called themselves the Mexica (pronounced me-shee-ka) and became accomplished corn farmers, warriors, and temple builders. The ceramic shown here is one of a pair of life-size statues discovered during the recent excavation of the Great Temple of Tenochtitlán. The statues stood guard at the doorway of the meeting room of the Aztec warriors. The aggression and warrior skill of the Aztecs allowed them to conquer neighboring people. Eventually, the empire stretched over most of central Mexico and included millions of people.

Civilizations Measure Time and Record Information

The Maya built their great cities between A.D. 250 and A.D. 900. Their accomplishments included the development of complex writing and mathematical systems and impressive advances in astronomy. They used two calendars. One calendar was based on a solar year, while the other was a kind of sacred almanac. A sophisticated three-symbol numerical system allowed the Maya to record numbers into the millions.

The Aztec civilization, which emerged beginning in the 1200s, is considered the greatest of the civilizations that developed in Mesoamerica, the area extending from central Mexico to Honduras. Settling first on an island in Lake Texcoco, the Aztecs expanded their control to most of central Mexico. Like the Maya, the Aztec used a sacred calendar and a 365-day agricultural calendar. The Aztec writing system was based on glyphs, symbols that stand for sounds or words. The few remaining Aztec books, called codices, provide rich depictions of Aztec legends, beliefs, and daily life.

At about the same time that the Aztecs flourished in Mexico, the highly developed Incan Empire flourished in the Andes Mountains and along the west coast of South America. The vast Incan Empire had a central government that established laws, developed a complex road system, planned cities, and created farmlands along the sides of mountains. Unlike the Aztecs and the Maya, the Inca did not develop a writing system. Records of inventories were kept on bundles of knotted cords called quipus.

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Maya Civilization About 2,800 years ago, people known as the Maya lived in farming villages on the Yucatan Peninsula and the highlands to the south. From about A.D. 250 to A.D. 900, they built city-states in Central America that included great pyramid temples and public plazas featuring huge stone columns that recounted their history.

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Aztec Timeline
Timeline Description: The Aztec people were made up of three nations which ruled what is now Mexico. The Aztecs were destroyed by Spanish explorers in the 16th century. This is a timeline of their rule.

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Aztec Timeline Timeline Description: The Aztec people were made up of three nations which ruled what is now Mexico. The Aztecs were destroyed by Spanish explorers in the 16th century. This is a timeline of their rule.

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Learn about social studies and play games with your favorite PBS KIDS characters like Elmo, Daniel Tiger, Molly of Denali, and Let's Go Luna!

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Mr. Nussbaum History Explorers Activities

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This massive section includes games, historical accounts, articles, online activities, and printables related to explorers and the Age of Exploration.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Clash of Cultures: Cortes Conquers Moctezuma and the Aztecs

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Clash of Cultures: Cortes Conquers Moctezuma and the Aztecs

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Newsela

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Newsela | Clash of Cultures: Cortes Conquers Moctezuma and the Aztecs

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A case of mistaken identity brought the end of the Aztec empire.

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Interactive Map: Exploration of North America, 1492-1700

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Spanish Exploration in America - Primary Source Set | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress

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The role of Spanish explorers in the discovery, exploration, and development of America. Documents Columbus, Cortes, and Ponce de Leon, and how they were represented in later years. Features songs, maps, drawings, paintings, and written documents.

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https://youtu.be/6RrHAOQEL9w

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History Channel

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Ask History: What Happened to the Aztecs? | History

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World Culture Encyclopedia: North America, Oceania, South Asia, Europe, East / Southeast Asia, Russia - Eurasia / China, South America, Middle America / Caribbean, and Africa / Middle East

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What Montezuma's Aztec Sounded Like - and how we know

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National Parliaments

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Summary

Mexico's Congress was established in 1917 and has two chambers: the Chamber of Representatives and the Chamber of Senators (which is commonly referred to as the Republic's Senate). The Chamber of Representatives is comprised of five hundred members who are elected every three years, with the possibility of being elected for up to four consecutive terms. The Chamber of Senators is comprised of 128 senators elected every six years, with the possibility of being elected for up to two consecutive terms. Mexico is a federal republic formed by thirty-two sovereign states united in a federation as provided by the Mexican Constitution. The Constitution provides an extensive list of powers reserved for Congress. The legislative process requires both chambers of Congress to agree on the text of a bill, both in general and article by article. Both chambers of Mexico's Congress have committees aimed at overseeing, researching, and generally assisting Congress in the fulfillment of its duties concerning a number of specific topics.

I. Background

A. Establishment of the Federal Congress

Mexico's Congress was established in 1917 by the Constitution enacted that year, which is still in force.[1] Previous Constitutions in force in Mexico during the nineteenth century also provided for the existence of a national legislature. Specifically, Mexico's 1824 Constitution stated that federal legislative power was to be exercised by a General Congress comprised of two chambers, one of representatives and another of senators.[2]

In 1857, another Constitution was enacted, which provided that the legislature would be comprised of only one chamber of representatives.[3] However, in 1874 this Constitution was amended in order to reinstate the Senate based on the argument that in a federal republic such as Mexico, it was necessary to have a bicameral congressional system comprising representatives of states as a whole (i.e., senators) as well as representatives from specific districts.[4]

B. Location of Congress

Mexico's Federal District (best known as Mexico City) is the nation's capital and the place where Congress is located.[5]

Mexico's 1824 Constitution stated that Congress had the authority to select the location in which the federal legislative branch would reside.[6] Pursuant to this authority, Congress chose Mexico City as its location, as this was the country's focal point for a wide variety of activities, including business, politics, economics and cultural affairs.[7]

The legislative chambers are located in Mexico City's Historic District.[8] The location of the building of the Chamber of Representatives was chosen due to its close proximity to Mexico's National Palace (i.e., the President's office building).[9] This Chamber was built with a central section that houses a main hall where the Representatives meet for their sessions.[10] This hall is surrounded by a number of wings that house individual representative offices, committees, and administrative offices.[11] The façade of the building was built with materials that reflect the three national colors (green, white and red).[12] The Senate occupies a two-story building which has a central courtyard and houses a wide variety of paintings and sculptures that illustrate key figures and events of Mexico's history.[13]

II. Constitutional Status and Role

A. Mexican System of Government

Mexico is a federal republic whose national government is comprised of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches.[14]

The country is formed by thirty-one states and a Federal District that are free and sovereign with respect to their respective territories but united in a federation as provided by the Mexican Constitution, which indicates that the powers that are not expressly granted by it to federal authorities are deemed reserved for the authorities of the Mexican states.[15]

Article 122 of the Mexican Constitution provides that the government of the Federal District is organized in a system in which both the federal government and the local Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches exercise certain powers, in a structure whose main features may be summarized as follows:

1. The (local) executive power is a "Chief of government," directly elected by the citizens of the Federal District;

2. The (local) legislative power is vested in a Legislative Assembly (whose members are also elected by the District's citizens), with power to pass legislation on matters that are expressly indicated in article 122 of the Constitution (such as legislating on local matters, including local transportation, tourism and lodging services);

3. The Magistrates of the (local) Superior Tribunal of the Federal District are designated by the Legislative Assembly, upon the proposal of the Chief of government;

4. The Federal District is ... divided into "Delegaciones" (which are to some extent similar to boroughs), but those who head them are popularly and directly elected;

5. The (federal) Congress ... has power to legislate on certain matters relating to the Federal District (such as legislating on matters of the District's public debt).[16]

The Mexican President heads the federal executive branch and has broad executive powers, including the authority to direct foreign policy and to command Mexico's armed forces.[17]

B. Legislative Role of the Congress Under the Constitution

Mexico's Constitution provides that Congress constitutes the country's federal legislative branch, which is comprised of the Chamber of Representatives and the Chamber of Senators.[1]8

Article 73 of the Mexican Constitution provides an extensive list of powers reserved for Congress, including the following:

Admitting new states to the country

Issuing declarations of war, in view of information presented by the President

Imposing taxes necessary to cover the nation's budget

Preventing the restriction of commerce between the states

Passing laws on a wide variety of areas, including nationality, the legal status of foreigners, citizenship, naturalization, immigration, and national security[19]

III. Structure and Composition

A. House and Senate Membership

Mexico's Chamber of Representatives is comprised of five hundred representatives, three hundred of whom represent a federal electoral district. The other two hundred are chosen through proportional representation, a complex system whereby political parties that fulfill certain requirements are allowed to nominate candidates to these seats, which are assigned based on the proportion of votes obtained in an election by such parties.[20]

The Chamber of Senators (which is commonly referred to as the Republic's Senate) has 128 senators, ninety-six of whom are elected in the thirty-two Mexican states (three senators per state), and thirty-two of whom are chosenby proportional representation, i.e., these seats are assigned based on the proportion of votes obtained by political parties in a nationwide election.[21]

The two chambers of Congress are elected under the rules discussed in Part IV of this report.

B. Political Parties

Currently, there are three main political parties represented in Mexico's Chamber of Representatives: the Institutional Revolutionary Party, the National Action Party, and the Party of the Democratic Revolution.[22] In addition, five other minor political parties are represented and two representatives have no party affiliation.[23] Seats in the Chamber of Representatives are distributed by political parties as follows:

Institutional Revolutionary Party: 207

National Action Party: 109

Party of the Democratic Revolution: 60

Ecologist Green Party: 42

National Regeneration Movement: 35

Citizen Movement Party: 25

New Alliance Party: 11

Social Compact Party: 8

Independent Party: 2.[24]

As of October 2015, seats in the Mexican Senate were allocated by political party as follows:

Institutional Revolutionary Party: 52

National Action Party: 37

Party of the Democratic Revolution: 21

Ecologist Green Party: 7

Labor Party: 6

New Alliance Party: 1

Independent Party: 1[25]

C. Role of the President of the Chamber of Representatives and other Salient Leadership Roles

The President of the Chamber of Representatives conducts institutional relations with the Chamber of Senators as well as with the other branches of the federal government and state authorities, and is the Chamber's representative in matters of parliamentary diplomacy.[26] Among other duties, the President of the Chamber also

presides over the Chamber's sessions;

signs legislation and resolutions passed by Congress, in conjunction with the Senate's leadership;

legally represents the Chamber and has the authority to delegate this duty as necessary; and

signs the Chamber's correspondence and other communications.[27]

The President of the Chamber of Representatives is assisted in his/her duties by three Vice-Presidents of the chamber, who may be assigned by the President to represent the Chamber as necessary at protocol events.[28]

The President and Vice-Presidents are elected by the members of the Chamber.[29]

D. Role of the President of the Senate and other Salient Leadership Roles

Similarly, members of the Mexican Senate also elect a President and three Vice-Presidents who assist the former in the discharge of his/her duties and substitute for him/her during temporary absences.[30] The President of the Senate has broad powers over the Chamber's operations, providing legal representation and signing laws passed by Congress in conjunction with the Chamber of Representatives' leadership.[31]

E. Parliamentary Committees

Both chambers of Mexico's Congress havecommittees aimed at overseeing, researching, and generally assisting Congress in the fulfillment of its duties concerning a number of specific topics.[32]

Specifically, the Chamber of Representatives currently has the following fifty-two committees: agriculture; drinking water; northern and southern border affairs; Indian affairs; immigration; vulnerable groups; climate change; science and technology; competitiveness; communications; culture and cinematography; national defense, sports; rights of children; human rights; metropolitan development; municipal development; rural development; social development; urban development; economy; education; energy; social economy; federalism; cattle industry; governance; treasury; gender equality; infrastructure; justice; youth; navy; environment; fishing; population; budget; emergency management; constitutional matters; radio and television; hydraulic resources; agrarian reform; foreign relations; health; public safety; social security; labor; transparency and anticorruption; transportation; tourism; and housing.[33]

The Senate currently has the following thirty committees: administration; agriculture, cattle industry and rural development; Indian affairs; library and editorial matters; commerce; communications and transportation; national defense; human rights; social development; federal district; education, culture, science, and technology; energy; legislative studies; federalism and municipal development; governance; treasury; judicial matters; justice; navy; Belisario Dominguez medal; environment, natural resources, and fishing; gender equality; constitutional matters; agrarian reform; regulations and parliamentary practices; foreign relations; health and social security; public safety; labor; and tourism.[34]

Special committees may be formed by either chamber as Representatives and Senators see fit in order to address a particular issue.[35]

IV. Elections

Federal elections are organized and managed by Mexico's National Elections Institute.[36] The most recent federal election was held on June 7, 2015, and the next federal election will take place on July 1, 2018.[37] Voter turnout for the 2015 election was 47%.[38]

As stated above, Mexico's Chamber of Representatives is comprised of five hundred representatives (elected every three years, with the possibility of being elected for up to four consecutive terms), three hundred of whom are elected by a relative majority and represent an individual federal electoral district.[39] The other two hundred representatives obtain their seats by proportional representation.[40]

In terms of population represented, the federal electoral districts are determined by dividing the total number of Mexico's inhabitants by three hundred (i.e., the number of districts).[41] Allocation of the federal electoral districts among the Mexican states is done pursuant to data obtained in the most recent population census, although each state must have at least two federal representatives.[42]

The Chamber of Senators is comprised of 128 senators (elected every six years, with the possibility of being elected for up to two consecutive terms), of whom ninety-six are elected in the thirty-two Mexican states (three senators per state), and thirty-two chosenby proportional representation.[43]

V. Legislative Process

The Mexican Constitution provides guidelines concerning the legislative process applicable to a standard bill, which have been summarized as follows:

According to article 71 of the Constitution, the power to introduce bills for consideration is vested in: the president of the Republic; (representatives) and senators of the federal Congress; State legislatures; and a number of citizens that is equivalent to no less than 0.13 per cent of registered voters. Moreover, it has to be noticed that the president of the Republic has the exclusive power to introduce bills that refer to federal income and budget of each year.

. . . .

With respect to (representatives) and senators, the Constitution does not foresee a specific number of legislators required to exercise the power to introduce bills; therefore, it is understood that this can be done either by individual legislators or groups of them. (...) State legislatures also have power to introduce bills in the general Congress, but in practice they do not do so often.

The rules on the relationship between the Chamber of (representatives) and the Senate in the context of the legislative process can be found in article 72 of the Constitution. Essentially, both chambers of Congress must agree on the text of a bill, both in general and article-by-article, in order to refer it to the president of the Republic (who shall either promulgate the new statute or veto the bill).[44]

Generally, bills may be introduced in either of the two chambers, but bills that deal with certain debt matters ( empréstitos), taxes, or recruitment of troops must first be introduced and discussed in the Chamber of Representatives.[45]

A brief summary of the steps that standard bills go through from introduction in one of the legislative chambers (the chamber of origin of the bill) to approval by the other chamber (the reviewing chamber) follows:

Introduction: Any bill introduced must first be submitted for review to the committee that has jurisdiction over the bill's topic.

Review and Approval by Committees: A report on the bill's particulars is prepared for the consideration of the members of the committee, and if they approve the bill, it is then referred for consideration by the rest of the members of the chamber.

Discussion: The bill is discussed by the full chamber, both in general and in particular (article by article).

Vote: The bill is then subject to a vote and, if approved, it is submitted to the other chamber (the reviewing chamber), which in turn follows the same procedure (review and approval by the appropriate committee, and discussion and vote by the full chamber). The reviewing chamber may approve the bill, or it may propose changes and return the bill to the chamber of origin for further discussion.[46]

Promulgation: As stated above, "both chambers of Congress must agree on the text of a bill, both in general and article-by-article, in order to refer it to the president of the Republic (who shall either promulgate the new statute or veto the bill)."[47]

Prepared by Gustavo Guerra
Senior Foreign Law Specialist
January 2016

[5] Const. arts. 44, 49, 50.

[7] 2 Miguel Carbonell et al., Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos: comentada y concordada [Political Constitution of the United Mexican States Annotated] art. 44, at 141-42 (15th ed. 2000).

[14] Const. arts. 40, 49.

[17] Const. arts. 80, 89, 90.

[39] Const. arts. 51-53, 59.

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Back to National Parliaments Mexico's Congress was established in 1917 and has two chambers: the Chamber of Representatives and the Chamber of Senators (which is commonly referred to as the Republic's Senate).

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National Geographic Kids

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OFFICIAL NAME: Canada

FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Federal parliamentary state

CAPITAL: Ottawa

POPULATION: 35,881,659

OFFICIAL LANGUAGES: English, French

MONEY: Canadian dollar

AREA: 3,849,674 square miles (9,970,610 square kilometers)

MAJOR MOUNTAIN RANGES: Rockies, Coast, Laurentian

MAJOR RIVERS: St. Lawrence, Mackenzie

Canada is a vast and rugged land. From north to south it spans more than half the Northern Hemisphere. From east to west it stretches almost 4,700 miles (7,560 kilometers) across six time zones. It is the second largest country in the world, but it has only one-half of one percent of the world's population.

Canada features black-blue lakes, numerous rivers, majestic western mountains, rolling central plains, and forested eastern valleys. The Canadian Shield, a hilly region of lakes and swamps, stretches across northern Canada and has some of the oldest rocks on Earth.

Canada's far north lies in the frozen grip of the Arctic, where ice, snow, and glaciers dominate the landscape. Few trees grow here, and farming is not practical. Native Canadians, called First Nations people, live in this region by hunting and fishing.
Map created by National Geographic Maps

PEOPLE & CULTURE

In some ways Canada is many nations in one. Descendents of British and French immigrants make up about half the population. They were followed by other European and Asian immigrants. First Nations peoples make up about four percent of the population.

Inuit people live mostly in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Many Native Canadians live on their traditional lands, but many others have moved to cities across Canada. First Nations artwork is widely recognized and is seen as a symbol of Canadian culture.

Canada's remote north and extensive forests are home to wildlife, from bears, wolves, beavers, deer, mountain lions, and bighorn sheep to smaller animals like raccoons, otters, and rabbits. The country's lakes and rivers, which contain about 20 percent of all fresh water on Earth, are full of fish such as trout and salmon.

Canada's prairies in the south are home to bison and pronghorn antelope. Farther north are Canada's sprawling evergreen forests, which have lots of wildlife, including moose and black bears. Even farther north is the cold, bare tundra, where herds of caribou and musk ox live.

Canadians work hard to protect the native wildlife. Canada has 41 national parks and three marine conservation areas. Nevertheless, species like wolves, lynx, and Atlantic fish have been overhunted and overfished.

GOVERNMENT & ECONOMY

The British monarch is the head of state of Canada. The monarch is represented by a governor-general, who has very limited powers. Laws are made by Canada's elected federal government, which includes a parliament and a prime minister.

Britain's Quebec Act of 1774 granted Quebec its own legal and religious rights. Despite this concession, many Quebec citizens have long sought independence. In votes held in 1980 and 1995, Quebec decided to stay in Canada. But the second vote was very close, and the debate is still alive.

Canada has provided fish, furs, and other natural resources to the world since the 1500s. Today, it is a world leader in agricultural production, telecommunications, and energy technologies. The vast majority of Canada's exports go to the United States.

The first people to come to Canada arrived between 15,000 and 30,000 years ago across a land bridge that joined Asia and North America. Around A.D. 1000, the Viking explorer Leif Eriksson reached Newfoundland, Canada. He tried to establish a settlement, but it didn't last.

In the 16th century, French and British settlers arrived. Land disputes between farmers and fur traders led to four wars between 1689 and 1763. The final war, called the French and Indian War, left the British in control of Canada, but French influence remains strong even today.

In 1867, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick combined to form a dominion with its own government, parliament, and prime minister. Manitoba joined soon after. In 1931, Canada became an independent nation.

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Canada Country Profile - National Geographic Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
OFFICIAL NAME: Canada FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Federal parliamentary state CAPITAL: Ottawa POPULATION: 35,881,659 OFFICIAL LANGUAGES: English, French MONEY: Canadian dollar AREA: 3,849,674 square miles (9,970,610 square kilometers) MAJOR MOUNTAIN RANGES: Rockies, Coast, Laurentian MAJOR RIVERS: St. Lawrence, Mackenzie Canada is a vast and rugged land.

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WorldWeb.com

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Canadian Attractions

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Canadian attractions, events and experiences - Travel.gc.ca

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Government of Canada's official one-stop-shop for comprehensive international travel information.

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QuestGarden.com

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Visit to the Ancient Western Civilizations: Process

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You will research about the following three Ancient Western Civilizations: Incas, Aztecs and Mayas.

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Video:  How a Law is Made.

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Legal Research Guide

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Back to Foreign and International Law
Contents

Executive Summary

This report expands and updates the Brazilian Legal Research Guide available on the website of the Law Library of Congress. The purpose of the Guide is to provide a general understanding of the Brazilian legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the federal government as defined by the Constitution and federal laws.

Initially, the report will be divided into three parts. The first part discusses the legislative branch; the second part explains the executive branch and the third will update the existing material on the judicial branch.

Additional material will later be included covering nomenclature, hierarchy, and the definition of legal terms in general; legal definitions of terms used in administrative law; administrative responsibility; codification and consolidation of laws; sources of publication; legislation, doctrine, and jurisprudence; civil, criminal, and procedural laws; official sources of law (official gazettes; codes, consolidations, and random laws; jurisprudence; and scholars).

The report will also include a list with the corresponding links to codes and the most relevant laws currently in force in Brazil, Internet sources containing legal information including government websites.

Introduction

The Legislative Branch

National Congress

Pursuant to article 44 of the Constitution of October 5, 1988, the National Congress is composed of the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate.

Powers

Article 48 determines that the National Congress has the power, with the approval of the President of the Republic, which is not required for subjects specified in articles 49, 51, and 52 of the Constitution, to regulate all matters within the federal government's ( União) jurisdiction, particularly:[ 7]

1. the tax system, tax collection, and income distribution;

2. multi-year plans, budgetary directives, annual budgets, credit transactions, public debt, and issuance of legal tender;

3. determination and modification of the number of troops in the Armed Forces;

4. national, regional, and sectorial development plans and programs;

5. national territorial boundaries, air and maritime space, and property owned by the federal government;

6. incorporation, subdivision, or division of areas of territories or states, after hearing from the respective Legislative Assemblies;

7. temporary transfer of the seat of the federal government;

8. granting of amnesty;

9. administrative and judicial organization of the Public Prosecutor's Office (Ministério Público)[8] and Public Defender's Office (Defensoria Pública)[9] of the federal government and territories, and judicial organization of the Public Prosecutor's Office and Public Defender's Office of the Federal District;

10. creation, transformation, and termination of public offices, employment, and positions, observing what has been established in article 84(VI)(b) of the Constitution;

11. creation and termination of ministries and agencies of the public administration;

12. telecommunications and radio broadcasting;

13. financial, foreign exchange, and monetary matters, as well as financial institutions and their operations;

14. currency, limits on currency issuance, and the amount of federal indebtedness evidenced by bonds or other securities; and

15. determining the fixed compensation of Ministers of the Federal Supreme Court, observing what has been provided for in articles 39(§4), 150(II), 153(III), and 153(§2)(I).

The National Congress has exclusive powers to:[ 10]

1. decide definitively on international treaties, agreements, or acts that result in charges or commitments encumbering the national patrimony;

2. authorize the President of the Republic to declare war, make peace, and permit foreign forces to pass through national territory or remain therein temporarily, with the exception of cases provided for by supplemental law;

3. authorize the President and the Vice-President of the Republic to leave the country for more than fifteen days;

4. approve a state of defense or federal intervention, authorize a state of siege or suspend any of these measures;

5. suspend normative acts of the Executive that exceed its regulatory authority or the limits of legislative delegation;

6. transfer its seat temporarily;

7. set identical fixed compensation for the Federal Deputies and Senators, observing the provisions of articles 37(XI), 39(§4), 150(II), 153(III), and 153(§2)(I);

8. set the fixed compensation of the President and Vice-President of the Republic and Ministers of the federal government, observing the provisions of articles 37(XI), 39(§4), 150(II), 153(III), and 153(§2)(I);

9. review each year the accounts rendered by the President of the Republic and consider reports on the execution of plans of the government;

10. supervise and control, directly or through either of its Chambers, acts of the Executive, including those of the indirect administration;[11]

11. safeguard the preservation of its legislative authority in face of the rulemaking powers of the other branches;

12. consider the acts granting and renewing concessions for radio and television broadcasters;

13. select two-thirds of the members of the Audit Tribunal of the Union (Tribunal de Contas da União (external link) );[12]

14. approve executive initiatives referring to nuclear activities;

15. authorize referenda and call for plebiscites;

16. authorize exploitation and use of water resources and the prospecting and mining of mineral wealth on indigenous lands; and

17. give prior approval for the alienation or concession of public lands with an area greater than 2,500 hectares (approximately 7,475 acres).

In addition to other cases provided for in the Constitution, the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate must meet in a joint session to:[ 15]

1. inaugurate the legislative session;

2. draw up common bylaws and regulate the creation of services common to both Chambers;

3. receive the oath of office of the President and Vice-President of the Republic; and

4. acknowledge a veto and deliberate about it.

Starting on February 1 of the first year of the legislature, each Chamber shall meet in preparatory sessions to seat its members and elect its respective Executive Committees for a two-year term, prohibiting reelection to the same position in the next election.[ 16]

The Executive Committee of the National Congress is presided over by the President of the Federal Senate, and the other positions are held, alternately, by the occupants of equivalent positions in the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate.[ 17]

Article 57 of the Constitution provides for those situations where extraordinary sessions of the National Congress may be called and who may call them.

Except where there is a constitutional provision to the contrary, the decisions of each Chamber and its committees must be made by a majority vote whenever an absolute majority of its members is present.[ 18]

Committees, based upon the subjects over which they have jurisdiction ( competência), must have the power to:[ 21]

1. discuss and vote on bills that, in accordance with the bylaws, do not require the authority of the entire body, unless an objection is made by one-tenth of the members of the Chamber;

2. hold public hearings with entities of civil society;

3. summon Ministers of the Federal Government to provide information on matters inherent to their duties;

4. receive petitions, claims, representations, or complaints from any person against acts or omissions of government authorities or public entities;

5. request the deposition of any authority or citizen; and

6. examine construction programs and national, regional, and sectorial development plans, and issue opinions on them.

The Parliamentary Commissions of Inquiry (Comissões Parlamentares de Inquérito (external link) , CPI), which must have the same investigative powers as judicial authorities in addition to other powers set forth in the bylaws of their respective Chambers, must be created by the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate, either jointly or separately, upon the request of one-third of its members, to investigate certain facts for a determined period of time. If appropriate, their conclusions must be forwarded to the Public Prosecutor's Office (Ministério Público (external link) ) to determine whether to pursue civil or criminal liability of the offenders.[ 22]

During the recess period, the National Congress must be represented by a committee elected by its two Chambers at the last ordinary session of the legislative term, with powers defined in common bylaws, and whose composition must reflect the proportional representation of the political parties to the extent possible.[ 23]

The Internal Rule of the House of Representatives was designed to adjust the operation of the legislative house to the legislative process provided for in the Constitution, and has the power of an ordinary law.[ 27]

The Chamber of Deputies is composed of representatives of the people, elected in each state, territory, and the Federal District by a proportional system.[ 29] The total number of Deputies, as well as the representation of each state and the Federal District, must be established by a supplemental law (external link) [ 30]in proportion to the population.[ 31] The necessary adjustments must be made in the year prior to the elections, so that none of the units of the Federation has fewer than eight or more than seventy Deputies.[ 32] Each territory must elect four Deputies.[ 33]

Except where there is a constitutional provision to the contrary, the decisions of each Chamber and its committees must be made by a majority vote whenever an absolute majority of its members is present.[ 34]

Powers

The Chamber of Deputies has exclusive power to:[ 35]

1. authorize, by two-thirds of its members, the initiation of legal charges against the President and Vice-President of the Republic and the Ministers of State;

2. proceed to take the accounts of the President of the Republic, when they are not submitted to the National Congress within sixty days after the start of the legislative session;

3. draft its internal rules;

4. provide for its organization, operation, and police; the creation, transformation, or termination of offices, jobs, and positions in its services; and the initiation of bills of law setting its respective remuneration, observing the parameters established in the law of budgetary directives;

5. elect members of the Council of the Republic, according to the terms set out in article 89(VII) of the Constitution.

The Federal Senate, the House of Representatives, and the National Congress have their own regulation that defines the routines and procedures to be adopted during the voting process. This regulation, called the Internal Rule ( Regimento Interno), governs the creation and presentation of bills of law, the routine for the processing of bills and their discussion, deliberations or votes, sanction or veto, enactment, and the publication of a new law.[ 39]

The Federal Senate is composed of representatives of the states and the Federal District, elected by majority vote.[ 41] Each state and the Federal District must elect three Senators for eight-year terms.[ 42] The representation of each State and the Federal District must be renewed every four years, alternately reelecting one-third and two-thirds.[ 43] Each Senator must be elected along with two alternates.[ 44]

Powers

The Federal Senate has exclusive power to:[ 45]

1. try for impeachable offenses the President and the Vice-President of the Republic;Ministers of the Union; and the Commanders of the Navy, Army, and Air Force;

2. try the offenses (crimes de responsabilidade) of the Ministers of the Federal Supreme Court, members of the National Council of Justice and the National Council of the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Attorney-General of the Republic (Procurador-Geral da República (external link) ),[46] and the Attorney-General of the Union (Advogado-Geral da União (external link) );[47]

3. give its prior approval, by secret ballot after a public hearing, on the selection of:

1. judges, in cases established in the Constitution;

2. Ministers of the Audit Tribunal of the Union nominated by the President of the Republic;

3. Governors of the territories;

4. the president and directors of the Central Bank;

5. the Attorney-General of the Republic; and

6. holders of other offices, as determined by law;

4. give its prior approval, by secret ballot, after closed hearing, on the selection of the heads of permanent diplomatic missions;

5. authorize foreign financial transactions of interest to the Union, states, Federal District, territories, and counties;

6. establish, as proposed by the President of the Republic, global limits for the amount of the public debt of the Union, states, Federal District, and counties;

7. provide for global limits and conditions for the foreign and domestic credit transactions of the Union, states, Federal District, and counties, their autarchies, and other entities controlled by the Union;

8. provide for limits and conditions on the concession of the Union's guarantee of foreign and domestic credit transactions;

9. establish global limits and conditions for the amount of the debt of the states, Federal District, and counties evidenced by bonds or other securities;

10. suspend enforcement, in whole or in part, of laws declared unconstitutional by final decision of the Supreme Federal Tribunal;

11. approve, by absolute majority and secret ballot, removal from office of the Attorney-General of the Republic before the end of his or her term of office;

12. draft its internal rules;

13. provide for its organization, operation, and police; the creation, transformation, or abolition of offices, jobs, and positions in its services; and the initiation of laws setting its respective remuneration, observing the parameters established in the law of budgetary directives;

14. elect the members of the Council of the Republic pursuant to article 89(VI); and

15. periodically evaluate the functioning of the structure and components of the National Tax System (Sistema Tributário Nacional),[48] and the performance of the tax administrations of the Union, states, Federal District, and counties.

In those cases provided for in subsections I and II of article 52 of the Constitution (above) concerning the Federal Senate's exclusive powers, the President of the Federal Supreme Court must preside at the trial, a conviction may only be rendered by a two-thirds vote of the Federal Senate, and the penalty imposed must be limited to loss of office, with disqualification to hold any public office for a period of eight years, without prejudice to any other judicial sanctions that may be applicable.[ 49]

Elections

Generally

The President and the Vice-President of the Republic must be elected simultaneously on the first Sunday of October for the first round, and on the last Sunday of October if there is a second round, of the year prior to the termination of the term of office of the current president.

The Electoral Code[ 50] determines that the election for federal deputies, senators and alternates, president and vice-president, governors, lieutenant-governors, and state deputies will happen simultaneously throughout the country.[ 51] Only candidates registered by political parties can participate in elections.[ 52] No registration will be admitted after a period of six months prior to the election.[ 53]

The election of State Governors and Lieutenant-Governors for a term of four years must be held on the first Sunday of October for the first round, and on the last Sunday of October if there is a second round, of the year before the end of their predecessors' mandates, and they must take office on January 1st of the subsequent year, observing the provisions of article 77 of the Constitution.[ 54]

Counties must be governed by an organic law, voted in two rounds with a minimum interval of ten days between each, and approved by two-thirds of the members of the county legislature, which must promulgate it, observing the principles established in the Brazilian Federal Constitution, the respective State Constitution, and the following precepts:[ 55]

1. election of the Mayor, Vice-Mayor, and Councilmen, is for a term of office of four years, through direct and simultaneous elections held throughout the entire country;

2. election of the Mayor and Vice-Mayor must be held on the first Sunday of October of the year prior to the termination of their predecessors' mandates, applying the provisions of article 77 to counties with more than 200,000voters; and

3. the Mayor and Vice-Mayor must take office on January 1st of the year subsequent to the election.

Article 29(IV) of the Constitution defines the number of Councilmen, which must be proportionate to the population of the municipality.

Political Rights: Voting

Popular sovereignty shall be exercised by universal suffrage, and by direct and secret vote, with equal value for all (one man, one vote), and, as provided by law, by:[ 56]

Voter registration and voting are:[ 57]

1. compulsory for persons over eighteen years of age; and

2. optional for:

1. illiterate persons;

2. persons over seventy years of age; and

3. persons over sixteen and under eighteen years of age.

The legal conditions for eligibility to vote are:[ 58]

1. Brazilian nationality;

2. full exercise of political rights;

3. voter registration;

4. electoral domicile in the district;

5. party affiliation; and

6. a minimum age of:

1. thirty-five years for President and Vice-President of the Republic, and Senator;

2. thirty years for Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of a state and the Federal District;

3. twenty-one years for Federal, State, or a District Representative, Mayor, Vice-Mayor, and Justice of the Peace; and

4. eighteen years for councilman.

Political Rights: Seeking Public Office

1. if he has served for less than ten years, he must take leave from military activities;

2. if he has served for more than ten years, he shall be discharged from military duties by his superiors and, if elected, shall be automatically retired upon taking office.

A supplemental law (external link) [ 65] establishes other cases of ineligibility and periods for which it shall remain in force, in order to protect administrative probity, morality for the exercise of the mandate (considering the past life of the candidate), and the normality and legitimacy of elections from the influence of economic power or abuse from holding an office, position, or job in the direct or indirect administration.[ 66]

Elective mandates may be challenged in the Electoral Courts within a period of fifteen days after certification of an election, with supporting evidence of abuse of economic power, corruption, or fraud.[ 67] A suit challenging a mandate must be processed in closed proceedings ( segredo de justiça), and the plaintiff must be held liable, as provided by law, if the suit lacks cause or is proposed in bad faith.[ 68]

Deprivation of political rights is forbidden; the loss or suspension of such rights may occur only in cases of:[ 69]

1. cancellation of naturalization by a final, non-appealable judgment;

2. absolute civil incapacity;

3. a final, non-appealable criminal conviction, for so long as its effects remain in force;

4. refusal to comply with an obligation imposed upon everyone or to perform alternative service, in accordance with article 5(VIII) of the Constitution; and

5. administrative impropriety, in accordance with article 37(§4) of the Constitution.

A law altering the electoral process must enter into force on its publication date and must not apply to elections that occur within one year from the date it enters into force.[ 70]

The Legislative Process

Generally

The legislative process is initiated with the proposal of an ordinary or supplemental law (a bill of law) by any member or committee of the Chamber of Deputies, Federal Senate, or National Congress; the President of the Republic; the Federal Supreme Court and Higher Federal Courts; the Attorney General of the Republic; or by any ordinary citizen in the manner and cases provided for in the Constitution of October 5, 1988.[ 71]

After being approved by the reviewing house, a bill is then sent to the President for final approval or veto.[ 75] If approved by the President, it becomes law forty-five days after its publication in the Official Gazette (Diário Oficial),[ 76] or within the period of time established in the bill.

The matter in a rejected bill of law may only be the subject of a new bill during the same legislative session upon proposal of the absolute majority of the members of either house of the National Congress.[ 84]

Amendments to the Constitution

Constitutional amendments may be proposed by:[ 85]

1. at least one-third of the members of the Chamber of Deputies or the Federal Senate;

2. the President of the Republic; and

3. more than one-half of the Legislative Assemblies of the Federation, each manifesting its decision by a simple majority of its members.

No proposed constitutional amendment may be considered that is aimed at abolishing:[ 89]

1. the federalist form of the National Government;

2. direct, secret, universal, and periodic suffrage;

3. separation of powers; or

4. individual rights and guarantees.

The subject of a defeated or prejudiced proposal for a constitutional amendment may not be made the subject of another proposed amendment in the same legislative session.[ 90]

Ordinary and Supplementary Laws

Any member or committee of the Chamber of Deputies, the Federal Senate, or National Congress; the President of the Republic; the Federal Supreme Court or the Superior Tribunals; the Attorney General; or any ordinary citizen, is competent to initiate a supplementary or ordinary law.[ 91]

Provisional Measures

In relevant and urgent cases, the President of the Republic may adopt provisional measures that have the force of law. Such measures must be submitted immediately to the National Congress.[ 92]

Provisional measures may not be enacted on matters:[ 93]

1. with respect to:

1. nationality, citizenship, political rights, political parties and electoral law;

2. criminal law, criminal procedure and civil procedure;

3. organization of the Judiciary and the Public Prosecutor's Office, as well as the careers and guarantees of their members; and

4. multi-year plans, budgetary directives, the budget, and additional and supplementary credits, except as provided for in article 167(§3) of the Constitution;

2. that deal with the detention or sequestration of property, popular savings, or any other financial assets;

3. that are reserved for supplementary law; and

4. that have already been regulated in a bill approved by the National Congress that is awaiting approval or veto of the President of the Republic.

Except as provided for in Sections 11 and 12 of article 62 of the Constitution, provisional measures lose their effectiveness as of the day of their issuance if they are not converted into law within a period of sixty days, which may be extended once under the terms of Section 7 of article 62 of the Constitution for an equal period of time.[ 94] It is the responsibility of the National Congress to regulate, by legislative decree, the legal relations stemming from such measures.[ 95] The sixty-day period referred to in Section 3 of article 62 of the Constitution starts to run from the publication of the provisional measure.[ 96] The running of this period is suspended during the periods in which the National Congress is in recess.[ 97]

In addition, a provisional measure that involves the institution of or an increase in taxes, except as provided for in articles 153(I), (II), (IV), (V), and 154(II) of the Constitution, may only produce effects in the following fiscal year if it has been converted into law by the last day of the fiscal year in which it was issued.[ 98]

The deliberation of each of the Houses of the National Congress on the merits of a provisional measure is contingent upon a prior judgment as to the measure's compliance with constitutional requirements.[ 99]

If a provisional measure has not been considered within forty-five days, counting from its publication date, the provisional measure enters into a "regime of urgency." Subsequently, in each of the Houses of the National Congress, all other legislative deliberations of the House to which it was presented must be suspended until it is finally voted upon.[ 100]

A mixed commission of Deputies and Senators has the duty to examine provisional measures and to issue an opinion about them, prior to their consideration in separate sessions by the full membership of each House of the National Congress.[ 103]

Reenactment, in the same legislative session, of a provisional measure that has been rejected or that has lost its efficacy by the running of time is forbidden.[ 104]

If the legislative decree referred to in Section 3 of article 62 of the Constitution regarding the legal relations stemming from provisional measures that have lost their efficacy is not issued within sixty days after rejection or loss of efficacy of a provisional measure, the legal relations constituted under it or stemming from acts practiced during the time it was in effect must remain in effect and must be governed by these measures.[ 105]

If a bill to convert or modify the original text of a provisional measure has been approved, the provisional measure must be maintained in force in their entirety until the bill is signed or vetoed.[ 106]

Prepared by Eduardo Soares
Senior Foreign Law Specialist
December 2010

1. Regimento Interno da Câmara dos Deputados, CÂMARA DOS DEPUTADOS, http://www2.camara.gov.br/ atividade-legislativa/legislacao/Constituicoes_Brasileiras/regimento-interno-da-camara-dos-deputados (last visited Nov. 12, 2010). [Back to Text]

2. Projetos de Lei e Outras Proposições, CÂMARA DOS DEPUTADOS, http://www.camara.gov.br/sileg/default.asp (last visited Nov. 12, 2010). [Back to Text]

3. C.F. art. 45.[Back to Text]

4. C.F. art. 45(§1). [Back to Text]

5. Senadoras e Senadores, SENADO FEDERAL, http://www.senado.gov.br/senadores/ (last visited Nov. 12, 2010). [Back to Text]

6. Regimento Interno do Senado Federal, SENADO FEDERAL, http://www.senado.gov.br/legislacao/regsf/ (last visited Nov. 12, 2010). [Back to Text]

7. Atividade Legislativa, SENADO FEDERAL, http://www.senado.gov.br/atividade/ (last visited Nov. 12, 2010). [Back to Text]

8. C.F. art. 46. [Back to Text]

9. The Attorney General of the Republic is the head of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Federal Prosecutor's Office, in addition to acting as Electoral Solicitor General (Procurador-Geral Eleitoral). He is chosen and appointed by the President, and his name must be approved by an absolute majority of the Federal Senate. Atribuições do procurador-geral da República, Ministério Público Federal, http://www.pgr.mpf.gov. br/conheca-o-mpf/procurador-geral-da-republica (last visited Nov. 12, 2010). [Back to Text]

10. C.F. art. 52(Sole para.). [Back to Text]

11. C.F. art. 28. [Back to Text]

12. C.F. art. 14(§9). [Back to Text]

13. C.F. art. 66(§1). [Back to Text]

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Legal Research Guide: Brazil | Law Library of Congress

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Back to Foreign and International Law This report expands and updates the Brazilian Legal Research Guide available on the website of the Law Library of Congress. The purpose of the Guide is to provide a general understanding of the Brazilian legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the federal government as defined by the Constitution and federal laws.

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Free - Learn the countries of North America and their capitals with this fun and educational map puzzle. Use the free North America map puzzle as a quiz to test your knowledge of the countries and capitals.

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SheppardSoftware.com

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World geography quizzes galore - over 250 fun online map games teach capitals, country locations, and more. Also info on the culture, history, and much more.

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'Growth of a Nation' is a ten minute animated movie of American history from 1789.

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http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/globaltrek/

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Teaching Tools | Resources for Teachers from Scholastic

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ClassZone.com

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Maya Civilization
About 2,800 years ago, people known as the Maya lived in farming villages on the Yucatan Peninsula and the highlands to the south. From about A.D. 250 to A.D. 900, they built city-states in Central America that included great pyramid temples and public plazas featuring huge stone columns that recounted their history. Excavations at Tikal, Guatemala, one of the greatest and oldest Maya centers, have revealed thousands of structures and artifacts. The findings include temples, pyramids, ball-playing courts, stone monuments, tools, ceremonial objects, and a great many pottery fragments.

The limestone of the Yucatan Peninsula was easily quarried and used for building and tool making. In the south, volcanoes stretched over the highlands and yielded valuable resources. The fertile volcanic soil allowed the people to grow crops.

Incan Civilization
The Inca began settling in the Valley of Cuzco in the Andes Mountains of central Peru around the year 1200. Between 1440 and 1500, they expanded their empire until it extended nearly 2,500 miles from north to south and included as many as 16 million people. The lands they occupied included mountains, coastal desert, and low-lying jungle.

The Incan central government at Cuzco maintained a strong military and passed laws to create official customs and an official language and calendar. The Inca engineered 14,000 miles of roads, including tunnels and bridges, and built the great fortress of Sacsahuaman. They also developed highly advanced terracing and irrigation methods to allow farming in difficult mountain terrain.

Aztec Civilization
The center of the Aztec civilization was in the Valley of Mexico, a huge high-elevation basin in the Sierra Madre Mountains. This valley had a mild climate that was good for agriculture. The surrounding lowlands offered a hotter, wetter tropical climate and an abundance of natural resources.

Around 1325, the Aztecs settled on an island in Lake Texcoco, where they built their capital and largest city, Tenochtitlán. They called themselves the Mexica (pronounced me-shee-ka) and became accomplished corn farmers, warriors, and temple builders. The ceramic shown here is one of a pair of life-size statues discovered during the recent excavation of the Great Temple of Tenochtitlán. The statues stood guard at the doorway of the meeting room of the Aztec warriors. The aggression and warrior skill of the Aztecs allowed them to conquer neighboring people. Eventually, the empire stretched over most of central Mexico and included millions of people.

Civilizations Measure Time and Record Information

The Maya built their great cities between A.D. 250 and A.D. 900. Their accomplishments included the development of complex writing and mathematical systems and impressive advances in astronomy. They used two calendars. One calendar was based on a solar year, while the other was a kind of sacred almanac. A sophisticated three-symbol numerical system allowed the Maya to record numbers into the millions.

The Aztec civilization, which emerged beginning in the 1200s, is considered the greatest of the civilizations that developed in Mesoamerica, the area extending from central Mexico to Honduras. Settling first on an island in Lake Texcoco, the Aztecs expanded their control to most of central Mexico. Like the Maya, the Aztec used a sacred calendar and a 365-day agricultural calendar. The Aztec writing system was based on glyphs, symbols that stand for sounds or words. The few remaining Aztec books, called codices, provide rich depictions of Aztec legends, beliefs, and daily life.

At about the same time that the Aztecs flourished in Mexico, the highly developed Incan Empire flourished in the Andes Mountains and along the west coast of South America. The vast Incan Empire had a central government that established laws, developed a complex road system, planned cities, and created farmlands along the sides of mountains. Unlike the Aztecs and the Maya, the Inca did not develop a writing system. Records of inventories were kept on bundles of knotted cords called quipus.

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Maya Civilization About 2,800 years ago, people known as the Maya lived in farming villages on the Yucatan Peninsula and the highlands to the south. From about A.D. 250 to A.D. 900, they built city-states in Central America that included great pyramid temples and public plazas featuring huge stone columns that recounted their history.

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Brain Pop

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Safeshare.tv - The safest way to share YouTube and Vimeo videos

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SafeShare.tv reduces advertisements and other unwanted distractions from Vimeo and YouTube videos, so they can be viewed safely. Perfect for Schools!

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Epic! -books for kids

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Epic! books for kids

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Ancient Cultures of North and South America

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Ancient Cultures of North and South America

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Epic! books for kids

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MayaIncaAzted.com

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maya inca aztec origins government civilizations art texture nahua zapotec anasazi agriculture architecture ancient ruins cities city ruin flowers of mexico guatemala peru south america lifestyles military spanish conquistadors human sacrifice worksheets art history kings emperors gallery pedro de alvarado vasco nunez de balboa alvar nunez cabeza de vaca christopher columbus hernan cortes francisco pizarro juan ponce de leon hernando de soto chichen itza yucatan peninsula copan honduras machu picchu peru mitla oaxaca monte alban ollantaytambo pisac tikal uxmal tenancingo tenochtitlan lake atitlan chichicastenago quiche mayan incan azteca aztec ruins national park canyon de chelly chaco canyon mesa verde olmec teotihuacan toltec montezuma pachacuti huayna capac atahualpa manca inca world history united states history us history temples reading ancient civilizations lifestyles religion war in guatemala native american unit anasazi textiles dogs writing systems dyes featherwork dentistry exhibits government art gallery corn trade ceramics stone masonry ferdinand and isabella benito juarez diego rivera bartholome de las casas benito juarez diego de landa diego rivera ferdinand and isabella john lloyd stephens king charles v la malinche/dona marina

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Maya Inca Aztec is an educational website; Art, History, and Culture. It combines accurate historical research with the photography of Warren Michael Stokes, and the illustrations of Mexico's Diego Rivera. We are proud to announce the addition of French vector graphic artist Gwendal Uguen.

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PBS Learning

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Hernán Cortés | PBS World Explorers | PBS LearningMedia

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Now one of the most remembered conquistadors of all time, Hernán Cortés conquered vast parts of Mexico for Spain. While Cortés brought about the end of the Aztec civilization, his legacy is marred by his brutal treatment of Mexican natives.

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eduplace.com

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Silk Road Maps 2019 - Useful map of the ancient Silk Road Routes

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Tibet Discovery have collected some useful 2019 maps of the ancient Silk Road, including China Silk Road Map, Word Silk Roa Map, etc.

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1507

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For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about licensing content on this page, please contact natgeocreative@natgeo.com for more information and to obtain a license. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please visit our FAQ page.

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World Map / World Atlas / Atlas of the World Including Geography Facts and Flags - WorldAtlas.com

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Well-researched and entertaining content on geography (including world maps), science, current events, and more.

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Print out maps in a variety of sizes, from a single sheet of paper to a map almost 7 feet across, using an ordinary printer. You can print single page maps, or maps 2 pages by 2 pages, 3 pages by 3 pages, etc. up to 8 pages by 8 pages (64 sheets of paper; over six feet across!).

Trace car trips; where grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins live; the Oregon Trail and the Cumberland Gap; Huck Finn's journey; the Rocky Mountains, the Appalachians, the Mississippi River, the Columbia River and the Colorado, label states... There are any number of ways to use these maps. They can be large enough to see clearly from across the room, and to contain many different types of information.
After printing the map pages lay them out to determine the proper order. A one page map may help. Starting at the upper left corner (the northwest corner), trim the pages on the right and bottom edges. Be sure not to trim the bottom edges of the bottom row of the map or the right edges of the right column. Take the upper left corner sheet and overlap it onto the sheet to its right. Tape them and then continue across to complete the top row. Add rows one at a time.
Maps are a fundamental teaching tool. "Where" makes the lesson real and puts it into context. Too often maps for classroom use are too expensive for direct contact with students, let alone being personalized by learning activities. Free maps that can be used by students bring map activities to life. Large wall maps created by the class and individual maps created by each student increase learning, enliven the classroom and show parents the student's progress.

These free maps are great for use in the classroom because they can be easily printed in a range of sizes for different purposes, and because the students can write, draw, and mark on their own copies of them.
* Print out a large map for the front of the classroom, for the teacher to explain the material on, and a single page map for each student to show what they have learned.

* Print out a multi-page map of the US or the world, and have groups of students assemble it together, like a puzzle. This is great for learning where places are in relation to each other.
* Use Printable maps of the all of the United States to teach the geography and history of each state. State maps are made to print on color or black and white printers. Maps print full size automatically with any computer printer.
* Outline maps can be made to show political, environmental, physical, economic and historical information. Make multiple copies of a map, and students can show different features of the place on the map-historical events, physical/geologic features, land use-urban, farm, suburban, etc. political-states, borders, capitals, family histories, wildlife, habitat, types of environment-grassland, forest, agriculture, changes in one place over time and many more.

By coloring and writing on the map, students make it "their own". Map work moves from rote to fun. The larger map format not only allows more detail because of its larger scale, it also makes it easy for several student to work together on one map. Students can each have a small map, while the teacher explains material on a larger map at the front. Maps to complement a variety of lessons. Have your students learn WHERE it happened.

MegaMaps Map Sizes:

As the maps all have different proportions, these are the maximum sizes. The printed map will usually be smaller in one dimension.

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Walk through the Continents - Print Maps Large and Small - Free

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Print out maps in a variety of sizes, from a single sheet of paper to a map almost 7 feet across, using an ordinary printer. You can print single page maps, or maps 2 pages by 2 pages, 3 pages by 3 pages, etc.

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Learn about the world's great explorers and their ships, voyages, and navigational tools. Read about the Age of Exploration and Discovery.

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All About Explorers

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Everything you've ever wanted to know about every explorer who ever liived...and more!

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Whether they were the world's bravest explorers or the world barely noticed their bravery, this ultimate guide to great explorers, both great and small, will give you a starting point for in-depth learning about some of these fascinating explorers and their journeys.

Learning about great explorers and seeing events, places, and everyday life unfold through their eyes allows you and your children to go to places you may have never been. If nothing else, it will give you a glimpse of the determination, bravery, and fortitude explorers exhibited. Hopefully, you'll come away with both a more adventurous spirit and a deeper respect for other parts of the world.

Ideas for Geography Inspiration

I've alphabetized the explorers by their last name to make it easier for you to locate each one. In cases when an explorer's last name is not given or known, I've listed each by his only name or first name known.

Sometimes more than one explorer navigated the same region but presented their journeys from a different view. I think it's easier to list them by name so that you get the full benefit of their individual perspectives, instead of breaking down this ultimate to great explorers by the region each explored.

General posts, downloads, printables and unit studies.

Hands-on Ideas and Activities.

B
Vasco Nunez de Balboa Daniel Boone North American Explorer
C
Samuel de Champlain Christopher Columbus
Also for learning about Christopher Columbus, look at my series 5 Days of Learning Printables:The World of Columbus and Sons Day 5 For Middle and High School.
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado Hernando Cortes
D
Bartolomeu Dias

Sir Francis Drake

G
Vasco da Gama
H
Henry Hudson
L
Juan Ponce de Leon
M
Ferdinand Magellan
P
Francisco Pizarro Marco Polo
R
Sir Walter Raleigh
S
Hernando de Soto
V
Amerigo Vespucci
Videos

Columbus, de Gama, and Zheng He! 15th Century Mariners.
The contributions of female explorers.
Age of Exploration.
Age of Exploration - A Short Documentary Film

Also, check out The Anatomy of a Well Laid Out Homeschool High School Geography Curriculum, Homeschool Geography Go To Resources and John Muir Spring Unit Study (and Hands-on Geography Ideas).

Are you interested in more of my Ultimate Guides? Of course you are.
Read Lewis and Clark Expedition - The Ultimate Guide, Ultimate Guide to Learning Activities in a Jar or Bottle, The Ultimate Guide for New Homeschoolers and The Unrivaled Guide to Civil War Activities for Kids.

Hugs and love ya,
Don't forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for AWESOME pins. Visit Tina Robertson's profile on Pinterest.

Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool 's profile on Pinterest.
This blog hop is organized by Click the image below to visit all the other blog articles from the homeschool moms of the iHomeschool Network. iHomeschool Network, a collaboration of outstanding homeschool bloggers who connect with each other and with family-friendly companies in mutual beneficial projects.

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The Ultimate Guide to Brave Explorers (Great and Small)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy. Whether they were the world's bravest explorers or the world barely noticed their bravery, this ultimate guide to great explorers, both great and small, will give you a starting point for in-depth learning about some of these fascinating explorers and their journeys.

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Enchanted Learning

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marco polo china explorer: explore  explorer explorers  k-12

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Marco Polo: Explorer (printable) - EnchantedLearning.com

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Marco Polo: Explorer (printable). Marco Polo (1254-1324) was an Italian voyager and merchant who was one of the first Europeans to travel across Asia through China, visiting the Kublai Khan in Beijing.

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Epic Books

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Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

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American Museum of Natural History

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History.com

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Columbus Controversy - Exploration - HISTORY.com

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Find out more about the history of Columbus Controversy, including videos, interesting articles, pictures, historical features and more. Get all the facts on HISTORY.com

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Be introduced to the various stunning Canadian landscapes from coast to coast with an exhilarating virtual flight during a visit to Vancouver's Canada Place. Try out CN's Tour's adrenaline-pumping Edgewalk experience created for thrillseekers to indulge in the most daring climbing adventure for spectacular city views of Toronto. Learn about Canadian history during a visit to Ottawa's Parliament buildings and perhaps have a chance encounter with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau while taking selfies in front of Peace Tower. Please check out the following list of the top famous buildings in Canada to visit or capture during your vacation to any of Canada's beautifully, unique provinces.

1. Gooderham Building

Hop on the subway while visiting Toronto to catch a glimpse of the historic red-brick Gooderham Building or Flatiron Building. After strolling through the nearby St. Lawrence Market district, wander over to admire Toronto's most photographed historic structure designed by David Roberts, Jr. The stunning red-brick Gothic masterpiece constructed in 1891 once housed the offices of the Gooderham family and was known for its famous distillery. Drop by to admire its rear mural, mint green conical tower accent, and narrow wedge-shape jutting out from surrounding modern skyscrapers.

Experience Quebec City's famous landmark, Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, through a guided tour which showcases the beautiful interior of the iconic castle. Learn about the historical figures who once called the stunning castle home through a guide dressed in period costume. Admire the luxurious decor of rooms accented in brocade walls, dark wood furnishings, and glittering chandeliers. Get a glimpse of daily life in this beautiful historic castle which has undergone renovations in recent years.

Quebec City: Guided Visit of Fairmont Le Château Frontenac

Duration: 1 hour
140 reviews

Learn about Canadian history by exploring the permanent exhibitions, housing such curiosities as cedar totem poles and canoes created by western Canada's Haida people. Enjoy an exciting educational experience with a film at CINE before checking out the Canadian History Hall to learn about pivotal figures in Canadian history. Be educated about Canada's First Peoples through special exhibits showcasing daily life and cultural items. Delight in travelling the world through arts, culture, and history by participating in immersive activities at the Children's Museum.

Gatineau: Canadian Museum of History Admission
5 reviews

4. CN Tower

Take a speedy ride up the elevator of Toronto's 553.3 mile-high (890 kilometres) concrete observation and communications tower. Enjoy sweeping panoramic views of downtown Toronto and pristine Lake Ontario. For the daring at heart, wander over to walk across the plexiglass floor before ascending to the top of the tower by a means of the skypod. Thrillseekers can experience the ultimate adrenaline-pumping adventure by being tethered with safety ropes as they climb along the tower's exterior.

5. The Bow

While in Calgary, make certain to visit its stunning 236 metres (774 foot) modern glass architectural gem, The Bow. The steel atria feature stretches the full height of the tower to provide the building with an innovative way of heating and cooling. The Bow provides office workers of Encana Corporation and Cenovus Energy with unobstructed panoramic views of Calgary's downtown skyline and the snowcapped Rocky Mountains. There is no need to turn on the heat or air conditioning with Calgary's well-known sudden weather changes as the building's bow-shaped features create a comfortable climate for all to enjoy.

6. Habitat 67

Sign up for a guided tour of Montreal's architectural gem to admire its unique design concept. This residential property seems futuristic with its 354 grey-beige modules stacked on top of one another. Be sure to be on time as no latecomers will be allowed to join the group once the tour has commenced. Sadly those with mobility issues won't be able to see the suspended terraces, skylights, and interiors up close since there are stairs to ascend.

7. Peace Tower

The Peace Tower is the crowning jewel of Ottawa's Parliament buildings and doesn't require admission to visit. During the evenings the focal bell and clock tower are illuminated during an amazing light show featuring pivotal Canadian figures. If you'd like to sign up for a tour at the information centre to wander the halls of the Parliament buildings, guides can provide an in-depth history lesson about the Peace Tower. Make certain to check Parliament's website to ensure that the day you visit, the buildings are open to the public since they close throughout the year.

Peace Tower

Address: 111 Wellington Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6

Website: Peace Tower

Price: Free

While visiting beautiful Banff National Park, take time to wander through the stunning coffee marble lobby accented with bedazzling chandeliers and an exposed rock wall at Fairmont Banff Springs. Indulge in rejuvenating spa treatments or head out onto the green for a relaxing game of golf. Enjoy world-class dining while taking in panoramic views of the pristine lakes, dense coniferous forest, and the breathtaking Rocky Mountains. Take a soothing shower in the Carrera marble shower before tucking into your fluffy feather duvet for the night.

Fairmont Banff Springs

Address: 405 Spray Avenue
Price: from 226 USD

Bowling Express check-in/check-out Newspapers Room service Tour desk On-site parking Fitness centre Cashless payment available

9. Science World at TELUS World of Science

Let your little scientists loose to experiment and innovate at the many interesting exhibits located in this Expo '86 historical landmark. Enjoy coming together to view one of the spectacular Imax movies featured on the massive big screen. Hop aboard the skytrain's Expoline to learn about faraway galaxies, lush jungle rainforests, and amazing wildlife. Join one of the many interesting workshops alongside other creative minds during your visit to Vancouver's intriguing Science World.

10. Canada Place

Take the Canada Line to Waterfront Station or wander over to Canada Place on foot while exploring Vancouver's vibrant downtown. Watch as the seaplanes take off over False Creek while taking enjoying stunning views of the coastal mountains. Take a selfie with the breaching killer whale monument before heading over to Cactus Club for Happy Hour on the waterfront. Soar over Canada's prestigious landmarks during your FlyOver Canada virtual flight which will introduce you to Canada's maritime, prairie, and mountainous landscapes.

Canada Place

Address: 999 Canada Place, Vancouver, BC V6C 3T4

Website: Canada Place

Opening hours: 7:30am - 10pm (daily)

Visit Canada's innovative landmarks

During a visit to the Great North, make certain to schedule in time to visit noteworthy buildings. Upon admiring some of the most innovative architecture spread throughout Canada's provinces, make plans to return to see more captivating architectural gems along with Canada's famous great outdoors.

Disclosure: Trip101 selects the listings in our articles independently. Some of the listings in this article contain affiliate links.

Still Need Travel Insurance?

You can buy and claim online, even after you've left home. Travel insurance from WorldNomads.com is available to people from 140 countries. It's designed for adventurous travellers with cover for overseas medical, evacuation, baggage and a range of adventure sports and activities.

*5% off when you book with our promo code: TRIP101
*For our Canadian and US travellers, unfortunately due to financial services laws, we cannot provide a discount. This promotional code cannot be used with any other discount offer, including World Nomads Members' discount for travel insurance policy holders.

Writer living in British Columbia who loves to travel and explore new destinations. I also enjoy engaging in new activities during my travels such as Hydrospeeding in France. Solo travelled to... Read more

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Top 10 Famous Buildings In Canada - Updated 2021

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Be introduced to the various stunning Canadian landscapes from coast to coast with an exhilarating virtual flight during a visit to Vancouver's Canada Place. Try out CN's Tour's adrenaline-pumping Edgewalk experience created for thrillseekers to indulge in the most daring climbing adventure for spectacular city views of Toronto.

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National Geographic

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This collection contains a selection of content from NG Education about South America. Use search to find more.

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A to Z Kids Stuff

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A to Z Kids Stuff | Mexico Facts for Children

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Information, history, facts, and activities on Mexico for school-age children.

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CongressforKids.com

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Congress for Kids - Interactive, Fun-filled Experiences About the Federal Government

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Using appealing, full-color illustrations, and engaging activities, Congress for Kids will extend your learning in the basics about the American federal government, elections, and citizenship.

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In this new Private i History Detectives unit, Elementary students analyze primary sources to discover how Constitutional Amendments attempted to address slavery's wrongs, how the courts challenged unfair laws, and how individuals and groups fought for civil rights.

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In this new Private i History Detectives unit, Elementary students analyze primary sources to discover how Constitutional Amendments attempted to address slavery's wrongs, how the courts challenged unfair laws, and how individuals and groups fought for civil rights.

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Famous Historic Buildings & Archaeological Sites in Mexico ? Maya City Palenque, Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Monte Alban

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Famous Historic Buildings & Archaeological Sites in Mexico ? Maya city of Palenque, Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Monte Alban. Teotihuacan

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Architecture of Brazil. Must See and Must Visit Monuments in Brazil

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Main architectural sights in Brazil - monuments, temples, palaces, fortresses, skyscrapers and towers. This survey helps you to realize what you need to see and to visit in Brazil. For each monument, we offer you a selection of the most interesting facts, as well as a collection of photos.

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Warpaths 2peacepies.com

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Native American Indians - Indian Tribes List

Indian Tribes List
The names of the most famous Indian Tribes are detailed in this list together with access to details of the people, their lifestyle, their clothes, their food and their shelters.

A - Z Indian Tribes List
The A-Z Indian tribes list provides short details about the people including the cultural group to which each tribe on the list belonged to and their location. Discover interesting facts about the Native American people via the Indian Tribes List.

Native American Indian Tribes

Site Index

Native American Indian Tribes List
The A-Z Indian Tribes List continues providing access to the some of the most famous groups of Native American Indian Tribes. The following list includes the Hidatsa, Hopi, Huron (Wyandot), Inuit, Iowa, Iroquois Confederacy, Kansa, Kathlamet, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Lenape (Delaware), Maidu, Mandan, Meskwaki (Fox), Missouria, Miwok, Modoc, Mohawk, Mohican, Mojave, Narragansett, Natchez, Navajo, Nez Perce, Ojibwe (Chippewa), Omaha, Osage, Otoe (Winnebago), Paiute, Palouse, Pawnee, Pennacook, Pequot and the Pima.

Famous Native American Indian Tribes List

A - Z Indian Tribes List Native America Indian Tribes List

Iroquois Confederacy

The Iroquois Confederacy: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca

Kiowa

The Kiowa tribe belonged to the Great Plains Native Indians list

A - Z Indian Tribes List Native America Indian Tribes List

Famous Native American Indian Tribes List

Indian Tribes List

Interesting Facts and information via the American Indian List

Names and Native American Indian List

Groups in the American Indian List

Fast Facts and info via the Native American Indian List

Interesting Homework resource for kids on the history of the Native American Indians

Native American Indian List

Native American Indian Tribes List
The A-Z Indian List continues providing access to the some of the most famous groups of Native American Indian people. The following list includes the Pomo, Ponca, Powhatan, Pueblo, Salish (Coast), Sauk (Sac), Seminole, Serrano, Shasta, Shawnee, Shoshone, Sioux, Spokane, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Ute, Wahkiakum, Walla Walla, Wampanoag, Wappo, Washoe, Winnebago (Otoe), Wintun, Wyandot (Huron), Yakama, Yana, Yuchi, Yuma and the Zuni.

Famous Native American Indian Tribes List

A - Z Indian Tribes List Native America Indian Tribes List

A - Z Indian Tribes List Native America Indian Tribes List

Famous Native American Indian Tribes List

Native American Indian List - Complete A-Z List
The complete A-Z list that provide comprehensive articles include the Abenaki, Aleut, Apache, Arapaho, Arikara, Assiniboine, Bannock, Bella Coola, Blackfoot, Caddo, Cayuse, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Chickasaw, Chinook, Chippewa (Ojibwa), Choctaw, Chumash, Clatsop, Coast Salish, Coeur d'Alene, Comanche, Cowlitz, Cree, Creek, Crow, Delaware (Lenape), Five Civilised Tribes, Flatheads, Fox (Meskwaki), Goshute, Gros Ventre, Haida, Hidatsa, Hopi, Huron (Wyandot), Inuit, Iowa, Iroquois Confederacy, Kansa, Kathlamet, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Lenape (Delaware), Maidu, Mandan, Meskwaki (Fox), Missouria, Miwok, Modoc, Mohawk, Mohican, Mojave, Narragansett, Natchez, Navajo, Nez Perce, Ojibwe (Chippewa), Omaha, Osage, Otoe (Winnebago), Paiute, Palouse, Pawnee, Pennacook, Pequot, Pima, Pomo, Ponca, Powhatan, Pueblo, Salish (Coast), Sauk (Sac), Seminole, Serrano, Shasta, Shawnee, Shoshone, Sioux, Spokane, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Ute, Wahkiakum, Walla Walla, Wampanoag, Wappo, Washoe, Winnebago (Otoe), Wintun, Wyandot (Huron), Yakama, Yana, Yuchi, Yuma and the Zuni.

American Indian List - Kids - Names - List - Cool, Fun Facts - Location - History - American Indian list for Kids - Names - List - Info - American Indian List - Information - Famous - Names - List - Kids - Children - Teaching resource - Social Studies - Lifestyle - Culture - Teachers - Kids - Names - List - Interesting Facts - Info - Information - Pictures - Reference - Names - List - Indian Tribes List - Guide - Names - List - Studies - Homework - American Indian List

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Native American Indians - Indian Tribes List Indian Tribes List The names of the most famous Indian Tribes are detailed in this list together with access to details of the people, their lifestyle, their clothes, their food and their shelters.

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Ducksters

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Kids learn about the history of Native American Indians in the United States. Educational articles for teachers, students, and schools including Native American daily life, homes, art, food, clothing, people, social structure, religion, and tribes.

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NativeAmericanFacts.com

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Indian Wearing War Paint

The purpose of this site is to provide interesting facts about Native American Indians. On the pages of this site you will discover information on numerous American Indian tribes including where they lived, their history, culture, how they lived, their jewelry, and who their famous warriors and chiefs were. This information is written for both kids and adults. We will cover tribes from all the main American Indian geographic locations including the Southeast, Southwest, Northeast, Northwest Coast, Great Basin, Great Plains, Plateau, and California. You will find pages about such tribes as the Apache, Zuni, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Shinnecock, and the Hopi. Throughout this site you will find links to sites that have beautiful handmade traditional native American jewelry and gifts for sale.

Click here for a great selection of Native Americans Indian Books on Amazon .

Native American Indians - Introduction
It is generally believed that humans migrated to America from Eurasia over 12,000 years ago. This migration was made possible by a land bridge named Beringia that use to connect America to Eurasia across what is now the Bering Strait. It is believed that three distinct waves of migration took place across this land bridge. These prehistoric people eventually populated the Americas and formed hundreds of distinct tribes each having their own unique traditions and languages. Below you will find a list of several facts about the indigenous people of America. The other pages of this site contain even more interesting information.
Interesting Facts About Native American Indians

According to the 2023 U.S. Census Bureau there are 574 federally recognized Native American tribes in the United States.

The term "Indian" originated with Christopher Columbus. He thought that he had reached the East Indies when he landed in America and therefore named the inhabitants Indians.

European settlers to America brought with them diseases to which the Native Americans had no resistance. These diseases killed millions of Indians and resulted in a huge population decline.

Europeans brought many animals to the Americas which the indigenous people had never seen, including cattle, sheep, and pigs.

Horses had been hunted to extinction by the early settlers of the Americas thousands of years before the Europeans arrived. The reintroduction of the horse by the Europeans had an incredible impact on the American Indians. They utilized the horse for travel, hunting, and warfare.

Numerous conflicts occurred between the American Indians and European settlers before the American Revolutionary War , and after the Revolution between the Native Americans and the U.S. government. These conflicts have been named the American Indian Wars.

In 1890 the last major battle between Native American Indians and U.S. soldiers occurred. It was called the Battle of Wounded Knee and occurred near the Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota. Approximately three hundred Sioux Indians were slaughtered.

In 1838 one of the most horrible events in American history occurred. This event was a forced relocation of thousands of Indians from their homelands to areas west of the Mississippi River. This march, named the "Trail of Tears", resulted in the death of thousands of Native Americans from numerous tribes including the Cherokee, Seminole, Choctaw, and Chickasaw. Most of the deaths were the result of disease and exposure to the extremely cold weather.

Benjamin Franklin learned a lot about democracy by observing the Iroquois Indians. The Iroquois had a chief who ruled only as long as the tribes supported his decisions. The Iroquois were a union of several tribes that had in place limits to power held in place by checks and balances, one of the corner stones of democracy for the United States of America.

American Indians have appeared on many U.S. coins including the Buffalo nickel (Indian Head nickel) minted between 1913 and 1938 and more recently the Sacagawea dollar which features the famous Indian women who served as a guide on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

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The story of the American Indians is one of bravery and sorrow. Come explore facts about Native American Indians including their history and traditions. This information covers many tribes from the various Indian regions of North America.

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Orrin's Website.org

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BrainPop

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Wounded Knee Massacre - BrainPOP... - SafeShare.tv

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Website: https://www.brainpop.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/brainpop Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brainpopofficial/ On the morning of December 29, 1890, a detachment of U.S. troops opened fire on a band of hungry, ragged Sioux Indians near Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota. It was one of the darkest events in American history.

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Brain Pop

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Safeshare.tv - The safest way to share YouTube and Vimeo videos

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SafeShare.tv reduces advertisements and other unwanted distractions from Vimeo and YouTube videos, so they can be viewed safely. Perfect for Schools!

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Safeshare.tv - The safest way to share YouTube and Vimeo videos

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SafeShare.tv reduces advertisements and other unwanted distractions from Vimeo and YouTube videos, so they can be viewed safely. Perfect for Schools!

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For some time, I've been annoyed by a steady trickle of requests from (non-Indian) parents, students and middle school teachers seeking info for projects that involve making simple archaic toy-model houses. I see many books for kids that take this approach to teaching our history and culture. That approach portrays us as quaint and primitive, usually (today) without using those words. And of course we're supposedly long gone from this world. Ignored are real horrible Native housing situations, and real positive developments such as Indian architects and builders who are influenced by traditional values and forms, to create imaginative designs with new materials. And, as old forms of housing do survive, their functions and meanings are as "homes for the spirit." something that does not lend itself to toy "tabletop model Indian villages" created by non-Indian children.

The entire activity for non-Indian youngsters is like those sorry dressup games which suggest that Indian identity is merely a costume, with paper feathers and paper bags playing a role in sleazo imitation garments. However sleazy or fine, Indian identity is taught as a costume or role to be put on, then taken off. Thus this section on Native housing. is being developed as a partial corrective. The photo on the right -- a toy "tepee" cut from a blanket by the two white children (or the book's authors) -- is from a book expensively prepared in London, marketed in Britain, Canada, and the U.S. which takes this highly undesirable approach to presenting our history and culture by having non-Indian children manufacture these inaccurate, usually ugly fakes -- from houses to costumes to "art" such as paper eagle feathers. The book of fake-craft is Make it Work: North American Indians -- the Hands-on Approach to History. It's one of the most offensive cultural education books I've ever seen, not the least because of the great expense with which it was produced -- all color photos, many children (no Indians of course), photographed in London, prepared entirely by arrogant and ignorant Brits, but quickly picked up also by Thomson Learning in the U.S.

I find this approach -- trash crafts, the fakery of "costumes" and junk toy models -- so dominant in non-Indian schools' approaches to Indian history/culture in schoolbooks and on websites touting expertise in teaching about "minorities" that these pages are a counter-attempt. I will show both real cultural-historical-environmental meanings of traditional dwellings, and both the negative (which is still the majority) and the positive new aspects of present-day Native housing and buildings.

Here's what HUD's Office of Native American Programs said in a 1995 study:

"The poorest-quality housing in the United States is that occupied by American Indians and Alaska Natives living in reservations and other tribal areas. Such dilapidated housing might not be of concern if a commonly held myth was accurate; namely that tribal-area populations are dwindling as their inhabitants move to the cities in search of higher incomes. A new study, however, exposes the fallacy of this belief--people are leaving the reservations to secure employment, but many of them are moving to areas just outside their borders. . . . a more equitable and efficient method of distributing federal resources should be developed at a time when the housing deficiencies of many Native American families remain the most severe in the nation." Reading the whole essay is highly recommended to all those elementary teachers who are assigning those "Build a tipi from a paper cone" activities. Exploration of CodeTalk, produced by ONAP's Indian employees, is highly recommended as an excellent source for current developments in Indian life and culture today, as well as housing policies and pix.

A site of real and virtual (computer-generated) solar architecture projects with heavy emphasis on Native American influences, designs, and uses, by New Mexico solar architect Dennis Holloway. Especially interesting is the project by Holloway and Navajo archaeologist Dr. Charles Cambridge that built 3 demonstration solar hogans on the University of Colorado campus (Boulder). This page from HUD's Office of Native American Programs website CodeTalk describes 1995Native Cultural Design housing and facilities prizewinners. Most of these projects apply traditional housing concepts to modern life, whether for energy-efficiency or to create the the social solidarity of Inuit villages, where everyone helped one another to survive.

Douglas Cardinal, Blackfoot from Alberta, Canada, is one of the most interesting arcitects today. He uses new materials with traditional design concepts, and develops his building designs with one of the earliest architectural firms' uses of computers. His largest, most famous design project is the Canadian Museum of Civilization, whose campus is pictured here, which has a large Native section. In a write-up about the architect that the museum posts, they mention his birth and early life, but they do not mention his Indian ancestry, or that his earliest project was a church in Red Deer for Reserve people. The CMCC thus contributes to the notion that Indians are either gone or scattered survivors irrelevant to today's world except for entertainment visits to museums, where you can see plastic dummies in dioramas and collections of glass-cased loot.

Someone (of course) has already asked "What's wrong with having our (non-Indian kids) play dressup and make these little play-toys?" A long, thoughtful answer to this question is in several essays in the (currently) out of print book that is still in many libraries: Through Indian Eyes: The Native Experience in Books for Children. The bottom line is that Indian identity isn't a play-role. Our Indian kids who help make outfits for powwows (and other items) learn authentic methods, and will proudly wear these items in authentic community events. It is part of their lives, not a play-time time-out from life. Though TIE is unfortuntately recently out of print, still available from Oyate (a Native group in Berkeley) is How to Tell the Difference: A Guide to Evaluating Children's Books for Anti-Indian Bias. This is only about books, not dressup and toys or trashcraft. The authors automatically downcheck books where non-native children are shown "playing Indian." The reasons for this (explained in the longer work) are valid, and connect to the group's analysis that relates to avoiding the teaching of stereotypes or teaching a kind of ancient past view (usually distorted), but in any event frozen in the long-ago, unconnected to the present. The Native group -- teachers, librarians, parents, artists, intellectuals -- supports a criterion that "The continuity of cultures [should be] represented, with values, religions, morals, an outgrowth of the past and connected to the present." The guidebook is highly recommended for elementary and Middle school teachers or parents. Oyate: 510/848-6700.

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map maps housing house tipi tepee pueblo wigwam wikiup longhouse igloo iglu hogan chickee wickiup earth lodge

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NATIVE PRE-CONTACT HOUSING: Types, map distribution, construction

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For some time, I've been annoyed by a steady trickle of requests from (non-Indian) parents, students and middle school teachers seeking info for projects that involve making simple archaic toy-model houses. I see many books for kids that take this approach to teaching our history and culture.

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NATIVE AMERICAN HOUSING

collected by Dee Finney

This page is for students for school projects.
If you need more information or a different tribe than listed below,
e-mail Dee777@aol.com and I will attempt to locate what you need

LONGHOUSE PHOTOS

PIT HOUSING

TEPEE PHOTOS

BUILDING A STURDY TIPI / TEPEE/ TEEPEE

TIPI PHOTOS

WICKIUP PHOTOS

WIGWAM PHOTOS

NATIVE HOUSING

In and north of the United States there were some twenty well-defined types of native dwellings, varying from the mere brush shelter to the five-storied pueblo.

In the eastern United States and adjacent parts of Canada the prevailing type was that commonly known under the Algonkian name of wigwam, of wagon-top shape, with perpendicular sides and ends and rounded roof, and constructed of stout poles set in the ground and covered with bark or with mats woven of grass or rushes. Doorways at each end served also as windows, and openings in the roof allowed the smoke to escape. Not even pueblo architecture had evolved a chimney.

In general the houses were communal, several closely related families occupying the same dwelling.

The Iroquois houses were sometimes one hundred feet in length, divided into compartments about ten feet square, opening upon a central passageway along which were ranged the fires, two families occupying opposite compartments at the same fire. Raised platforms around the sides of the room were covered with skins and served both as seats and beds. The houses of a settlement were usually scattered irregularly, according to the convenience of the owner, but in some cases, especially on disputed tribal frontiers, they were set compactly together in regular streets, and surrounded by strong stockades. The Iroquois stockaded forts had platforms running around on the inside, near the top, from which the defenders could more easily shoot down upon the enemy.

In the Gulf states, every important settlement had its "town-house", a great circular structure, with conical roof, built of logs, and devoted to councils and tribal ceremonials.

The tipi (the Sioux name for house) or conical tent-dwelling of the upper lake and plains region was of poles set lightly in the ground, bound together near the top, and covered with bark or mats in the lake country, and with dressed buffalo skins on the plains. It was easily portable, and two women could set it up or take in down within an hour. On ceremonial occasions the tipi camp was arranged in a great circle, with the ceremonial "medicine lodge" in the centre.

The semi-sedentary Pawnee Mandan, and other tribes along the Missouri built solid circular structures of logs, covered with earth, capable sometimes of housing a dozen families.

The Wichita and other tribes of the Texas border built large circular houses of grass thatch laid over a framework of poles.

The Navaho hogan, was a smaller counterpart of the Pawnee "earth lodge". The communal pueblo structure of the Rio Grande region consisted of a number—sometimes hundreds—of square-built rooms of various sizes, of stone or adobe laid in clay mortar, with flat roof, court-yards, and intricate passage ways, suggestive of oriental things.

The Piute wikiup of Nevada was only one degree above the brush shelter of the Apache. California, with its long stretch from north to south, and its extremes from warm plain to snowclad sierra, had a variety of types, including the semi-subterranean.

Along the whole north-west coast, from the Columbia to the Eskimo border, the prevailing type was the rectangular board structure, painted with symbolic designs, and with the great totem pole carved with the heraldic crests of the owner, towering above the doorway.

On the Yukon we find the subterranean dwelling, while the Eskimo had both the subterranean house and the dome-shaped iglu, built of blocks of hardened snow.

Besides the regular dwellings, almost every tribe had some style of temporary structure, besides "sweat houses", summer arbors, provision caches, etc.

ANASAZI ADOBE HOUSING

LARGE PHOTO - MESA VERDE, COLORADO

KID'S CORNER - MAKING ADOBE BRICKS

THE MAKING OF ADOBE BRICKS

Longhouse shell

Longhouse covered

Wickiup

The Accohannock Indian Tribe
Living Village on Maryland's Eastern Shore

Algonquian Village

Bark Covered Longhouse

BELLA COOLA DWELLING
Now called Nuxalk (Nu-caulk

This photo is from 1881
(this photo courtesy of Alica Leppamen
Leciurer Instructor
Specializing in Native American Art

)

CATAWBA INDIAN VILLAGE

Cherokee Mound and Townhouse

The 7 Ceremonies

* They were an agrarian people who lived in log homes (not tee pees) and observed sacred religious practices. When de Soto first encountered the Cherokee in 1540 he found a unified, peaceful nation of people grouped into about 200 settlements or towns. The nation was composed of a confederacy of red and white towns, otherwise known as war and peace towns. The chiefs of the red towns were subordinated to a supreme war chief of the entire tribe, while the officials of the white towns were under the supreme peace chief of the tribe. The white towns were regarded as places of sanctuary where those who fled from blood avengers might find asylum.

* They lived in about 200 fairly large villages. A normal Cherokee town had about 30 - 60 houses and a large meeting building. Cherokee homes were usually wattle and daub. Wattle is twigs, branches, and stalks woven together to make a frame for a building. Daub is a sticky substance like mud or clay. The Cherokee covered the wattle frame with daub. This created the look of an upside down basket. Later, log cabins with bark roofs were used for homes. The Cheokee villages also had fences around them to prevent enemies from entering.

* Homes were wooden frames covered with woven vines and saplings plastered with mud. These were replaced in later years with log structures. Each village had a council house where ceremonies and tribal meetings were held. The council house was seven-sided to represent the seven clans of the Cherokee: Bird, Paint, Deer, Wolf, Blue, Long Hair, and Wild Potato.

EARTH LODGE

http://www.kstrom.net/isk/maps/houses/hidatsa.html

CHEYENNE

Traditional clothing and diet once depended heavily upon the buffalo, but now contain elements of American/European influence. Though they still wear the buckskin garments of their people, many Cheyenne have begun to make use of the cloth textures that the whites have brought from the east. Buffalo hides are also used for their traditional dwelling, the three-poled tipi. These dwellings are highly adaptable to the weather, being rain-proof and surprisingly warm during colder seasons.

Model of traditional Chickasaw dwelling with grass thatched roof

Native American life in the Mid-South from early explorers. Each of the Mississippian period towns, like Chucalissa, was arranged in a common pattern. In the center was a large open area or plaza, which was a focal point for games and ceremonies, a gathering place for gossip, and a gathering place to take part in trade.

Chucalissa Indian Village

A Comanche camp in 1834 by George Catlin

Choctaw

The word for a Choctaw dwelling is 'chukka'

Listen to it pronounced

They lived in mud-and-bark cabins with thatched roofs.
The Choctaw Indians cabins were also made from
mud, cane, and straw.

Dwelling description: The Choctaw Indian, dwelling with his family, in a wigwam of a most primitive construction. It was in the form of a bee-hive, or rather of a very high dome. The covering was made of a long, tough grass, that grows near the sea, and the texture was fine and even beautiful. A post in the center supported the fabric, which was shaped by delicate curving poles. A hole in the top admitted the light, and allowed the smoke to pass out; and the fire was near enough to the upright post to permit a kettle to be suspended from one of its knots (or cut branches) near enough to feel the influence of the heat. The door was a covering of mats, and the furniture consisted of a few rude chairs, baskets, and a bed, that was neither savage, nor yet such as marks the civilized man. The attire of the family was partly that of the one condition, and partly that of the other. The man himself was a full-blooded Indian, but his manner had that species of sullen deportment that betrays the disposition without the boldness of the savage. He complained that " basket stuff" was getting scarce, and spoke of an intention of removing his wigwam shortly to some other estate.

CHUMASH

A Tule Hut
While there were many different Indians in California at the time of the missions; the Chumash were the most widespread. They numbered in the tens of thousands and their territory spread from present-day Malibu to present-day southern Monterey County. To the east they extended all the way to the Carrizo Plain of present-day Kern County. To the west, the Chumash territory spread to the coast and further, out to the Channel Islands, west of today's Santa Barbara. Their land comprised 7,000+ square miles. They were very important because you could not travel far north/south in California without encountering their territory, and they were a highly intelligent and developed peoples; both prosperous and peaceful. Padre Palóu wrote that the area was "so densely populated with heathen that right on the road, which runs close along the shore, there are twenty-one large towns, and it is necessary to pass through them in the middle of some and on the edge of others and past others about a gunshot off."

CLATSOP FORT

COUSHATTA

WICKUP

CREEKS

Creek families lived in dwellings that consisted of one to four buildings, depending on the size and wealth of the family. Structures were rectangular and framed with sturdy poles. The walls were plastered with mud and straw. The roofs were of cypress-bark shingles. Generally, one structure was the cooking area and winter quarters, one was the summer lodge, another acted as a granary, and others served other functions. Near each dwelling the Creeks planted a small private garden where the women of the family grew corn, beans, tobacco, and other crops. Outside the town a larger plot of land was used for the communal field in which the main food supply was grown. Each family possessed its own plot in the common field, but the entire tribe worked the land together, starting at one end and finishing at the other. When the time arrived, each family harvested its own plot and stored the produce in a private granary. Surplus crops could be donated to the public store, which was used to feed visitors, supply war parties, or help feed families whose supplies failed. Corn, beans, squash, pumpkins, and melons were grown in abundance. The Lower Creeks also grew rice. Hickory nuts and acorns were a source of sustenance. Hunting deer and bear and fishing also supplemented the food supplies. Each town had its own hunting range, and the Creeks were careful not to trespass on other towns' preserves. Each town council carefully regulated hunting to prevent the depletion of game animals.

European influence extended beyond what could be found inside the Indians' homes and affected the structures themselves. By the mid-1700's, the custom of building separate houses for warm and cool weather began to decline, and various Cherokees erected only one rectangular dwelling for year-round use. In some places, though, dual housing persisted until the end of the century. The Cherokee also ceased building walls of upright posts arranged side by side, and instead, by the 1780's, copied the European method of placing logs horizontally. They also adopted fireplaces and wooden floors, and stopped using woven mats to cover floors

In the traditional Creek village, dating from the Mississippian ancestors of the Creeks, family compounds within a permanent town or village, would be arranged around a central community area. This central area consisted of several structures adjoining a rectangular 'chunky yard' used for games and dances. A smaller square with open shelters called 'beds' on all four sides was used during summer for ceremonies and other important events. Each 'bed' according to its placement was designated for specific individuals.

The most dominant structure was a large, round Council House or 'Chokofa' up to 40' in diameter which served as a multi-purpose winter gathering place. The Chokofa had thick walls of thin poles or bark lashed to a framework of pine logs. The walls were filled inside and out with clay and grass plaster and painted with a whitewash compounded of decayed oyster shell, coarse chalk, or white clay. The cone-shaped roof with an opening at the top was made of thatched materials: dry grasses, bark, or palmetto fronds depending on what was most readily available. The walls & floors were covered with mats woven of cane or flexible twigs. A single fire in the center provided light and ample heat even in the coldest winters. Early English traders who described the interior as 'dark and smoky' referred to the Chokofa as a 'hott house.'

The family complex or huti with as many as four rectangular buildings, was also arranged around a central square. It might include a smaller version of the round community Chokofa which would have been used as the family's winter house. The center fire of the winter house was also used for cooking. It provided a very warm winter dwelling. The winter house might also have been used for summer guest quarters. Summer houses were rectangles approximately 12 x 22 ft. with gabled roofs covered with bark, grasses, or in very southern areas, palmetto fronds. The walls were covered with woven mats which allowed for cross ventilation. Both the winter and summer houses had built in beds supported by the poles of the outside walls. Other buildings of a family compound consisted of a thatched roof open-air shelter used for cooking and other family activities, and a two-story granary / storage building built with the same construction techniques. The Creeks also built log houses of the 'dog trot' style which were later adopted by the early settlers. *The construction of all buildings within a town was a joint effort and could be accomplished rather quickly.

FLATHEAD - CHINOOK

Model of plank house

Interior of Plank house

The cedar plankhouse was the typical permanent dwelling of the Chinookan and other coastal Northwest people. The size of these sturdy buildings ranged from approximately 14 x 20 feet to 40 x 100 feet. The size of the structure depended on the wealth of the owner and the number of families inhabiting it. Each family occupied a distinct portion of the house. Rush mats hanging from the rafters formed the walls to separate the living spaces. At the center of the house was the communal fireplace, where all of the members of the house could gather to socialize, eat, and work during long winter evenings. Sleeping platforms were set up along the walls, and food hung from the rafters to dry.

Summer tipi

"In the early spring they repaired to the fisheries in the larger river, and fishing, hunting, and root digging continued until midsummer, when they moved into the mountains to gather berries. As autumn approached they returned to the valleys for the late fishing, which continued until cold weather forced them into winter quarters. In the summer, the tipi form of dwelling was used. The permanent winter lodge was of somewhat similar construction, but the ground-plan was a much-flattened ellipse, and the walls were banked with earth to a height of about three feet."

HOGAN

http://www.kstrom.net/isk/maps/houses/hogan.html

HAVASUPAI BRUSH DWELLING

Havasupai brush dwelling photographed by Edward Curtis.
(Courtesy Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. [#ZZc12 907cua])

HOPI

HURON

The Huron longhouse was usually made from white birch or alder trees that were small enough to bend, rope that had been made by braiding together thin strips of bark, and sheets of bark to cover the frame.

Huron longhouses were quite similar to Haida houses in length and width. They also averaged between 25 and 33 meters long and could be up to 17 meters wide. Longhouses are almost rectangular, but are more rounded at the ends. The roof can be arched or pitched.

To build a longhouse, the Huron needed a lot of trees. They burned them at the bottom. They would pack wet mud around the tree trunk about a meter off the ground. Then they would pile sticks around the base of the tree trunk and light them on fire. They would let the tree trunk burn until they could push the tree over or until it fell on its own. They might have used a stone chopping tool depending on the size of the tree to make it fall. Remember, longhouses like the one shown here, were built before the Europeans came, before they had metal tools. Once the Huron had the trees they needed, they placed the trees into holes in the ground and tied them at the top in an arch. Bark was stripped off bigger trees in sheets and stacked on the ground. Rocks were put on top of the stack of bark to make it dry flat. Once the bark was dry, it was placed over the frame of the longhouse and tied down. Inside the longhouse, platforms were made and tied on to the walls. These were used for sitting or sleeping.

Some Huron longhouses had holes cut in the top of the roof, which were also covered with either bark or hides to protect the inside from the rain or snow. Although similar to the Haida house, the longhouse did not need a smoke hole because there were enough small openings between the poles to let the smoke out.

there was nothing elaborate about the doorway of a Huron longhouse. They were rectangular frames that were covered by a sheet of bark or an animal hide

The Huron slept on platforms made from the same trees as the house. The Huron slept on platforms made from the same trees as the house. You can see examples of sleeping platforms in the pictures of the model. Compartments or dividers were put up so each family's sleeping and living quarters were more private. Fur, hides, reed mats and sheets of bark were all materials that were used to cover the platforms to make them more comfortable and warm. Compartments or dividers were put up so each family's sleeping and living quarters were more private. Fur, hides, reed mats and sheets of bark were all materials that were used to cover the platforms to make them more comfortable and warm.

Longhouses had many fires. One fire was shared between two families. Some longhouses had up to six fires. Each family did their own cooking on their fire.

Huron longhouses could be found in the areas around the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes, particularly Lake Huron. This area is called the Eastern Woodlands region of Canada. The Huron built their longhouses as year round dwellings. They had to be on good soil so that they could plant their crops. They also had to be in an area close to a secondary growth forest, a forest with young trees, so they had enough of the right size trees to build the houses. They were usually close to a water source like the St. Lawrence River or Lake Huron.

The Huron would stay in the same place until the soil used to grow their crops began to be depleted. Then they would move their fields to new areas. Sometimes they would move the whole village.

MORE PHOTOS AND INFO ABOUT HAIDA AND IGLOOS AS WELL

Igloo built for a contest

HOW TO BUILD AN IGLOO

IGLOO BUILDERS GUIDE

Igloo -- the Traditional Arctic Snow Dome

The Iroquois Indians lived in wigwams and longhouses. Wigwams were made by bending young trees to form the round shape of the home. Over this shape pieces of tree bark were overlapped to protect the Indians from bad weather. Over the bark a layer of thatch, or dried grass, was added. A small hole from the top allowed smoke from the fires to escape. Beds were matting covered with animal skin. The Iroquois built log walls all around their villages. The wall had only one opening. They could quickly close this opening if their enemies came near.

IROQUOIS

Jatibonicu Taino Tribal Council Longhouse

Lenape Indian Village

Lumbee Museum

Principal Miami
Dwelling Type: Domed bark, thatch or hide house... The Piankashaws
were thought to be part of the Miami tribe at one time. ...
www.twingroves.district96.k12.il.us/ NativeAmericans/Miami.html

Used by families every day
6 people lived in this type home From:
http://mariposa.yosemite.net/woodland/shelters.htm

Miwok Sweat Lodge
The ceremonial house was a very large structure in the center of the village. The roof was carefully laid in a certain fashion. The first layer had willow brush laid sideways on top of the horizontal roof timbers. Over it was placed at a right angle a second layer of willow brush.After it a layer of thick shrub then a layer of earth.And after it was all finished it must measure 5inches thick. The structure was built over a large pit.

Painting of Cliff House - Mancos Canyon, Colorado

Mound Example

Mound Example

Village Example

Construction Example

* These prehistoric Native Americans, who are called Mississippian Indians by archaeologists, lived in permanent towns which were built on a fairly standard pattern. Ceremonial buildings on large four sided flat-topped mounds faced a plaza. The villagers gathered in the plaza for important events, ceremonies, and to watch various games such as stickball and chunkey. The earthen mounds were built over a period of years. Perhaps they began as a slight rise with an important building on it. After a time, the building burned. Maybe the people set it on fire because it had become infested with vermin or perhaps the grass roof caught fire accidently. Whatever the cause of the fire, the people brought basketful after basketful of dirt to make a mound. When they were satisfied, they built a new building on top. Archeologists do not know what purpose these buildings fulfilled. The most widely accepted ideas are that these buildings were either religious structures, or the homes of chiefs or other important families.

* Mound builders were Indians who built large mounds, or hills, or earth. There were two types of mounds, flat-topped and conical. Flat-topped mounds were flat on the top. These mounds were used as the base for temples or chief's homes. Conical mounds were rounded on the top like a steep hill. These mounds are believed to be where the Mound Builders buried important people. These mounds were built entirely by workers who carried loads of earth on their backs. They had no horses or oxen or other forms of transportation to use for help. Many of these mounds have several hundred tons of dirt, stone, and other materials.

MOUND BUILDERS BY STATE

NATCHEZ DWELLING

The Natchez lived comfortably in well-built houses around which peach trees were often planted for fruit and shade. The straw hut at the right is a reconstruction of a Natchez dwelling, Women wore white dresses woven of nettle and mulberry-bark fibers, and the dresses covered them from neck to foot. The men wore deerskin leather jackets and breechcloths and leggings.

NEZ PERCE HOUSING

DWELLINGS: Houses were mat-covered lodges of the tipi form, or more commonly a development of this type in which material of several or many of these circular lodges were used to build a lodge, wedge-shaped communal structure.

Geographic Region: Great Basin (Idaho, Oregon, Washington)
Linguistic Group: Sahaptin (Penutian)
Principal Dwelling Type: Plains tipi
Principal Subsistence Type: Large game, fish

Nez Perce is a misnomer given by the interpreter of the Lewis and Clark expedition team of 1805. The French translate it as "pierced nose." This is untrue as the Nee-me-poo did not practice nose piercing or wearing ornaments. The "pierced nose" people lived on the lower Columbia River and throughout other parts of the Northwest. The famous indian chief and leader, Chief Joseph, was of the Nez Perce.

See also: Flathead above.

OJIBWE BARK LODGE - 1880

PIT HOUSING

* Keekwillie house or Quiggly house - the native pit-house lodge of the Interior and Plateau peoples; Keewulllie or Quiggly were also used without the "house" ending, particularly by English-speakers

* Nelson (1969) in his Salish-expansion theory asserts that the ancestral Salish brought intensive fishing with them and helped produce the Plateau winter village settlement pattern. He says the Salish expansion originated in the Fraser delta about 4500 B.P. at the end of the Altithermal (Elmendorf 1965). Ames and Marshall (1981) dispute this theory, arguing that pit-house villages first appear by 5000 B.P. in the southeastern part of the Plateau, far from the center of Salish expansion. Somewhat unconvincingly, they ascribe this new residential pattern not to improved fishing techniques imported from the coast, but to an increased intensity of root collection which emphasized a preexisting Plateau subsistence focus.

PIT HOUSE

This is one of the oldest Native American building types. It uses earth berming; this will result in houses cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Above grade (meaning above the ground) a framework of wood poles would support mats and a sod roof. Only in recent years has the modern world rediscovered this concept of literally building with the Earth. It works. And a skilled designer can integrate this technique perfectly with passive solar strategies. The Solar Hemicycle House in Wisconsin is probably the single best example, although many buildings reflect the good common sense of building with the land.

* http://www.bhi-erc.com/map/sec2.htm

There have been 283 archaeological sites found at the Hanford Site. Archaeological sites common to the Hanford Site include the remains of numerous pit house villages, various types of open campsites, cemeteries, hunting camps, and game drive complexes adjacent to the river corridor; quarries and spirit quest monuments on mountains and rocky bluffs; hunting/kill sites in lowland stabilized dunes; and small temporary camps near perennial sources of water located away from the river.

* Northwest Coast houses shared a few significant traits. All were rectangular in floor plan with plank walls and plank roof, and all but those of northwestern California were large structures designed for multifamily use. At the northern and southern extremes of the area deep central pits were dug within the house. In the north, houses were built on a nearly square plan--averaging about 50 feet wide by 55 feet long--and had gabled roofs; walls and framework were intermeshed to form a permanent structural unit. In the Wakashan province, on the other hand, the houses were rectangular--40 feet by 60 to 100 feet. Huge cedar posts with side beams and ridgepoles comprised the permanent framework, and to these were attached wall planks and roof planks that could be taken down, loaded onto canoes, and transported from one site to another. Some Coast Salish similarly built houses of permanent frameworks with detachable siding and roofing; their houses, however, had "shed-roofs," that is, a roof with only one slope instead of the two of the Wakashan house. Some Coast Salish houses were tremendously long, housing many people. Along the lower Columbia the typical house had a deep large rectangular pit, lined with planks, capped with a gabled roof. Only roof and gable ends showed above ground. The northwestern California house type was designed for single family only. Each house had low side walls of redwood planks and a three-pitch roof. Living space was the plank-lined central pit. Northwestern California also added a specialized structure: the men's combined clubhouse and sweat house, a common native Californian institution.

* Sometimes campers in the Great Basin would throw together a windbreak of sagebrush. At times a family would set up a rough frame of boughs and cover it with twigs and brush. Scattered marshy places in the basins and valleys grew cattails and bulrushes, called tule. Mats, or fringes, made from their stems were used to cover some houses. Bundles of long, coarse grass were used like shingles on others. Usually the builders dug a pit about two feet deep under the house. This saved wall building and kept drafts off the floor. Storage baskets woven of twigs were set on platforms to keep animals out of the seeds.

* For the winter camp, the Indians of southern California heaped earth over the huts to make them warm. The tribes of northern California could get redwood and split it with wedges of elk or deer antlers. They tied these slabs to frames and built better houses than did tribes to the east and south.

PIZGAH - WACCAMAW

Pizgah Village at Warren Wilson, North Carolina

Other Mound Builders

http://rla.unc.edu/lessons/Lesson/L304/L304.htm

PLANK HOUSE

PUEBLO

http://www.kstrom.net/isk/maps/houses/pueblo.html

SOUTHWEST DWELLINGS

SERRANO
The native clans who lived in the San Bernardino Mountains and its foothills to the north, south, east, and west were called Serranos by the Spanish. The Serranos also lived along the northern slopes of the San Gabriel range at least as far west as Big Rock Creek. The Spanish term Serrano meant "mountain people." The Serranos called themselves Takhtam or "people."Like other native culture groups living in coastal and interior southern California, the Serrano shared cultural traits and a common language, but not a single paramount chief or ruler. The villages and village chiefs who were found among the Serrano, as among other groups, were politically independent, and did not have to answer to a central authority. Village chiefs did participate in alliances and cooperation with other communities, however. Each large winter village and its surrounding territory, ruled by an independent religious and political chief, was occupied by a clan comprised of families related in the male line.
From: http://www.avim.parks.ca.gov/people/ph_serrano.shtml

Crow Teepee

TIPIS

Tipis

http://www.kstrom.net/isk/maps/houses/tipi.html

Hidatsa Village

NEZ PERCE

OTTAWA

The Ottawa tribe lived in a variety of houses. During the winter, the Ottawa tribe used the long house.The long house had a long rectangular shape. The long house was 20 feet wide and 100 feet long. The Ottawa tribe would use the long house because in the winter they would settle in and stay in one place for a while.

During the summer, the Ottawa tribe used the wigwam house. The wigwam house was made circular about 15 feet across. The wigwam house was made of cattail mats and weatherproof birch bark strips.The Ottawa tribe used the wigwam house because in the summer they followed the buffalo so they needed a house they could move very easily.

POMO - TULE HOUSING

The Pomo built houses shaped like an inverted circular or elliptical bowl, using the
framework willow poles thrust in the ground and transverse oaken hoops. The thatch consisted of three
layers. Held together by horizontal poles.

Modern Construction
techniques used Modern Chickee

The chickee was constructed with cypress logs and palm thatch leaves woven together by vines or thin ropes. It had no walls only a thatched roof that covered the area around the upward standing cypress logs submerged shallowly into the earth. After time the Seminoles perfected their housing by adding another level to their chickee making them two stories high with living quarters for those more fortunate.

Seminole Housing : Chickees

Shinnecock ( At the Level Land ) Originally a part of the Metoac Indians of Long Island

THE SHINNECOCK WIGWAM

SHOSHONE ENCAMPMENT

A Shoshone encampment in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming, photographed by W. H. Jackson, 1870.
(Courtesy Smithsonian Institution, National Anthropological Archives [#1668].

TILLAMOOK PLANK HOUSE PLANS

WAMPANOAG - WEETU
After the frame had been erected, the women covered the roof and sides with six to nine-foot strips of bark from the elm, chestnut, birch or oak, lapping them like great shingles, andsewing them together with a thread from evergreen tree roots. As Gookin noted, instead of bark for roofing, they might fasten mats which were woven from reeds, flags, sedge or, for lack of better material, cornstalks-all neatly sewed together "with needles made from the splinter bones of a crane's legge with thread of their Indian hempe."
For winter the home needed two thicknesses of mats on both roof and sides, the interior one finely woven, perhaps decorated also. Winslow reported: "The houses were double matted, for as they were matted without, so were they within, with newer & fairer matts." These rendered the whole dwelling watertight. It was kept clean with a cedar broom.

WATTLE AND DAUB

Prior to the 18th century, most of Georgia was home to Native Americans known as the Creek Indians.
The name Creek came from the shortening of "Ocheese Creek" Indians - a name given by the
English to the native people along the Ocheese Creek (or the Ocmulgee River).

The Creek Indian Lodge in the Children's Garden is an example of a wattle and daub house. Wattle and daub houses appeared in the Southeastern United States during the Mississippian period (800-1540 AD). The building, built by Native Americans from EarthKeepers and Company, consists of a rough timber frame structure frame structure that uses round posts, often poplar or pine, (our wattle daub building uses red cedar, locust and pine) between 4 to 8 inches in diameter. The cedar is considered a sacred wood and is used as a natural insect repellent. The locust has been used on the corner posts and is very rot resistant. The pine wood used in the rafters is believed to protect the home from illness.

The Creek Indians built their homes as organic structures to "live in medicine." The posts are held together with a combination of tree bark and cow and elk hide. Hemp roping has been used to tie rafters together on the roof. Thin branches, almost always river cane called wattles are woven in and out of the posts horizontally and close together. A combination of clay and grass is then pressed or "daubed" into the wattle. Our wattle daub house uses cedar shakes as the roofing material. The is a fire pit in the center of the floor and a smoke hole in the roof. The roof is tall so that animal hide, meat and tobacco could be hung. These items were then smoked to preserve their freshness. The paintings on the door represent the tribe and clan of the occupants. Most of the wattle and daub houses were occupied in the winter and an open ramada or porch-like structure was added for sleeping and cooking in the summer. These houses were usually very well built, lasting 30 to 40 years.

WITCHITA GRASS HUT

They were big, too. Early explorers have described them as being 15 to 30 feet across.
The Caddoan houses were very similar The houses were shaped like giant cones. Each house had
10 to 12 beds in it. In the center of the roof was a small hole to let out the smoke
from the fire which was always placed in the middle of the house floor.
There was also a kitchen in these houses. Not like the ones we have today, of course,
but it was a hollowed out tree trunk that was used to grind corn and prepare meals.
When the Wichita went on their winter buffalo hunts they lived in tepees just like other Plains Indians.

WITCHITA GRASS HUT

WOODLAND HOUSING

ZUNI PUEBLO DWELLINGS

NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURE

NATIVE AMERICAN ART AND TECHNOLOGY
NATIVE AMERICAN ATROCITIES

NATIVE AMERICANS - A THOUSAND LIES

NATIVE AMERICAN WISDOM

DREAMS OF THE GREAT EARTHCHANGES
MAIN INDEX

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NATIVE AMERICAN HOUSING collected by Dee Finney This page is for students for school projects. If you need more information or a different tribe than listed below, e-mail Dee777@aol.com and I will attempt to locate what you need LONGHOUSE PHOTOS PIT HOUSING TEPEE PHOTOS BUILDING A STURDY TIPI / TEPEE/ TEEPEE TIPI PHOTOS WICKIUP PHOTOS WIGWAM PHOTOS NATIVE HOUSING In and north of the United States there were some twenty well-defined types of native dwellings, varying from the mere brush shelter to the five-storied pueblo.

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Native American Indian Tribes by Continent and Country

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Native American Indian Tribes by Continent and Country

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Indian Languages Indian Nations What's new on our site today!
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Native American Indian Tribes in Different Countries

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Indian Languages Indian Nations What's new on our site today! This is the index to the Native American language and cultural information on our website arranged by continent and country. Some pages contain more information than others.

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List of US states whose names come from Native American Indian languages, with their translations.

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Game

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Science.com

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Many different types of landforms make up Earth's topography. Several major categories of landform define that smaller portion of the planet not covered by water, including mountains, plains, plateaus and valleys. These can be formed by a variety of natural forces, including erosion from water and wind, plate movement, folding and faulting, and volcanic activity.

The Mountain Landform

*** Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images

The most common type of mountains arise where the Earth's crust experienced folding or faulting, such as the Canadian Rockies and the Alps. Fault-block mountains, such as California's Sierra Nevada, are formed when Earth's crust cracked and was pushed upward. Volcanic mountains form when hot magma from deep in Earth's interior breaks through the crust and builds up on the surface, whether quietly or explosively. Volcanism can form islands, such as Hawaii, built on a series of broad basaltic shield volcanoes. Volcanoes on continents can also appear isolated and almost island-like given their prominence, a prime example being Washington State's Mount Rainier.

The Flats: Plains

*** Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images

Most of the Earth's surface consists of low and high plains, defined by a mostly level profile that ranges from gently rolling to completely flat. Such landforms are common in areas of extensive sediment accumulation, as in the "floodplains" and deltas of large rivers and the Atlantic-Gulf Coastal Plain of the United States. While those examples are low-lying, higher-elevation plains such as the Great Plains of central North America - built by sediment washed out of the Rocky Mountains and accumulated in long-ago seaways - also exist. Keep in mind that plains describe mostly level topography, though people sometimes incorrectly use "plain" as a synonym for grassland ecosystems (prairies and steppes). You can easily have a forested plain.

High Expanses: Plateaus

*** Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images

Plateaus can be thought of as elevated plains - that is, elevated flattish areas - bordered on at least one side by lower-lying land and often edged by fairly abrupt scarps. These terrain features may derive from very old mountains eroded down over time, while others form by block-faulting. Earth's largest plateau is the Tibetan Plateau of Central and East Asia. In arid climates, plateaus can be heavily sculpted by water and wind erosion into mesas, buttes and canyons with extensive bare rock, as in the Colorado Plateau of the American Southwest.

Valleys, Canyons and Caves

*** Photos.com/Photos.com/Getty Images

The erosion of rivers and the moving ice bodies called glaciers help sculpt valleys, often in combination with faulting. Glaciers flowing down drainages tend to sculpt U-shaped valleys; such glacially carved troughs often come to support lakes, as in the Finger Lakes of New York State. Running water, by contrast, tends to carve out V-shaped valleys. Mountain valleys tend to have steep walls and narrow channels - such features may be called canyons or gorges - while valleys on plains tend to have shallow slopes and wider channels. Caves form in karsts, where limestone, dolomite, or gypsum rocks are slowly dissolved by groundwater. Others are formed by waves pounding cliffs on the coastlines, or where molten rock drains out the inside of a lava tube of a volcano.

The Landforms of Deserts

*** Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images

The ecological landscapes known as deserts, defined by very arid conditions of low precipitation and high evaporation, include plentiful mountains, plains, plateaus and canyons that include distinctive sub-varieties of desert landforms. These include gravel plains, sand dunes and dry lakebeds. Many natural factors are responsible for the creation of deserts, particularly current and past climatic conditions. The Mojave Desert in California consists of 1.6 million acres of landscapes that changed over millions of years, including mountains, canyons, volcanic fields and dry lake basins. The region is within a great inland drainage basin where ancient lakes overflowed into adjacent valleys and eventually spilled into Death Valley. After the region dried up, it left dry lakebeds exposed to erosion by the wind.

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The major landform categories of the Earth's surface include such large-scale topographic features as mountains, plains, plateaus and valleys. Climate plays an important role in sculpting landforms, as evidenced by distinctive desert landscapes influenced by extremely arid conditions.