The Inuit

The Aleut

Both main tribes spoke, and continue to speak, dialects descended from what academics call the Eskimo-Aleut language family.

By the time of the Purchase of Alaska, the native population dropped to just 2,500.

The Cree

The Tsattine

The Kuchin

The growth of the fur trade led to the Natives focusing on supplying the Europeans with pelts instead of hunting.

Toboggans, snowshoes and lightweight canoes were the primary means of transportation

One of the first areas to have sustained contact with Europeans

Developed complex social and political structures like the Haudenosaunee Confederacy or the iroquois confederacy

Oneida

Erie

Shawnee

Cherokee

Chickasaw

Choctaw

Had five tribes called the Five Civilized Tribes, some of whom spoke a variant of the Muskogean language.

Forced out of their own lands in an event called The Trail of Tears.

Crow

Blackfeet

Cheyenne

Had elaborately feathered war bonnets.

Became much more nomadic after the Europeans brought horses.

Hopi

Navajo

Apache

Many of the region's natives were killed before their lands became part of the United States

Had unique population clusters and unique artisan crafts.

Shoshone

Paiute

Ute

The stereotypical raiding bands were developed after Europeans introduced horses to them.

Many lost their lands and lives after people found gold in their lands.

Miwok

Chumash

Tubabulabal

Organized themselves into small, family-based bands of hunter-gatherers known as tribelets.

Inter-triblets relationships, based on well-established systems of trade and common rights, were generally peaceful.

Athapaskan Haida

Penutian Chinook

Tsimshian

Had permanent villages thank to the food security of the rivers.

A person’s status was determined by his closeness to the village’s chief.

Klamath

Spokane

Salish

When horses were introduced, the natives in this region integrated it into their economy and expanded their hunting areas.

Lewis and Clark passed through this area.