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NORTHEAST INDIANS DATABASE | |
Number of Cards | 32 |
Card Description | One
card each on 32 Northeast Indian groups |
An Introduction
NORTHEAST
INDIANS
The Native American tribes of the eastern
Northeast Indians Fact Cards
The information given in
the Northeast Indians Fact Cards has
been gathered from various sources to provide an accurate account of the everyday
lives of Indians before the arrival of the European settlers and the Indian
displacement that followed. All of the facts in these cards are meant to be
representative of Indian life as it was in the years between
1600-1750.
Selection of Tribes
The groups covered in Northeast
Indians Fact Cards are those in the eastern half of the geographical area identified
by historians as the Northeast Culture Area. This includes the area east of
Most of the tribes included
in this set still have some presence in the
The Northeast Indians can
be divided into two groups: the Algonquian Indians of the east coast and eastern
woodlands, and the Iroquois-speaking tribes of upper
Algonquian
The Algonquian Indian tribes
spoke various dialects of the Algonquian language. They tended to live in wigwams,
and the level of organization within each tribe varied depending on the tribe,
but was generally loose. Corn was the major crop for most Algonquian tribes.
Cultural habits of the Algonquian tribes changed depending on their location.
Algonquian tribes of the north, such as the Micmac
and the Passamaquoddy of Maine, lived in areas full
of moose and caribou and birch trees. Because of this, they were dependent on
hunting for food and on using the bark of birch trees to make tools and canoes.
The tribes of
Iroquois
Iroquoian Indian tribes
all spoke dialects of the Iroquois language. Iroquoian tribes were distinctive
in that they lived together in longhouses. Several related families could live
together in one longhouse, and so they were sometimes known as the People of
the Longhouse.
The Iroquois tribes also
tended to have a very high level of organization, and they were known to be
great warriors. In fact, they fought with each other and with the Algonquian
tribes so often that sometime around the year 1600 (historians are not exactly
sure when) five of the seven Iroquoian tribes listed in these Fact Cards decided to band together. The
five tribes -- the Cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca,
The League of the Iroquois
was so successful in governing its people that the founding fathers of the United
States based the Constitution of the United States on principles of government
that were very similar to those of the League. The other Iroquoian tribes, the
Tuscarora and Susquehannock,
shared the language of the League and some of their customs, but during the
period covered in these cards, neither of them were members of the League. In
1722, however, the Tuscarora were displaced by hostile
settlers and moved north to become a part of the League.
Principles
Despite their differences,
the Algonquians and Iroquois shared three fundamental ideas. (1) They believed
that decisions made by a group of people must come from the consensus of everyone
in that group. (2) They believed in sharing. In times of want, no one ever went
hungry. The well-being of the group was more important than the satisfaction
of just a few. (3) They believed that man was a part of nature, not outside
of it.
As you are reading the
Northeast Indian Fact Cards, remember that
just because the way of life of the Indians you read about here has disappeared,
that does not mean the Indians themselves are gone. Many are doctors, lawyers, teachers, and politicians,
and have lives that are similar to your own. Although the ancient way of Indian
life is gone forever, the lessons we can learn from reading about those lives
are still very much alive.
Sources
Most of the information in the Northeast Indians Fact Cards comes from the Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 15, published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1978. Secondary sources were A Concise Dictionary of Indian Tribes of North American, by Barbara Leitch and Keith Irvine, Reference Publications, 1997 and Algonquians of the East Coast, by the editors of Time-Life Books, 1995.