Documents for "North American indigenous peoples":

• Abenaki see Abnaki.

• Abnaki or Abenaki , Native North Americans of the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). The name Abnaki was given to them by the French; properly it should be Wabanaki, a word that refers to morning and the east and may be interpreted as those "living at the sunrise." The Abnaki lived mostly in what is now Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Abnaki legend has it that they came from the Southwest, but the exact time is unsure. The Abnaki resided in settled...

• Absaroka see Crow.

• Aht Confederacy see Nootka.

• Alabama indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Muskogean branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). They lived in S Alabama in the early 18th cent. and were members of the Creek confederacy. During the 19th cent. they moved to W Louisiana and E Texas. The state of Alabama takes its name from...

• Aleut native inhabitant of the Aleutian Islands and W Alaska. Like the Eskimo , the Aleuts are racially similar to Siberian peoples. Their language is a member of the Eskimo-Aleut family. When they were first noted by Vitus Jonassen Bering in 1741, their estimated population was between 20,000 and 25,000. Because of their skill in hunting sea mammals, the Aleuts were...

• Algonquin small group of Native North Americans. The name of the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (to which they belonged) is derived from their name (see Native American languages ). They were among the first Native Americans with whom the French formed alliances, and their name was used to designate other tribes in the area. Despite French aid, they were dispersed in the...

• American Indian Movement (AIM), organization of the Native American civil-rights movement, founded in 1968. Its purpose is to encourage self-determination among Native Americans and to establish international recognition...

• American Indians see Americas, antiquity and prehistory of the ; Natives, Middle American ; Natives, North American ; Natives, South American.

• Americas, antiquity and prehistory of the study of the origins of the aboriginal peoples of the Americas. Archaeologists believe humans had entered and occupied much of the Americas by the end of the Pleistocene epoch , but the date of their original entry into the Americas is unresolved. The term "Paleo-Indians" is generally used to refer to early Native Americans up through the end of the Ice Age (c.8000 BC). Most authorities believe they entered North America from Siberia as small bands of migratory...

• Anasazi culture see Basket Makers ; cliff dwellers ; Pueblo.

• Apache Native North Americans of the Southwest composed of six culturally related groups. They speak a language that has various dialects and belongs to the Athabascan branch of the Nadene linguistic stock (see Native American languages ), and their ancestors entered the area about 1100. The Navajo , who also speak an Athabascan language, were once part of the Western Apache; other groups E of the Rio Grande along the mountains were the Jicarilla, the Lipan, and the Mescalero groups. In W New...

• Apalachee extinct tribe of Native North Americans once centered about Apalachee Bay, NW Florida, belonging to the Muskogean branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). Prosperous agriculturalists, they fought off the raids of the Creek until early in the 18th cent. Combined Native American and British forces then conquered them, wiping out their villages along...

• Arapaho Native North Americans of the Plains whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). Their own name was Inuna-ina (our people), but they were referred to as "dog eaters" (for the obvious reason) by other Native Americans. Tradition places their early home in N Minnesota in the Red River valley, but nothing is known of the date or circumstances of their separation...

• Arikara Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Caddoan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). Archaeological evidence shows that they occupied the banks of the upper Missouri River since at least the 14th cent. A semisedentary group, they lived in earth-covered lodges. In winter they...

• Arkansas Native North Americans: see Quapaw.

• Assiniboin Native North Americans whose culture is that of the N Great Plains; their language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). At the time of the first contact with European settlers they had no permanent village sites; they moved about as their search for food required. They were a branch of the Yanktonai Dakota, who...

• Atsina see Gros Ventre.

• Bannock Native North Americans who formerly ranged over wide territory of the N Great Plains and into the foothills of the Rocky Mts. They were concentrated in S Idaho. Their language belonged to the...

• Basket Makers name given to the members of an early Native North American culture in the Southwest, predecessors of the Pueblo. Because of the cultural continuity from the Basket Makers to the Pueblos, they are jointly referred to by archaeologists as the Anasazi culture. They are so called because of their extensive...

• Blackfeet see Blackfoot.

• Blackfoot Native North Americans of the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). They occupied in the early 19th cent. a large range of territory around the Upper Missouri (above the Yellowstone) and North Saskatchewan rivers W to the Rockies. Their name derives from the fact...

• Blood Blackfoot see Blackfoot.

• Boisbrûlés [Fr.,=burnt wood], name given the descendants of the fur traders and native peoples in W Canada, because of their dark complexion. The boisbrûlés, or brûlés, were in the early 19th cent. an...

• Caddo Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Caddoan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). These people gave their name not only to the linguistic branch but also to the Caddo confederacy, a loose federation of tribes that in prehistoric times occupied lands from the Red River valley...

• Canarsee Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). They occupied the western part of Long Island, N.Y., and sold the site of Brooklyn to the Dutch. They paid tribute to the Mohawk, and when they stopped paying and defied the Mohawk, they were...

• Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, Pa., the first federally supported school for Native Americans to be established off a reservation; it was founded in 1879 by Richard Henry Pratt. Its football team, led by Jim Thorpe and coached by Glenn Warner , brought the school nationwide attention. Pratt, who strenuously opposed the Indian Bureau's efforts to establish schools closer to the reservations, was relieved of his superintendency in 1904...

• Catawba Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). They have for centuries occupied a region in South Carolina around the Catawba River; they are noted for their ancient traditional pottery, which they still produce. Once a large and powerful...

• Cayuga see Iroquois Confederacy.

• Cayuse Native North Americans who formerly occupied parts of NE Oregon and SE Washington. They were closely associated with the Nez Percé and spoke a language belonging to the Sahaptin-Chinook branch of the Penutian linguistic stock (see Native American Languages ). A mission was established (1836) among them by Marcus Whitman at Waiilatpu. In 1847 the Cayuse, blaming the missionaries for an outbreak of smallpox, attacked the mission and killed the Whitmans and their helpers. The settlers then declared war and defeated...

• Cherokee largest Native American group in the United States. Formerly the largest and most important tribe in the Southeast, they occupied mountain areas of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and...

• Cheyenne indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). The Cheyenne abandoned their settlements in Minnesota in the 17th cent., leaving the region to the hostile Sioux and Ojibwa. Gradually migrating W along the Cheyenne River and then south, they...

• Chickahominy river, c.90 mi (140 km) long, rising NW of Richmond, Va., and flowing SE to the James River. In the Civil War fighting was heavy along its banks.

• Chickasaw Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Muskogean branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). They occupied N Mississippi and were closely related in language and culture to the Choctaw. The Chickasaw warred constantly with the Choctaw, the Creek, the Cherokee, and the Shawnee. The...

• Chimmesyan see Tsimshian.

• Chinook Native American tribe of the Penutian linguistic stock. Altogether twelve main tribes spoke Chinook languages; all were in the Columbia River valley. The Chinook themselves were on the lower...

• Chipewyan Native North Americans of the Athabascan branch of the Nadene linguistic stock (see also Native American languages ). Formerly the largest of the Athabascan groups, scattered Chipewyan bands ranged W Canada between Great Slave Lake and the Churchill River. They were nomadic hunters and gatherers who lived in...

• Chippewa see Ojibwa.

• Chiricahua see Apache.

• Choctaw Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Muskogean branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). They formerly occupied central and S Mississippi with some outlying groups in Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana. Choctaw culture was similar to that of the Creek and Chickasaw, who were their...

• Clallam see Klallam.

• cliff dwellers Native Americans of the Anasazi culture who were builders of the ancient cliff dwellings found in the canyons and on the mesas of the U.S. Southwest, principally on the tributaries of the Rio...

• Coast Salish see Salish.

• Coeur d'Alene indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Salishan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). They occupied N Idaho and E Washington and were also called the Skitswish. Long known as a peaceful group, the Coeur d'Alene were placed on reservations after an encounter with U.S. forces,...

• Colville indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Salishan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). Once one of the largest Salish tribes, they were reduced to a few hundred by 1872. They were placed on a reservation in NE Washington and since that time have markedly increased, so that by 1990...

• Comanche Native North Americans belonging to the Shoshonean group of the Uto-Aztecan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). They originated from a Basin-type culture and eventually adopted a Plains culture. They separated from the Shoshone and migrated southward in the late 1600s, appearing in New Mexico around 1705...

• Coushatta see Alabama , Native North Americans.

• Cree Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). They formerly inhabited the area S of Hudson Bay and James Bay in what is now Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba S of the Churchill River. Members of one branch of the Cree, allying themselves with...

• Creek Native North American confederacy. The peoples forming it were mostly of the Muskogean branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). The Creek received their name from early white traders because so many of their villages were located at rivers and creeks. They lived primarily in Alabama and Georgia and were settled,...

• Crow indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ) and who call themselves the Absaroka, or bird people. They ranged chiefly in the area of the Yellowstone River and its tributaries and were a hunting tribe typical of the Plains cultural area...

• Dakota see Sioux.

• Delaware English name given several closely related Native American groups of the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). In the 17th cent., they lived in what is now New Jersey, Delaware, E Pennsylvania, and SE New York. They called themselves the Lenni-Lenape or the Lenape and were given the name Delaware by the...

• Digger Indians term indiscriminately applied to many Native Americans of the central plateau region of W North America, including tribes in Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and central California. The name...

• Eastern Woodlands culture term used to refer to Native American societies inhabiting the eastern United States. The earliest Woodland groups were the Adena and Hopewell, who lived in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys...

• Erie indigenous people of North America of the Iroquoian branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). In the Iroquoian language the word erie means "long tail" (i.e., cat), and, therefore, the Erie were referred to as the Cat Nation. In the 17th cent. they inhabited the region E and SE of Lake Erie in the present states of New York, Pennsylvania, and...

• Five Civilized Tribes inclusive term used since mid-19th cent. for the Cherokee , Chickasaw , Choctaw , Creek , and Seminole tribes of E Oklahoma. By 1850 some 60,000 members of these tribes were settled in the Indian Territory under the Removal Act of 1830, which provided that this territory was to be held communally on the condition that the tribes surrendered certain land rights E of the Mississippi River. These tribes...

• Five Nations see Iroquois Confederacy.

• Flathead see Salish.

• Fox see Sac and Fox.

• Gros Ventre [Fr.,=big belly], name used by the French for two quite distinct Native North American groups. One was the Atsina, a detached band of the Arapaho , whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ); the other was the Hidatsa , whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock. The Native American sign language designated the two groups by somewhat similar gestures on the torso, one...

• Haida Native North Americans living primarily on the Queen Charlotte Islands, off British Columbia, and on the southern end of the Prince of Wales Island, off Alaska. They speak the Haida language,...

• Hidatsa Native North Americans, also known as the Minitari and the Gros Ventre. Their language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). After their separation from the Crow , with whom they were united before the historic period, they occupied several agricultural villages on the upper Missouri River in North Dakota and were in close alliance with the occupants of...

• Hohokam term denoting the culture of the ancient agricultural populations inhabiting the Salt and Gila river valleys of S Arizona (AD 300-1200). They are noted for their extensive irrigation systems, with...

• Hoopa Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Athabascan branch of the Nadene linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). In the 19th cent. they occupied the valley of the Trinity River from Hoopa valley to the Klamath River in NW California. Their cedar-planked houses, dugout canoes, basket hats, and many elements...

• Hopi group of the Pueblo , formerly called Moki, or Moqui. They speak the Hopi language, which belongs to the Uto-Aztecan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock, at all their pueblos except Hano, where the language...

• Hupa see Hoopa.

• Huron confederation of four Native North American groups who spoke the Wyandot language, which belongs to the Iroquoian branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). Their name for themselves was Wendat, Huron being the name applied to them by the French. In the early 17th cent. they occupied the region between Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay in Ontario and numbered some 20,000. Their culture was...

• Illinois confederation of Native North Americans, comprising the Cahokia, the Kaskaskia, the Michigamea, the Moingwena, the Peoria, and the Tamaroa tribes. They belong to the Algonquian branch of the...

• Inuit see Eskimo.

• Iowa Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ); also called the Ioway. They, with the Missouri, the Omaha, the Oto, and the Ponca, are thought to have once formed part of the Winnebago people in their primal home N of the Great Lakes. Iowa...

• Iroquois Confederacy or Iroquois League , North American confederation of indigenous peoples, initially comprising the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. They gave their name to the Iroquoian branch of the Hokan-Siouan...

• Iroquois League see Iroquois Confederacy.

• Kalispel or Pend d'Oreille , Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Salishan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). The Kalispel were given the name Pend d'Oreille [Fr., = earring] by the French because of their custom of wearing shell earrings. In the early 19th cent. the Kalispel occupied NW Montana, N...

• Kansa people whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ), also known as the Kansas or Kaw. Closely related to the Osage , from whom they separated probably not long before white settlers met them, they shared the typical Plains culture and began farming only after the buffalo had disappeared from the Plains. They...

• Kickapoo Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ) and who in the late 17th cent. occupied SW Wisconsin. They were closely related to the Sac and Fox. The culture of the Kickapoo was essentially that of the Eastern Woodlands area, but they also hunted buffalo, one of the few traits that the Kickapoo adopted from their neighbors in the Plains...

• Kiowa Native North Americans whose language is thought to form a branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). The Kiowa, a nomadic people of the Plains area, had several distinctive traits, including a pictographic calendar and the worship of a stone image, the taimay. In the 17th cent. they occupied W Montana, but by about 1700 they had moved to an area SE of the Yellowstone River. Here they came into contact with the Crow, who gave the Kiowa permission to...

• Klallam Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Salishan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). They formerly occupied the southern tip of Vancouver Island, B.C., and the south shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Puget Sound. There are presently three bands of Klallam in the United...

• Klamath Native North Americans who in the 19th cent. lived in SW Oregon. They speak a language of the Sahaptin-Chinook branch of the Penutian linguistic stock (see Native American languages ) and are related to the Modoc people. The material for the first description of the Klamath was collected by Peter Skene Ogden, who visited them in 1829 and opened trade relations. They subsisted by hunting, fishing, and...

• Kootenai group of Native North Americans who in the 18th cent. occupied the so-called Kootenai country (i.e., N Montana, N Idaho, and SE British Columbia). Their language is thought by some scholars to...

• Kutenai see Kootenai.

• Kwakiutl group of closely related Native North Americans who inhabit N Vancouver Island and the adjacent mainland of British Columbia, Canada. They, together with the Nootka, their southern neighbors, make...

• Lakota see Sioux.

• Lenape see Delaware , Native North Americans.

• Lenni-Lenape see Delaware , Native North Americans.

• Lumbee descendants of Native Americans whose language belonged to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). The ancestors of the Lumbee occupied the coast of the SE United States and were part of the Eastern Woodlands culture area. Generally friendly to the Europeans, they taught the settlers their methods of fishing, hunting, and farming and introduced them to many of their foods. They were one of the few Eastern...

• Mahican confederacy of Native North Americans of the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). The Mahican were of the Eastern Woodlands culture area. In the early 17th cent. they occupied both banks of the upper Hudson River extending north almost to Lake Champlain. Living to the...

• Maidu Native North Americans belonging to the Penutian linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). In the early 19th cent. they were located on the eastern tributaries of the Sacramento River. Maidu culture was typical of the California area: the people lived in brush shelters, gathered...

• Makah Native North Americans who in the early 19th cent. inhabited Cape Flattery, NW Wash. According to Lewis and Clark they then numbered some 2,000. The Makah are the southernmost of the Wakashan...

• Malecite or Maliseet , Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). In the early 17th cent. they occupied the valley of the St. John River in New Brunswick, Canada. The French settlers in this area intermarried with the Malecite, thereby forming a close alliance...

• Maliseet see Malecite.

• Mandan indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). The Mandan were a sedentary tribe of the Plains area and were culturally connected with their neighbors on the Missouri River, the Arikara and the Hidatsa. The Mandan had certain distinctive cultural traits, which included a myth of origin in which their ancestors climbed from beneath the earth on the roots of a grapevine. According to tradition, at...

• Manhattan indigenous people of North America of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). They were a small tribe of the Wappinger Confederacy. The Manhattan in the early 17th cent. inhabited N Manhattan Island and the east bank of the Hudson River; their principal village was on the...

• Maricopa Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Yuman branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). At some time in the past the Maricopa, under pressure from the Yuma, moved up the Gila River in Arizona from the Colorado River. In 1775 they lived near the mouth of the Hassayampa River in S...

• Massachuset Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). In the early 17th cent. they occupied the territory around Massachusetts Bay and ranged northward. They then numbered some 3,000, but by 1631, after wars and pestilence, they were reduced to some...

• Menominee indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). Also called the Menomini, they were a sedentary people who chiefly subsisted on the gathering of wild rice; the Algonquian name for wild rice is manomin. In c.1634, when they were visited by the missionary Jean Nicolet, the Menominee were living at the mouth of the Menominee River in Wisconsin and Michigan. From 1671 until 1854 they inhabited...

• Miami group of Native Americans of the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). They shared the cultural traits of the Eastern Woodlands area and the Plains area, hunting the buffalo that ranged through much of their territory. In the mid-17th cent. the Miami held land in W...

• Micmac Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). They inhabit Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Massachusetts, and Maine. French missionaries came into contact with them in the early 17th cent.,...

• Minitari see Hidatsa.

• Mission Indians Native Americans of S and central California; so called because they were under the jurisdiction of some 21 Spanish missions that were established between 1769 and 1823. The major groups were the...

• Modoc Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Sahaptin-Chinook branch of the Penutian linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). They formerly lived in SW Oregon and N California, particularly around Modoc Lake (also known as Lower Klamath Lake) and Tule Lake. Modoc culture was similar to the culture of the Klamath , but the Modoc did not rely as heavily on the wokas, or water-lily seeds, for food. There was considerable trouble between the Modoc and the early white settlers, with atrocities being committed on...

• Mohave indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Yuman branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). In the mid-18th cent. they lived on both banks of the Colorado River, in Arizona and California. They then numbered some 3,000. The Mohave were semisedentary farmers who generally cultivated...

• Mohawk see Iroquois Confederacy.

• Mohegan Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). Also called the Mohican, they were the eastern branch of the Mahican. In the early 17th cent. the Mohegan occupied most of SE Connecticut, their chief village being on the site of the present village of Mohegan on the Thames River. When European settlers arrived in...

• Mohican see Mahican ; Mohegan.

• Moki see Hopi.

• Montagnais and Naskapi aboriginal peoples originally from Labrador, Canada. Because they both spoke almost identical Algonquian languages and had similar customs, the two groups are often linked. The Montagnais covered...

• Moqui see Hopi.

• Nakota see Sioux.

• Narragansett Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). Part of the Eastern Woodlands culture (see under Natives, North American ), in the early 17th cent. they occupied most of Rhode Island, from Narragansett Bay on the east to the Pawcatuck River on the west. They were the largest and strongest tribe in New England. The...

• Naskapi see Montagnais and Naskapi.

• Natchez indigenous North American people who lived along St. Catherine's Creek east of the present-day city of Natchez in Mississippi. At the time of contact with the French in 1682, they numbered about...

• Native Americans see Americas, antiquity and prehistory of the ; Natives, Middle American ; Natives, North American ; Natives, South American.

• Natives, North American peoples who occupied North America before the arrival of the Europeans in the 15th cent. They have long been known as Indians because of the belief prevalent at the time of Columbus that the...

• Navaho see Navajo , people; Navajo , language.

• Navajo or Navaho , Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Athabascan branch of the Nadene linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). A migration from the North to the Southwest area is thought to have occurred in the past because of an affiliation with N Athabascan speakers; the Navajo settled among the Pueblo and also...

• Neutral Nation group of Native North American tribes of the Iroquoian branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). In the early 17th cent. they occupied the territory along the northern shore of Lake Erie. They then numbered some 12,000. Their culture was substantially that of the Eastern Woodlands area (see...

• Nez Percé [Fr.,=pierced nose], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Sahaptin-Chinook branch of the Penutian linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). Also called the Sahaptin, or Shahaptin, they were given the name "Nez Percé" by the French because some of them wore nose pendants; however, this custom does not seem to have been widespread among them. They were typical of the Plateau area, fishing for salmon and gathering...

• Nootka Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Wakashan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). The Nootka proper are a small group on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, but the name is also used to refer to the Aht Confederacy, which formerly included more than 20...

• Oglala Sioux see Sioux.

• Ojibwa or Chippewa , group of Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). Their name also occurs as Ojibway and Chippeway, but they are not to be confused with the Chipewyan. In the mid-17th cent., when visited by Father Claude Jean Allouez , they occupied the shores of Lake Superior. They were constantly at war with the Sioux and the Fox over possession of the rich fields of wild rice in this region. When the Ojibwa received (c.1690)...

• Okanogan or Okinagan , confederation of Native North Americans of the Salishan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). In the late 18th cent. they numbered some 2,500. In the early 19th cent. they occupied an area extending from the west side of the Okanagan River in Washington N to British Columbia. In winter...

• Omaha Native Americans whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). They, with the Ponca, migrated from the Ohio valley to the confluence of the Missouri and the Mississippi rivers and from there to Iowa. At the mouth of the Niobrara River in Nebraska they...

• Oneida see Iroquois Confederacy.

• Onondaga see Iroquois Confederacy.

• Osage indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). In prehistoric times they lived with the Kansa, the Ponca, the Omaha, and the Quapaw in the Ohio valley, but by 1673 they had migrated to the vicinity of the Osage River in Missouri. They often...

• Oto Native North Americans, also called the Otoe, whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). The Oto had a Plains area type of culture. At one time, with the Iowa and the Missouri, they formed part of the Winnebago nation, N of the Great Lakes. The Oto with the Missouri left the nation,...

• Ottawa Native Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). Traditionally of the Eastern Woodlands cultural area (see under Natives, North American ), the Ottawa have a well-developed creation myth that states that they were descended from three families: the Michabou, or Great Hare, the Namepich, or Carp, and the Bear's Paw. According to...

• Paiute two distinct groups of Native North Americans speaking languages belonging to the Shoshonean group of the Uto-Aztecan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). The Northern Paiute ranged over central and E California, W Nevada, and E Oregon. The Southern Paiute occupied NW Arizona, SE California, S Nevada, and S Utah. The Northern Paiute were more...

• Papago see Tohono O'Odham.

• Passamaquoddy see Abnaki.

• Pawnee Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Caddoan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). At one time the Pawnee lived in what is now Texas, but by 1541, when Coronado visited Quivira, they seem to have been settled in the valley of the Platte River in S Nebraska. By the early 18th...

• Pend d'Oreille see Kalispel.

• Pennacook group of Native North Americans of the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). Although of the Eastern Woodlands cultural area (see under Natives, North American ), they depended to a large extent on seafood. In the early 17th cent. they occupied NE Massachusetts, SE New Hampshire, and SW Maine. They then numbered some 2,000, but by 1674 smallpox and wars...

• Penobscot indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). They were the largest group of the Abnaki Confederacy and resembled the other members culturally. In the early 17th cent. they inhabited the region around Penobscot Bay and the Penobscot River in Maine. A French mission was established...

• Pequot Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). The Pequot are of the Eastern Woodlands cultural area (see under Natives, North American ). Originally they were united with the Mohegan , but when Uncas revolted, the Pequot moved southward to invade and drive off the Niantic. The warlike Pequot, under their chief, Sassacus, had by 1630 extended their territory west to the Connecticut River...

• Piegan Blackfoot see Blackfoot.

• Pima Native North American tribe of S Arizona. They speak the Pima language of the Uto-Aztecan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic family (see Native American languages ). There are two divisions, the Lower Pima and the Upper Pima. Before the mission period, the Pima and the Tohono O'Odham , who spoke variations of the same language, called themselves the People—River People (Akimel O'Odham, the Pima) and Desert People (Tohono O'Odham). Archaeological evidence shows their probable...

• Piute see Paiute.

• Pokanoket see Wampanoag.

• Pomo Native Americans of N California, belonging to the Hokan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). The Pomo were the most southerly Native Americans on the California coast not brought under the mission influence of the Franciscans in the early 18th and 19th cent. The Pomo have been especially...

• Ponca Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). According to tradition the group lived in the Ohio valley but migrated to the mouth of the Osage River. There the Ponca and the Omaha separated from the main Siouan group and went to SW...

• Potawatomi Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). They are closely related to the Ojibwa and Ottawa;...

• Pottawatami or Pottawatomi: see Potawatomi.

• Powhatan Confederacy group of Native North Americans belonging to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). Their area embraced most of tidewater Virginia and the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay. Wahunsonacock, or Powhatan, as the English called him, was the leader of the confederacy when Jamestown was...

• praying Indians name for Native North Americans who accepted Christianity. Although many different groups are called by this name, e.g., the Roman Catholic Iroquois of St. Regis, it was more commonly applied to...

• Pueblo name given by the Spanish to the sedentary Native Americans who lived in stone or adobe communal houses in what is now the SW United States. The term pueblo is also used for the villages occupied by the Pueblo. Their prehistoric settlements, known as the Anasazi and Mogollon cultures, extended southward from S Utah and S Colorado into Arizona, New...

• Puyallup see Coast Salish under Salish.

• Quapaw Native North Americans, also called the Arkansas, whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). The Quapaw were essentially of the Plains culture, but they had other distinctive traits; they built temple and burial mounds and lived in longhouses. They once lived with the Omaha, the Kansa,...

• Sac see Sac and Fox.

• Sac and Fox closely related Native Americans of the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). Sac and Fox culture was of the Eastern Woodlands area with some Plains-area traits (see under Natives, North American ). For a long period they dwelt around Saginaw Bay in E Michigan, but in the early 17th cent. they were driven from this area by the allied Ottawa and Neutral groups. The Sac (also commonly written...

• Sahaptin see Nez Percé.

• Salish indigenous people of North America, also known as the Flathead, who in the early 19th cent. inhabited the Bitterroot River valley of W Montana. Their language belongs to the Salishan branch of the...

• Santee see Sioux.

• Sarsi Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Athabascan branch of the Nadene linguistic stock (see also Native American languages ). They are also known as the Sarcee. At the beginning of the 19th cent., their hunting grounds were on the upper Saskatchewan River. Attacks by the Cree and other tribes caused the Sarsi to ally...

• Sauk see Sac and Fox.

• Seminole Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Muskogean branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). They separated (their name means "separatist" ) from the Creek in the early 18th cent. and settled in the former territory of the Apalachee in Florida. They gradually grew in strength, absorbing many runaway black slaves and the remnants of the...

• Seneca Native North Americans: see Iroquois Confederacy.

• Shahaptin see Nez Percé.

• Shawano see Shawnee.

• Shawnee or Shawano , Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). Their earliest known home was in the present state of Ohio. In the mid-17th cent. part of the tribe was settled in W South Carolina and part in N Tennessee. These two bodies, divided by the...

• Shoshone or Shoshoni , Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Shoshonean group of the Uto-Aztecan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). In the early 19th cent. the Shoshone occupied SE California, NW Utah, SW Montana, W Wyoming, S Idaho, and NE Nevada. The Shoshone were traditionally divided into four groups: the Comanche of W Texas, a historically recent subdivision of the Wind River Shoshone of Wyoming; the Northern Shoshone of Idaho and Utah, who had horses and ranged across the Great Plains in search of buffalo;...

• Shuswap Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Salishan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). In the mid-19th cent. they lived in S British Columbia...

• Siksika see Blackfoot.

• Sioux or Dakota, confederation of Native North American tribes, the dominant group of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock, which is divided into several separate branches (see Native American languages ). The Sioux, or Dakota, consisted of seven tribes in three major divisions: Wahpekute, Mdewakantonwan, Wahpetonwan, Sisitonwan (who together formed the Santee or Eastern division, sometimes...

• Six Nations see Iroquois Confederacy.

• Spokan or Spokane , Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Salishan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). In the early 19th cent., according...

• Stockbridge Native North Americans of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). In the early 17th cent. they were known as the Housatonic and were part of the Mahican confederacy. They then occupied part of the valley of the Housatonic River in SW Massachusetts. Their...

• Teton see Sioux.

• Tillamook Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Salishan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). In the early 19th cent. they lived on Tillamook Bay and in neighboring river valleys in NW Oregon. They then numbered some 2,200 and were the most powerful tribe on the Oregon coast. By 1849,...

• Tionontati see Tobacco Nation.