Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains

Table of Contents

Introduction & Top Questions
Traditional culture
- Linguistic organization
- The role of the horse in Plains life
  - Plains life before the horse
  - Plains life after the horse
- Settlement patterns and housing
- Material culture and trade
- Political organization
- Kinship and family
- Socialization and education
- Social rank and warfare
- Belief systems
Cultural continuity and change
- Intercultural contact
- The Plains Wars
- Syncretism, assimilation, and self-determination
- Sovereignty, economic development, and cultural revitalization

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

Distribution of Indigenous peoples of the North American Plains

Dramatizing the West

Traditional performance

George Catlin: Buffalo Hunt, Chase

Clovis culture spear point

Mandan: village

Adapting traditional travel

Buffalo on the Plains

George Catlin: A Little Sioux Village

For Students

Pawnee scouts

Plains Indian summary

Discover

The Lost Colony of Roanoke, North Carolina, where 115 people mysteriously disappeared c. 1590. John White discovers the word Croatoan carved onto a tree upon his return to the deserted Roanoke Colony in 1590

The Lost Colony of Roanoke

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Vietnam War. U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson awards the Distinguished Service Cross to First Lieutenant Marty A. Hammer, during a visit to military personnel, Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam, October 26, 1966. President Johnson

Vietnam War Timeline

African Americans demonstrating for voting rights in front of the White House as police and others watch, March 12, 1965. One sign reads, "We demand the right to vote everywhere." Voting Rights Act, civil rights.

Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement

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6 of the World’s Deadliest Natural Disasters

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Nikola Tesla's Weird Obsession with Pigeons

Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	Plains Indians • North American Plains Indian

Photos

Distribution of Indigenous peoples of the North American Plains

Dramatizing the West

Traditional performance

George Catlin: Buffalo Hunt, Chase

Clovis culture spear point

Mandan: village

Adapting traditional travel

Buffalo on the Plains

George Catlin: A Little Sioux Village

See All Images →

Topics

Hunkpapa Sioux Oceti Sakowin Cheyenne Mandan Hidatsa Crow Arikara Comanche Osage Blackfoot Indigenous peoples of the American Southeast Northwest Coast Indian Southwest Indian Northeast Indian Plateau Indian American Subarctic peoples Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin California Indian Eastern Woodlands Indians Inuit

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Key People

Robert H. Lowie

American anthropologist

Maximilian, prince zu Wied-Neuwied

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George A. Dorsey

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Quiz

Tecumseh. Battle of the Thames, Ontario, Canada, and the death of Tecumseh. Col. Richard M. Johnson with the Kentucky volunteers on left battle with Tecumseh and his Native troops. Native American Shawnee chief. North American indian. (See Notes)

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Eskimo. Three members of a Noatak family pose for a portrait in full regalia. Photo by Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952), c.1929. Eskimos or esquimaux indigenous peoples, traditionally inhabited circumpolar region (see notes)

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