Native American Cultures Flashcards

Grade 5 · Social Studies · Flashcards

Key peoples, terms, and cultural features of Native American nations across North America.

Flashcards

Iroquois Confederacy (Haudenosaunee): A democratic alliance of six Native nations in the Northeast (originally five) with a governing constitution called the Great Law of Peace.
Tipi: Portable, cone-shaped dwelling of the Plains peoples, made from wooden poles covered with buffalo hide.
Totem pole: Tall carved wooden poles made by Pacific Northwest peoples to record family histories and honor ancestors.
Adobe: Sun-dried clay bricks used by Southwest peoples to build multi-story homes suited to the dry desert climate.
Oral tradition: Passing down cultural knowledge, history, and laws through spoken stories rather than written records.
Pueblo peoples: Native nations of the Southwest (including Hopi and Zuni) known for multi-story adobe buildings and skilled farming in arid land.
Great Plains: A vast grassland region in the central U.S. home to nations like the Lakota and Comanche, who followed buffalo herds.
Three Sisters: Corn, beans, and squash — crops many Native peoples grew together because each helped the others grow.
Nomadic: Moving from place to place following food sources rather than living in a permanent settlement; describes Plains peoples following buffalo.
Longhouse: A long communal dwelling used by Eastern Woodland peoples like the Iroquois; also used by Pacific Northwest peoples.