When we shared a lesson about the regions of Europe, we said that the way a country or continent is divided into regions usually is based on one or more of the 5 Themes of Geography:
- Location
- Region
- Place (physical and human characteristics)
- Human-Environment Interaction
- Movement
Unlike Europe, the regions of the U.S. indigenous people are widely agreed upon. As of 1500, most experts agree, these were the major regions of what is now North America:
The Native American regions of the United States include these:
- The Northwest Coast, including Tlingit, Haida, Yurok, and Chinook
- California tribes, including Chumash and Pomo
- Southwest tribes, including Navajo, Zuni, Apache, and Pueblo
- Great Basin tribes, including Paiute and Shoshone
- Plateau tribes, including Yakama and Salish
- Plains tribes like Omaha, Cheyenne, and Arapaho
- Northeast tribes like the Iroquois, Osage, and Mohican
- Southeast tribes like the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Seminole
- Caribbean tribes like the Arawak and Carib
The regions are divided based on cultural groups, especially language families, and named after their locations. Display the map of regions and discuss the regions included in the United States map today. Provide kids with blank maps of the regions and help them reach the point of being able to label the regions correctly. Don’t forget Alaska and Puerto Rico! The map below is also available as a PDF to print.
Resources for the regions
Your assessment goal may be to have kids label the regions correctly, but don’t forget: the secret to learning geography is rich context. Begin with your state and explore some of the resources linked below for the people who lived in the region before the U.S. was born. Go on to explore resources relating to other states you’ve visited or wished you could visit. Once you’ve spent some time studying and thinking about each region, it will be easy to label the map.
The Northwest Coast, including Tlingit, Haida, Yurok, and Chinook
California tribes, including Chumash and Pomo
- National Geographic’s Native People of California
- Coyote Rescues Hawk: A Chumash Story
- Native American Games
- FreshPlans Goes to California
Southwest tribes, including Navajo, Zuni, Apache, and Pueblo
- From the Smithsonian, a lesson on the Navajo Treaty of 1868, with lessons on sovereignty and treaties that are important for understanding U.S. history in all indigenous regions
- The Amerind Museum Navajo for Kids
- Kachina Dolls Art Lesson for Kids
- Runs with Horses is a young adult novel set among the Apache
Great Basin tribes, including Paiute and Shoshone
- The Shoshone
- A lesson on Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who guided Lewis and Clark, from the National Women’s History Museum
- Elephango includes Great Basin and California tribes in this lesson, and also offers lessons on the other regions.
- Basic information from Students of History
Plateau tribes, including Yakama and Salish
- Beaver Steals Fire: A Salish Coyote Story
- Salish art
- Free download of a Yakama kids’ workbook that includes the indigenous regions
- Resources from Yakama Nation Fisheries
Plains tribes like Omaha, Cheyenne, and Arapaho
- Bison Lesson Plans
- Mr. Donn’s Lessons on Plains Indians
- Liane Hicks Storyboard on Indigenous Peoples of the Plains
- FreshPlans Goes to Nebraska
Northeast tribes like the Iroquois, Osage, and Mohican
Southeast tribes like the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Seminole
- FreshPlans Visits a Cherokee Village
- Cherokee Language
- Cherokee Water Drums
- Sequoyah and Oral History
- FreshPlans Visits a Battlefield
- FreshPlans Visits Oklahoma
Caribbean tribes like the Arawak and Carib
- Taino Tales
- Studying Columbus
- Lesson Plans on Puerto Rico
- Taino resources from the National Park Service
Beyond the labels
Once you’ve successfully learned where the regions are and gotten some ideas about the people living in these places, think about and discuss these questions:
- Several of the resource lists above include trickster tales. Read them and compare them. How do the locations and physical geography of the different regions affect their stories?
- What did people in the different regions have available to eat in the year 1500? Imagine a gigantic potluck picnic sharing foods from each region. Think about what you know about the states in each region and what kinds of food would be natively available there. Consider whether the foods you’e thinking about might have been brought from the Old World. Create a menu. Can you cook any of the dishes on your menu?
- Movement is an important theme in geography, and very important for understanding the Native American Regions. For example, in Arkansas, where I live, the most significant Native American groups are the Quapaw and Osage, both Northeastern tribes, and the Cherokee, a Southeastern tribe. They all moved into what is now Arkansas, and they had conflicts with one another. The Trail of Tears, the route of the policy of Indian Removal, also came through Arkansas. Look at the history of your state. What kind of patterns of movement can you find among the indigenous people of your state?
- Hawaii is also a state of the U.S. Why isn’t it on the map of Native American regions?
