Obscure Occupations - Greensmen

 

Dwellings of Native North American Peoples

Nomadic people crossed the land bridge from Asia to Alaska more than 12,000 year ago.  When the fist European adventurers arrived in North America in the 15^th Century  there were more than 10 million people already living there

Each group of people, generally referred to as a tribe, needed a type of dwelling to suit the climate and environment of their area. From the desert areas of Arizona with temperatures up to 120’F to the cold tundra of Alaska where -50’F is not unusual.  Not only the environment but the tribe’s culture dictated the general type of dwelling needed.  Some tribes were agricultural, living in settled villages and farming the land, they needed houses that would last for a long time.  Others were nomadic, moving from place to place as they hunted and gathered food and resources, they needed houses that were portable and easy to move.

There are 10 different climatic areas in North America, each one having its particular type of aboriginal dwelling although there is some overlap. The Arctic region, a flat frozen desert near the Arctic circle, was home to the Inuit and Aleut peoples.  A small scattered population of nomadic family groups, they  lived in dome shaped houses made of sod or timber, or in the frozen North from blocks of ice called igloo (Inuit for house).  The sub-Arctic region is mostly swampy pine forest and waterlogged tundra the groups who lived here were also nomadic and followed herds of caribou.  They lived in small easy to move tents and lean-tos and in very cold weather, when they were unable to hunt, in underground dug-outs.

South of the cold inhospitable lands are the lakes and woodlands of North Eastern Canada and the Eastern seaboard of the USA.  Here the many tribes of the Algonquian people lived in Wigwams (the Algonquian name for house).  These houses were made of stout poles set in the ground and covered with bark or mats made from grasses or rushes held in place by ropes or stripes of wood.  Wigwams are good for people who stayed in the same place for months on end.  Most Algonquian people lived in settles villages and farmed corn and vegetables but moved to family hunting areas in the winter.  Their neighbours the Iroquois built Longhouses, similar to Wigwams but much bigger, up to 200ft long by 20ft wide and 20ft high.  Their villages were large and families often lived in the one Longhouse for their entire life.  Inside the house a second storey was created by a platform for a sleeping space.  Mats and wood screens divided the house into separate rooms.  Each Longhouse was home to a multi-generational family of as many as 60 people.

The native peoples living on the Great plains, an area which stretches North to South down the centre of North America between the Rockies and the Mississippi River, were originally  hunters and farmers, forced Westwards by the advancing white settlers they acquired horses, brought primarily by the Spanish.  a multi-generational family of as many as 60 people.  They invented the Tipi, the word in the Lakota language means “dwelling” or “they dwell”.  Traditionally made from animal skins stretched over wooden poles the Tipi is ideally suited to the now nomadic life of the Plains Indians, it is cool in summer and warm in winter, this along with its portable quality and the ease with which it can be erected and struck make it ideal for following the buffalo herds across the plains. 

The Pueblo tribes live in the South West.  Their name is from the Spanish, pueblo meaning "village".  There were at least 70 Pueblo villages in Arizona and New Mexico when the Spanish arrived in 1539.  The Pueblo drove the Spanish out in 1680, they returned in 1692 but allowed the Pueblo to practice their traditional religion and customs.  

Their homes are world famous, made from adobe (clay and straw) bricks, they are multi-storey and often built into a cliff side.  Some of these homes are over 1000 years old and still occupied today.

This account has omitted many interesting habitations, but they must wait for another time as I am already too long and much too late.  For which please accept my apologies.

Margaret