today we're looking at the eastern woodland people
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questions down in the description also don't forget to check out dailybellringer.com for
resources that go with many of the bellringer videos the eastern woodland peoples inhabited
a large area from the atlantic ocean west to the great plains and from the great lakes down to the
gulf of mexico there is evidence that as early as 800 bc these native people lived in what is today
the eastern part of the united states this region was known for its large vast forest giving these
people the title eastern woodland peoples there were several different major groups of eastern
woodland people including the iroquois algonquin cherokee and mound builders which i discussed in
the mississippians video if you want to check out that video but among the eastern woodland people
they shared a similar culture that relied on the forest for all of their needs they hunted and ate
deer rabbits squirrels birds and even bear they hollowed out fallen trees to make canoes and use
them to fish they also ate various foods found in the forest such as nuts and berries they did
develop some agriculture growing corn beans and squash sometimes referred to as the three sisters
the reason these crops are considered to be siblings is because native americans developed
an ingenious system of planting all three together the corn stalks provided something for bean vines
to climb up and gave them support the beans would then actually fertilize the soil for the
corn and the squash while the squash's broad spiny leaves would help protect the beans from animals
now different from other native civilizations they did not have to build irrigation systems
to get water to their crops as the eastern part of the continent had adequate rainfall to support
agriculture they constructed houses from wood tree bark grass and leaves one type of shelter they
built were wigwams which were built by bending young tree saplings over to form basically a
dome of trees and limbs on top of that they would strip bark from trees and and then place
it over the wigwam and then finally place dried grass on the roof almost like a thatched roof
another common shelter was the longhouse which was similar in construction to the wigwam however as
the name suggests it was an elongated version in which there were several
bunk beds made from wood and deer skin so that more people could fit inside one shelter although
they shared similar culture and practices they actually spoke several different languages which
differentiated them some of the major language groups were the iroquoian and algonquin languages
the iroquois were the major native american group that occupied what today would be the northeastern
united states focused in what today would be the state of new york there were several different
tribes within the iroquois culture five tribes the senecas onondagas oneidas cayuga and mohawks all
lived in close proximity and actually fought with each other rather frequently somewhere in
the late 1500s these tribes came together to form the iroquois league in which each tribe maintained
their own individual leadership but didn't come together in one council to work together
this league allowed the iroquois to withstand invasion and threats from neighboring tribes
although they still fought with each other from time to time many historians credit the iroquois
league as being the earliest foundation of american democracy which would come years
later the algonquin were another native group identified by the algonquin language they spoke
they lived in the northeast primarily along the eastern seaboard but also
some inland areas being located along the coast their culture very much dependent on fishing as
a primary food source some algonquian tribes extended all the way to present-day virginia
some of the tribes included within the algonquin were the wampanoag massachusetts pequot
powhatan and mohican the cherokee lived primarily in what is today tennessee and georgia
again they had a similar culture to other eastern woodland groups the cherokee created a very
sophisticated civilization as they developed their own laws system of government and even had schools
additionally unlike other native peoples the cherokee developed their own system of writing
called talking leaves now unlike the the english alphabet with 26 characters the cherokee alphabet
actually had 86 characters throughout the late 1700s and 1800s more and more americans began to
move into the cherokee's land and eventually the cherokee were forced off their land in the 1830s
during the trail of tears so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching you