CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 A RICH AND VARIED LAND CHAPTER 2 SOCIETY AND SPIRITUALITY CHAPTER 3 MAKING ART CHAPTER 4 CHANGING LANDSCAPE CHAPTER 5 SURVIVING AND THRIVING NOTABLE NORTHEAST INDIANS TIMELINE GLOSSARY SOURCE NOTES SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY FURTHER INFORMATION INDEX 5 10 18 24 30 36 42 43 44 45 45 46 47
N O R T H W E S T P ARCTI C S U B A R C T I C C O A S T C A L I F O R N I A L A T E A U G R E A T B A SIN ST E W H T U O S P L A I N S T S A E T H S NORT A E H SOUT NORTHEAST REGION OF NORTH AMERICA CULTURAL REGIONS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA Plateau Northwest Coast California Plains Southeast Southwest Great Basin Northeast Subarctic Arctic Other Cultural area border International border State province border
INTRODUCTION S ky Woman tumbled through a hole in the sky An endless sea lay below her Animals in the water watched Sky Woman fall Then a huge turtle came to the surface Sky Woman landed safely on the turtle’s shell The animals decided to make a world for Sky Woman to live on A duck dove into the water to bring up mud He died A small fish dove next but he also died Finally a muskrat took his turn He brought up mud and smeared it on the turtle’s back From the mud the world grew The Seneca SEN-uh-kah Indians have long told this story of how the world was created It is one of many very old stories of the American Indians of the Northeast The Northeast includes much of the present-day eastern United States and parts of southeastern Canada Many scholars believe people first settled in North America about twenty thousand years ago These people may have crossed a land bridge from Asia They were the ancestors of modern American Indians including the native peoples of the Northeast However Northeast Indians tell different stories about their beginnings such as the story of Sky Woman These stories have been passed down through many generations 5
