
List of Plateau Indian Tribes
- Cayuse
- Coeur d’Alene
- Columbia
- Klamath
- Kootenai
- Lillooet
- Modoc
- Molalla
Where did Plateau Native Americans live?
Introduction. The Plateau Indians traditionally inhabited the high plateau region between the Rocky Mountains on the east and the Cascade Range and Canadian Coast Ranges on the west. It includes parts of the present-day U.S. states of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington and the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Who lives in the Plateau?
The peoples of the Plateau belong mainly to four linguistic families: Salishan, Sahaptin, Kutenai, and Modoc and Klamath.
Where are the Plateau tribes now?
These tribes mainly live in parts of the Central and Southern Interior of British Columbia, northern Idaho, western Montana, eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, and northeastern California. The eastern flank of the Cascade Range lies within the territory of the Plateau peoples.
What were the Plateau Indians known for?
Native Americans of the Plateau region were primary hunters and gathers. The rivers were filled with fish, and the forests were filled with small game including deer elk bear and caribou. Wild plants and berries were also an important source of nutrients for the natives.
What is a plateau region?
plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides have deep hills or escarpments.
Why do people live in plateaus?
Many of them are miners since plateaus are rich in minerals. Farming is carried out only on a limited scale due to the reason of difficulty in growing crops in elevated areas. The grasslands are extensively used for livestock rearing.
How many tribes are in Plateau?
40 ethnic groupsKnown for its heterogeneity, the state has about 40 ethnic groups, including the Vergam, Ankwei, Angas, Jawara (Jarauci), Birom, Mango, Fulani, Hausa, and Eggen.
What did Plateau Native Americans eat?
As members of hunting and gathering cultures, the peoples of the Plateau relied upon wild foods for subsistence. Salmon, trout, eels, suckers, and other fish were abundant in the rivers, and fishing was the most important source of food.
How did the Plateau Indians live?
In winter, Plateau peoples lived in semi-subterranean earth lodges along the main rivers but moved to the higher elevations in summer and lived in mat-covered lodges. With the introduction of the horse from the Plains, Plateau peoples adopted beaded clothing, feathered war bonnets and skin-covered teepees.
What did the Plateau tribes believe in?
The people of the plateau regions had very strong beliefs. They believed in a spiritual universe that existed in all nature on the earth. They also believed that the religious leaders could contact that spirit world and communicate with people who have died.
Why is Indian Plateau so important to us?
Plateaus are very useful because they have rich mineral deposits. Many of the mining areas in the world are located in the plateau regions. For example, the African plateau is famous for gold and diamond mining. The chhotanagpur plateau in India has huge reserves of iron, coal and manganese.
What tools did the Plateau tribes use?
TOOLS AND WEAPONS The plateau people used sharp rocks on the end of sticks to hunt. They used spears, bows and arrows, harpoons, arrow heads, lassos pits fire and knives. They used dogs to hunt deer. They used antler, soap stone and nephrite.
What did plateaus live in?
Plateau tribes lived in longhouses made from tule mats. Tule is a tall, tough reed that grows in marshy areas and is sometimes called bulrush. In the winter, they dug a shallow pit and built a roof with poles and covered them with tule mats or tree bark. In later years, canvas was used instead of tule mats.
What is the symbol of Plateau?
Yellow colour symbol on physical maps is generally used to show plateaus.
What tools did the Plateau Tribes use?
TOOLS AND WEAPONS The plateau people used sharp rocks on the end of sticks to hunt. They used spears, bows and arrows, harpoons, arrow heads, lassos pits fire and knives. They used dogs to hunt deer. They used antler, soap stone and nephrite.
What did the Plateau Indians do?
The Plateau Indians hunted, fished, and gathered their food. The annual salmon runs up the Columbia and other rivers enriched their livelihood. The bands stayed in permanent villages during the winter, but made temporary camps on different sites for spring root gathering, summer salmon fishing, and gathering of vegetables and fruits and hunting in the fall.
Where is the Columbia Plateau?
The Plateau is the region between the Cascade Mountains and the Rocky Mountains in eastern Oregon and Washington State. It includes parts of southern Canada and northern Idaho and Montana . Plateau Native Americans include the Nez Perce (pronounced nez PURSE), the Cayuse (KIE-yoos), the Spokane (spoh-KAHN), the Kootenai (KOO-tun-eye), the Coeur d’Alene (cur-dah-LANE), the Umatilla (YOO-mah-TILL-uh), the Walla Walla, and the Flatheads.
What was the name of the religious movement that spread the message that Native Americans must return to their old ways of life?
In the 1850s, many people of the Plateau joined a new religious movement, called Waptashi, or the Feather Religion, founded on the teachings of Smohalla (c. 1815–1895), the Wanapum prophet. Smohalla spread the message that Native Americans must return to their old ways of life and reject the ways of the white settlers.
What was the cause of the Cayuse Indians' death?
As the settlers poured in, a deadly measles epidemic spread among the Cayuse Indians, killing a large portion of the population. The Native Americansblamed the Whitmans, who had brought them strange medicine and religion. The Cayuse killed the missionary and his wife and twelve other members of their community. Violent conflict between the local tribes and the white settlers followed.
How many acres were there before Flathead Reservation?
Before allotment, the Flathead Reservation consisted of about 1.25 million acres of land. Allotment reduced the land by one-third. The Umatilla Reservation was reduced from about 250,000 to 158,000 acres. The reservation lands became a checkerboard of Indian parcels and those that had been sold to commercial interests and non-Native Americans.
What were the permanent winter homes on the Plateau?
The permanent winter homes on the Plateau were villages of sunken round houses. The villages were organized into a complex social structure with a chief chosen for his ability and wisdom. Decisions for the village were made only when there was a consensus (agreement by everyone) among the people.
How many settlers did Whitman bring to Oregon?
In 1842, Whitman returned east, and in 1843 served as a guide for one of the first large wagon trains, with nearly 100 settlers, who returned with him to Oregon. The great migration of settlers taking the Oregon Trailhad begun. From 1842 to 1840, an estimated 12,287 settlers crossed the country in wagon trains, many of them moving through or into the traditional lands of the Plateau tribes.
What tribes lived in the Great Plains?
Notable Native American tribes living in the area included Crow, Dakota, Comanche, Blackfoot, Lakota, Pawnee, Omaha and Missouri. When white settlers started arriving in the Great Plains, they also started hunting the buffaloes in large numbers.
What are the Great Plains Indian tribes?
Great Plains Indian Tribes. The Great Plains refers to a large stretch of area that is situated between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River. The area was historically home to a very large population of bison and buffalo. These animals roamed the Great Plains area in large herds.
What are the subarctic Indians?
Subarctic Indians are the Native Americans who have traditionally lived close to the arctic region. They occupied an area which mostly comprised of tundra, forests of pines as well as swampy areas. Notable subarctic Native American tribes include the Cree, Naskapi and Ojibwa.
What tribes lived in the subarctic?
Notable subarctic Native American tribes include the Cree, Naskapi and Ojibwa. Living in the subarctic region was hard, so each tribe had a small population.
What tribes were forced to relocate to government settlements?
Others, such as the warlike Apache and the Navajo, relied more on hunting and raiding. Once the southwest became a part of USA, the Native American tribes soon found themselves confronted by the U.S. armies. They put up a fight for sometime before being forced to relocate to government settlements.
What tribes lived in California?
These tribes mainly practiced hunting to sustain themselves. Notable California tribes included Chumash, Karuk, Hupa, Miwok, and Mohave. Spanish explorers arrived in the region as early as 16th century.
What are the Native American tribes in North America?
The Native American tribes in North America are usually categorized by region. The region in which each tribe lived had a great effect on the lifestyle and other aspects of that tribe. In all, the tribes are usually divided up into the following areas by region.
What is the climate of the Plateau Native Americans?
The climate in the area is harsh with winter temperature well below zero and summer temperature rising to as high as 100 degrees.
What were the Native Americans' primary hunters?
Native Americans of the Plateau region were primary hunters and gathers. The rivers were filled with fish, and the forests were filled with small game including deer elk bear and caribou. Wild plants and berries were also an important source of nutrients for the natives.
What were the Indians' beliefs?
The Indians of the region shared the same general beliefs as Native Americans did throughout North America a belief in animism that everything was connected to the spirit world and village shamans could make the connection. The major tribes of the region were: Cayuse Tribe . Coeur d'Alene .
What tribes lived in the plateau?
Plateau tribes included the Nez Percé, Flathead, Yakama, Walla Walla, Klamath, Modoc, and Kootenai.
When did the Plateau tribes start to recover?
By the late 1900s and early 2000s many Plateau tribes had begun to recover from their economic problems. They added tourist resorts and casinos to their existing timber, ranching, and fishing operations.
What did the Plateau Indians eat?
Roots and bulbs were especially important. The Plateau Indians cooked bitterroot, onions, wild carrots, and parsnips in earth ovens heated by hot stones. They ate berries as well.
What did the Plateau tribes hunt?
They also hunted deer, elk, bear, caribou, and small game. In the early 1700s some Plateau tribes started hunting bison after receiving horses from their neighbors in the Great Basin. Wild plant foods were another important source of nutrition. Roots and bulbs were especially important.
Why did the Plateau tribes join the movement?
Plateau tribes joined these movements because they suffered many hardships as a result of their contact with Europeans. The Europeans brought diseases and took over the Indians’ lands. They forced the Native Americans to move to reservations and to change their way of life. The tribes became very poor.
What is the Plateau culture?
Area. The Plateau culture area is drained by two great river systems, the Fraser and the Columbia. The landscape includes rolling hills, high flatlands, gorges, and mountains. Some mountain slopes are forested, but grassland and desert are more common in the region. The southern boundary of the Plateau area merges with the northern boundary ...
What is the southern boundary of the Great Basin?
The southern boundary of the Plateau area merges with the northern boundary of the Great Basin culture area. The Plateau and the Great Basin are sometimes together referred to as the Intermontane culture area.
What were the Plains and Plateau peoples affected by?
During the early colonial period, the Plains and the Plateau peoples were affected by epidemics of foreign diseases and a slow influx of European trade goods. However, sustained direct interaction between these ...
How many Native Americans were relocated to the West?
Map showing the movement of some 100,000 Native Americans forcibly relocated to the trans-Mississippi West under the terms of the U.S. Indian Removal Act (1830).
Where are the Plains Bullboats?
Plains bullboats. Plains bullboats, in Mih-tutta-Hangkusch, a Mandan Village, one of a series of aquatint engravings by Karl Bodmer, 1843–44. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. In 1738 the Mandan villages on the upper Missouri River hosted a party led by the French trader Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye;
Where did horses spread?
Thus, horses spread from the Southwest culture area to the Plains and the Plateau following a northerly and easterly trajectory. As horses spread, the pedestrian foragers of the southwestern Plains quickly incorporated them into bison hunts.
What were the people of the Plateau?
Early People of the Plateau: About 10,000 years ago, different tribes of Native Americans settled in the Plateau region of the United States. They were hunters and gatherers. These different tribes had many cultural similarities. They were nomadic and moved around throughout the year. They had a winter home, a summer home, and temporary homes as needed for various activities.
Where did the Inland Plateau people live?
Inland Plateau People - About 10,000 years ago, different tribes of Indians settled in the Northwest Inland Plateau region of the United States and Canada, located between two huge mountain ranges - the Rockies and the Cascades. The Plateau stretches from BC British Columbia all the way down to nearly Texas. Each village was independent, and each had a democratic system of government. They were deeply religious and believed spirits could be found everything - in both living and non-living things. Meet the Nez Perce
What tribes were in the Southeast?
Southeast Woodland Tribes and Nations - The Indians of the Southeast were considered members of the Woodland Indians. The people believed in many deities, and prayed in song and dance for guidance. Explore the darkening land, battle techniques, clans and marriage, law and order, and more. Travel the Trail of Tears. Meet the Muscogee (Creek) , Chickasaw , Choctaw , Mississippians , Seminole Indians and Cherokee Indians.
What tribes are in the Northeast Woodlands?
Northeast Woodland Tribes and Nations - The Northeast Woodlands include all five great lakes as well as the Finger Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River. Come explore the 3 sisters, longhouses, village life, the League of Nations, sacred trees, snowsnake games, wampum, the arrowmaker, dream catchers, night messages, the game of sep and more. Special Sections: Iroquois Nation , Ojibwa/Chippewa , The Lenape Indians. Read two myths: Wise Owl and The Invisible Warrior.
What is the name of the Pueblo tribe?
Southwest Indians - Pueblo is not the name of a tribe . It is a Spanish word for village. The Pueblo People are the decedents of the Anasazi People. The Navajo and the Apache arrived in the southwest in the 1300s. They both raided the peaceful Pueblo tribes for food and other goods. Who were the Devil Dancers? Why are blue stones important? What is a wickiup? Who was Child of Water?
What were the Plateau Indians known for?
The Plateau Indians were known for their peaceful ways, basket making, diet, and different dress.
What are the characteristics of plateau culture?
These include a high reliance on roots, such as biscuitroot and camas, as a food source, a high reliance on short-duration salmon and eel runs, and long-term habitation of winter villages at fixed locations along rivers or lakes. There was a lack of social stratification and a lack of tribal organization beyond the village level.
What led to a series of wars that the Plateau tribes would lose which would push them onto reservations?
As America began to expand conflict began to occur. This led to a series of wars that the Plateau tribes would lose which would push them onto reservations.

Pre-European Contact
- The Plateau Indians hunted, fished, and gathered their food. The annual salmon runs up the Columbia and other rivers enriched their livelihood. The bands stayed in permanent villages during the winter, but made temporary camps on different sites for spring root gathering, summer salmon fishing, and gathering of vegetables and fruits and hunting in the fall. The permanent wi…
Horses Expand Trade
- When the Spanish arrived in the Americas in the early sixteenth century, they brought horses, which reached the Plateau long before European settlers got there. The Plateau Indians found that the grassy Plateau was a good place to raise horses, and they developed new breeds for trade. They traded horses with Native North Americans of the Plainsand soon expanded their trade net…
Lewis and Clark Arrive
- Between 1804 and 1806, American explorers Meriwether Lewis (1774–1809) and William Clark (1770–1838) led an expedition through the Plateau and out to the Pacific Ocean. The Plateau tribes offered help to the members of the Lewis and Clark expedition, the first white people they had encountered. When Lewis and Clark returned to the east, they report...
Missionaries and Settlers
- In the 1830s, missionary and physician Marcus Whitman (1802–1847) wanted to serve as a doctor and missionary to the Plateau peoples. In 1836, he and his wife, Narcissa Prentiss Whitman (1808–1847), set off for Oregon Territory with another missionary couple, the Spaldings. The Whitmans set up a missionary at Waiilatpu (near present-day Walla Walla, Washington) and …
Treaties
- In 1853, the United States created the Oregon and Washington Territories. At this time, most U.S. policy toward Native Americans in the area focused on taking titles to their lands and moving them onto Indian reservations (lands held by the government for the use of Native Americans). In 1855, the governor of Washington territory organized the Walla Walla Treaty Council. A meeting …
Impact on Plateau Culture
- In the 1850s, many people of the Plateau joined a new religious movement, called Waptashi, or the Feather Religion, founded on the teachings of Smohalla (c. 1815–1895), the Wanapum prophet. Smohalla spread the message that Native Americans must return to their old ways of life and reject the ways of the white settlers. On the reservations, the Plateau people tried to live accordi…
The Flight of The Nez Perce
- The Nez Perce remained a peaceful nation until 1860, when gold was discovered on their lands. Gold miners quickly moved into the Nez Perce country. A few Nez Perce leaders signed a treaty, later called the Thief Treaty, which reduced Nez Perce lands by seven million acres. Many bands refused to sign it, and they became known as the non-treaty Nez Perce. In 1877, the U.S. govern…
Allotment
- In 1887, Congress passed the Allotment Act, which divided the reservations into small plots of land that were to be owned by individual tribe members. After each of the individual members received his or her allotment, the remaining reservation land was sold to nontribal members. The process of allotment began in the Plateau reservations in 1890 and continued until 1914. Befor…
Fishing Rights
- Perhaps the most significant issue facing the Native Americans of the plateau and eastern mountain region is fishing rights, which were guaranteed by treaty. The fight for fishing rights continued throughout the twentieth century. In 1974, the Plateau Indians won the Boldt decision, which made the tribes of the state of Washington equal partners with the state in harvesting an…