Question

How did the environment of the Great Plains influence the cultures of the Plains Indians?

Answer 1

They hunted buffalo, elk, and antelope and gathered wild berries. They made a travois by to poles tied together and a dog to pull it. They used the stomach of the buffalo to make water bags. Some of the many tribes are the Arapaho, Blackfeet, the Cheyenne, Arikara, Comanche, the Pawnee, Crow, the Osage, Manelan, Kiowa, the Sioux. They stole horses from enemy tribes and trained them. They mainly relied on the buffalo to make most items and clothing. Their bones were used for tools, their manure was used for making fires and there were many other things.

Answer 2

OR THIS....

Firstly their method for hunting and getting food. The native Americans (Sioux) did not believe in cultivating the land and therefore ate a diet heavily dependant on meat and whatever crops were available. They hunted the buffalo in earlier times through disguising themselves as wolves and then using bow and arrows which later developed to the use of guns after trade with the mountain men in the 1830's; or they drove the buffalo off cliffs through stampedes. They learnt not to waste anything, and used almost every part of the buffalo wither for tools or for food, for example they ate the tongue and brains as a delicacy, used sinews for bowstrings and thread, intestines were used for buckets and cooking vessels, the bladder was used as a food bag, and the hooves were used to make glue and also to make rattles and tools. Of Course this was on top of the actually meat of the animals. This shows the Indians were not wasteful.

Secondly, the tipi was especially well adapted for the Indian lifestyle. It was made of buffalo skins (again another use of the buffalo) which were waterproof, and draft resistant. Wooden pegs on the side held these skins together. Ear flaps at the top of the ti-pi assured smoke from the fire was able to exit the tipi, and perhaps most importantly the wooden poles supporting the tipi were able to be dismantled to make a travois (basically a sledge) for carrying the tipi when moving.
Which brings me on to my final point: weather conditions on the plain were harsh. The winters were extremely cold and the summers were very warm with very little rainfall, perhaps another reason why the Indians did not farm the land. This did however mean it was sensible for them to carry out a nomadic lifestyle (they moved around according to the seasons and weather).

Overall it can be said the Indians lead a lifestyle suited to the environment in which they lived. The white people however with little empathy compared their lifestyle to that of an animal. They also noticed that the Indian way of life was very important to the Native American people which is why in 1875 the southern buffalo was wiped out as in 1883 with the North. This and a number of other government initiatives led to the defeat of the Plains Indians.

Answer 3

haha thanks ill take the shorter one