Plains Indians

When one imagines the stereotype of an indigenous American, the image that comes to mind is usually an indigenous American on horseback, hunting buffalo on the western plains of the United States, living in tipis, and wearing an elaborate feathered headdress. That image comes from the Plains Native Americans. Though not historically accurate due to the incredibly varied societies and cultures of the Plains Native Americans, this image persists because these Plains tribes retained their original way of life much longer than those tribes on the East Coast. There are dozens of Plains Native American tribes, each unique in cultural practice, territory, and history. Those tribes include the Cheyenne tribe, the Sioux tribe, the Crow tribe, and many others.

Plains Indians Location

Fig. 1 Plains Indians Location

As described in the name, the tribes of the Plains Native Americans lived in a region defined by historians, from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west, to the northern parts of present-day central Canada, to the south into what is present-day Texas. Rivers such as Missouri and the Mississippi divide the land in this region. Most of this area is open grassland interrupted by clusters of trees.

Plains Indian Culture

Most tribes of the Plains Native Americans originated in the woodland regions in the eastern parts of the Great Plains. In these regions, most tribes were semi-nomadic, subsisting on semi-permanent villages with limited agriculture and hunting game on foot or with the assistance of domesticated dogs. Many animals lived in the region, including deer, elk, bears, wolves, and rabbits. However, the dominant animal that was essential to the economy of the indigenous tribes of the Plains was the buffalo. The buffalo provides meat for food, hides, bones, and horns for shelter, clothing, and tools. Another commonality between the indigenous tribes of the Plains is how their cultures adapted to European settlement and impact, which included the introduction of the horse, how they hunted and used the buffalo, and how those two changes influenced the rest of their society.

The Adaptation to the Horse

The significant change created by the introduction of the horse transformed semi-nomadic societies into fully nomadic ones that could follow and hunt large herds of buffalo and other plains animals consistently and efficiently. First brought to North America by the Spanish in the 1500s, the horse gained widespread use by the Plains Native Americans by the 1700s.

Fig. 2 The Sioux Horse Racing

Tribes that used horses were no longer dependent on farming near rivers. Hunters could now cover a much larger area, plus the ability to carry all that they needed with them, including the portable tipis. Not all tribes completely abandoned their permanent villages, but hunters could leave their villages for more extended periods with horses.

Many tribes adopted the new nomadic lifestyle, migrating to the Plains with their entire families. Many were pushed off their ancestral lands by the Europeans moving west, forcing them into a nomadic lifestyle with weapons acquired through the fur trade.

The Importance of the Buffalo

Before acquiring horses, the indigenous tribes of the Plains used many methods of hunting buffalo, such as sneaking up on them or forcing a stampede over cliffs. They could ride with the galloping herds on horseback, using bows, arrows, lances, or rifles to pick off specific animals. The indigenous tribes of the Plains more readily adopted rifles in the 1800s with breech-loading rifles.

Buffalo provides materials for numerous other applications by the indigenous tribes of the Plains. For example, tipi coverings, shields, blankets, clothing, thread, rope, tools from bones, rattles for ceremonial purposes, and uses for hooves, skulls, horns, and buffalo feces as fuel. Women mastered the art of preparing hides for varied services, creating rawhide, leathers, and numerous items that these raw materials could craft.

The Tipi as Shelter

There are few more iconic images than the indigenous tribes of the Plains tipi. Although men provided the hides through their hunts, cutting pine trees for poles, the women would erect the shelter. They could sew up to thirty buffalo skins to make a tipi covering.

Fig. 3 Plains Native Americans Tipi

Tipis are practical because the various openings and hides could be adjusted for ventilation. When thoroughly sealed with other pelts for insulation and a fire inside, they could be warm in the winter. Indigenous tribes of the Plains thought of tipis as more than just homes. They considered their sacred places, with the floor symbolizing the earth and the walls of the sky.

Plains Indian Clothing

Indigenous peoples of the Plain's clothing designs also depicted honors, insignia, and other decorations. These were sometimes made of buffalo and deerskin, shirts, vests, leggings, dresses, boots, and moccasins and would be dyed or laced with beadwork. Other items of clothing used by indigenous tribes of the Plains included breechcloths, fur robes, caps, headbands, and headdresses.

Fig. 4 Plains Native Clothing

Plains Indians Religion

Along with the iconic headdress, bravery is not only measured by the number of enemies killed or wounded in warfare on the plains. Indigenous tribes of the Plains had a custom known as "counting coup," A warrior was to touch an enemy combatant in battle without hurting them. A special coup stick was sometimes used for this purpose, although any weapon for war could be used.

Another essential possession of the indigenous tribes of the Plains was that of the sacred pipe. The whole tribe owned some pipes. Usually ornately decorated with long wooden stems, called peace pipes, even though they were used in many other ceremonies. Feathers, quills, fur, horsehair, and intricate carving were the main decoration methods for these pipes. The most common smoking substance was tobacco.

Secret Societies

Some Plains Native American paintings identify warriors as belonging to a particular military society. Each society had its insignia, costumes, songs, dances, and code of behavior. Some societies were age-restricted and open. Others were exclusive, and one could join only when invited. Most societies excluded women, and a few tribes had women-only associations.

The Vision Quest

Visions, both those in dreams and those experienced in a semi-wakeful state, play an essential role in the religious and spiritual life of Plains Native Americans. Visions were considered significant for individuals and possibly for an entire tribe. The quest for visions usually occurred around critical events, such as a rite of passage from boyhood to manhood or in preparation for war. Some involved the use of hallucinogenic plants, such as peyote or jimsonweed. After some ritual display of body decoration or physical demands, the vision usually came in the form of an animal. After the experience, a shaman would help interpret the vision.

The Sun Dance

The quest for visions also played a part in a ceremony common among many Plains Native Americans, the Sun Dance. The name "sun dance" comes from the Sioux Tribe. The purpose of the dance was to come into contact with the spirit world to promote prosperity in keeping buffalo plentiful, bring victory in battle, settle disputes, and heal the sick. The various rituals for the dance are numerous and complex. Many dances involved drumming, singing, and dancing. In some tribal traditions associated with the dance, there was pain or mutilation, such as men having skewers implanted in their chests and dancing backward until they were ripped out.

List of Plains Indians

Below are some of the most prevalent indigenous Americans of the Great Plains and a brief description of their culture.

The Cheyenne

The Cheyenne tribe originally lived close to Algonquin tribes in the territory now Minnesota in permanent villages and practiced farming, hunting, and gathering. At some point, the Cheyenne crossed the Minnesota River into what is now North and South Dakota and, in the 1700s, gained use of the horse. Though their language is Algonquin in its origin, they are considered Plains Native Americans due to their nomadic lifestyle, use of horses, buffalo hunting, and tipis.

The Sioux

The Sioux are a large Plains Native Americans who share a widespread native language, Siouan. Tribes in many parts of the North American plains speak a dialect of Siouan. There are four branches of the Sioux and even more divisions within each branch, and each branch has its distinct rituals and culture influenced by the geographic region of the plains they occupied. The Sioux originally lived in the woodland areas of the northern Mississippi River. The Sioux moved across the Missouri River into present-day Wisconsin, Iowa, North and South Dakota areas, and farther west in present-day Wyoming and Montana.

Fig. 5 The Sioux

The Crow native name is Absaroka, Siouan for "the bird people." After splitting from other Siouan tribes, the Crow migrated up the Missouri River to the Yellowstone River near the Rocky Mountains, in present-day Montana and Wyoming. Like the other Sioux, after the introduction of the horse, the Crow stopped farming for food, only growing tobacco, and became a nomadic tribe of the Plains Native Americans.