Native American tribes

source: Historyonthenet 2000-2013

Tribe: Cherokee

Static: Hunter-gathers

Leader: Sequoyah

• Made up of seven different clans
• Usual shelter was cane and mud plaster huts
• Women were in charge of the home and land
• Men were in charge of hunting for food and protecting the camp
• Grew corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers
• Used canoes
• 1821 Sequoyah invented the Cherokee alphabet
• 1838-9 moved west to Oklahoma (Trail of Tears - 4000+ died on the 800 mile journey)

Tribe: Black Foot

Static: Hunter-gathers

Leader: Crowfoot

• Made up of several different groups
• Usual shelter was a tipi
• Women were in charge of the home and owned the tipi
• Men were in charge of hunting for food and protecting the camp
• Polygamy was usual
• Reliant on the buffalo
• Performed Sun Dance in the summer
• Mid 1800s many killed by smallpox
• 1870 200 killed in the Marias Massacre

Tribe: Cheyenne

Static: Hunter-gathers

Leader: Black Kettle

• Made up of ten different bands
• Allied with Arapaho and Sioux
• Usual shelter was a tipi
• Women were in charge of the home and owned the tipi
• Men were in charge of hunting for food and protecting the camp
• Reliant on the buffalo
• 1864 Cheyenne were among those slaughtered in the Sand Creek Massacre
• 1876 Northern Cheyenne took part in the Battle of the Little Bighorn
• 1877 Many forced to Oklahoma those that resisted were shot

Tribe:Apache
Static:hunter-gathers
Leader:Geronimo, Cochise

• Made up of several different groups
• Lived in extended family units
• Usual shelter was a dome-shaped lodge called a wickiup
• Polygamy was allowed but rarely practised
• Reliant on the buffalo
• Frequent disputes with the Comanches led to their weakening in the 1700s
• Traded with the Pueblas in Mexico or raided Spanish villages for goods and horses
• 1861 conflict between Apaches led by Cochise and Americans in protest at being forced onto reservations
• 1874 a group of Apaches led by Geronimo escaped capture and fled to Mexico
• 1886 Geronimo forced to surrender and taken to Fort Marion in Florida

Tribe:Panwee

Static:Hunter Famers

Leader: --

• Made up of four different bands
• Usual shelter was an earth lodge but used tipis when hunting
• Women were in charge of the home
• Men were in charge of hunting for food and protecting the camp
• Many killed by smallpox and cholera in the mid 1800s 
• 1825 recognised supremacy of US government
• 1830-1860 - gave up increasing amounts of land to US government
• Many Pawnee became scouts for the US government
• 1876 Moved to Oklahoma reservation

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census (2000 census).

Top 10 Native American Tribes today.

1. Cherokee population: 308,013
2. Navajo population: 285,476
3. Choctaw population: 158,374
4. Sioux population: 153,360
5. Chippewa population: 99,833
6. Apache population: 96,833
7. Blackfeet population: 85,750
8. Iroquois population: 80,822
9. Pueblo population: 74,085
10. Creek population: 71,310