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The American West, c1835–c1895

Indigenous peoples of the Plains: their beliefs and ways of life

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  • Paper 2 booklet P

Overview

Bands and their councils, warrior societies, the uses of the buffalo, the tipi, women's work, the treatment of the old, attitudes to land, counting coup, how wealth and standing were measured, and beliefs about nature: Wakan Tanka, the sacred circle, vision quests, the Sun Dance, medicine men and respect for the buffalo.

What you need to know

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Key term

What was a band, and how did people belong to one?

Key term

How were decisions taken in a Plains band?

Key term

Name four different uses the Plains nations made of a single buffalo.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What was a band, and how did people belong to one?

    Model answer

    A group of related families, rarely more than a few hundred people, who camped, hunted and moved together and shared everything they had.

  2. 2

    How were decisions taken in a Plains band?

    Model answer

    A council of elders and chiefs discussed matters until they agreed, and a chief advised rather than gave orders.

  3. 3

    What did a warrior society such as the Dog Soldiers do?

    Model answer

    Its members kept order in camp, organised the buffalo hunt and led raids against enemies.

  4. 4

    Name four different uses the Plains nations made of a single buffalo.

    Model answer

    Meat for food, hides for tipi covers and clothing, bones and horns for tools, and sinew for thread and bowstrings.

  5. 5

    Why was the tipi so well suited to life on the Plains?

    Model answer

    It could be taken down and carried in minutes, so a band could follow the buffalo herds wherever they moved.

  6. 6

    What work fell to women in a Plains camp?

    Model answer

    They raised the children, butchered the meat, dressed the hides and put up the tipi, which belonged to them.

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