Native American Cultures — Answer Key
Part A: Multiple Choice
Circle the best answer for each question.
1. Why did Plains tribes live in tepees instead of permanent houses?
A) They did not know how to build houses.
B) They moved often to follow buffalo herds.
C) The Plains region had no trees for building.
D) Tepees were used only in winter.
Buffalo herds traveled long distances across the Plains, and tribes had to follow them to find food. Tepees were perfect because they could be taken apart and set up again quickly wherever the buffalo went.
2. Which Native American region had tribes that depended most on fishing?
A) Plains
B) Southwest
C) Northwest Coast
D) Arctic
The Northwest Coast has cool rivers full of salmon and an ocean rich with fish, whales, and shellfish. With so much water nearby, fishing became the main way tribes there fed their families.
3. How did geography affect the Inuit way of life?
A) Warm weather allowed year-round farming.
B) Thick forests provided wood for building.
C) The frozen land meant they hunted seals and caribou.
D) Rivers made fishing their only food source.
The Arctic is frozen for much of the year, so crops cannot grow and trees cannot live. The Inuit adapted by hunting the animals that did live there, like seals and caribou, for food, fur, and tools.
4. What were the Three Sisters crops grown by Eastern Woodlands tribes?
A) Wheat, rice, and barley
B) Corn, beans, and squash
C) Potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers
D) Cotton, tobacco, and sugarcane
Corn, beans, and squash are called the Three Sisters because they help each other grow. Cornstalks give the beans something to climb, beans add nutrients to the soil, and squash leaves shade the ground to keep weeds away.
Part B: Fill in the Blank
Write the correct answer on each line.
1. Southwest tribes used adobe bricks dried in the sun to build pueblos.
Adobe is clay mixed with straw and shaped into bricks that harden in the sun. The thick adobe walls of pueblos kept homes cool during hot Southwest days and warm during chilly nights.
2. The Iroquois Confederacy united five separate nations in the Eastern Woodlands.
Five separate Eastern Woodlands nations agreed to stop fighting and work together as the Iroquois Confederacy. Joining as one group made them stronger and helped them solve problems peacefully.
3. Northwest Coast tribes held potlatches to share wealth and celebrate events.
Potlatches were huge feasts where Northwest Coast hosts gave away food, blankets, and other gifts. These gatherings honored important events like marriages or naming a new chief and showed the host's generosity.
4. Plains tribes stretched buffalo hides over wooden poles to make tepees.
Tepees needed a frame that was light but strong. Plains tribes leaned tall wooden poles together in a cone shape, then stretched buffalo hides over them to keep wind and rain out.
5. The arrival of explorers from Europe greatly changed Native American life.
When explorers from Europe arrived, they brought new tools, animals, and diseases. Their arrival changed Native American life by taking land and bringing sicknesses that Native people had never faced before.