Native American Cultures — Answer Key
Part A: Multiple Choice
Circle the best answer for each question.
1. Why did many Native American tribes trade with each other?
A) They wanted to start wars over land.
B) Each region had different resources that other tribes needed.
C) Trading was required by tribal law.
D) They had too much food and needed to get rid of it.
Coastal tribes had shells and fish, plains tribes had buffalo, and woodland tribes had furs — trading let each group share what only their region offered.
2. What is one reason the Cherokee developed a written alphabet?
A) European settlers forced them to write.
B) They wanted to preserve their language and communicate in writing.
C) They needed it to count buffalo.
D) Writing was used only for making maps.
Sequoyah saw that writing helped settlers share ideas across distances, so he created Cherokee symbols so his people could record their language and history.
3. How did horses change life for Plains tribes?
A) Horses helped tribes farm larger fields.
B) Horses made it easier to hunt buffalo and travel faster.
C) Horses were kept only as pets.
D) Horses were used to pull plows for planting corn.
On foot, hunters could not catch a charging buffalo herd, but on horseback they could chase, hunt, and move their camps far more quickly across the grasslands.
4. Why were kivas important to Pueblo communities?
A) Kivas were kitchens where all meals were prepared.
B) Kivas were underground rooms used for religious ceremonies and meetings.
C) Kivas were storerooms for weapons.
D) Kivas were playgrounds built for children.
Kivas served as the spiritual heart of a Pueblo village, giving leaders a sacred space below ground to hold ceremonies and make decisions for everyone.
Part B: Fill in the Blank
Write the correct answer on each line.
1. Wampum beads were made from polished shells and used to seal agreements.
Wampum came from white whelk shells and purple quahog shells, ground smooth and drilled into beads — a treasured material that made promises official.
2. The travois was a wooden frame pulled by dogs or horses to carry supplies.
A travois was two long poles tied behind a dog or horse to drag heavy supplies, tipi covers, and food when Plains tribes moved camp.
3. Many tribes believed that all living things had a spirit and deserved respect.
Native belief systems often taught that animals, plants, rivers, and mountains each have a spirit, which is why hunters thanked the buffalo and farmers blessed their corn.
4. Sequoyah was the Cherokee leader who created the Cherokee syllabary.
A syllabary uses one symbol for each sound, or syllable, and Sequoyah designed 86 symbols so the Cherokee language could be written and printed.
5. Birch bark was also used by Woodlands tribes to write messages and keep records.
Birch bark peels into thin, paper-like sheets that take ink and scratched marks well, so tribes used it almost like paper to send messages and remember stories.