Native American Tribes of the Southwest

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

The hot and dry southwestern region of North America presented many challenges to the tribes who lived there, but they adapted and thrived.

Long ago, the natives of this area learned how to farm, despite the lack of rain, and to build houses of clay and sand (adobe). They settled by rivers or streams and used irrigation to grow their crops.

The southwestern tribes lived in what is now known as the Four Corners of the U.S. — where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado meet — as well as further east to parts of Texas and Mexico.

After the Spanish arrived in this area, the Native Americans adopted some of their ways by adding horses, donkeys, and sheep to their livestock and adding wheat, different types of beans, and various fruits to their crops. The sheep provided wool for making clothes and beautiful hand-woven blankets, as you'll see later.

Watch the following video for an introduction to these tribes. Throughout the entire lesson, write down what you learn about the homes, food, skills, natural resources, languages, and culture of the southwestern tribes. You'll use this information later in the Got It? section.

Pueblo (Anasazi)

What we now call the Pueblo people were descendants of the Anasazi. They lived in the American southwest from 1200 BC to 1200 AD. They build homes near or on the cliffs.

Anasazi means "ancient ones." Watch the following video to learn more about this peaceful tribe.

For a closer view of the amazing cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, check out our lesson found under Additional Resources in the right-hand sidebar or watch the following video.

You can also watch this next video.

Navajo

The Navajo came down from Canada and drove out the cliff dwellers in Arizona and New Mexico. They raised crops - the three sisters (corn, beans, and squash) - kept livestock, and made jewelry and rugs. They lived in houses called hogans, made of wood poles covered in tree bark and mud.

Learn about Navajo history in this video clip.

As you saw in the video, American and Mexican soldiers destroyed the Navajo land and sent 8,000 of the natives on the 300 mile Long Walk from Ft. Defiance, AZ to Bosque Redondo, NM.

Around 200 people died on the way, and 2,000 died later at the reservation due to lack of proper food and clean water. They were eventually allowed to return to their homeland after four long years of suffering.

Many of today's Navajo people continue to keep their traditions and pass on their culture to their children, including the making of beautiful, hand-woven rugs as shown in the next video.

If you completed the Related Lesson on southeastern tribes, found in the right-hand sidebar, you'll remember the Choctaw Code Talkers helped the Allies to win World War I.

Well, the Navajo were called upon to serve as code talkers during World War II. The Navajo language is very complex, which made it extremely hard to decode. In fact, it was never decoded by enemy soldiers!

Learn more in the video below.

Apache

The Apache tribe is closely related to the Navajo and speak a similar language.

Listen to the sounds of the Apache language as animal names are spoken in this next video.

Once the Apache got horses, they became some of the best horse riders around.

They were also fierce warriors. The name Apache means "the enemy" in the language of a neighboring tribe.

Even if they were not at war, the Apache would sometimes raid neighboring tribes' or settlers' villages. Though this was seen as stealing by Europeans, it was considered a show of cleverness, skill, and bravery by the Apaches.

The Apache lived in wikiups or teepees, when they had to be on the move to hunt buffalo.

Watch another video to learn more about the Apaches.

As you learned in the video, many Apache were forced to leave their lands, and many fought hard to keep them. Some agreed to be held as prisoners of the U.S. government for two years, and then be returned to their lands. However, the government held them as prisoners for 27 years instead.

The government's treatment of native tribes is truly one of the saddest parts of U.S. history.

Today, the Apache are trying to revive some of their old customs. Watch as an Apache young lady celebrates her rite of passage ceremony.

Hopi

The Hopi lived on the plateaus of Arizona. They built their homes on top of the mesas (large, flat, steep hills).

In the ground below the mesas, they grew corn, beans, and squash and kept livestock such as sheep, goats, and turkeys.

Their language is from a different language family than the Navajo and Apache. It's called the Uto-Aztecan language group, and it's spread throughout western U.S., Mexico, and parts of Central America.

For a sampling of their language, watch the video below.

Hopi means "the peaceful people." They were often raided by the Navajo and Apache, but they maintained their ideal of respecting all things and people and being at peace with everyone.

However, the Hopi did join with other Pueblo tribes during the Pueblo Revolt of 1850. At that time, the Pueblo people rose up against the Spanish invaders of their land, killing 400 people, and driving out 2,000 settlers.

They now own a large reservation in Arizona. Like many Native Americans, the Hopi and other modern-day tribes of the southwest try to retain their culture by passing on their language, stories, songs, and dances to their children.

Watch to hear one of the stories they like to pass on, which tells how the Hopi came to their original home.

Now that you've learned something about the tribes of the southwest, head over to the Got It? section! There, you'll organize all the facts you've written down and create a travel log about your trip to the homeland of a southwestern tribe!