HISTORY AND CULTURE IN NORTH AMERICA

In order to keep records and data of the North-American culture, geographers and anthropologists have gone ahead to divide the entire area into groups of culture areas, which shares similar characteristics and features, alongside with a common territory and habitat.

The different divisions include: The Arctic, the Subarctic, the North-east, California, the Plateau, the South-west, and the Great Basin etc. For instance, the arctic culture area which is a cold area characterized with froze deserts was initially home to the Inuit and Aleut who spoke languages that were passed down from Eskimo-Aleut language family.

The Arctic’s population were minute in number and scattered. Some of the people that inhabited the place especially the Inuits were nomads, and they were accustomed to seasonal migration. The Inuit and Aleut lived in dome-shaped houses, and they used animal skins to make clothing which were most times weather proof.

Similarly, we have the Subarctic which is mostly comprised of swampy areas and water drenched areas. This culture area is divided into two language groups which are the Athabaskan and Algonquian speakers. In the subarctic region, there was great difficulty in transportation because of the scarcity of transportation means because the only available ones were lightweight canoes and snow shoes.

The residents of the Subarctic did not form large permanent places of abode, hence, they lived in tents and temporary structures and when weather conditions were harsh, they migrated.

Also, the North east cultural which was one of the first to have a prolonged access to the Europeans. Its inhabitants constituted two main groups which includes the Iroquoian speakers and also the Algonquian speakers. They resided in small villages known for farming and fishing activities. They were faced with conflicts and struggles which arose from opposition villages which constantly raided them.

To add to that, the Great Basin culture area which is a vast and expansive area, comprises a desert, lakes and salt deposits. It was home for people who spoke Shoshonean or Uto-Aztecan dialect. They lived on compact and temporary abodes because of the need to always be on the move due to the nature of the activities they perform.

We also have the California culture area which hosted about 100 different tribes that spoke hundreds of dialects. It was estimated such that California’s linguistic landscape was more complex than even Europe itself, but despite the diversity in language, many California inhabitants lived similar lives and engaged in similar activities which include hunting, fishing, gathering, farming among others.