CORE 176: North American Indians
Spring 2000 T-Th 1:00-2:30, Alumni 209
Professor Thomas D. Hall
A. Lindsay O'Connor Professor of American Institutions
417 Alumni Hall, x7545, email:thall; web: people.colgate.edu/thall
OFFICE HOURS:  Tu 6-7; Th 3-5, & by appointment
Culture and Language Areas of North America
Last Updated 1-17-00

Because of the tremendous diversity among the indigenous residents of North America, anthropologists have mapped nine different culture areas. These are not some cosmically correct categories, etched in stone, but a means to organize the vast diversity. Borders are fuzzy, some make more areas, others fewer. Some groups do not fit well, but the following maps organize the region. I urge all of you to look at the originals in the books listed here or other sources.

This map is taken from Volume 4 of the Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 4. This is the one to know for the quiz and tests.

This next one is taken from Fred Hoxie's Encyclopedia of North American Indians. It lists a number of groups by name.

PLEASE NOTE: Hoxie divides Plains in the first group into Prairie and Great Plains

Below is a map of language groups for North America, taken from Robert Spencer & Jesse Jenning's The Native Americans. A key point is to note how the language groups bear very little connection to the culture areas. Language spoken and adaptive stragies are nearly independent of each other.

Click here for much enlarged view

Send comments or questions to thall@mail.colgate.edu