Native Americans of the Great Basin and Plateau

* An extremely rough terrain in the Great Basin

- high, food-poor region

- cold winters, dry soil

- required a frugal (careful inexpensive) lifestyle

-> rabbit drives, hunting (some bison), fishing, root gathering

* Shoshoni and Paiutes in the great Basin

- mostly isolated high country groups

-> only seasonal fairs at river confluences (Snake and Boise)

connected them to wider trade circles

- Shoshoni in Southeastern Idaho

-> also heavily impacted by horses

=> traveled to plains

+> Plains groups (Blackfeet, Cheyennes, etc.) harassed them

back with superior firepower of guns

-> acquired guns late

=> may explain their early peaceable interactions with whites

+> they needed to trade for guns

- Paiutes live in Southeastern Oregon and Southwestern Idaho

-> a loose group of barely connected tribes

-> dealt with the areas harshest environment and were extremely

poor as a result

=> low resources also kept groups small and mobile

* Plateau Groups

- From Cascades to Rockies, Central Idaho to British Columbia

- Yakimas, Kliktats, Umatillas, Walla Wallas, Palooses, Nez

Perces, Klammath, Modocs

- lived mostly in semi-permanent fishing villages

- autonomous settlements with a basically democratic leadership

- held regular fairs to get together and trade/meet

- hunting and gathering economy

-> dispersed food supply demanded mobility

-> had home territores, but not "properties"

- Nez Perces and Shoshoni were bitter rivals

-> Nez Perce had 4,000 people in 130 bands and villages

-> summer truces for food gathering

- early housing was circular earthen-roofed lodges

- the horse revolution

-> Columbus and later Europeans ahd brought horses which spread

to Native Americans

-> spread to Nez Perces from Shoshoni

-> brought mobility and power

-> Nez Perces could travel to plains to trade

-> hunting begins to replace fishing

-> tipis, buckskins, and feather headdresses come with the horse

as cultural borrowings