The Varied Homes of Native Americans Quiz

Answer: Algonquin

The Algonquins traditionally lived along the Great Lakes area and through parts of what is now Ontario, Canada. They were a fairly nomadic tribe, so they needed homes that could be disassembled and moved quickly. These dwellings were called wigwams and were dome shaped.

They were made of poles covered with bark and skins and could be as large as 10 feet tall and 20 feet wide while housing multiple families. It only took about an hour to disassemble and pack the wigwam covering (leaving the frame) as the tribe moved to its next hunting ground.

Answer: Pueblo

The Pueblo lived in present day Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. They were cliff dwellers who built their homes there out of adobe bricks, which are dried mud bricks made with mud, water, and straw. These homes were built on top of each other like a modern day apartment building.

They could go up to four or five stories with families on the top utilizing ladders to reach their home and then ladders from the rooftop down into the residence. The residential rooms on each floor were around 10 x 20 feet each, and there was usually a large ceremonial room for each complex.

Answer: Cheyenne

The Cheyenne were one of several tribes who lived in the Great Plains, an area that stretches from the Great Lakes to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to Mexico. They lived in cone-shaped tepees (also spelled tipi or teepee) that were made of buffalo hides fastened around long poles.

These could be large, holding multiple families, and had a flap entrance that typically faced east towards the rising sun. A small fire was built in the middle of the tepee with an opening at the top to let the smoke out.

The entire structure could be quickly dismantled (poles and all) and easily moved to the next location as the hunting and seasons changed.

Answer: Inuit

The Inuit traditionally lived in Arctic regions including Canada, Greenland, and what is now Alaska. Their homes were called igloos, and were made of blocks of ice that were stacked together. The Inuit would then, using lamps, lightly melt the inside and outside of the igloo and it would refreeze which would make the unit almost airtight.

They had doors and windows made of sheets of ice and an ice shelf around the inner wall. They used the shelves to sit upon and to sleep at night while they were wrapped in fur sleeping bags.

Answer: Iroquois

The Iroquois lived in the northeast in what is present day New York State and parts of Canada. They were a sedentary, farming people who did not need to transport their home. Therefore, they lived in large structures called longhouses. Long poles made up the frame while young saplings were bent and shaped to form a house structure.

It was then covered with bark. These held multiple families and were measured by how many campfires it could hold. In feet, these often were as long as 200 feet long! Families separated their areas within the longhouse by hanging decorated rugs as walls.

Answer: Chinook

The Chinook lived along the Columbia River in what is now Oregon and Washington. They were not considered nomadic and lived in settled villages. They lived in huge dwellings, about 100 feet long, that were constructed of thick cedar planks from the surrounding forest.

The only openings were a front entrance and holes in the roof for releasing smoke from campfires. These dwellings started with one family, and, as children grew and started their own families they occupied different areas of the home. Due to possibilities of lingering spirits, if the owner of the home died then the building was either given to a different owner or it was burned to the ground!

Answer: Seminole

The Seminole tribe traditionally lived in the Southeastern part of the USA, in what is now the state of Florida. They lived in settlements and practiced agriculture and fishing. They lived in chickees, which were platform houses made of logs. The floor was about three feet off the ground in order to be safe from area flooding and from predators. Canvas curtains were hung to keep out the rain and the ceiling was utilized to hang anything that needed to be kept off the swampy ground.

The Seminoles slept on hides laid on the raised floor of the chickee.

Answer: Navajo

The Navajo traditionally lived in the Four Corners southwestern region of the USA. This is the area where the present day states of Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona meet. They were semi-nomadic and were known for the herding and keeping of sheep.

Their home was called a hogan, which was a small structure made of poles covered with mud and bark. It was designed as a one room shelter where the Navajo could sleep on sheepskins around a fire at night. Due to their semi-nomadic lifestyle, each Navajo family had one hogan in the desert and another in the mountains.

Answer: Caddo

The Caddo traditionally lived near the Red River and its tributaries, in what is present day Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. They lived in settled villages and farmed crops such as corn, beans, and squash. The tribe lived in large, multi-family dwellings that were shaped like beehives and were sturdily made of grass and thatch. Each home had a tall (sometimes 50 feet) frame of poles covered with grass bundles tightly woven together.

This thatch was waterproof and windproof and served as insulation in the heat and cold of the area. Raised beds lined the inside of the house and shelves served as storage for the agricultural products raised by the Caddo.

Answer: Cherokee

Traditionally, the Cherokee lived in the southeastern part of the USA, in what is present day Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. They lived in complex societies where they engaged in farming and local hunting. Wattle is a series of wooden stakes interlaced with branches and and cane to form a wall. Daub is a mixture of mud, lime, dried grass, etc to form a plaster. Thus, the Cherokee wattle and daub home was this structure then topped with a cane roof and finished with an outer covering of bark.

These homes were generally for a single family and multiple wattle and daub houses (up to 80) surrounded a meeting hall and gathering plaza.