Native American Nations Trivia Quiz

When the Pilgrims landed in 1620 the Wampanoag people were living in parts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and had already had contact with European fishermen. It has been estimated that the Wampanoags had been living in the area for about 12,000 years, and by 1620 approximately 40,000 people lived in 67 villages. The villages were organized into a confederations and were led by a sachem, who, although elected by the women in this matriarchal society, could be male or female.

Squanto was a Patuxet man whose entire tribe had been eradicated by an epidemic. He was living with the Wampanoags when he and other members of the group taught the Pilgrims to farm. As more colonists began to arrive, however, the two groups began to clash. Europeans not only wanted Wampanoag land, they also wanted to change their culture. King Philip's War (1675-1676), named for Metacomet, a chief who had adopted the English name Philip, resulted in the near extinction of the Wampanoag Nation. By the end of the war only 400 Wampanoag people remained.

At the peak of their power in 1700, the Iroquois, also called the Five or Six Nations, lived in modern day Ontario and Quebec in Canada, and Virginia, Kentucky, New York, Pennsylvania, and the Ohio Valley in the U.S. Their confederation is believed to have been established at least by 1450-1660, but may have existed as early as 1142.

Each of the groups in the confederation - Mohawk, Onondago, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, and eventually the Tuscarora, had its own chief, who would attend the Iroquois Council; they also had their own language and territory. It was believed that an individual called the Great Peacemaker brought the groups together.

Iroquois support was divided during the French and Indian War; those in Canada typically sided with the French, and those in the U.S. usually sided with the British. Overall, however, even though they shunned war and were reluctant to lose their warriors in battle, the Iroquois were important in helping the British win Fort Niagara and some of the French forts located in the Great Lakes region. In return the British tried unsuccessfully to keep settlers from moving west of the Appalachians.

Once again the Iroquois Nation was split during the American Revolution after its attempt to remain neutral failed. They were, however, too close to the actual fighting to remain neutral for very long. Each member of the Six Nations allied with the side they thought would serve them best, but once the British were defeated, the Iroquois found that the new government of the United States did not act in their best interest. Many sold their land to white settlers and moved. The time of the great Iroquois Confederation was over.

The Cherokee Nation was originally spread over North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee, inhabiting an area of approximately 40,000 square miles. The population of the group in the late 1600s is estimated at 50,000 people. Historians do not agree on their exact origin; while some believe that they were originally members of the Iroquois Nation who were relative newcomers to the area, others believe that they had were part of a group that had been living in the region for thousands of years.

The Spanish came into contact with the Cherokee Nation in the 1500s when they were exploring the Southeast, and, by the end of the 1600s, colonists in Virginia were trading with them on a small scale. Unfortunately, the Cherokee Nation lost land after siding with France during the French and Indian War, and the British during the American Revolution.

Although information about much of their culture was preserved after Sequoyah invented the Cherokee alphabet in 1821, the Nation was forced to leave its homeland after signing a treaty in 1835 and relocated to Oklahoma.

The descendants of the first Native Americans who lived in Florida were mostly killed by European diseases after the Spanish came to the area in the early 1500s. Even though much of the area was uninhabited by the early 1700s, more Native Americans began its resettlement.

Survivors of the Yamasee War (1715-1717) in South Carolina migrated south to Florida, and fifty years later members of the Lower Creek Nation began to arrive. It was about this same time that African American slaves began to escape to Florida. After Florida was ceded to Britain at the conclusion of the French and Indian War (1763) many of the European colonists from Spain also left. All of the new groups intermingled with each other to form a new culture which was unified and called the Seminole Nation. By the early 1800s, an estimated 4,000 Seminole people lived in Florida.

Osceola became the leader of Seminole resistance in the 1820s, as more white settlers came to Florida and sought to remove the people to the Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. He was captured in 1837, but the Seminole Wars continued until 1842, when most of the members of the Nation were forcibly moved to Indian Territory. An estimated 200 Seminoles retreated into the Everglades, land that was not coveted by white settlers.

At the peak of its power in the early 1800s, the Osage Nation covered parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Historians believe the Nation originated in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys, developing sometime around 700 BC, and was pushed west at some point by the Iroquois.

Marquette and Juliet, French explorers, were the first Europeans to make contact with the Osage in 1673, beginning a trading relationship with them that lasted almost 100 years. By the time Lewis and Clark began their famous trip of exploration in 1804, there was an estimated 5,500 members of the Nation; a smallpox epidemic had killed about 2,000 people just a couple of years before.

By 1825 the Osage Nation was relocated to a reservation in Kansas, however, in 1872 the Osage, unlike most of the other Native American Nations, purchased its own reservation land in northern Oklahoma. This gave them more of a voice in their tribal affairs, as well as mineral rights to the land that was purchased, which proved beneficial when oil was discovered there in 1894.

Historians believe the Sioux people had settled in the Great Lakes region by 800 AD. They were pushed from the area by the Iroquois in 1659, and eventually settled in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Wars with the Ojibwe, another tribe, pushed the Sioux still further west until they occupied a huge area that included western Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, and northern Iowa. After that, the Sioux, excellent horsemen and nomadic buffalo hunters, became the masters of the Great Plains.

Also known as fierce warriors, the Sioux were unwilling to cede their land to the U.S. government without a fight. Their important leaders included Red Cloud, who was a victorious leader during the Red Cloud's War (1866-1868), Sitting Bull, a chief and medicine man who led his people in the Great Sioux War of 1876 and at the Battle of Little Bighorn (1876), and Crazy Horse, another Sioux leader at the Battle of Little Big Horn (1876) against General George Custer's 7th Cavalry. By 1877, however, the Sioux were forced to live on reservations. Today they still seek justice regarding treaties which were broken.

The Sioux, also known as the People of the Seven Council Fires, are divided into culture groups based on the dialect of the Sioux language they speak - Lakota, Dakota, or Nakota. They are then further subdivided into different groups based on the area they originally inhabited.

Like many of the tribes, the Crow Hidatsa Nation had its beginnings in the area around the Great Lakes, and was subsequently pushed west by other stronger Native American Nations. Over time the Crow split from the Hidatsa, who stayed in North Dakota and continued its migration, warring with tribes who had already settled in Montana to create a homeland there. Once in Montana, the Crow Nation subdivided into four different groups.

The power and wealth of the Crow Nation in the 1700s and 1800s came from their participation in the fur trade with the French and their adoption of the horse. Their reputation as horse breeders and traders attracted raids from many neighboring groups, who became their enemies by trying to steal their horses. A vision of their great chief, Plenty Coups, led the Crow to believe that it was best to make alliances with white settlers, and the Crow helped the U.S. fight against other Native American rival tribes. This eventually enabled them to gain a large reservation, which was closer to the area of their tribal lands. Most groups of Native Americans did not fare as well.

Like many other Native American Nations, the Apache practiced a nomadic way of life, and their lifestyle has made it difficult to determine the area where they originated. Some historians believe they came from an area north of the Rocky Mountains, while others believe they may have migrated south from the Great Plains or, due to similarities in language, even from the Pacific Northwest. It is known, however, that by the time of the Coronado Expedition (1540-1542), the Apache lived in Texas and New Mexico, and eventually spread their influence to parts of Colorado and Arizona.

The Spanish, who settled in the area and tried to convert Native Americans to Christianity, identified 15 different tribes as being Apache. Each tribe had its own leader and sovereignty; sometimes they fought together against an enemy and sometimes they fought between themselves. Today there are six recognized tribes within the Apache Nation.

Relations between Mexico and the Apache first became tense after Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821. They even helped the United States government in its 1846 war against Mexico. That peace, however, did not last very long. After the United States signed the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (1848) and made the Gadsden Purchase (1854), the Apache Wars, a long series of conflicts from 1849-1886, began. Many believe the wars finally ended after the surrender of the great chief, Geronimo, in 1886, however, hostilities continued after that.

The ancestral land of the Ute Nation is located in southwest Colorado and southeast Utah. Historians believe that they occupied most of Colorado by the 1600s, but, by the 1700s, the land was invaded by other tribes, pushing them into more of Utah and other nearby states, especially during the hunting season.

Like other Plains Nations, the Utes were originally nomadic hunters and gatherers. They typically lived within their own independent bands, but did cooperate during situations like buffalo hunts, raids, and defense. They also traded with other tribes in the area, as well as the Spanish. The introduction of the horse (c 1630s) changed their way of life, and many of their former friends and allies became enemies if they encroached on Ute territory. Their villages were raided by the Utes in order to acquire women and children who were sold into slavery.

By 1849 the first of many treaties was signed that forced the Ute Nation to recognize the sovereignty of the United States and relinquish their lands. The famous Ute chief, Ouray, traveled to Washington, D.C. in 1880 in order to try to negotiate a better settlement for his people and make their transition to reservation life as easy as possible.

The Mojave people lived in the Mojave Desert, which was named for them, mostly in California and Nevada, as well as parts of Utah and Arizona. They were a farming people who lived along the lower Colorado River, and supplemented their food supply with hunting, fishing, and gathering. By the time of their first contact with the Spanish (1775), the Mojave tribe was the largest in the Southwest, divided into three main groups, each with their own territory.

It didn't take long for the Mojave to come into conflict with white settlers and traders. They did not like the reckless hunting and trapping of the animals on their land. They also received bad press when it was discovered that two white girls, traded as slaves from a band of Apache, were living with them. Subsequent attacks on the U.S. military and other disagreements led to the establishment of reservations in the later part of the 1800s. Their chief, Irataba, a noted mediator and orator, worked toward peace with white leaders, traveling to Washington, D.C. in 1864 and meeting with President Lincoln. Many of his own people, however, believed that he did not protect their rights enough when he negotiated for the establishment of the Colorado River Indian Reservation in 1865.