The Great Plains and Praries

In this chapter there is a section that talks about the Plain Indians. It says that the Plains Indians were hunters and gatherers and their main food source was the buffalo.  They also lived along the streams in semi-permanent settlements.  But because the only domestic animal in the Americas pre-European contact was dogs, the Indians could not travel long distances to hunt buffalo because they could not abandon their settlements near the water for long periods of time.  That is until the Spaniards introduced horses to the Indians.  Once natives had horses, hunting buffalo was much easier and convenient 

Plains Indians using horses to hunt

Tequesta people

The Indians that inhabited the Miami area were known as the Tequesta.  The Tequesta like the Plains Indians were hunters and gatherers but their main source of food was fish. Like the Plains Indians the Tequesta formed settlements on the Miami River and the chief lived at the mouth of the river by Biscayne Bay.


Resources: Textbook, http://www.ocls.info/virtual/galleries/history/native_americans.asp#mayaimi