ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by hunter-gatherers,

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a kidnapping ring solely focused on kids named Hunter. [a tribal man looking for Hunter]

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Yeah, they're really mean. Avoid them, please.

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All right, how were the societies in the Northwest

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similar to those in parts of California?

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And here are your potential answers. [image of map of The U.S]

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[ mumbles ]

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Okay.

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Native American societies in North America lived

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their lives according to the rules of the lands they settled on. [a tribal man and woman arguing about the land]

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At least until the Europeans came and shook things up.

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So let's see which answer best describes

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how tribes in the West were different from the rest.

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Were societies in the Northwest

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similar to those in parts of California because A - [a tribal man looking at a house made of teepee]

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their homes were mobile so they could follow herds of animals?

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Well, actually, the most mobile societies were nomadic tribes

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in the Plains region. So that gets rid of A.

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Were societies along the West coast similar because C - [a man lost in a corn field]

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their economies depended on maize that spread from Mexico?

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No, corn. That a-maize-ing stuff.

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Well, hmm. Maize from Mexico played a

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big role for Southwestern tribes

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who built their homes in the sides of the cliffs and mountains. [two tribal women having a conversation]

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So that's puebl-y not C or D.

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Get that? Pueblo? That's a bad joke. Sorry.

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Get rid of that thing.

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All right. Which means societies in the Northwest

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were similar to those in parts of California because B - [a tribal man hunting for potatoes]

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they survived on a mix of hunting and gathering.

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California covers a bunch of land from North to South,

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which means it probably has more in common with the Northwest

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than New Mexico and Arizona.

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And unlike farmers in the Southwest,

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Northwestern tribes survived on a mix of [image of men carrying potatoes]

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hunting and gathering. So B is the right answer.

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And for societies in that part of North America,

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nuts and berries were all the for-rage.

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Forage? Boy, we really stretched on that one. [an old man on the street checking something]

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[ laughter ]

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