Booklet 1 Plains Indians - Sioux

Question 1

What Native American tribe lived on the plains?

Answer 1

Sioux (pronounced Soo)

Question 2

Why were the Sioux nomadic?

Answer 2

followed the buffalo

Question 3

Name 3 ways the Sioux used the buffalo to overcome a lack of resources on the Plains.

Answer 3

Food, skin for clothes, tipi etc., stomach for cooking pot, tail for fly swatter, horns for cups, sinew for bows, hooves boiled for glue etc.

Question 4

What was considered wealth or currency to the Sioux?

Answer 4

Horses

Question 5

Name 3 strategies the Sioux used to hunt the buffalo with horses.

Answer 5

Scouted and planned, buffalo hunt dance, war paint, split the herd, caused a stampede, picked out older/slower buffalo, women dismantled buffalo at the hunt, young braves trained.

Question 6

What was a travois and how does it prove that the Sioux adapted to their life?

Answer 6

Tipi posts tied behind horse to transport goods whilst following the buffalo herd.

Question 7

Why was the tipi the perfect shelter for the Sioux? 2 reasons

Answer 7

Easy to take up and down quickly, easy to transport, used resources available (buffalo skin), cool in summer and warm in winter.

Question 8

Why did the Sioux practise polygamy?

Answer 8

Braves lost in hunting/war. Distinct gender roles (e.g. men hunted) meant that women and children of dead braves/warriors would be looked after.

Question 9

What did the Sioux usually go to war over?

Answer 9

Horse theft.

Question 10

Name one Sioux weapon invented for warfare.

Answer 10

None, bow and arrow and tomahawk were invented as tools first?then used for killing.

Question 11

How did the Sioux get guns?

Answer 11

Trade with Mountain Men.

Question 12

Describe what a coup stick was for. (pronounced coo)

Answer 12

It was braver to sneak up and touch an enemy than it was to kill them. Enemy was dishonoured if snuck up on.

Question 13

Why did the Sioux scalp their enemies?

Answer 13

As trophies from battle, but mainly to ensure that their enemies soul escaped and did not go into the afterlife.

Question 14

What were feathers for?

Answer 14

A uniform. Like war medals, the feathers indicated military achievements.

Question 15

When did the Sioux fight?

Answer 15

Usually in the summer when supplies were plentiful.

Question 16

Did the Sioux own land?

Answer 16

No, they believed that the land and all of the world’s creatures belong to the Great Spirit.

Question 17

What was a ‘nation’?

Answer 17

The overall Sioux tribe which broke up into smaller bands to follow the buffalo.

Question 18

How did a chief get his position?

Answer 18

Chosen by the council, elders, warrior society and medicine men for bravery and wisdom. Not inherited (from their father) or elected.

Question 19

What was the purpose of the ceremonial pipe?

Answer 19

Smoked whilst the council discussed matters to inform the spirit world and guide the council to make a good decision.

Question 20

Why did the Sioux and American government find it difficult to negotiate who owned the Plains?

Answer 20

Americans believed in owning land, but the Sioux did not.

Question 21

What was the Bureau of Indian Affairs?

Answer 21

A government department with agents sent to learn about the Sioux and help make decisions regarding how to deal with the Indians.

Question 22

What year as the Indian Removal Act passed?

Answer 22

1830

Question 23

What did the Indian Removal Act do? (2 things)

Answer 23

The Plains, west of the Mississippi River, would be Indian land and tribes from the agriculturally valuable south east (cotton and tobacco plantations) were moved there.

Question 24

Why did the government have to pass the Indian Appropriations Act in 1851?

Answer 24

More Americans were moving across the Plains in the 1850s. To protect the Sioux, the government created reservations (land reserved for tribes).

Question 25

What was a reservation?

Answer 25

An area of land set up for the tribe to live on. There were attempts to teach the Sioux farming, Christianity and educate their children to read and write English.

Question 26

Why would the reservations be difficult for the Sioux?

Answer 26

The Sioux cannot be nomadic and hunt effectively if they are kept in one place. Their entire way of life would be lost.