Native American ancestry is vast and diversified across North America, spanning many different clans and tribes and branches. Each tribe adapted to their specific regions giving each its own traits. Native American ancestry can’t simply be lumped into one term or class. The continent can be broken up into many regions to help sort the Native American ancestry into smaller groups. To the Northeast we have the Algonquin and Iroquois tribes. The Algonquin tribes wore little clothing except for during the cold months; the clothing they wore was made of animal skins mainly, they were hunters and gatherers, as well as farmed their own vegetables. The Iroquois tribes wore mainly animal skins as well. Like the Algonquin tribes they also would hunt and gather and grow their own crops, they also participated in trading.

Native American ancestry in the southern regions is in ways drastically different than those in the north due to climate differences. To the southeast the Seminoles wore clothing made of plant fibers woven together as opposed to those in the north who wore furs to keep warm, they would also hunt and plant their owns foods. To the southwest you have the Apache and the Navajo. The Navajo wore rabbit skins and would gather and hunt for the majority of their food. The Navajo also participated in raiding which at times could blur the paths in Native American ancestry by taking other tribes forms of art as well as people and in a sense mixing the tribes. The Apache wore deerskin and in later years began to wear cotton clothing with Mexican patterns, which again showed the traits passing through tribes such as when the Navajo would raid. Also in the southwest were the Pueblo tribes whom also wore wool which was woven; they mainly farmed and hunted for their food.

The plains Indians portrayed the Native American ancestry that is generally seen in films and photos. They wore buffalo skin clothing as well as the beautiful feather head dresses that is commonly merged into all Indian tribes in film and literature. The plains Indians main supply of food came from hunting, which, due to settlers moving westward and killing buffalo caused the plains Indians to migrate and travel trying to find the now scarce food supplies. There are still many more Indian tribes and clans in each of those listed in the short summaries above, so one can easily see how vast the possibilities of Native American ancestry can be.

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