American Indians: Names of tribes and their customs

American Indians: Names of tribes and their customs

By Dr. Kyle Muller

In Ecology Verde we want to get closer to the tribes of American Indians. With this small compilation of the main tribes of each territory you can know their most ancestral customs and traditions.

Although there are many practically missing tribes others have managed to maintain their way of life to this day. Keep reading this article about Names of American Indians and their customs If you want to discover more about these unique cultures that exalt nature and brotherhood, as well as other values ​​of each of these American indigenous tribes.

American or Amerindian Indians – Names of tribes

Next, we offer you a Classification of the different American Indian tribes divided by areas of the American continent.

California American Indian tribes

  • The Yana
  • The Yuki
  • The Paiute
  • The Miwok
  • The HUPA

Indian tribes of the Northwest coast

  • The Chinook
  • The Nootka
  • The Makah
  • Haid
  • The Tlinglit

Indian tribes of the American Southwest

  • The Hopi
  • The Navajo
  • The Apache
  • THE ACOMA
  • The Laguna people
  • The Maricopa
  • The Mojave
  • The pima
  • The San Ildefonso
  • Santa Clara de Asís tribe

Mississippi American Llanos tribes

  • The Sioux
  • The Comanche
  • The Arapahoes
  • The black foot
  • The Iroquois
  • The Algonkin
  • The chippewa or ojibwa

Tribes of the forests of southern North America

  • The Cherokee
  • The seminolas
  • The Chickaassw

Indigenous tribes of Mexico

  • The Nahuas
  • The Maya (currently Quichés, Lacandones, Kaqchikeles …)
  • The Zapotec
  • The Mixtecs
  • The Otomis
  • The Totonacas
  • The tsotsiles
  • The Tzeltals
  • The mazahuas
  • The Mazatecos
  • The Huastecos
  • The Choles
  • The Purépechas
  • The Chinantecas
  • The mixes
  • The Tlapanecos
  • The Tarahumaras
  • The Mayos
  • The zoques
  • Los Chontales de Tabasco

Amazon indigenous tribes

  • The Nahua
  • The Cashibo-Cacataibo
  • The pets
  • The Nanti
  • The Matsigenkas
  • The Piripkura
  • The Kawahiva
  • The Korubos
  • The Kuikuro
  • The Yurí
  • The Nukak

Discover more tribes of American Indians of the Amazon in this other post of Ecology Verde about what are the indigenous peoples of the Amazon.

American Indians: Names of tribes and their customs - American Indians or Amerindians - Names of tribes

American indigenous or Indians – cultural characteristics and customs

If you have read or heard about the tribes of American Indians surely relations with concepts such as the following:

  • Strong warriors with a great fighting spirit.
  • Great hunters used to use arrows or small axes known worldwide as Tomahawks.
  • Populations intimately related to nature and divine.

Although each of the aforementioned tribes have their own customs, there are some customs of American or indigenous Indians in which many coincide.

  • Group dances: Among them they have become famous, the dance of the Sun to ask for good health, the dance of the bison to favor hunting or rain dance to ask the water skies for crops.
  • Celebration of rituals: The American native tribes, just like those of other parts of the world, have made diverse rituals to ask for success and good luck to nature’s spirits. Some of these include prayers, dances, songs, music and offerings.
  • Meetings with other tribes to maintain ties Among the different communities. This meeting known as Pow Wow, Powwow or Pow-Wow, is currently being held in different places.
  • THE PEACE OF PEACE: A simple way to share wisdom and peace, either with a stranger or with the family, in a simple ritual such as smoking together of the same source. This custom is often done to seal peace between two tribes and wish to be successful.
  • The clothes of the American Indians: another of the Characteristics of Native Americans It is his way of dressing. American Indians’ clothing also usually coincides with general features, regardless of the area. Almost all the American Indians is made of skins or leather, but there are also pieces made with plant fibers. They wear pants, robes or dresses and shirts or ponchos, although there are tribes that wear very little clothes. In addition, they use ornaments, such as acquaintances feathersnecklaces with seeds, feathers and carved objects, bracelets, etc. In addition, it is also important to note that, regardless of the suit, the clothes used by the Native Americans are always decorated, whether skins or fabrics, with embroidery and paintingswhere a pattern or mosaic is usually repeated that represents both religious values ​​and other important issues, such as collection or hunting.

Learn a little more about the cultures of some Native Americans with this other post about how the Amazon tribes live.

American Indians: Names of tribes and their customs - indigenous or American Indians - Cultural characteristics and customs

Indigenous or American Indians today

Anthropologists estimate that before the arrival of Europeans to the American lands there were more than 300 tribes and that these were disappearing as a product of the bloody colonization. Even currently, many of the tribes that have survived the passage of time are about to disappear.

However, some areas, as is the case of Mexico, retain a large majority of indigenous people within the country. It is estimated that, currently, Almost 12 million inhabitants of Mexico belong to one of these tribes. Among them, and those mentioned in the previous section, we highlight by index from more to less population the Nahua, the Maya (currently Quichés, Lacandones, Kaqchikeles …), The Mixtecs and the Totonaca.

In the case of the United States, they were counted More than 2 million American indigenous people in 2000. In fact, within this figure the tribes of the Arctic area were also included, as is the case of the Eskimos. Currently, Native Americans do not represent more than 1% of the population of America. In addition, more than half of them They survive in Indian reservations or near these. Of course, many of the citizens, almost more than 1.5 million people, have Amerindia ancestry.

If you liked to know the names of American Indian tribes and their customs, both from North Americans and areas of Central and South America, we recommend you discover more cultures with these other articles of ecology see on 16 African tribes: names, meanings and customs and Australian aboriginals: names of peoples and their customs.

American Indians: names of tribes and their customs - indigenous or American Indians today

If you want to read more articles similar to American Indians: Names of tribes and their customswe recommend that you enter our category of indigenous peoples.

Kyle Muller
About the author
Dr. Kyle Muller
Dr. Kyle Mueller is a Research Analyst at the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department in Houston, Texas. He earned his Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Texas State University in 2019, where his dissertation was supervised by Dr. Scott Bowman. Dr. Mueller's research focuses on juvenile justice policies and evidence-based interventions aimed at reducing recidivism among youth offenders. His work has been instrumental in shaping data-driven strategies within the juvenile justice system, emphasizing rehabilitation and community engagement.
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