Native American Housing
In the present day United States one would see basically the same housing in
every region of the country. One would see an overwhelming amount of beige
housing with brown roofs and a two door garage with the exact same house right
next to it and down the street and across town. Whether one visits the suburbs of
Chicago or the small towns of Arizona one would see these exact same houses.
That is because in our modern non-nomadic world of malleable atmosphere and
sturdy structures there is very little need for dramatic difference in living places.
That was not always the case on our continent and in fact only a few hundred years
ago the housing template was very different for the Native American dwellers.
While we have a fairly general layout and amenities list for our modern
homes, those homes of the Native American people were vastly different based on
the materials at hand, the culture of the tribe, and the climate of the region. Three
significantly different forms of housing for the Native Americans were the
longhouses, adobe houses, and tepees. Each housing unit is unique and practical in
its own way based on its builders needs and wants.
The first, and probably the most commonly known dwelling, is the tepee.
The tepee was most commonly used by the plains Indians of the mid-west. The
tepee was made of poles that are roughly 15 feet in length and draped in animal
hide, most commonly buffalo. The reason the tepee was so ideal for the plains
dwelling Indians was because of their nomadic lifestyle. The Plains Indians would
follow the buffalo herds around wherever they were to go and instead of leaving
their dwellings behind they designed an efficient and effective home. Interestingly
enough, the women were most typically in charge of erecting the tepees when they
moved and a handful of women could set up the camp in less than a day.
The second type of dwelling we will discuss is the longhouse. The
longhouse was most commonly used by the Native Americans in modern day New
England. The longhouse was constructed with pole frames and usually draped in
some kind of bark. Unlike the tepee, the longhouse is a permanent structure but
easy to build. The Iroquois tribes would develop permanent encampment and very
well could live in the same area their entire lives. One longhouse could be enough
to house around sixty people or even an entire clan.
The third type of dwelling we will discuss is the adobe. The adobe was almost
exclusively found in the southwest North American or Central America. The adobe
is made out of straw, clay, and other material which is mixed and dried into bricks.
It is a modular style home that is a permanent dwelling for long term living.
Adobes are excellent for a hot and dry climate and are relatively easy to make, and
very long lasting. In fact, Adobes are known to stay intact for many generations
and there are even fully intact Adobe villages embedded into cliff walls in places
like Arizona and New Mexico.
The Native housing, though all very different, met the needs of the various
tribes excellently. Whether the tribe roamed the central plains, or farmed in the
Iroquois nations, every housing structure was build for a specific purpose to
maximize functionality and withstand the climate of the region. As nice as our
cookie cutter suburban homes are, how nice would it be to take apart your home
and reconstruct it miles away in less than a day?
"Native American Houses." Native American Homes: Wigwams, Longhouses,
Tepees, Lodges, and Other American Indian Houses. N.p., 1998. Web. 25
Apr. 2016. <http://www.native-languages.org/houses.htm>.
"Native Americans." Native American History for Kids: The Teepee, Longhouse,
and Pueblo Homes. Ducksters, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.ducksters.com/history/native_american_teepee_longhouse_pue
blo.php>.
