The cultural areas of pre-Columbian North America, according to Alfred Kroeber
**Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands** are American Indian tribes with similar cultures in the northeastern and the Midwest United States and southeastern parts of Canada. There are three areas in the Northeastern Woodlands. The *coastal area* runs from South Carolina up to Canada. *Saint Lawrence Lowlands* includes parts of Ontario and New York. *The Great Lakes-Riverine* area is around the Great Lakes. There are different landscapes in the region. They include coasts, forests, mountains and lowlands. The Northeastern Woodlands are surrounded by the Subartic, Great Plains and Southeastern Woodlands. Algonquian, Iroquoian, or Siouan are the three language groups of the area.

Language Groups and Tribes
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Algonquian-speaking tribes are Abenaki, Accomac, Delaware (Lenape), Fox, Illinois, Kickapoo, Malecite, Massachusett, Menominee, Miami, Mi’kmaq (Micmac), Mohegan, Mohican (Mahican) Montauk, Nanticoke, Niantic, Nipmuc, Narragansett, Nauset, Ojibwa, Ottawa, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Pennacook. Pequot, Pocomtuc, Potawatomi, Powhatan, Sauk, Shawnee, Wampanoag and Wappinger. These tribes were all over the Northeast and along the coast except near the Great Lakes.

Iroquoian speaking tribes include Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Huron, Mohawk, Petun, Tionontati, Neutral, Wenrohronon, Tuscarora, Erie, Susquehannock, and Laurentian Iroquois. The Five Nations included Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. They were part of the Iroquois Confederacy.

Siouan language tribes include Winnebago, Tutelo and Yankton. Most Siouan are closer to the Plains region.

History
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The Hopewell culture developed in 200 BC. They were in the Midwest and Ohio. The culture disappeared after 400 CE. The Algonquian and Iroquoian tribes developed around 1100. This was in present-day New England. The Iroquois was a powerful confederacy of tribes from about 1400 to 1700 CE. Lenni-Lenape lived in present-day Delaware and New Jersey. They were forced off their lands by Europeans. The Powhatan Confederacy (Tsenacommacah) were tribes in present-day Virginia. Chief Powhatan was the father of Pocahontas. The region of the Powhatan was the first area that British settled, including Jamestown.

Culture
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Northeast Woodland Natives usually lived in wigwams or longhouses. They traded wampum, which were shell beads. Natives used the birchbark canoe for hunting, warfare and fishing. The main crops were the Three Sisters. This included winter squash, maize (corn), and climbing beans. They were grown together to improve growth. There were villages of a few hundred people. Some areas like Cahokia had many people. Men usually planted and harvested, while women processed plants. The clan was an important social group. They were often named after animals like the bear, hawk, turtle or wolf. Natives believed in spiritual force that was everywhere. *Manitou* was the spiritual life force. It could reveal itself as the *Great Spirit*. Totem animals were also sacred.

Related pages
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* Southeastern Woodlands
* Plains Indians
* Native Americans in the United States