Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 13: Plains

Description

Continuing the Smithsonian’s comprehensive assessment of the prehistory, history, languages, and cultures of the aboriginal peoples of North America, this reference examines the Plains tribes, presenting 66 illustrated chapters in two parts. Part 1 begins with historical summaries of research in archaeology, ethnology, and ethnohistory, considering environment and subsistence and examining Plains languages. The next section is devoted to prehistory – from about 8000 B.C. to the 19th century – and is followed by extensive material reviewing the more recent history of the Plains area, including relations between Indians and European Americans into the 20th century. At the heart of this reference are 35 detailed ethnographic chapters that document tribes of both the Prairie Plains, such as the Pawnee, Iowa, and Kansa, and the High Plains, including the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Comanche. Each ethnographic chapter focuses on pre-reservation history but also reviews the late 19th and the 20th centuries.