North American Architecture
What kind of house you lived in depended a lot on where
you lived, and how you lived. Many people were nomadic,
travelling around with their dogs
following the buffalo they hunted
on the Great Plains. These people lived mainly in tepees, which were very
large tents made of long wooden poles covered with buffalo
skin.
Other people, who were farmers or fishermen in places where there was plenty of wood, lived in wooden houses, either of planks, or built with pole frames and then covered with slabs of bark. Iroquois people lived in longhouses built of poles and covered with bark, while Chinook people lived in longhouses built of cedar planks.
Algonquin people, north of the Iroquois, lived in wigwams, also built of poles covered with bark.
Ute people, from modern Utah and Colorado, lived in wickiups which were also built of poles and covered with branches, but they were much smaller and more temporary than the Iroquois longhouses. Navajo people lived in similar houses called hogans.
In the Southwest, though, there was not very much wood. People built their houses out of clay, because there was plenty of clay. These clay houses are called pueblos (poo-EBB-lows).
People also built bigger buildings to be tombs or temples or meeting halls. In the Great Plains (modern Kansas), people built big meeting halls, and fortification walls around their town. Along the Mississippi River, people built big mounds of earth, which were tombs for their leaders, like the Egyptian pyramids.
Other people, who were farmers or fishermen in places where there was plenty of wood, lived in wooden houses, either of planks, or built with pole frames and then covered with slabs of bark. Iroquois people lived in longhouses built of poles and covered with bark, while Chinook people lived in longhouses built of cedar planks.
Algonquin people, north of the Iroquois, lived in wigwams, also built of poles covered with bark.
Ute people, from modern Utah and Colorado, lived in wickiups which were also built of poles and covered with branches, but they were much smaller and more temporary than the Iroquois longhouses. Navajo people lived in similar houses called hogans.
In the Southwest, though, there was not very much wood. People built their houses out of clay, because there was plenty of clay. These clay houses are called pueblos (poo-EBB-lows).
People also built bigger buildings to be tombs or temples or meeting halls. In the Great Plains (modern Kansas), people built big meeting halls, and fortification walls around their town. Along the Mississippi River, people built big mounds of earth, which were tombs for their leaders, like the Egyptian pyramids.
Click here to see a video of a modern pueblo in New Mexico:
To find out more about North American architecture before 1500, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:
Navajo architecture
Ute architecture
Cherokee architecture
Iroquois architecture
North American Architecture
after 1500 AD
Main North America page
Main South America page
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