The Native American peoples of both North and Southwest were tribes that in all aspects of their lives and society, depended completely on nature, the land and the availability of resources. This is why some tribes settled where they did, because the lands and resources were sufficient to support their societies, while others migrated constantly in search of new places to settle on. Some even remained as nomads, going from one place to another. What is important to know, regardless of all, is that there was a commong denominator to all Native American cultures; the importance of nature and the environment, as this would ensure the possibility of survival and even development.
It is important to remember especially, that particularly North American tribes, were not particularly advanced in the use of activities like agriculture and therefore were very dependent on what the land had to offer. Most of them cultivated in small amounts, but mostly they hunted and moved around depending on the availability of resources. Because of this, the environment played a vital part in their lives, and they strove always to care for the earth, even divinizing some aspects of nature because they were providers of life and resources. This was one point of conflict when the Europeans arrived in America; the first believed that the Indians were not using the land appropriately and therefore it was being underused, while the Indians believed in the respect of the Earth above all else.
Traditional Native American cultures vary extensively rely on tribes or clans, with hundreds of them in America, northwest and southwest included.
Some settlements were concealed by mountains and plains. Thus people in the plains relayed on corn, squashes and beans like the Mandan living in villages; others were moving herds like the Lakota.
People in the NW areas depended on the sea, being experts in whaling, fish oil trade, and salmon breeding.
Native American quotidian practices fluctuate from using animal skins as clothing, shelters made from the surrounding materials to using resources like rocks, or oyster shells to farm, hunt, and fish.
People of the Northwest Coast wore minute clothing, excepting when it was cold; having a high metabolic rate allowed them to produce body heat, often remaining naked, or barely wearing bushy clothes from animal leather, or wool.
And the Southwest's climate is generally hot and arid, with rock formations, water-miser plants, and few green river valleys, so the cultures from that region were based on farming supplemented by hunting and gathering.
