Facts about Indians

Facts About

Did you Know? List of Interesting Facts about Indians
Facts are statements which are held to be true and often contrasted with opinions and beliefs. Our unusual and interesting facts about Indians, trivia and information, including some useful statistics will fascinate everyone from kids and children to adults.

Interesting Facts about Indians are as follows:

  • Fact 1 - Definition: Native Americans are the indigenous peoples from North America

  • Fact 2 - Indians were initially referred to as Red Skins when the navigator who sailed with Columbus noticed an red color of their skin which was due to the ochre they applied for decoration
  • Fact 3 - Totem Poles: One of the most famous structures found among the Northwest Indians was the totem pole. A Totem Pole is a tall vertical wooden post carved and painted with a series of family or clan crests or with figures representing mythic beings

  • Fact 4 - The different Homes and Houses of Indians included the following types of shelters:

    • Tepees (also spelled Teepees or Tipis) - tent-like shelters

    • Wigwams (or wetus) - cone-shaped birchbark shelters
    • Brush shelters or wickiups - very small shelters made purely for shelter when sleeping
    • Chickees - houses without permanent walls with a thatched roof
    • Earthen houses also called hogans, earth lodges and pit houses
    • Longhouses- built of wooden frames, logs and bark, up to 200 feet long, 20 feet wide and 20 feet high
    • Adobe houses also known as pueblos - multi-story houses made of adobe (clay and straw baked into hard bricks)
    • Asi - Wattle and Daub Houses - a frame work of poles intertwined with branches and vines covered with mud
    • Grass houses - thatched with long prairie grass with a dome-like roof
    • Plankhouses - made from long, flat planks of cedar wood
  • Fact 5 - Weapons: Indians used a range of weapons including bows and arrows, war clubs, tomahawks, flails, rifles, spears and knives
  • Fact 6 - Face paint / War Paint: Men wore bright face paint in times of war and also for religious ceremonies

  • Fact 7 - Peace pipes, aka calumet, were highly decorated ceremonial pipes consisting of a tube with a small bowl at one end and used for smoking tobacco. Peace pipes  were used in various ceremonies including war councils.

  • Fact 8 - Papoose: A papoose (taken from the Algonquian papoos, meaning "child") is used to describe "a Native American Indian child" regardless of tribe. However, a papoose is the word also used for Cradle boards and other child carriers, which were made by the skilled weavers and basket makers
  • Fact 9 - Pow-Wows: The term 'Pow-Wows' derives from the Narragansett word “powwaw,” which means "spiritual leader". Pow-Wows relate to large gatherings of people for various important events such as celebrations and meetings
  • Fact 10 - Buffalo were extremely important to Indians for food, shelter and clothing. 35 Million buffalo were killed from 1868 to 1881 which nearly led to their extinction
  • Fact 11 - Smoke signals: The Native American Indians communicated via smoke signals lighting damp grass to create smoke. Each tribe of Indians had their own signalling system. A column of smoke that came from half way up the hill would signify all was well, but a smoke signal from the top of the hill  would signify danger
  • Fact 12 - Transport: Indians did not know the wheel and they did not have vehicles - tribes like the Sioux used dogs to pull sleds called travois
  • Fact 13 - Transport / Canoes: Many Native Indians built canoes of birch bark, sewn with tree roots and sealed with resin. Construction of the war canoe was typically from one massive tree trunk. The inside was dug out and painted
  • Fact 14 - Hunting: Indians hunted buffalo, deer, wild turkey, water birds and sea mammals depending on the are in which they lived
  • Fact 15 - American Indians lived in harmony with nature, without disturbing the natural balance

  • Fact 16 - Europeans brought some terrible diseases to the American Indians such as smallpox, malaria, yellow fever and typhus. The Indians had no resistance or immunity to such diseases and up to 90% of people in villages died in epidemics

  • Fact 17 - Feather War Bonnets: Indians wore beaded, feathered war bonnets. The war bonnet, with its long trailer of feathers was a symbol of honor and accomplishment among Plains tribes such as the Araphaho, Sioux, Crow, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, and Plains Cree.  War bonnets consisted of a cap or band decorated with eagle feathers, ermine fur and beadwork. There were 3 types of feathered war bonnets

    • a trailing bonnet with feathers trailing to the floor (worn by the Sioux)

    • a straight-up feather headdress
    • a halo war bonnet in which the feathers fanned out around the face and shoulders
  • Fact 18 - Moccasins were a soft slip on shoe, or slipper, consist of a sole and sides made of one piece of soft leather, stitched together at the top with deer sinew and were a usually light beige color
  • Fact 19 - Wampum: Wampum are traditional, sacred shell beads of Eastern Woodlands tribes used for currency, recording special events and marking exchanges for engagement, marriage, and betrothal agreements.
  • Fact 20 - Squaw: The word for 'woman' in the various Algonquian languages - the term is often held to be offensive

Tribes of Indians

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