ABSTRACT
The central plains of North America, to the east of the Rocky Mountains, provided the homeland for the Plains Indians; here the hunting grounds of the twelve ‘typical’ tribes coincided with the grazing range of the largest of the buffalo herds. These tribes all shared the common features of extensive use of the tipi, buffalo and horse; the division of warriors into societies; and the religious ceremony called the Sun Dance. Cultural characteristics naturally varied from tribe to tribe, most obviously between the least associated tribes such as the Blackfoot to the north and the southerly Comanche. The Plains tribes inevitably had links with their neighbouring tribes on the borders of the Plains. To the west were the Plateau tribes, such as the Nez Percé; and the south-west desert tribes, such as the Apaches, had originally been among the earliest inhabitants of the Plains. They, like the village farming tribes on the borders of the eastern woodlands, because of their close proximity to the Plains Indians shared with them a number of cultural traits, and in fact occasionally ventured out on to the open grasslands themselves.
