ABSTRACT
The Subarctic culture area is the largest in North America, encompassing most of the northern portion of the continent, much of it covered with an extensive pine forest. The Subarctic was almost completely covered by ice at the end of the Pleistocene and was settled by people only after the ice had retreated and the land had been colonized by plants and animals (the eastern Subarctic was colonized even later as the ice retreated north; see Chapter 4). As the Subarctic became habitable, Athapaskan peoples from the west moved east and Algonquian peoples from the south moved north, culturally dividing the region into two halves. Thus, to understand the origins of Subarctic cultures, it is necessary to have some understanding of the Northwest Coast, Plains, and Northeast; this is the reason the Subarctic is discussed last.
