The culture, political systems and daily life of the Eastern Woodlands (named so because they were forest dwellers) were affected by the geography of the region in which they lived. Waterways, flora, and fauna were plentiful. They used rivers for transportation and fishing. They used rocks, wood, and animal pelts to create tools for hunting and farming and to make clothing. They used tree trunks to build dugout canoes. Housing was made from natural resources available in the area such as tree bark and animal hides. The land was fertile, with rolling hills and clay soil, which allowed the people of the Eastern Woodlands to developed farming. The men used sharp points carved from rocks and animal bones for hunting as well as bows and arrows because they had not yet discovered iron. Because Eastern Woodlands natives farmed, they settled into more permanent villages than did their nomadic ancestors. The nation worked the land together and did not have a sense of private ownership of the land, believing instead that the land was held in trust by tribal groups. The Native Americans of the Woodlands cut trees and burned the brush (called slash and burn agriculture) to create farmland or to drive out animals and clear a field for farming. Women of the village, who gathered fruits and nuts, were also the principal farmers, using simple hoes made of bone. Their primary crops were corn, pole beans, squash, (known as the “three sisters”), pumpkins, and bottle gourds which they planted together using corn stalks as poles for the beans. They also grew tobacco.
