Introduction+to+the+Architecture+of+the+American+Indians

====Architecture is one of the most significant ways in which American Indian societies modified the natural landscape. Looking over the distribution of the different kinds of buildings which were built by the American Indians, from the usage of structure and materials in different tribes, it is possible to tell their culture aspects and how they used the aid of some imagination and inference in the past centuries.====

The first houses
====When the original ancestor of the Indians came wandering over the region of Behring Strait, making their mind to make the journey across the arctic wastes, they have evidently brought some very definite notion of how to build their houses, and the apparent answer is-the circular type of dwelling. Because without these easy assemble and portable houses, they can never have made the journey across the arctic wastes, and when the first European explorers arrived, and nobody has ever suggested the existence of any other type of house besides the circular ones in Behring Strait Region. This type of circular house has been change and improved into several other forms, the most famous one is the tepee.====

[[image:Tepee-On-The-Range-Wyoming-1-1600x1200.jpg width="400" height="300"]]
====A tepee is a conical, portable structure with tow adjustable smoke flaps, and traditionally made of animal skins or birch bark. This type of house is widely used among the native Americans of the Great Plains. A tepee is durable, provided warmth and comfort in winter, cool in the heat summer. Tepee could be disassembled and packed away and reconstructed quickly when a tribe decided to settle in a new area.====



====Twelve or more poles are needed for the tepee framework. The poles should be straight and smooth, and the length should be ar least 3 feet longer than the width of the cover. The first step of building a tepee is to get three of the strongest poles are made into a tripod, The rest of the poles are placed equally around the tripod to form a full circle, and tied the poles together at the top with rope. The last pole tie with the cover fastened to it, should be placed opposite to the direction of the door.====

Igloo
====The Eskimo snow house is also from the point of view, an adaptation of a original round dwelling. Until the last entrury, igloos were built by the native perople of northern Canada, of whom are assumed to be the offspring of the ancestors of the Indians who traveled across the region of Behring Strait. Igloos were also built by people in northern Alaska.====

====The snow used to build an Eskimo snow house which is known as igloo, must have enough structural strengh and the snow block is required to be cut and stacked appropriately. The best snow block material is the snow which has been blown by wind, because the ice crystals have alreadybeen compacted and interlocked inside the block. Due to the excellent insulating of snow, the igloos are surprisingly comfortable and warm inside.====

====The building process of a igloo is unique, it is a dome which can be raised out of blocks leaning on each other and polished to fit the faying surface of each blocks without the additional support during construction. The building sequence of stacking the blocks is clockwise, from the bottom to the top. A good quality igloo can support the weight of a person standing on the roof.====

The Square Houses
====As the Indian have became more civilized at a very early date in some regions, they have abandoned the round house, and started to build a quare one.The square houses can be explained as a symbol of civilization. And this is the first step of experimentation in the building arts. In the light of this view of view, the tribes in New York state were one stage ahead of other tribes in the evolutionary of building, because they built the reatangular structures, other's are round one.====

 ====In an Iroquois there may have 20 or more families along with the other relatives related through the mother's side. All of these families belonged to the same clan, and each clan in a village had its own longhouse. Clans were named for animals and birds, turtle, bear and Hwak. The symbol for the clan was used in decorations of household objects, in tattoos, and on the front of the longhouse. ====



The longhouse is constructed using a wooden pole framework. Long poles are vertically set into the ground with the Y fork at the top. Poles are laid horizontally onto the top of the Y forked foundation and tied into place with wooden rope. The roof is slanted to assure that rain and heavy snows will not accumulate and damage the roof. Once the framework is created, the Iroquois use elm or black ash bark to cover the outside of the longhouse. The bark is laid out and flattened. Once the bark is prepared, the bark shingles are tied into place on the upright pole framework using bark rope.

====The knowledge and skills of using building materials, engineering, and fabrication techniques are continued through oral tradition and learned experience. The orientation of structures and their arrangement are often influenced by political order and religious factor. Many beautiful pictures were taken to show the amazing pieces of native architecture, which can tell us how the Indian came to build these remarkable works, and the ancient wisdom they have.====

====This book is a overview of the American Indian culture aspect and the development of their house, from the round tepee to the square house, introducing the development in a chronological order, describing all the factors affecting the housing changes, even though some of them are hypothesis.====

====2. "Plains Indian Tepee - How to Make, Erect, and Decorate a Tepee (Teepee, Tipi)." Shelter Publications, Inc. - Publishers of High Quality Books and Software. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. .====

====3. "Native Americans : American Indians - Old Black and White Photographs Gallery H Page 6." First People of America and Canada - Native American Indians. Turtle Island. Legends, Treaties, Clipart. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. .====

====This library found article is a introduction to the American Indian architecture history in Oklahoma State, though it is somehow narrow into a certain region, but the development of the history of American Indian architecture give us the insight of the whole process among different tribes.====

====5.Native American Homes: Wigwams, Longhouses, Tepees, Lodges, and Other American Indian Houses." Native American Language Net: Preserving and Promoting Indigenous American Indian Languages. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. .====

This website has the most completed collection of different types of American Indian housing and a brief discription about them.
====6. "The American Indian Teepee Is the Most Well Known of Indian Homes." NativeNet - Dedicated to Literature of Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. .====

==== 7. Reginald Laubin and Gladys Laubin, //The Indian Tipi: Its History, Construction and Use// (1957; reprint, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971). Lewis Henry Morgan, //Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines, Contributions to North American Ethnology//, Vol. 4, Department of the Interior, U.S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1881). Peter Nabokov and Robert Easton, //Native American Architecture// (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989). Paul Oliver, ed., //Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World//, 3 vols. (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1997). ====

====The importance of Tepee to American Indian and the history and development of the tepee, in what kind of condition this housing be invented and how this become the most important house type in most of the tribes in American Indian.====

====11."History of Tipis (also Spelt Teepee and Tepee) - Zac's Tipis." Zac's Tipis - Buy or Rent a Quality Tipi - Based in Tipi Valley, South Wales. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. .====

====12. Samsa, Fred. "History of the Igloo for Kids | EHow.com." EHow | How to Videos, Articles & More - Trusted Advice for the Curious Life | EHow.com. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. .====

====14. "The History of Mary's Igloo, Alaska - ExploreNorth." Your Gateway to the Circumpolar North - ExploreNorth. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. .====

====15.Beaulieu, David. "Building an Igloo | Snow Houses | Building Igloos." Landscaping Ideas | Landscape Design | Landscaping Pictures. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. .====

====20.Native American Homes: Wigwams, Longhouses, Tepees, Lodges, and Other American Indian Houses." Native American Language Net: Preserving and Promoting Indigenous American Indian Languages. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. .====

Finding information about the summary of the architecture development history of the native American Indian people.