Medicine Trails - Native Americans

Native Americans

Bison have migrated over the northern land bridge for many years. Not only until the later into the Ice Age had humans followed these creatures. Humans followed them and settled in modern New Mexico. Once the Ice Age finished, those humans found their settlement turning drier and hotter so the followed a herd of bison to the east and settled in, today referred as, the Great Plains. Once the land bridge melted, it forced the bison to stop their migration, therefore they also settled in the Great Plains. Tribes also settled on bison migration routes; for instance these tribes can hunt buffalo on an annual basis. Horses were introduced to North America by Spanish explorers in the 16th century. As the horses bred and became wild, they formed herds which migrated on a limited scale (compared to buffalo). Herds of wild horses supplied Native American tribes with the means to create the horse culture of the great plains.