Why did the native Americans use teepees?

Answer 1

Before contact with European explorers, all native groups in the Americas were living essentially Neolithic lifestyles - this doesn't mean that they used only stone, but it means they used whatever materials were available in their own locality(just as European neolithic hunter-gatherers did).

For example the Wichita and their associated tribal groups (Waco, Caddo and many others) lived in an area largely empty of trees but covered with long prairie grass - it made sense that their homes should be covered with a thick thatch of grass (called grass lodges today).

In the arid deserts of New Mexico, Arizona and northern Mexico there were few if any buffalo and no tall, straight pines for tipi poles, so making tipis was impossible. Even grass was in short supply, so small wickiups of brushwood were the answer.

In the eastern woodlands, trees grew thickly everywhere so using tree bark and supple poles for the framework of longhouses and wigwams made perfect sense.

Answer 2

Those "Tents" (known as Tipi's (Teepee's)) were used as the tribe was nomadic; meaning it moved to follow its food sources.

Answer 3

They were nomadic peoples, and the teepee was easy to put up, take down, and move to a new location. The poles and skins were easy to replace if necessary.

Answer 4

Teepees (or lodges) were used by the Plains tribes as housing and were practical because of the availability of the housing material (Buffalo hide etc.)