Why was the near extinction of the buffalo bad for many Native Americans?

Answer 1

The destruction of the buffalo was so detrimental to the Native American way of life due to the number of purposes buffalo served. Native Americans used buffalo for everything from food to shelter.

Answer 2

Native Americans relied on bison for food and fur. When settlers killed bison, they often left the meat to rot, causing hardship for Native Americans who needed the food. As bison populations declined, hunters would need to travel further to find animals, or they needed to rely on other animals.

Answer 3

The Native Americans of the Great Plains relied on the buffalo population for food, shelter, clothing, and fuel. As white settlers moved into the region, they shot and killed buffalo for sport and by 1890 there were fewer than 1000 buffalo left on the plain (65 million in 1800). Without their main source of food many Native Americans suffered

Answer 4

Buffalo affected the Native American way of life because buffalo was frequently hunted by the Native Americans. The buffalo was used for food, clothing, shelter, and tools. Once the buffalo disappeared the Native American way of life changed.

Answer 5

The bison were a main source of food and other items. They used the entire animal. When the bison disappeared they lost a great deal and it forced them to move into reservations to survive, but that was the whole purpose of the vast numbers of bison killed. The Native American way of life was gone at that point.

Answer 6

The Plains Indians suffered from lost battles and broken treaties. Even worse for them, however, was the destruction of the buffalo.

The end of the buffalo lived in areas west of the Mississippi and east of the Rockies. Nevertheless, with diseases, drought, and destruction, of the areas in which also they lived, the herds were slowly decreasing.

As the market requests for buffalo robes increased during the 1830's and 1840's, professional buffalo hunters killed more buffalo. In addition, buffalo hunting became a pleasure sport where railroads cut through the areas in which buffalo were living at.

Indian people themselves learned to hunt more without any difficulties. Some Indian tribes, such as the Pawnees, continued to hunt buffalo even though they knew the number of buffalo was decreasing.

The buffalo hunt was a part of their culture that they did not want to give up. As the buffalo disappeared, so did the Plains Indians' way of life.

Answer 7

The destruction of the buffalo does not particularly impact native Americans in the 21st century because they have integrated into mainstream society, but a few hundred years ago it was a big deal that the buffalo populations were going down.

As plains Indians relied the most on buffalo as their source of food and clothing, the decline of the buffalo population meant that the people would not have as much food to eat or clothing to wear, as well as less of the other uses that buffalo offered. They could still hunt other animals in the plains, such as deer, rabbits, etc., but because they depended so much on the buffalo population it could have caused tribes' population level to go down as well.

I hope that helps!

Answer 8

The destruction of the buffalo was so detrimental to the Native American way of life due to the number of purposes buffalo served. Native Americans used buffalo for everything from food to shelter.

Answer 9

The near extinction of the buffalo was bad for many Native American because of how much they depended on the buffalo for a variety of needs.