Leveled Reading · Geography

The Great Plains Landscape

A short excerpt about the land of the Great Plains. It comes from an essay by Julie Cajune (Salish) in the Smithsonian’s online lesson “Northern Plains History and Cultures.” It leaves out the rest of the essay and the lesson.

Original source Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Native Knowledge 360° — “Northern Plains Nations: Belonging to Place, Family, and Nation” (opens in a new tab)

This page is a simplified version of the original text (leveled toward 800L). Photos, maps, and other images are not on this page — use the original link above to see them.

Words with a dotted underline have a Word Help card pinned beside the paragraph.

One third of the United States is called the Great Plains. Most people picture that region as a huge, flat area. But the Great Plains are much more varied than that. Tall grasslands cover large parts of it. Among them are many forested mountain ranges, such as the Black Hills and the Bear Paw Mountains. The land also has rolling hills. They slope down to river corridors lined with groves of cottonwood and box elder trees. This huge area was once home to immense herds of bison. The bison were essential to the lives and economies of Native peoples.

Many Native Nations still call the Great Plains home. Some have lived on the plains since time immemorial. Others made their homelands on the plains more recently, as their tribal territories shifted over time.

Source: Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Native Knowledge 360°, “Northern Plains Nations: Belonging to Place, Family, and Nation.” © Smithsonian Institution. Short excerpt, simplified for reading level (no facts added), used for classroom study with credit. All rights remain with the original publisher; please read the original for the full text. The essay opens from the link “Essay: Northern Plains Nations” partway down the lesson page. Read the original, with its images and maps, at americanindian.si.edu.