Details
- Term
Southwest Indians
- Broader Term
North American Indians
- Alternate Term
Southwest Indians?
- Qualifier
culture area
- Remarks
The Southwest Indian culture area includes present-day Arizona, New Mexico, and portions of surrounding states, as well as northern Mexico. Southwestern peoples lived in a variety of small groups with different languages and cultures. Before European contact, there were several different types of communities in the Southwest, based on different economic systems: rancherias (scattered agricultural settlements), compact villages, nomadic small-scale farmers, and subsistence hunters and gatherers.
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