By the time of European contact, most of these Native American groups had settled in villages of 500 people or fewer, and grew corn, beans, squash, sunflowers, greens, tobacco, and other crops. The southeast Native Americans also gathered berries, nuts, wild plants, and roots from the surrounding forests.

Food. The economy of the Southeast was mostly agricultural. The leading crop was corn, followed by beans and squash. Southeast Indians grew several varieties of corn.

Mississippian Horticulture When Europeans first began to arrive in North America in about 1500, Native Americans in the Southeast were acquiring most of their food through agriculture, supplemented by hunting and gathering wild foods. A vegetable-rich diet had been common among Native Americans for centuries.

Pre-contact Foods and the Ancestral Diet Many Native cultures harvested corn, beans, chile, squash, wild fruits and herbs, wild greens, nuts and meats.

That’s because traditional American fare — from North, Central, or South America — contains a rich and colorful palate of heart-healthy foods, such as beta-carotene-packed pumpkin, fiber-loaded beans, and antioxidant-rich berries.

The resulting confederacy, whose governing Great Council of 50 peace chiefs, or sachems (hodiyahnehsonh), still meets in a longhouse, is made up of six nations: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora.

According to the federal government, in order to be a Native American, one must enroll in one of the 573 federally recognized tribes, etc. An individual must connect their name to the enrolled member of a federally recognized tribe. The individual must have proof and follow the rules of the tribe.

In the early 20th century, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina set the minimum blood degree at 1/32 (the equivalent of having one full-blood, great-great-great grandparent) but eventually raised it to 1/16 (the equivalent of having one full-blood, great-great grandparent).

Shakopee Mdewakanton

Before you apply for any grant program dedicated to Native American students, you must first be able to prove, with accepted documentation, that you are at least ¼ American Indian.

In order to qualify for this benefit program, you must be a American Indian/Alaska Native, you must be accepted or enrolled in an accredited degree program, college or university, and you or a family member must be enrolled in a Federally recognized American Indian tribe or Alaska Native village.