Diversity.

By the time Europeans first encountered North America, there existed hundreds of Native American groups. Each people had its own history, culture, and language. The type of physical environment in which they lived largely determined their day-to-day lives. Every region of what is now known as the United States provided subsistence for groups of native people who adapted to their physical settings in practical and ingenious ways. Whether building canals in the arid Southwest or constructing fishing weirs in the streams and rivers of the rest of the continent, Indians altered their environments to provide the necessities of daily existence. Native Americans constantly adjusted to changing surroundings by developing new methods of acquiring sustenance. The manner of their adjustment decided the size of their settlements, the varieties of shelter in which they lived, the clothing they wore, the extent of their seasonal movements, and the types of...