Cree

Expert hunters, trappers, and fishermen, the Crees once roamed a huge area in Canada from Hudson Bay to Alberta. Today, the largest First Nations (Native American) group in Canada, the Crees live on reserves throughout that country and on a reservation in the United States, as well as in cities and towns across the continent. The Cree Nation was divided into two major cultures. The Western Woods Crees depended on their skills at gathering the animal and plant resources of the cold north, while the Plains Crees hunted the buffalo of North America's grasslands. Europeans brought trade for fur as well as diseases for which the Cree had no immunity, both massively changing the Crees' culture. Today, though they no longer rely extensively on their hunting and trapping, the Crees are passing on these skills -- and their values of self-reliance and community gained from living off the land -- to their children. Activists and elders are working to preserve Cree culture, languages, traditions, and lands. This book presents their struggles and successes in clear, vivid text and images. Book jacket.

• Author: Mary Stout
• Publisher: Gareth Stevens Learning Library
• Published: 2003-07-18
• Pages: 36