Sometimes referred to as The Wal Mart of long ago, the mighty Bison (Buffalo) was a significant part of First Nation’s way of life and had many uses for the tribes at this time. Nowadays you can only see Buffalo here and there but at one point they roamed North America by the million’s. But what happened to them? let us explore deeper into the mighty bison.

Food

Bison Meat Chart

With the huge size of this magnificent animal, the bison would produce a huge amount of meat, way more than that of a deer. Thousands of people could be found within a tribe at one time so just imagine the amount of food they would have to produce to feed everyone.

Native American’s had a ” take only what you need” policy in place before the time of Columbus. So in this way the buffalo would always remain in good numbers to feed the people.

Tools.

	Everything in the Buffalo was used and nothing was wasted, The bladder of the buffalo was cleaned, dried, inflated and used as a water bottle. The Bones used for weapons and tools to dig the earth. The brain mixed with the liver squished into a pulp would be used to soften the hide of the buffalo. Sinew was made from the tendons on the buffalo. Many tools were made from the buffalo.
Buffalo bone used for scrapping hides

Clothing.

Clothing From The Buffalo

From blankets to pants, there was many clothing and fabric that was made from the buffalo. Many of the tribes would sleep on the buffalo hides and many would dress in buffalo hide clothing to keep warm and dry from the elements. Even the footwear called moccasins were made from the buffalo.

Shelter.

Buffalo Hide Tipi The buffalo was also used for shelter after the buffalo was killed as the hide was made a few hides were sewn together with sinew. The hides would then be shaped to fit around the tipi pole structure that the Native American People lived in.

Other Things.

The Buffalo hooves were often used to make glue-like substance often used for gluing together parts of tools. Also, the Teeth were used for jewelry and the horns were used for drinking water.

So What Happened To Them?

Used as a way to force Native American People into submission many of the bison were killed almost to the point of extinction. Because of the lack of their main food source, many of the First Nation Tribes were forced to sign treaties and request help from the government at the time.

The government then took control of the Native American territory and put the tribes on pieces of land called reservation’s all across North America.

Today the Bison is considered as Near Threatened species. At one point there was only 100 bison left in The United States.

Spiritual Meaning.

Buffalo is a symbol of strength and unity. Buffalo skulls are also used in many First Nations ceremonies like sun-dances and sweat-lodges.

The Buffalo is one of the 4 sacred animals that is said to be the spiritual protectors of this world.

That is just some of the reasons Why The Buffalo Was Important To Native American People.