Traditional economy

Indians who lived in different parts of the North American continent accommodated to the natural conditions of their habitat, and, therefore, had different economies and occupations. The main occupation of the Eskimo and Aleut people on the Arctic coast was sealing and they combined with hunting on dry land. The Athabaskan and Algonquin people who lived in Canadian taiga were hunters and fishermen. The Iroquois and other peoples of the east were engaged in agriculture and hunting. The Tlingit, Haida, Kwakiutl, Selish Indians and other inhabitants of the north-west coast of North America, where natural resources are rich, were engaged in hunting and fishing, as well as sea hunting and collecting wild plants and fruits. Part of aborigines combined fishing as their main occupation with hunting and collecting shellfish. Some tribes looked after wild crops and harvested wild rice, while others were engaged in agriculture and grew maize, had vegetable gardens, etc. After the arrival of Europeans in the 18th century Indian of the Great Valleys began to horse-hunt.

I. Suvorov, the tribe head, in hunting costume .  USA, Alaska, Aleutian Islands, Umnak. The Aleutians. V. I. Iohelson. 1909		The Aleutians in kayaks.  USA, Alaska, Aleutian Islands, Umnak. V. I. Iohelson. 1909		Aleutian kayak. USA. The Aleutians. Iohelson V., 1909
Fish drying. USA. Attu. The Aleutians. Iohelson V., 1909		Corn ear. USA. Pueblo Indians.		Corn fields of the Virginia State. Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand. American Indian Art of the Ancient Midwest and South, Richard F. Townsend, general editor. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago.
Picking of Indian (wild) rice. USA. The Algonquins.		The Timucua Indians, Florida, deer hunting. Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand. American Indian Art of the Ancient Midwest and South, Richard F. Townsend, general editor. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago.