A shallow, rocky river with green branches hanging over it and a man walking along the bank

Cheyenne history: For a long time, Cheyenne people lived in Minnesota, along rivers like this one.

Algonquin and Cheyenne

Cheyenne people are related to the Algonquin people. From the Paleo-Indian period onward Cheyenne people lived in the Great Lakes area (in modern Minnesota).

Who are the Algonquin?
The Blackfoot 
Later Cheyenne people
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They were related to other Algonquin people like the Blackfoot and the Cree. “Cheyenne” is a Sioux word for “people who speak a different language” – it’s not what the Cheyenne called themselves. Like the Cree, the Cheyenne did a lot of fishing in the Great Lakes.

Bows and arrows

Cheyenne people started to use bows and arrows to hunt about 3000 BC. Then around 500 AD, they learned – probably from their Blackfoot neighbors – how to make a more powerful recurve bow. They used the bow to hunt deer and moose.

Who invented bows and arrows?

Cheyenne people farmed corn

But the Cheyenne lived a little further south than the Algonquin and the Cree. That meant that they could farm corn like their neighbors, the Mandan, the Sioux, and the Crow. The Cheyenne probably started to farm corn around 900 AD. Like the Crow, the Cheyenne lived in earth lodges in villages. They made pottery.

History of corn
History of pottery
Who were the Crow?

Did you find out what you wanted to know about the history of the Cheyenne? Read on to find out what happened to the Cheyenne after Europeans invaded North America in the 1500s AD.

Learn by doing: make popcorn
Cheyenne history after Europeans invaded

Bibliography and further reading about Cheyenne history:

   

Later Cheyenne history
Crow history
Sioux history
Cree history
Native Americans
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