Origins & Settlement Patterns INFORMATION
Culture
Culture is a concept used by anthropologists to define the adaptive systems unique to humanity. Hence, how groups of humans survive and utilise their environment is that which defines them as a people. Definitions of culture are used by historians as a context for the behaviours, movements, and activities of First Nations people. Cultural identities also reflect how groups of people survive together and adapt to local environments. Anthropologists and archaeologists agree that local adaptation is a long-term process with long-term results. The long-term process includes the development of social systems, warfare and diplomacy patterns, as well as economic and trade practices. This complex set of variables creates the equilibrium necessary to survive within an environment and is the abstract of human experience. Culture is the method and measurement of these adaptations to an environment.
Click on the links below to learn more about each region's First Nations culture.