Texas Geography
East Texas gets more rainfall than West Texas — true or false?
What is true?
Plains tribes depended on the buffalo. What would have happened if buffalo herds disappeared earlier in history?
They would have been forced to farm, trade, or migrate elsewhere. Their nomadic, horse-based culture would not have developed the same way.
The Caddo were matrilineal. How might this have shaped leadership and decision-making differently than the Plains tribes?
Women held more authority in family and property decisions, unlike Plains tribes where men dominated leadership roles.
Why were tipis better suited for the Plains than adobe homes?
Tipis were portable for nomadic buffalo hunters, while adobe required permanent settlement.
How are the Karankawa in the Gulf similar to the Comanche in the Plains? (3 answers)
Both were nomadic, relied on hunting, and adapted to harsh environments.
Which river forms the border between Texas and Mexico?
What is the Rio Grande?
The Gulf tribes used alligator grease for mosquitoes. What does this adaptation reveal about the challenges of coastal life?
It shows how climate (humid, swampy, buggy) forced creative adaptations for survival.
Compare how Southeastern and Puebloan groups organized their societies. Which was more sustainable long-term?
Southeastern (Caddo confederacies) were more sustainable because of stable food supply and political organization; Puebloans depended heavily on scarce water.
If you were in the Mountains & Basins region, which adaptation would be most critical: irrigation, hunting, or trade? Defend your choice.
Irrigation — water was scarce; farming wasn’t possible without it.
Which two regions share the most similarities in economy?
Great Plains & North Central Plains — both rely on ranching/farming, though at different scales.
If you were traveling from Houston to El Paso, explain how the environment changes and how those changes affect human settlement.
It goes from flat, wet, and fertile (Coastal Plains) → drier farmland (North Central/Great Plains) → desert mountains (Mountains & Basins). Populations thin out as resources decrease.
Compare food sources of the Southeastern and Puebloan cultures. Which group had more stability, and why?
Southeastern (Caddo) — stable farming with crop rotation and hunting → most reliable. Puebloan farming depended on limited irrigation.
Plains tribes often had two chiefs (war and medicine/religion). What does this tell you about their values?
They valued both military strength and spiritual guidance equally, balancing survival with culture.
Compare how the Karankawa and Comanche solved different survival challenges.
Karankawa → fishing/canoes; Comanche → horse skills/buffalo hunting. Both reflect geography.
Which region had the least interaction with other cultures, and how did geography cause this?
Mountains & Basins — isolation from deserts and mountains limited trade and migration.
The Great Plains and North Central Plains are both “plains.” Evaluate how their geography produces very different economies.
Great Plains = ranching, dryland farming, buffalo culture.
North Central Plains = better soil and rainfall → farming and stockyards.
Imagine you are a Karankawan. Which environmental limitation would most affect your daily life, and how would you adapt?
Lack of steady food sources → nomadic lifestyle, constant hunting/gathering.
Imagine you lived in a Caddo village. How would your role differ as a man versus a woman?
Men cleared fields and hunted; women farmed, worked in villages, and passed on family lineage.
The Caddo developed crop rotation. How did this adaptation lead to more complex societies?
Reliable surplus → specialization of labor, leadership structures, permanent villages.
Plains tribes like the Comanche and Apache were excellent at this skill.
Buffalo hunting/horse riding
Predict how settlement in the Mountains & Basins might have been different if rainfall were more abundant.
It could have supported dense farming societies like the Caddo; instead, it was sparsely populated with irrigation-based Puebloans.
Which natural resource most influenced the diversity of Native cultures in Texas — buffalo, rivers, fertile soil, or rainfall?
Rainfall — it determined where farming was possible, which created settled vs. nomadic cultures.
Which Native culture was best positioned to trade with others across Texas, and why?
Puebloans — adobe villages near Rio Grande gave access to trade networks; also produced pottery and tools to trade.
Imagine a hurricane struck the Coastal Plains 400 years ago. How would Gulf tribes’ nomadic lifestyle help them compared to the Caddo?
Gulf tribes could move quickly and rebuild; Caddo villages would suffer long-term damage.
Big Picture: “Geography is destiny.” Use the 4 regions and their tribes to argue whether this statement is true or false for Texas history.
True — geography determined food sources, housing, mobility, and whether a group was nomadic or settled, shaping culture and survival.