What caused the Pawnee and Sioux of the Great Plains to adopt a nomadic lifestyle?

Question

What caused the Pawnee and Sioux of the Great Plains to adopt a nomadic lifestyle?

Drought

constant warfare

the introduction of the horse by the Spanish explorers

the lack of wood on the Great Plains

Thanks!!

Answer 1

Constant warfare caused the Pawnee and Sioux of the Great Plains to adopt a nomadic lifestyle

Answer 2

Food, clothing, blankets, shelter (tepee) were all provided by the roaming herds of Bison.  The Pawnee and Sioux just were following the herds.

Answer 3

constant warfare with the settlers.

Answer 4

What kind of a lifestyle do you live when your primary food source migrates from place to place and it then becomes far too long a journey to go out after that food source if you remain stationary? The Plains Indians were already living a nomadic life before the arrival of Europeans because they had to migrate as the buffalo herds did so. They needed to remain close to the herds as they depended on them for food, clothing, and shelter. They used as much of the buffalo as they could. Buffalo sinew could be used to make bow strings. Needles, arrowheads, spearheads, and various utensils could be made from buffalo bones. The hide could be used as cloth for clothing, material for blankets, bedding material, and as coverings for tepees. When the buffalo was so important it was important to remain close to it. All else could be done based on the buffalo's migration.

Answer 5

They were hunters, so they had to follow their food.  Their food moved around, with the seasons.

Sorry to tell you the other factors you mentioned mean little:  Drought had little to do with this, as their prey migrated seasonally no matter the weather, warfare was practically non-existent, the horse made hunting easier - but had little other effect, lack of wood was not a factor...You'd just be moving from one place with no trees to another.  (Probably, their main source of fuel would have been grass, hay, or dung.)