This guide is designed to accompany the Colorado Ute Legacy video program which should be shown to students before they are introduced to this web site.

We would like your students to gain experience in reading, research, and writing through the use of the web. It is also our hope that a general understanding of the Ute Indian people will be gained by viewing the video and using this web site.

The site is structured on two databases. First, is the written video script that the students heard when viewing the video with links to photographs, maps, and treaty information pages. The second database is a written time line that is now complete through 1850.

You will find that the ethnohistory of the Ute People is naturally divided into three time periods which reflect external cultural changes.

#1 The Utes before the Europeans: 1 A.D. to 1500 A. D.
This was before the Spanish arrived in the Southwest.

#2 The Utes from 1500 A. D. until 1848 A.D.
This was the period of Spanish influence in the Southwest.

#3 The Utes from 1848 A. D. to year 2000.
The Utes after the United States took control of the Southwest.

Teachers should give students questions that can be answered by reading the script and using the links to the databases. Since there is so much information, teachers should break down the information into specific questions for the grade level of their students. A list of sample questions are given below. 


The Utes from 1 A.D. to 1500 A.D.

Where did the Utes live before the year 1500 ?
Locate three major land forms in the state of Colorado.

What foods did the Utes eat?
List the tools the Utes used to find and cook food.

How did the Utes travel?
Where did the Utes live in the summer and where did they live in the winter?

What language did the Utes speak?
List other Indian tribes from the Ute language family.

What are the differences between hunter-gatherer Indian tribes and Pueblo Indian tribes?

List two hunter-gatherer tribes and two Pueblo Indian tribes.

Did a hunter-gatherer tribe or a Pueblo tribe live at Mesa Verde National Park?

Where did the Ute children go to school?

List two ways that Ute children learned their lessons.

The Utes from 1500 A.D. to 1848 A.D.

Where did the Utes live when the Spanish moved to New Mexico?

Name three rivers located in Ute territory.

List 3 new tools that the Ute Indians used after the Spanish arrived.

Where did the Utes get horses?

What new language did the Utes learn from the Spaniards?

Why did the Utes need to learn a new language?

What materials did the Utes use to build their houses?

The Utes from 1848 A.D. to 2000.

Where did Ute bands live in Colorado when the Americans took the New Mexico territory?

List the Ute bands and their location on the Colorado map.

When was gold discovered in California and Colorado?

Write a sentence to explain why the Americans wanted the Utes’ land.

What new language did the Utes learn from the Americans?

Draw a map that shows where the Colorado Ute Indians live today. 

hey eddie wadda !!!
 
It is our hope that your students will learn at least three lessons from the video and Web site.

• All American Indians are not the same. Some Indians were hunters-gatherers, while others were farmers. Some Native Americas were warriors and others were peacemakers.

• America was not a wilderness without people before the Europeans arrived. Large Indian tribal territories and communities were established throughout North America.

• The Southern Ute Indians and hundreds of other American Indian Tribes still live in the United States.