WIGWAM - 3 reference results
wigwam, dwelling found among the Algonquian of the Eastern woodlands area of the United States. The wigwam was usually conical, arborlike, or domed. Some were small, accommodating a single family; others were large communal dwellings. They were covered with squares of bark, with reed mats, or with thatch. Sometimes the word is incorrectly extended to almost all Native North American dwellings including the earth lodge and sometimes even the tepee and the wickiup.
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Licensed from Columbia University Press
Licensed from Columbia University Press
also called wigwam
indigenous North American dwelling characteristic of peoples living in forested regions. It is constructed of saplings driven into the ground in a circle or oval and tied together at the top, then covered with mats of woven rushes or sewn bark. A typical wickiup was some 15–20 feet (4.5–6 metres) in diameter. By the early 21st century, wickiup had become the preferred term among many Native Americans because wigwam was believed to play into a stereotype.
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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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