How did the native Americans live before Europeans came?

Before European contact Native American Society was mainly Pueblo cultured society. They lived in the Rio Grande valley and to preserve their corn planting they had to construct an irrigation system to water their cornfields. Corn cultivation had come to North America later. Also, society was not very developed for the Iroquis and Pueblos as there were no nation states. The cultivation of maize and strains of beans and squash made up what is called three-sister farming for the Creek, Choctaw, and Cherokee people. Native people of North America lived in run down settlements before the Europeans arrived. Women tended to crops and the men hunted for animals and fish. "This pattern of life frequently conferred substantial authority on women, and many North American native peoples, including the Iroquois, developed matrilineal cultures, in which power and possessions passed down the female side of the family line." (Kennedy 2012, 1.3)

What similarities existed after the Europeans arrived was the fact that America was still mostly an agricultural society. This is because the Europeans gave Old World crops and animals to the Americas. The introduction of horses was a vital factor as North American Native Tribes used them and societies that would have to hunt for them which transformed them into a "hunter" society.

What they did also bring over that affected Native Americans greatly was how they brought diseases like smallpox, yellow fever, and malaria. These plagues would drastically drop the population of some tribes. The Europeans would also force their religion upon the Native Americans which they did not appreciate and felt resentment toward the Europeans. This religion they would force on them the Natives would call "Ecomienda."