Each tribe or band occupied a specific territory, generally centered on a lake or wetland that supplied fish and waterfowl.

Communal hunt drives, which often involved neighboring bands, would take rabbits and pronghorn from surrounding areas.

[2] Upon arrival of foreigners into western Nevada, the Northern Paiute became sedentary in order to protect themselves and handle negotiations with the new settlers.

Because of their change from a nomadic to a sedentary lifestyle, women were relied upon more heavily for both their full-time employment and at-home work.

These differences in lifestyle and language could be because Northern Paiute may have moved from southern regions to the Nevada/California area in which they currently reside.

Although the Paiute had adopted the use of horses from other Great Plains tribes, their culture was otherwise then largely unaffected by European influences.

Fatalities were much higher among the Paiute due to newly introduced Eurasian infectious diseases, such as smallpox, which were endemic among the Europeans.

Because of the distance of the reservation from the traditional areas of most of the bands, and because of its poor environmental conditions, many Northern Paiute refused to go there.

When environmental degradation of their lands made that impossible, they sought jobs on white farms, ranches or in cities.

They established small Indian colonies, where they were joined by many Shoshone and, in the Reno area, Washoe people.

By that time the pattern of small de facto reservations near cities or farm districts, often with mixed Northern Paiute and Shoshone populations, had been established.

Under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, several individual colonies gained federal recognition as independent tribes.

[10] The Northern Paiute origin story, among many other important and formative legends, was passed on orally from tribal elders to younger tribe members and from grandmothers and grandfathers to grandchildren.

Men and women divided the work between each other the most traditional way: women made household tools, gathered fruit and seeds, cooked, cleaned, cared for the children, and made the clothing, while men hunted and protected their families.

While some women disrupted tribe meetings, Sarah Winnemucca became a figure in the eyes of the public by making claims of being a princess and using this attention to advocate for her people.

[16] The Northern Paiute people believe that "matter and places are pregnant in form, meaning, and relations to natural and human phenomena.

In order to draw upon the powers of nature and the universe, shamans would frequently visit sacred sites.

These sacred sites are where shamans performed many of their duties, including curing, rainmaking, warfare, fighting, or sorcery.

The Northern Paiute believe that doctors/shaman retrieve the souls of those who have committed wrongdoings and re-establish them in to Native American society.

In many cases, a shaman will utilize various mediums, such as a rattle, smoke, and songs, to incite the power of the universe.