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The Americas, 400-1500

The People of

North America

Early

Civilizations in

Mesoamerica

Early

Civilizations in

South America

The Peoples of North America

Objectives:

1. Identify and describethe first inhabitants of the

Americasthe huntersand gatherersand

describe later inhabitants,who practiced farming

2. Discuss the greatvariety of climate and

geographic features thatcontributed to the many

different cultures thatemerged in the Americas

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The Lands of the

Americas

The Americas, 9,000 milesfrom the Arctic Ocean to Cape

Horn

Various landscapes: ice-covered lands, dense forests,

river valleys, coastlines,tropical forests, and deserts

Major mountain ranges: RockyMountains and Andes

Major Rivers: Mississippi and*Amazon

The First Americas

Between 100,000 and 8,000years ago, the last Ice Ageproduced a low sea level

and created a land-bridgein the *Bering Strait

between Asia and NorthAmerica

Hunters pursued herds ofbison and caribou into

North

The first Americans werehunters and food gatherers

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The Peoples of

North America

Arctic and Northwest: The

Inuit

About CE, a group of peoplecalled the *Inuit moved intoNorth America from Asia

learned unique ways tosurvive in a cold environment

Harpoons and spears madefrom horns and tusks; homes

of stone and turf

Iglootemporary shelter

Eastern Woodlands: The Mound

Builders

Arounds 1000 BCE, EasternWoodlands, from the Great

Lakes to the *Gulf of Mexico

The *Hopewell people in theOhio River valley, known as the

Mound Builderselaborateearth mounds: tombs for the

wealthy

*Cahokia, near the modern cityof East St. Louismassive burialmound civilization; In the 13thcentury, the Cahokia collapsed

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Eastern Woodlands:

The Iroquois

The *Iroquois lived in villagesthat consisted of *longhouses

surrounded by a woodenfence for protection

hunted deer, bear, caribou,and small animals

Women owned the dwellings,gathered wild plants, plantedthe seeds, and harvested thecropsthree sisters (corn,

beans, and squash)

Wars were commonAccording tolegend, Deganawida appeared and

preached the need for peace

The Great Peace alliance of

five groups called the IroquoisLeague

A council of representatives knownas the Grand Council which met tosettle differences among the league

Women of each *clan selected themale members of the GrandCouncilthe experiment in

democracy

Peoples of the Great

Plains

The *Plains Indianscultivated beans, corn

and squash

Every summer, the menleft their villages to hunt

buffalo (stampede over acliff)

Ate the meat, used theskin for clothing, and

tools from bones*tepees from skin

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Peoples of the Southwest: The

Anasazi

Conditions are dry in theSouthwest territories (Mexico,Arizona, Utah, and Colorado)

sufficient raining forfarming

*Anasazi peoples establishedan extensive farming society:

500 and 1200 CE

Skilled at making baskets andpotterystone and *adobe(sun-dried brick) to build

*pueblos

Chaco Canyon(Pueblo Bonito) in

New Mexico was thecenter of their

civilization50 yeardrought destroyed

them

A large communityemerged at *Mesa

Verde (buildings inthe recesses of the cliffwalls)drought led to

its abandonment

Objectives:

1. Identify and describethe first inhabitants of the

Americasthe huntersand gatherersand

describe later inhabitants,who practiced farming

2. Discuss the greatvariety of climate and

geographic features thatcontributed to the many

different cultures thatemerged in the Americas

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The Americas, 400-1500

Objectives:

1. Characterize earlyMesoamerican

civilizations thatflourished withfully developed

political, religious,and social structures

2. Explain how theAztecs succumbedto diseases brought

by the Spanish

The Olmec and

Teotihuacan

*Mesoamericaareas of Mexicoand Central America: civilizedbefore the Spaniards arrived

*Olmec c. 1200 BCE: swampylowlands and coasts of the Gulf of

Mexico south Veracruz; Large citieswere centers for religious rituals

The Olmec carved colossal stoneheads, probably to represent theirgods; Around 400 BCE, the Olmec

civilization declined

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*Teotihuacan (Place of theGods)the first major city

in Mesoamerica

Capital of an earlykingdom from 250 BCE to

800 CE

Trade center located nearMexico City

Pyramid of the Sun, fourtiers to a height of over 200

feet

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The Maya and

Toltec

The civilization of the *Mayaarose on the *Yucatan Peninsula

from 300 to 900 CE

The Maya built splendid templesand pyramids and developed a

complicated calendar

Decline occurred for unknownreasons; theories include

invasion, internal revolt, ornatural disaster

Overuse of the land led toreduced crop yields; Cities were

abandoned and covered by densejungle growth

Political and Social Structures

Mayan cities were builtaround a central pyramidtopped by a shrine to the

gods

The urban centers such as*Tikal may have had a

hundred thousandinhabitants

Ordinary soldiers werecaptured in battle and

became slavessome wereused for human sacrifice

Rulers claimed to be

descended from the

gods and all life was in

the hands of the divine

powers

Supreme god

*Itzamna; Jaguar god of

nightevil divinity

Human sacrifice as away to appease the

gods

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Writings and Calendar

The Maya created asophisticated writing system

based on *hieroglyphs

Bishop Diego de Landabelieved this writing was

superstition and lies of thedevil and burned all Mayan

texts he could find

The Spanish applied their ownreligious views to the native

civilization

The calendar was

based on a belief in

cycles of creation and

destruction (3114 BCEto 2012 CE)

Measured time

according to

Astronomysolar

calendar of 365 days

(also used to foretell

the future)

The Toltec

The Northwest of present-day Mexico City who

reigned from 900 CE to1200 CE

They were a fierce andwarlike people who

conquered the Mayanlands of Guatemala and

northern Yucatan

*Chichen ItzaTolteccapital

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The Aztec12th to 16th century CE,establishing their capital

at *Tenochtitlan on anisland in the middle of

*Lake Texcoco

The city featured temples,public buildings, houses,

and roadways

They consolidated their

rule over much ofmodern Mexico *tribute was paid byconquered peoples

Rise of the Aztec

Political and Social Structures

Women in Aztec society

were not equal to men

but they were allowed toown and inherit property

and to enter into

contracts

Women were expected to

work in the home, weave

textiles, and raise

childrenor become a

priestesses

Religion and CultureHuitzilopochtli, the patron war

deity of the Aztec; god of the sun

Quetzalcoatl, feathered serpentgod

The Aztec believed Quetzalcoatlwould return and would be

preceded by the sign of an arrowthrough a sapling treesimilar

to a cross

Aztec religion unending strugglebetween the forces of good andevil throughout the universe;The Aztec practiced human

sacrifice

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The Destruction of Aztec

Civilization

In 1519, a Spanish forceunder *Hernan Cortes

landed at Veracruz with550 soldiers

*Montezuma believed thatthey were representativesof Quetzalcoatl and poured

out gifts of gold

The Spanish tookMontezuma hostage and

pillaged the cityeventually the Aztec drove

them from the city

Guns, Germs, and Steel

Objectives:

1. Characterize earlyMesoamerican

civilizations thatflourished withfully developed

political, religious,and social structures

2. Explain how the

Aztecs succumbedto diseases brought

by the Spanish

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The Americas, 400-1500

Objectives:

1. Describe the well-organized

militaristic empireof the Inca

2.Summarize howIncan communities

undertooksophisticated

building projectsand established a

high level of culturedevelopment

Early Civilization

Caral, located in Peru,has been identified as the

oldest major city in theAmericas (abandoned in

2000 to 1500 BCE)

Buildings includedapartment complexes

and grand residences;complex irrigationsystem

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C. 200 BCE, anotheradvanced civilization

appeared near the Pacificcoast near *Ecuador along

the *Moche River

*Maize (corn), peanuts,potatoes, and cotton were

staples

The Moche people had notwritten language butpottery implies the

dominance of warfare(prisoners and sacrificial

victims)

The Inca

After the Moche civilization,the kingdom of Chimor

emerged only to be replaced

by the *Inca

In the late 1300s, the Inca asmall community in the area

of *Cuzco

The powerful ruler*Pachacuti launched acampaign of conquest,

solidifying the region underhis control

Political Structures

His immediate successorsextended the boundaries of the

empire as far as Ecuador, centralChile, and the edge of the Amazon

basin

All young men were required toserve in the Incan army used tocreate a well-organized empire

divided into four quarters rulered

by governors

The emperor was believed to havedescended from the gods

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All Incan subjects wereresponsible for labor service,

building roads (25 thousandsmiles) and other projects

These roads extended frommodern day Colombia to chile

Social Structures

Incan society was highlyregimented; marriage

was confined socialgroups

Many lived in farmingcommunities and homesbuilt of stone and adobe

Terraced farms wateredby irrigation

Building and Culture

Structures were built of close-fitting stones with no mortara solution to the frequent

earthquakes

*Machu Picchubuilt on alofty hill top surrounded by

mountain peaks 8,000 ft.

The Inca had no writingsystem but kept recordsusing a system of knottedstrings called the *quipu

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Conquest of the Inca

The Incan Empire, stillflourish in the 16th

century, encountered*Francisco Pizarro and

his 180 men

An epidemic of smallpoxdevastated the

civilization

The empire fell into civilwar during which Pizarro

exploited the chaos

Objectives:

1. Describe the well-organized

militaristic empireof the Inca

2.Summarize howIncan communities

undertooksophisticated

building projectsand established a

high level of culturedevelopment