Chapter 1: The First Americans

Prehistory to 1492

I. Early PeoplesWhere were the 1st people migrating from?

A. They migrated from Asia to North, Central, & South America during the last Ice Age

How long did this take?

B. Centuries – people spread out across the Americas as far east as the Atlantic Ocean & as far south as the tip of S. America

C. They crossed a land bridge, Beringia, from Siberia to present day Alaska. This bridge is now under the Bering Strait.

What route did they take?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Beringia_land_bridge-noaagov.gif

I. Early PeoplesWhat is a nomad? D. A person who moves from place to place in

search of food

What types of hunters were Native Americans?

E. They were skilled hunters that used every part of the animal for food, clothing, weapons, &

tools

II. Settling DownWhat happened when large animals disappeared?

A. Native Americans hunted smaller game after the mammoths died, and ate plants & berries

What were the new food sources for Native Americans?

B. Learning to plant & raise crops

C. People living near the coast or rivers learned to fish

What did the settlers do?

D. They formed villages & communities. Some people remained nomadic hunters

III. Cities & Empires: OlmecWhat were the most advanced civilizations?

A. Located in present-day Mexico & in Central & S. America; Olmec, the Maya, the Aztec, &

Inca

What were the Olmec people like?

B. The Olmec people lived in what is now Mexico, Guatemala, & Honduras, b/t 1500 b.c. & 3000 b.c.

C. They built stone pavement, drainage systems, & stone monuments.

III. Cities & Empires: MayanWhere did the Mayans live?

D. present-day Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, & Belize

What did the people do?

E. They built large cities, each having at least one stone pyramid

F. Tikal (ti-call) was the largest Mayan city & had 6 pyramid

What was the largest city?

What type of govt. was it?

G. A theocracy – or a society ruled by religious leaders

III. Cities & Empires: MayanWhat were the Mayan gods like?

H. They believed that their gods controlled all that happened on Earth. Atop the pyramids were religious & govt. centers

Interesting info. I. They Maya were skilled astronomers & developed a writing system called hieroglyphics

J. maize, vegetables, jade, turquoise, jewelry & cacao beans

What did they trade?

What caused the decline of the Maya?

K. No one knows – it happened around A.D. 800, but the descendants of the Maya still live in parts of Mexico.

III. Cities & Empires: AztecWhat was Tenochtilan? L. Home of the Aztec. Founded in 1325. An island

near present-day Mexico City

What is a causeway? M. Linked Tenochtilan to the mainland

N. They were warriors & conquered nearly all rivial communities. Military empire.

Who were the Aztec?

What did Aztec take from conquered people?

O. weapons, maize, cotton cloth, & copper & also forced their captives to work as slaves

What did the Aztecs do to please the gods?

P. Their society was organized around religion, & they sacrificed thousands of prisoners in religious ceremonies

III. Cities & Empires: Aztec

III. Cities & Empires: IncaWhere were the Inca? Q. Western highlands of S. American – A.D. 1200

Interesting info. R. Largest of early American civilizations. 3,000 mile empire

S. More than 9 million peopleWhat was the population?

What did they do? T. 10,000 miles of paved roads, record-keeping system, written language, terracing to plant crops on slopes

IV. North American PeoplesWho were the Hohokam?

A. Lived in present-day Arizona.

Who were the Anasazi? C. They lived in the Four Corners (UT, CO, AZ, & NM) from A.D. 200 & 1300

D. Stone & cliff dwellings.What did the Anasazi build?

Who were the Mound Builders?

E. Lived in central N.America. They built mounds of earth that looked like Aztec pyramids.

B. A.D. 300 to 1200. They build irrigation channels to bring water to hot, dry land

IV. North American PeoplesPeople of the West? F. Ute & Shoshone – used resources of the forest &

the sea as they hunted & gathered

People of the Southwest?

G. Hopi, Acoma, Zuni – adobe brick homes, raised maize, beans, & squash. The Navajo & Apache

H. Nomads; hunted & farmed & built tents called tee-pees. They tamed wild horses.

People of the Plains?

People of the East? I. Iroquois & Cherokee formed complex political systems of governing.

Discussion QuestionsWhy did these people spread out across the Americas?

They were looking for particular climates or land terrain as well as enough resources so they could survive.

How did early Native Americans learn to adapt to their environment?

They used the resources around them for food, clothing, and shelter. The hunted, fished, planted, and traveled from place to place search of their needs.

Why do you think early American civilizations developed along large bodies of water?

Early people settled near water as a means of transportation and a way to far,. If they needed to flee quickly, they could navigate along the waters

Why do you think the Maya believed that the gods controlled what happened on Earth?

It was an easy way to explain what they did not understand, such as the change of seasons or the weather

How did the Aztec build a military empire?

They went to war & conquered neighboring communities. They stole weapons from the conquered people to help build their empire.

It was the largest of the early civilizations, stretching for about 3,000 miles. The Inca developed paved roads, a common language, a record-keeping system, & terracing for farming.

Why is the Inca considered a great civilization?

Why do you think the dwellings of these early Native Americans were large & massive?

They thought that if they reached high in the sky they would be nearer to the gods. Also if they were visible from far away, and could accommodate a large group of people for living quarters, and for religious ceremonies.

Why do you think the different native American groups developed a wide variety of cultures?

Recognition that regional climate and resources created the need for different lifestyles. Climate and resources affected whether groups farmed, fished, or hunted, were nomadic or permanently settled, and what type of shelters they build.