The Earliest AmericansThe Earliest Americans

The World Before the Opening The World Before the Opening of the Atlanticof the Atlantic

Creation Myths

According to some northwestern Native American tribes, when the world was young there were only “the trees, the moon, the sun, water, and a few animals.” In this emptiness, the lonely Raven walked along the beach and wished for companions. To Raven’s surprise, a clam emerged from the sand and released a crowd of tiny people. Raven “sang a beautiful song of great joy,” say the northwestern storytellers, for “he had brought the first people to the world.”

(Stuckey et al 3)

I. The First Migration to America

A. Crossing to the Americas

1. during the last Ice Age

2. Beringia: a land bridge between Asia and Alaska

3. Paleo-Indians: crossed between 50,000 and

10,000 B.C.

4. hunter-gatherers who made finely crafted stone tools

I. The First Migration to America

B. Adapting to a New Climate1. hunter-gatherer societies: first

hunted large animals until they became extinct; then hunted

smaller mammals and birds as well as gathered edible plants; fishing also 2. agrarian societies: developed

first in Mesoamerica; domesticated wild plants and animals

II. Early Mesoamerican Civilizations

A. the Olmec

B. the Maya

C. the Toltec

D. the Aztec

E. the Inca

III. Early North American Societies

A. The Far North1. The Arctic (very northern Alaska and Canada): fishing and hunting societies; the Inuit and the Aleut2. The Subarctic (the remainder of Alaska and Canada): semi-

nomadic hunter-gatherers; the Algonquian

III. Early North American Societies

B. The Pacific Coast

1. The Northwest Coast (southern Alaska to northern California): fishing, hunting, gathering, trading; made huge red cedar dugouts; built wooden houses; made totems; held potlatches; The Tlingit, Tillamook, Nootka

III. Early North American Societies

2. California: hunting, fishing, gathering; lived in family

groups or villages; the Pomo,

Hupa, Chumash

III. Early North American Societies

C. The West and Southwest

1. The Plateau (Washington and Oregon): dry,

treeless plain; hunting, fishing,

gathering; lived in permanent villages:

the Nez Perce, the Modoc

III. Early North American Societies

2. The Great Basin (desert areas of Nevada and Utah): hunted small fowl,

reptiles, and mammals; nomadic family groups; the Shoshoni, the Ute

III. Early North American Societies

3. The Southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, Mexico/deserts to evergreen forests): some developed advanced agricultural practices, even irrigation (Pueblo, Pima, Anasazi, Hopi) while others hunted, gathered, and raided (Navajo and

Apache); created permanent settlements; dug pit houses, constructed pueblos (built single story or in cliff sides)

III. Early North American Societies

III. Early North American Societies

D. The Great Plains (stretches from Canada into Texas from Iowa to the Rocky Mountains; mainly grasslands):

1. hunter-gatherers relied on the large herds of buffalo and other large animals; used

every part of the buffalo; the Blackfoot, the Crow, the Teton Sioux, the Cheyenne

III. Early North American Societies

III. Early North American Societies

2. agrarian groups built large dome-shaped dwellings of wood and grass; the Wichita, Waco

3. matrilineal societies: the Pawnee

E. The East

1. The Southeast: lived in villages along river valleys; relied on agriculture but also hunted, gathered and fished; matrilineal; village councils; mound

builders; the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Seminole,

Natchez

III. Early North American Societies

2. the Northeast (from the Mississippi Valley to the Atlantic Ocean from the Great Lakes south

to Virginia):

a. the Algonquin: far north tribes were semi nomadic, relying mainly on hunting and gathering; southern tribes lived in villages of lodges and wigwams; and lived by agriculture, etc.

III. Early North American Societies

III. Early North American Societies

III. Early North American Societies

b. the Iroquois: agrarian; lived in permanent villages of longhouses; women controlled life, including the powerful Iroquois League which waged war or made peace

IV. Native Populations

A. Origins

1. no writing

2. learn about natives from archeologists and anthropologists

3. human remains have been carbon dated as far back as 16,000 years

4. oldest site of human activity found in Chile

5. advanced civilizations were in Central and South America

6. North American groups were very diversified

7. population estimates from 14 to 100 million at Columbus’s arrival

IV. Native Populations

IV. Native Populations

B. Periods

1. Paleo Indians, 10,000 -7,000 B.C.:

a. Not numerous

b. in clans

c. no pottery

d. clothes were animal skins

e. food gathering stage

IV. Native Populations

B. Periods cont’d

2. Archaic Age, 7,000 to 1,000 B.C. :

a. Moved to small animal hunting

b. made stone bowls before pottery

c. beginning simple pottery at conclusion

IV. Native Populations

IV. Native Populations

B. Periods cont’d

3. Woodland Age, 1,000 B.C. to 800 A.D. :

a. Real pottery

b. agriculture

c. hunting & fishing were supplemental

d. fish gathering (stone pile with hole in center –men would drive fish to the wall and women would catch them with baskets)

e. developed art, religion, skills

f. burials connected to religion

IV. Native Populations

B. Periods cont’d

4. Mississippian Period, 800 to 1500 A.D. :

a. built mound complexes

b. flat topped mounds usually had temples at the top; high status people may have lived on top as well

IV. Native Populations

IV. Native Populations

c. began using palisades (fences) for protection

d. culture probably already in early decline when Europeans arrived

e. toward the end, splits began to form in their culture

IV. Native Populations

V. Early European Explorations

A. The Vikings: a seafaring people from Scandinavia

B. Viking explorers:

1. Grimur Kamban: Iceland, 874

2. Erik the Red: Greenland, app 974

3. Leif Erikson: Vinland, app 1000

C. Problems:

1. attacks by Native Americans

2. too far from homeland

V. Early European Explorations

Works CitedWorks Cited

Brinkley, Alan. American History: A Survey. Vol 1. Boston: McGraw-Hill College, 1999.

Stuckey, Sterling, and Linda Kerrigan Salvucci. Call to Freedom: Beginnings to 1914. Austin, Texas: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston,2000.