Instructor: Henry Lesperance Alvarez

Lecture: Political & Cultural Geography.

Instructor: Henry Lesperance Alvarez

1. Identify on the map provided to you the country or geographical region depicted with a number. 1 Mexico; 2_____; 3______; [Etc.]

2. Only read the following terms and reference them if needed: Narrative1; Culture2; Civilization.3

3. Read the article titled Aboriginal Mexico 4 and give an explanation of figure 4. Why do you think there is such cultural diversity in Mexico?

4. Read article the Archaic Period 5 and Ethnobotany6 then give 5 examples of endemic plants to Mesoamerica and or North America and explain how they were used by Native Americans peoples.

5. Why did the domestication of plants and animals play an integral part in the development of early civilizations in the American continent?

6. The Codex Florentine 7 documents Mesoamerican native knowledge of plants and things. Find a sequence that you find of interest and describe it.

7. View the film Nova-Earth From Space8. This film shows how the earth is an interconnect system where an effect in one region of the world impacts another. What are some weather patterns that affect the American continent as a whole? How do you think weather played an influence in the development and adaptation of early Native American cultures in the continent?

8. What are some of the basic characteristics that allow us to define Mesoamerican cultures?9. When we speak of early civilizations we are referring to societies in the continent that

started to develop more ‘complex’ forms of government and public administration. In this sense complex stands in opposition to more ‘simple’ or less hierarchical societies, such as hunters and gatherers. Do you think this definition is a normative or descriptive claim?9 Please write a paragraph in which you explain.

10. Please make a drawing of a geographic feature or region that is important to you and explain why it is significant in your life.

1 http://www.slideshare.net/henrylesperancealvarez/narrativenationnature2 http://www.slideshare.net/henrylesperancealvarez/culture-63026337

3 http://www.slideshare.net/henrylesperancealvarez/civilization-578948424 http://www.slideshare.net/henrylesperancealvarez/aboriginal-mexico5 http://www.slideshare.net/henrylesperancealvarez/archaic-period-578042946 http://www.slideshare.net/henrylesperancealvarez/ethnobotany-63025006 Sara Reid, Van Wishingrad, and Stephen McCabe, Plant Uses: California. Arboretum University of Santa Cruz, 2009.7 http://www.slideshare.net/henrylesperancealvarez/florentine-codex-book-xii8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU0GhTmZhrs9 https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/wi-phi/critical-thinking/v/normative-and-descriptive-claims