Transcript Chapter 1

Chapter 1
Early Life, East and West
Migration to the Americas
Lesson 1
Moving to the Americas
•Ice Age– long period of extreme cold
•Temperatures caused large areas of Earth’s waters to
freeze, forming thick sheets of ice called glaciers.
•The levels of the oceans dropped.
Bering Strait
• The Bering Strait is a
narrow stretch of
water that separates
Asia from North
America.
• During the Ice Age the
Bering Strait became
shallower causing
land that was under
water to be
uncovered forming a
large land bridge that
that linked Asia and
North America.
Bering Strait
People
• Migrate—move
• Theory—possible explanation
• The land bridge gave historians a theory that the first
Americans came across the land bridge following large
animals like the mammoth and caribou.
• Some theorists believe the first Americans
may have migrated to the Americas by boat.
• Perhaps they are both right.
• They adapted or changed their ways of living
to meet the challenges of each environment
as they traveled deeper into the Americas.
Food
• Life was a struggle, and
getting enough food for all to
eat was often a challenge.
• They lived in small bands, or
groups of people.
• Life centered on hunting, and
they depended on wandering
herds of animals for food.
• When a mammoth is killed,
they would stay nearby until
its meat ran out.
• The first Americans stripped the hides from
the animals and made clothes from them.
• They also stretched the hides over wood
frames to make a temporary shelter.
• They made tools like needles and scrapers
from the animals bones and tusks.
Tools
• They also made
tools from stone.
• Pressing one
stone against
another, they
chipped spear
points, knives
and hand axes.
Artifacts
• The earliest people left no
written record of how they
lived.
• Artifacts—an objects
someone made in the past.
• Archaeologists study the
artifacts of people who
lived long ago and draw
conclusions from them.
• Studying bone needles
reveal that people stitched
long ago.
Changing Ways of Life
• Earth’s climate began to
get warmer and glaciers
melted.
• Perhaps the animals
could not adapt to their
new climate, or perhaps
hunters had killed them
off.
• Whatever the cause,
the first Americans had
to find new sources of
food.
New Food Sources
• They continued to hunt small animals and fish.
• They also gathered plants that grew wild, like
grains, root vegetables, berries, and nuts.
•Hunters became
hunter-gatherers,
but they were still
on the move.
•They moved with
the seasons to find
whichever foods
the season
provided.
• Soon people began to grow food themselves.
• Instead of gathering wild grain, they began
growing the seeds themselves.
• Agriculture made it possible for them to settle
down in one place. Now wandering bands of
hunter-gatherers could become members of
settled communities.
Early American Cultures
Lesson 2
The Mound Builders
The Mound Builders
• The Great Serpent Mound is near Hillsboro,
Ohio.
• It was built by the Mound Builders.
• They were one of several early American
Indian groups that once flourished in North
America.
• They disappeared. Today we find signs of
towns that no longer exist in many parts of
our continent.
Location
• Most Mound Builders lived east of the
Mississippi River where the land is rich in
forests, fertile soil, lakes, and rivers.
• The Mound Builders were farmers who lived is
settle communities.
• Their main crop was corn.
3 Groups
• They were not a single group of people
– Adenas
– Hopewell
– Mississippians
Mounds
• They built thousands of mounds in many
different shapes.
• At Cahokia (present day Illinois), a mound
rises 100 feet, as tall as a 10-story building.
• Some mounds were burial places for
important chiefs. Some, like the Great Serpent
Mound, may have been built to honor animals
spirits that were part of the Mound Builders’
religion.
• Many had platforms where ceremonies were
held.
• Ceremony—an activity done for a special purpose
or event, such as a birth, wedding, or death.
Task of Mound Building
• The Mound Builders left
many clues for
archaeologists to study.
• Being able to build such
enormous structures shows
that they were wellorganized.
• Hundreds or even
thousands had to be
directed to dig up tons of
earth with the hand tools
available. Then the earth
had to be moved—often
over long distances—to a
mound location.
• Finally, the workers had to
create the shape the builder
had planned.
Trade
• Artifacts tell us
that trade was
important to the
Mound Builders
• Knives found in mounds were carved from a
rock called obsidian that came from the Rocky
Mountains , from the west.
• Seashells used in jewelry came from the Gulf
of Mexico, hundreds of miles from the south.
• Copper came hundreds of miles from near the
Great Lakes, to the north.
• Mica, a glittering mineral from the people of
Cahokia prized, came from the Appalachian
Mountains far to the east.
The Anasazi
The Anasazi
• The Anasazi were
another farming group
living in the Southwest
of the United States.
• Their name is a Navajo
Indian word for “the
old ones.”
• Their communities
were located in an
area today called
the Four Corners.
• Four Corners—
parts of 4 states
(New Mexico,
Arizona, Utah, and
Colorado)
Farming
• The
Anasazi
grew corn,
squash,
beans, and
pumpkins.
• They lived in permanent communities.
• Although the
climate is dry, the
Anasazi’s farming
was not limited.
•They dug ditches to carry water from streams the crops in their
fields.
•They were the first people to use irrigation systems in what
would become the United States.
Homes
• The Anasazi
were also
known as the
“cliff
dwellers”
because they
sometimes
carved houses
into the sides
of cliffs.
• They also built apartment style houses
several stories high on the tops of mesas.
• Mesa—high, flat landform that rises steeply
from the land around it. Mesa means “table”
in Spanish.
Mesa Verde
• Mesa Verde—Anasazi
community in present
day Colorado.
• Has large village built
into steep cliffs.
• Has large overhanging
rocks above it to
protect from bad
weather and attacks
from their enemies.
• The largest building is
the Cliff Palace which
has about 150 rooms.
• It also has about 23
kivas. Kiva—where
religious ceremonies
are held. Only men are
allowed to enter a kiva.
• People used
beautifully woven
baskets.
• They are so tightly
and expertly woven
they can hold water
and be used for
cooking.
• Hot coals are put
into the baskets
with corn that has
been ground into
flour, beans, and
other foods to make
stew.
Daily Life
What Happened to the Anasazi?
• The Anasazi suddenly abandoned their
villages in the Four Corners.
• No one knows for sure what happened to
them.
• One theory is that a
drought, or a long
period without rain,
forced them to leave.
– Streams dried up and
irrigation became
impossible
– The Anasazi had to
move to places where
there was enough
water for farming.
• Historians believe
Pueblo (including the
Hopi) are the
descendants of the
Anasazi.
Nampeyo
•
•
•
•
Lived from about 1860 to 1942
Studied the shards (pieces of broken pottery) of a Hopi village.
Found a way to recreate the ancient way of making pottery.
“I used to go to the ancient village and pick up pieces of pottery and copy the
designs. That is how I learned to paint. But now I just close my eyes and I see
designs and I paint them.”
• Se began to lose her eyesight and eventually went blind.
• She continued making pottery along with her children and grandchildren.
The Inuit
The Inuit
• The Inuit live in what is today Canada.
• Inuit means “the people.”
• Like the first Americans, the Inuit traveled from Asia to North
America.
• They came much later, though.
• Today they make their homes across the frozen lands of near
the Arctic Ocean, from Alaska through Canada and on to
Greenland.
Cold Climate
• They
adapted to
life in the
cold
climate:
• They hunted
whales,
walruses, and
seals in the
Arctic waters.
• They developed a
kayak, a light, oneperson boat that is
used for hunting
and transportation.
– In the winter, some Inuit still build traditional
houses called igloos from blocks of packed snow.
– Some built igloos as temporary shelters while on
hunting trips.
– An experienced Inuit can build an igloo in about 1
to 2 hours.
The Rise of Empires
Lesson 3
The Maya
• Civilization—culture with organized system of
government, religion, and learning
• They settled in present day Mexico.
• They did not have a single capital or ruler.
Each city governed itself and had its own ruler.
Farming
• They were successful farmers.
• They were farmers who cut down thick forests to create
open fields, where they grew corn and other crops
• Had enough food to create a surplus (more food than they
needed to feed their own families).
• People with extra food could trade it for things they needed.
• As a result, not everyone needed to farm.
Specialize
• Some Maya began to specialize (do only one
kind of job).
• People began to
develop skills
such as basket
weaving, jewelry
making, and
stone carving.
• Some studied the
world around them
and developing new
ideas.
– Some studied the
sun, moon, stars, and
planets which helped
them develop and
extremely accurate
calendar.
– Others became skilled
at mathematics and
were among the first
to use the number
zero.
• Some Mayans specialized in building
pyramids.
– Pyramid—building with three or more sides
shaped like triangles that slant toward a point at
the top.
– The top of the pyramids were temples where
religious ceremonies were held.
• Mayan kings were
buried in pyramids.
• They also developed a
system of writing.
– They recorded their
history
– They recorded what
they learned about
mathematics and
science
• Though we cannot
read all of their
writing, what we can
read adds to our
knowledge of their
civilization.
Mayan Writing
The End of the Mayas
• Their civilization began to decline and they
began to desert most of their cities.
• Eventually the forests grew back completely
covering their cities.
• Descendants live today in Mexico and Central
America.
The Aztecs
The Aztecs
• Aztecs migrated south to northern Mexico
• According to legend, they were following the instructions of one of
their gods, who told them to travel until they saw an eagle with a
snake in its beak sitting on a cactus.
• This is where they should settle.
• When they reached an island in Lake Texcoco, they saw what they
had been searching for.
• Here in the Valley of Mexico, they built Tenochtitlan (meaning “near
the cactus.”)
• Today, the eagle, cactus, and snake appear as the central symbols
on the flag of the country of Mexico.
Tenochtitlan
• Tenochtitlan grew into a great city.
• Causeways (low bridges)connected Tenochtitlan to the land around
the lake.
• As many as 300,000 people lived there, making it one of the largest
cities in the world.
Farming
• In order to
have more
land for
farming,
farmers
created
”floating
gardens”
around their
island city.
• Farmers on other Aztec lands developed
irrigation systems and created more land by
carving terraces (wide flattened steps) into
hillsides.
Creating an Empire
• From Tenochtitlan, Aztecs sent out armies to
conquer other peoples in the Valley of Mexico.
• Soon they had created an empire that stretched
from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans.
• Empire—group of lands and peoples ruled by one
leader
What About the People Captured?
• The Aztecs forced the people they captured to pay
them tribute (payment demanded by rulers from the
people they rule).
• Each year people in the Aztec empire had to send
gold, silver, and precious stones, as well as food,
clothing and weapons as tribute to Tenochtitlan.
• The Aztecs also demanded to be given people as
tribute.
• They enslaved people given to them as tribute as
well as prisoners captured in war.
• Slavery—the practice of holding people against
their will and taking away their freedom.
Religion
• Like the Maya, the Aztec worshipped many gods.
• Chief among them was Huitzilopochtli, the god of war.
– They believed they had to worship him by offering human
blood.
– Slaves and prisoners were sacrificed to the god.
– Sacrifice—kill a person or animal for religious purposes
The Inca
The Inca
• They rose in South
Americas in the
Andes Mountains
when the Inca
conquered the city
of Cuzco and made
it their capital.
• They also created
their empire
through conquests.
Accomplishments
• They built thousands of miles of roads to link all parts
of the empire to their capital at Cuzco in present-day
Peru.
• Government messengers could travel to the empire’s
four corners at a rate of 140 miles a day.
• That was probably the fastest communication system
anywhere in the world at that time.