Transcript Diapositiva 1

The Americas
Later World Civilizations
Cultures of Central and South America
• The first humans arrived in the
Americas thousands of years ago
• Bering Strait
– During the last ice age many people
came across a land bridge
Early Americans
• First Americans were hunter and
gatherers who followed big game
• Neolithic Revolution
– People began farming and settling
down in permanent areas
• Craft workers, full time soldiers, priests
Mayan Civilizations
• Largest civilization in Mexico and
Central America
– Temples were dedicated to the deities
• Shaped like pyramids but with a flat top
– Human Sacrifices occurred at the top of the
temple
» Players on a losing side of game were
sacrificed
» Enemies captured in battle were sacrificed
– Hieroglyphic Writing and Calendar
• Mayans used the calendar to know when
to plant crops each year
Mayan Civilizations
• What happened to the Mayans?
– Don’t really know
• Land was over farmed
• Enemies may have invaded their territory
– Today, descendants of the Mayans live in
Guatemala, Yucatan Peninsula, and
northern Mexico
The Aztec Empire
• Tenochtitlan – capital of the Aztec
Empire
• Each state paid a yearly fee or tax to
the king
• Aztec’s practiced human sacrifices
• Society
– Commoners were the largest group and
that included anyone who was not a
noble or slave
The Inca Empire
• Began as a small group in the mountains of
Peru
• Divided into four provinces
– As soon as the Inca overtook a group their land
was taken over by the government
• Inca demanded labor instead of taxes
– Whole communities had to spend several weeks
a year working on lands given to the Empire
• Quechua – language of the Inca
– Colonists were sent to newly conquered lands
and taught the language
Incan Society
• Quipu – method of using knotted
and colored strings to keep records
– First string would represent thousands,
second string showed hundreds, third and
fourth strings showed tens and ones
– Example: suppose a farmer paid 1,200
bushels of grain in taxes they would tie a
knot in the first string, two knots in the
second
• Incan guns were no match for
Spanish guns and horses
The Americas
NORTH AMERICAN CULTURES
The Ancestral Puebloans of the Southwest
• Modern day Arizona, New Mexico,
Colorado, and Utah
• Developed an apartment building
style of housing
– New Mexico ruins - 800 rooms housed
more than 1,000 people
• In the 1200s Puebloans moved out of
the area
– Drought and Navajos and Apaches
began coming into area
Plains Peoples
• Descendants of the first Plains
people hunted bison until the late
1800s
– What changed?
• Horses brought by the Spanish
• Horses were used in hunting bison since the
horses could go greater distances
– Bison provided everything for the Plains people
• Mid 1800s a series of wars broke out
between settlers and Plains people
– Those that survived were forced to live on
reservations
The Iroquois of the Eastern Woodlands
• Combined hunting and farming – lived
in villages surrounded by high walls
made of logs
• Iroquois is a language family
• Iroquois League
– Aimed to stop the constant warfare
– Chiefs from five nations in New York
formed the league
• Elected representatives to a Grand Council
• Goal was to find solutions and prevent
warfare
The Iroquois of the Eastern Woodlands
• Iroquois League
– A woman’s place
• Clan Mother chose 50 representatives to
the Grand Council
• She can remove a representative if she does
not approve of his decisions
– Remained in existence when the
British began to settle the East Coast