Transcript Chapter 1 - NORTH MUSKEGON PUBLIC SCHOOLS Mr. Friesner

Unit 1:
The Americas: Worlds Meet
Chapter 1
The First Americans
Archaeologists- scientists who study ancient peoples and
cultures.
Archaeologists using artifacts have pieced together their
findings to give a picture of these first Americans
Chapter 1 – The First Americans
• Many theories of how people came to be in the
Americas.
•Most archaeologists agree on the Land Bridge
(BERINGIA) that connected Asia to North
America where Alaska is at.
• The theory says that people made there way
across this bridge in their search for food.
(following the herds that sustained them)
• These first peoples were hunter/gatherers and
so they spread southward in search of what they
needed to live.
• Over time the climate changed and these
inhabitants adjusted their lives accordingly.
Section 1
Most archeologists agree on the following sequence of
events for the first Americans.
•
As earth’s climate changed and animal herds diminished
these groups began to diversify
•
Farming becomes prevalent ( maize (corn) is the first crop).
•
Cultures grow as people have more time for other activities
Cities and Empires
Section 2
Empires of the South
3 main civilizations (groups of people with an advanced culture)
Maya- 300-900 A.D.
•
Southern Mexico and Northern Central America.
• 2 million people covering
• 200 cities
• Skilled farmers – built terraced fields on hillsides
•
Made enough to trade
•
Used cocoa beans for money
•The city was the gathering place
o religious ceremonies
o markets
o organized ball games.
 The ball games were brutal blood
sports with the winners actually
being sacrificed to the gods.
•Mayan religion- priests helped people please
the gods. If the gods were pleased good
things happened.
•Mayan science- studied the stars, made
calendars, and were skilled mathematicians
(first zero)
•Their achievements include a system of
writing (hieroglyphs), paintings and
metalwork.
Mayan empire began to decline by 900 A.D. By 1500’s all land
was gone. The Mayan culture survives today in some Central
American countries.
Pyramid of Kukulkan
Chichén Itzá
Ball Court
Cenote
The pyramid was used as a
calendar: four stairways, each with
91 steps and a platform at the top,
making a total of 365, equivalent to
the number of days in a calendar
year.
Maya Numbering System
Every year, on Spring Equinox, the
afternoon sun causes a shadow play
so that it appears that a huge
serpent is descending from the sky,
down the pyramid.
Aztec- 1300-1520
• North and West parts of Mexico
• Built the capital on an island in Lake Texcoco.
(Tenochtitlan)
o had bridges, aqueducts, pyramids, markets,
schools, barbershops, and zoos. They had
floating gardens.
• Great conquerors and warriors.
• Collected wealth and enslaved those that were
captured. Forced slaves to pay tribute (tax).
• Class system
Nobles- gov’t/priests/warriors (inherited)
Commoners, peasants, slaves
• Worshipped gods (Sun, War etc.)
• Kept historical records.
• Aztec downfall in early 1500’s.
• Aztec leader Montezuma II was conquered by
Spanish Hernan Cortes
• Quick downfall- 1502 at height of civilization and
gone by 1520.
Ancient Aztec and Maya
Inca- 1200-1500 A.D.
• Largest of the three empires
• South America through Andes Mountains (3000 miles)
• Well organized- more peaceful than the Aztec. Allowed
conquered people into the empire.
• Incan rulers took care of the people. Stored food and had
empire wide projects. Road system (10,000 miles)
• Mostly farmers
• Early 1500’s the Incan ruler dies and there is fight over
the throne. This greatly weakens the empire just as
Europeans arrived.
• Downfall during the mid 1500’s.
The Inca Empire
North American People
Section 3
• Early North American groups were divided into two groups
o Southwest and Midwest
• Hohokam- southwest
• Arizona
• 300 AD – 1300AD
• Irrigation for farming
• Anasazi – southwest
•Four corners of U.S.
•0 AD – 1300 AD
• Great stone dwellings called pueblos
•Cliff dwellings
*Mound Builders- Midwest – They made
structures of mud and earth.
Examples include
• Adena (Ohio and West Virginia)- they had
permanent housing, some farming, mostly hunting
• Hopewell (most of the Midwest) – farming and
trading
• Mississippians- lived near rivers. Advanced
farming and some large cities.
• Cahokia- 16,000 people in Illinois. Had a mound
over 100 ft tall.
Native American Cultures
• 15 – 20 million people living North of Mexico in
1492
• 2,000 different groups of people.
o Arctic, Pacific Northwest, Southeast,
Plains
• Each group had leadership – some elected, some
hereditary
• Each had their own language
• Strong family bonds
Beliefs
• Spirits in nature – sun, moon, wind, rain, and animals.
• Religious leaders (Shamans or medicine men) they could
contact the spirits
• Lived in harmony with nature- shared all land