The Earliest AmericansThe Earliest Americans

The Land and the People

The physical setting– Mountains – Rocky, Andes– Rivers – Mississippi, Amazon– Bering Strait - Land bridge between the Americas

and AsiaFirst arrivals– From Asia as early as 10,500 B.C.

The Development of American Agriculture

Hunters became farmers after large prehistoric animals became extinct– Mammoths

Earliest known farming started in Mexico– Never invented the plow– Led to development of civilizations

Cultures of North AmericaCultures of North America

Western North America

The Northwest– Fishing– Weaving– Carving – totem poles

The Southwest– Hohokam people– Irrigation

• Beans, corn, and cotton – Adobe

• Dried sand bricks

The Great Plains– Used buffalo for food and clothing and teepees

The Eastern Woodlands

Hopewell were skilled artists– Built burial mounds

Mississippians were successful farmers and traders

Mesoamerica and Andean South Mesoamerica and Andean South AmericaAmerica

Early Civilizations

The Olmec (1200 – 400 B.C.)– Southern Mexico– First known major civilization– Few elite, many farmers– Art- Giant carved heads, jade masks– “Rubber people”

Chavin (400 – 200 B.C.)-Andes Mountains- Peru-Few elite, had divine connection

The Maya (200 B.C. – 900 A.D.)– Developed writing system and calendar

• Pictograph and hieroglyphics – Studied astronomy– Built pyramids

• Chichen Itza

The Toltec– Pyramids– Metalworking

The Aztec – 1200- 1521 A.D.– Settled on Lake Texcoco– Built their capital Tenochtitlan– Warriors who borrowed from cultures they conquered– Farmed using chinampas – mud from bottom of lakes– Defeated by Spaniards (Hernan Cortes) allied with other natives in

1521 AD

The Inca – 1400-1533 A.D.– Lived in the Andes mountains- Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Columbia– Called the “children of the sun”– Spoke Quechua– Had extensive road and trade network– Brought conquered people into one imperial culture– Conquered by Spaniards and various epidemics

– Smallpox, typhus, measles, influenza