Who was in the Americas?Northern Regions
• Arctic and Northwest• California Great Basin• Southwest• Great plains• Eastern Woodlands
Arctic and Northwest• Cold climate• Hunted whales and other
sea life• Limited trade along coast• Lived in small lineage
groups• Mythical stories created to
strengthen lineage group• Potlatches- dinners that
symbolized lineage wealth• totem poles represent
culture
California/Great Basin• Warm climate• Diets of mussels &
shellfish• Celebrated religious
festivals• Religion based on
natural spirits of animals and earth
• GB - moved in small bands
• Built windbreak shelters
Southwest• High desert regions• Built irrigation
canals because farms had a lack of water
• Pueblo built adobe buildings (sun-dried brick)
• multi-storied apartments
• Some tribes were raiders rather than sedentary
• Religion revolved around honoring spirits of the earth
Includes Hohokam, Pueblo, Apache & Navajo
Great Plains
• Between Rocky Mts & Miss. River• Grasslands - dry• Hunters followed big game - bison (buffalo)• Used every part of bison for food, clothing, shelter &
tools• Crow and Blackfoot
Eastern Woodlands• Had protected environment
due to forests• hunted (deer, turkey) and
farmed (corn, squash, tobacco)
• Villages built, some mound builders
• Villages centered around religious structure and activities
• Formed Iroquois League to settle dispute
Who was in the Americas?Meso-America (“Middle America”)
• Olmec• Maya• Aztec• Inca
OLMEC• 1500 -300 BC• Near Gulf of Mexico• Carved enormous stone
heads of volcanic rock• Chief god - cat-like with
jaguar face• Division of labor• Hieroglyphics• calendar• farm techniques - slash and
burn
Maya
MAYANS• Yucatan Peninsula• City States• Complex religion - two
layers (now and otherworld)
• Human sacrifice • Writing, ball playing
(pok-a-tok), astronomy, mathematicians (zero)
• Calendar (365)• demise - war, drought,
infighting
Palenque
Mayan Temples
The Aztecs
AZTECSPyramids of
Tenochtitlán
• Capital city of Tenochtitlan - island in middle of lake
• Society - hierarchy with emperor at top & criminals/debtors at bottom
• human sacrifice• children of the sun• Empire under
Montezuma conquered by Spaniards (Cortes)
Pyramid of the Sun
Pyramid of the Moon
Teotihuacan
Quetzalcoatlgod of wind &
knowledge
Canoe moving about the
chinampas
Weaving
Aztec Calendar
Montezuma Cortes
The Inca
INCASMachu Picchu
• Located in Andes Mountains (S. Amer)
• Strong central gov’t; huge empire extending length of South America
• Built paved roads & suspension bridges - used running messengers
• Instead of writing system used knotted string to communicate messages & keep records - quipu
Inca terraces
Suspension bridge
Quipu
Atahualpa Pizarro
Destruction of Culture• The Meso-American kingdoms
were as advanced and sophisticated as the ancient Greeks and Romans
• The European conquerors tried to destroy the evidence of this sophisticated culture