Pre-Columbian Indian Civilizations

1. Pre-Columbian Indian Civilizations

2. Continental Diversity • Diverse landscapes create distinct habitats, social structures, and cultural patterns • 10 million people speaking 400 languages by the time of Columbus

3. Indigenous Societies • Extensive trade networks spread ideas and innovations • Connections also bred warfare

4. Early Cultures • The first settlers of North America were nomadic subsistence hunter-gatherers • As the environment changed, people adapted • Permanent settlements • Developed religions • Mastered use of fire • Improved technology • Domesticated small animals • Domesticated plants

5. Early Cultures • Agricultural Revolution • Staple crops: • Maize • Beans • Squash • Avocados • Pumpkins • Enabled societies to grow larger and more complex • Led to distinct social, economic, and political institutions

6. Mesoamerican Cultures • The Mayas • Western Mexico and northern Guatemala • Highly developed society • Sophisticated calendars • Hierarchical government • Terraced farms

7. Mesoamerican Cultures • The Mayas • Overpopulation • “Too many farmers grew too many crops on too much of the landscape.”

8. Mesoamerican Cultures • The Aztecs • Northwest and central Mexico • Founded Tenochtitlan in 1325 (Mexico City today) • Highly developed commerce in precious metals and agriculture • By 1519, the Aztec Empire was composed of approximately 5 million people connected by a vast network of roads

9. Mesoamerican Cultures • The Incas • Empire stretched along the Andes from Ecuador to Chile • Empire included 12 million people, speaking 20 different languages • Empire grew through diplomacy, marriage alliances with rivals, and military conquest

10. North American Cultures • Common fundamental beliefs • Sacredness of nature • Necessity of communal living • Respect for elders • Despite these shared beliefs, war between tribes was common • 240 different tribes in North America when Europeans arrived

11. North American Cultures • Pacific Northwest • Fish, whales, game, and wild plants were so plentiful that there was little need for agriculture • Plank houses and large canoes built from cedar trees • Social hierarchy • Chiefs • Commoners • Slaves • Raids to gain slaves were the primary causes of warfare

12. North American Cultures • Adena-Hopewell • Ohio River Valley (Midwest) • Hunter-gatherers who lived in small, isolated communities • Intricate kinship networks formed social alliances • Complex social structure with specialized division of labor • Trade networks spanned the continent

13. North American Cultures • Mississippian • Southern Mississippi River valley • Flourished between 900 and 1350 • Specialized labor system • Effective government structure • Expansive trade networks • Cleared land for agriculture • Met their demise due to climate change and European diseases

14. North American Cultures • Southwest • Hopis, Zunis, Anasazi, etc. • Irrigation-based cultures • Cliff dwellings • Anasazi lacked the rigid class structure of other American cultures • Anasazi only engaged in warfare as a means of self-defense

15. North American Cultures • Southwest • Drought and migration of tribes from other areas eventually led to the decline of the Anasazi

16. North American Cultures • Eastern Woodlands • Algonquin, Iroquoian, Muskogean • Settled along rivers • Northeastern seaboard, Great Lakes, Carolinas • Matriarchal societies • Great Plains • Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, Apache, Sioux • Nomadic hunters • Western • Tillamook, Chinook, Pomo, Chumash • Fishing, sealing, whaling

17. Written Response How did cultural and environmental diversity impact trade among the various Native American groups? Explain citing evidence.