Unit 1 Foundations of America

1. Unit 1Foundations of America The First Americans

2. Think About It! • What do you know about the people who settled in the lands we now call North and South America?

3. How long has Man been around? Historical Timeline

4. Out of Africa Theory – the migration of man.

5. The First Americans • 20,000 years ago the first settlers came to North America from Asia by crossing the narrow plain that once connected Siberia and Alaska. This plain was known as the Bering Strait Land Bridge

6. Different Lifestyles • As the people migrated from Alaska to North and South America they developed different lifestyles depending on the resources and the climates that they found. These people, the first Americans, would be known as Native Americans. As they settled, some groups (sometimes known as tribes) began to grow their own food. Most survived by hunting and gathering and were nomadic.

7. Video Support:

8. Native American population by 1492 • By the time Columbus arrived in the New World there were: • 1 million Native Americans in what is now Canada and the US. • 5 million Native Americans living Mexico and Central America • 20 million Native Americans living in South America • 3 million Native Americans living in the islands of the Caribbean Sea

9. Native American Empires of Mexico and South America AZTECS INCAS MAYAS

10. Think About It! • On the back of your note sheet, please record three bits of information that you already know about the Mayas, Aztecs and Incas. • You may bullet your response.

11. Maya, Aztec + Inca locations Mid 1100’s – 1520’s 250 - 900 Mid 1200’s – 1540’s

12. Maya (1000BC – 900 AD • Earliest Native American civilization • Located in southern Mexico and Guatemala (Yucatan Peninsula) • Made discoveries in science, astronomy (study of the stars) and mathematics. • Developed the use of zero (0), calculated the solar calendar and accurately predicted eclipses • Created unique sculptures, paintings, built pyramids, temples and canals • Were Polytheistic

13. Mayan Temple

14. Mayans – Video Support

15. Aztec (1100 – 1500’s) • Powerful people who created an empire about 700 years ago in central Mexico • Built stone works, pyramids and temples • Used pictographs (writing with pictures) • Created and used a calendar • Built canals and used terrace farming techniques • Were Polytheistic, sacrificed people to satisfy the gods.

16. Aztec Calendar

17. AZTECS – Video support Think About It! How do you think European explorers will react to some of the Aztecs religious practices? What do you think will be the result?

18. The end of the Aztec – Say Hello toHernando Cortes • Cortes arrived in Mexico in 1519, saw the Aztec Empire as a good source of riches (gold and silver) • Was accepted by the Aztec King Moctezuma as a GOD • Cortes, along with a small army of 500+, will take Moctezuma prisoner and seize control of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital. • Moctezuma will be killed by Cortes and disease and warfare will bring an end to the Aztec.

19. Why might the Spanish have an advantage over the Aztecs in battle?

20. Inca (1200 – 1534) • Formed a large empire in the Andes Mountains in South America • Built bridges and roads to connect their territories • Built canals and terraces to improve farming • No writing system, kept records by tying knots on strings. System called khipu

21. Examples of khipu, Inca record keeping system

22. Terrace farming

23. The Inca almost Extincta – Say hello to Francisco Pizarro. • Spanish explorer Pizarro lands in Inca territory in the 1530’s with approx. 400 men. • He unites the enemies of the Incas and attacks and captures the Inca capital of Cuzco and kills the Inca leaders. • By 1534, the Inca Empire is conquered.

24. Video Support – the Explorers in Central and South America

25. Native Americans of present day Canada and the USA • Think about it! • Identify three things that you know about Native Americans who lived in what is now present day Canada and the United States.

26. Native American Cultures in the United States • A great variety of Native American cultures existed in the lands of what would become the United States. • Over 500 different languages were spoken • They grew plants like corn, tobacco and potatoes. • Each group developed their own rituals and music

27. A sample of Native Americans in United States

28. Northeastern Woodlands • Lived in villages of several hundred people • Grew corn, beans and squash (the 3 sisters) • The Iroquois (located in NY and Pennsylvania) formed a confederation of six nations (Iroquois, Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Tuscarora (1722) • Many lived in structures called longhouses

29. Great Plains • Located east of Rockies, west of Mississippi R. • Area was lightly populated until horses were introduced to North America by the Spanish • Horses will allow Plains Indians to be nomadic, following their main food source the buffalo • Plains Indians used every bit of the buffalo including the meat, skins, internal organs, brains and bones. • Lived in teepees which were easy to break down and move

30. Map of Plains Indians

31. Southwest • Built adobe (sun-dried brick) buildings into the side of cliffs • Irrigated land and grew corn, beans and squash • Included groups like the Navajo and Apache

32. Pacific Northwest • Groups living in this region fished for salmon and gathered plants to eat. • They carved fancy masks and totem poles

33. Video Support Eastern Woodlands Plains Southwest

34. 101 uses of the buffalo