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Ch. 9: The Americas

Ch. 9: The Americas. Sec. 1: The Earliest Americans. Historians believe that the first people to inhabit the Americas came from Asia The people crossed a strait called the Bering Strait up by Alaska before the glaciers melted

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Ch. 9: The Americas

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  1. Ch. 9: The Americas Sec. 1: The Earliest Americans

  2. Historians believe that the first people to inhabit the Americas came from Asia • The people crossed a strait called the Bering Strait up by Alaska before the glaciers melted • During the Ice Age, Asians began to cross this “land bridge” known as Beringia,into the Americas

  3. Sec. 2: Cultures of North America The Northwest The Southwest Hohokam people Farmers built irrigation networks Grew beans, corn, & cotton • Relied on fishing • Expert weavers & woodworkers • Totem poles • Potlatches-chief would display clan’s materials, give them away to enhance the family’s social status

  4. Great Plains • The buffalo became sacred in the religion of the Plains peoples because they had many purposes for the buffalo • Lived in tepees • Some groups did farm: beans, corn, & squash

  5. Eastern Woodlands Hopewell tribes Mississippians Lived along Miss. River Corn was main crop Complex & extensive culture Also great mound builders • Ohio valley region • Built earthen mounds • Skilled artists • Trade w/ other tribes is evident

  6. Sec. 3: Mesoamerica and Andean South America • Mesoamerica is the name given to the areas of Mexico and Central America that were civilized before the Spaniards arrived

  7. The Olmec • Large class of farmers & a small elite class • Carved giant stone heads • Worshipped part-jaguar god

  8. The chavin • Created ceramic religious vessels and decorated seashells with images of cats • Both Olmec & Chavin cultures mysteriously disappeared between 400bc and 200bc

  9. The Maya • Skilled architects & engineers • Religion was complex & they worshipped many gods • Writing system w/ “glyphs” • Studied astronomy • Developed calendar

  10. The Toltec • Capital at Tula • Introduced metalworking • Worshipped Quetzalcoatl who became one of the chief gods of ancient Mexico & N. Central America • Practiced human sacrifice

  11. The Aztec • Built their city Tenochtitlan - may have held more than 200,000 people • Learned from people they conquered: metalworking, pottery making, & weaving • Produced fine art, calendars, & mathematics • Farmed on Chinampas-raised fields made w/ mud taken from the bottom of lakes • Military dominated society • Practiced human sacrifices

  12. The Inca • Civilization was in the Andes Mtns. In S. America • Capital was Cuzco • Excellent system of roads & communication helped unify empire • Built fortresses & irrigation ditches • Quechua was the official language of the Inca Empire (still spoken today) • Kept records by means of quipu, a series of knots on parallel strings • Produced ceramics, textiles, & metals • Practiced medicine –used anesthetics & operations on the brain

  13. Decline of The Aztecs & The Inca • In the 1400s unrest grew among surrounding peoples who had been forced to pay oppressive tribute to the Aztec weakened empire • The Aztec dominated conquered peoples militarily • The Inca brought conquered peoples into one imperial culture • Both the Inca & the Aztec empires suffered from lack of natural immunity to diseases that the Spanish brought w/ them from Europe  contributed to the downfall of both the Inca & the Aztec

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