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America's Origin & Ancient Civilizations: A Journey Through Time

Explore the planetary perspectives and historical beginnings of America, from early discoverers to the shaping of North America and the spread of Native American societies. Delve into the vibrant cultures, advanced agriculture, societal organizations, and unique attitudes of the original Americans. Witness the interactions with European explorers and the impact of their arrival on the New World's ecosystems. Join us on a fascinating journey through the roots of America's past in this comprehensive exploration of the continent's origins and ancient civilizations.

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America's Origin & Ancient Civilizations: A Journey Through Time

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  1. Chapter 1 New World Beginnings

  2. Planetary Perspectives

  3. The Beginnings • 6,000 years ago recorded history of the western world began • 500 years ago the American Continent was discovered • America started from scratch on a vast and virgin continent, a rare opportunity for a great social and political experiment

  4. The Shaping of North America

  5. Formation of America • Pangea broke apart to become Eurasia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica, and the Americas some 225 million years ago • Appalachians - 350 million years old Rockies - between 135 and 25 million • The Great Ice age - 2 million years ago • Lake Boneville - Utah, Nevada, and Idaho

  6. Pangea

  7. The First Discoverers of America

  8. The Bering Straight • Low sea levels uncovered land bridge between Eurasia and North America • First inhabitants, probably following migrating herds of game, ventured across for some 250 centuries • Ice Age ended 10,000 years ago, covering the straight

  9. Original Americans Spread Out • As the ice melted, new valleys were opened, and the people moved Southward and Eastward • They eventually reached the Southern tip of South America, 15,000 miles from Siberia • Around 72 million inhabitants when Columbus arrived in 1492

  10. Culture • Countless tribes, over 2000 languages, diverse religions, cultures, and ways of life. • Incas in Peru, Mayans in Central America, and Aztecs in Mexico shaped sophisticated civilizations. • Advanced agricultural practices based on maize, fed large populations • Elaborate cites and far-flung commerce • Astronomical observations • Aztecs used human sacrifices

  11. Aztec Monument and Calendar

  12. The Earliest Americans

  13. Agriculture and corn • Corn growing accounted for size and sophistication of Native American civilizations • As corn cultivation spread, it slowly transformed nomadic tribes into agricultural villages • Pueblos built intricate irrigation systems • Three-sister farming using beans, cornstalks, and squash produced highest population densities

  14. Societal Organizations • Iroquois Confederacy most effective in political and organizational skills • Sustained a robust military alliance • Most lived in small, scattered, and impermanent settlements • Women tended crops while men hunted, fished, gathered fuel, and cleared fields for planting • Gave substantial authority to women • Many developed matrilinear cultures

  15. Attitudes • Native Americans did not manipulate nature aggressively • Revered the physical world and endowed nature with spiritual properties • Only about 4 million in North America in 1492

  16. Indirect Discoverers of the New World

  17. The trail to discovery • Norse seafarers from Scandinavia had landed in or near New Foundland in 1000 A.D. • Called it Vinland • Forced to leave without support of a strong nation state • Restless Europeans sought contact with a wider world, whether for conquest or trade

  18. Christian Crusaders • Crusaders acquired a taste for the exotic delights of Asia while trying to wrest the Holy Land from Muslim control • Europe now cried for less expensive silk, drugs, perfumes, colorful draperies, spices, and especially sugar • Luxuries came across the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea or over Asia or the Arabian peninsula • Muslim middlemen exacted heavy tolls en route

  19. Europeans Enter Africa

  20. Europeans growing desire • Marco Polo ignited European desires for a cheaper route to the the East with his tales of a 20 year sojourn in China • Portuguese mariners developed the caravel, allowing Europeans to sail along the West coast of Africa • Set up trading posts along the shore for gold and slaves • Arab traders deliberately separated tribes, fostering the extinction of cultures and tribal identities

  21. Middle East

  22. The Portuguese and slavery • Portuguese adopted Arab slave practices • Built a systematic traffic in slaves to work the sugar plantations on coastal islands • Slave trading became a big business • 40,000 Africans sent to the Atlantic sugar islands • The modern plantation system finds its origins in the Portuguese in Africa

  23. The Portuguese Press on • Bartholomeu Dias rounded the tip of the “Dark Continent” in 1488 • Vasco da Gama reached India in 1498 • Meanwhile, Spain became united in the late 15th century • Resulted from the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, and from the expulsion of the Muslim Moors • Spaniards eager to outstrip their Portuguese rivals in the Indies • Couldn’t go South, so looked West

  24. Bartholomeu Dias

  25. Vasco da Gama

  26. Columbus Comes upon a New World

  27. Christopher Columbus • Printing press and mariner’s compass helped make knowledge and exploration more appealing • October 12, 1492 • Successful failure • Indian misnomer

  28. When Worlds Collide

  29. Contrasting Ecosystems • Tobacco, maize, beans, tomatoes, and potatoes revolutionized the international economy and the European diet • European brought new crops (sugar cane) and animals, transforming the Native American way of life

  30. The Spanish Conquistadores

  31. New World Prizes • Gold and silver from Indian civilizations attracted Europeans • The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) • Spain received most, but Portugal got Brazil • Spain became the dominant exploring and colonizing power in the 1500’s

  32. The Conquistadores • In the service of God, as well as for gold and glory, they came to the Caribbeans and to the mainland • Vasco Nunez Balboa • Discoverer of the Pacific Ocean • Ferdinand Magellan • Headed first circumnavigation of the globe, around the Southern tip of South America

  33. Vasco Nunez Balboa

  34. Ferdinand Magellan

  35. Other Conquistadores • Juan Ponce de Leonexplored Florida • Francisco Coronadowandered through Arizona and New Mexico, even to Kansas • Discovered the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River and huge buffalo herds • Hernando de Soto discovered the Mississippi River • Francisco Pizarro crushed the Incas in Peru

  36. Ponce de Leon’s path

  37. Francisco Coranado

  38. Hernando De Soto’s Route

  39. Franciso Pizarro’s Route

  40. Effects of Exploration • Gold and silver changed world economy, and perhaps gave birth to capitalism • Stimulated commerce and manufacturing • Laid foundations of modern commercial banking • Encomienda allowed the government to “commend,” or give, Indians to certain colonists in return for the promise to try to Christianize them - slavery

  41. The Conquest of Mexico

  42. Hernan Cortes • Malinche, a female Indian slave, picked up by Cortes as an interpreter • He gathered 20,000 Indian allies and marched on Tenochtitlan for gold • Mistaken for the god Quetzalcoatl, he was allowed to approach the city unopposed

  43. Hernan Cortez

  44. The Fall of the Aztecs • Welcomed at first, Cortes thirsted for gold and power • Noche triste - the Aztecs attacked the Spaniard • August 13, 1521 - Tenochtitlan fell • The Spaniards built over the old capital and used their new crops, animals, language, and laws • Aztecs died of disease and conquest

  45. The Spread of Spanish America

  46. Spanish Spread • Hundreds of Spanish cities and towns, cathedrals • Universities at Mexico City and Lima • Threatened by other powers • English John Cabot in 1497-98 • Italian Giovanni da Verrazano in 1524 • French Jacques Cartier in 1534 • Fortress at St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 to block the French

  47. Continued Expansion • Don Juan do Onate traveled North and cruelly abused the Pueblo peoples. • Battle of Acoma in 1599 very cruel • Proclaimed the area to be the province of New Mexico in 1609 and founded Santa Fe as its capital • Roman Catholic mission became central in New Mexico until Pope’s Rebellion in 1680 • Pueblos killed hundreds and rebuilt a kiva at Santa Fe

  48. Spanish Power • Some refugees from New Mexico moved to Texas and established missions there, including the Alamo • In California, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo had explored the coast in 1542 • In 1769, Father Junipero Serra founded San Diego s the first of 21 missions • Converted thousands of Indians • Black Legend somewhat true, but not completely

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