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• Life in a New Land– Paleo-Indians: were the first

Americans• Crossed land bridge called

– Beringia – between Siberia and what is now Alaska

–They were following animal herds that they depended on for food, furs and skins for clothing

• Agricultural Revolution: Native Americans went from hunting and gathering to domestication, or the adapting and controlling of plants – THIS LED TO DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL CLASSES.

– Don’t have to keep traveling – stay in cities which led to development of more elaborate division of labor

– Led to development of classes within a society

• Mesoamerica:– The Olmec (1200-400

B.C.): First great Mesoamerican culture • Developed the

beginnings of a calendar and writing

• Constructed stone portraits of rulers

• Mesoamerica:– The Maya (300-900 A.D.):

• Refined Olmec calendar• Devised a number system

that included zero long before European’s adopted the concept from the Arabs

• Developed a writing system with glyphs, or pictures

• Mesoamerican:

– Toltec: 900-1100 A.D.

• Built Tula, a great city-state, or independent city

• Tula was a center for a great trading network

• Mesoamerican:– Aztec (1200-1400 A.D):

• Fierce, warrior society• Built city of Tenochtitlan, the

site of present-day Mexico City• Over time, Tenochtitlan grew

into an impressive city with hundreds of buildings, an elaborate system of canals, and as many as 3,000 residents

• Developed a class system

• South American Group– Inca: (mid 1400s A.D.)

• Largest empire in the America’s at the time – with some 12 million people and more than 20 languages spoken

• Early Cultures of North America:– Anasazi:

• Created multistory rock and adobe dwellings.

• Some dwellings had 800 rooms

• Early Cultures of North America:– Adena & Hopewell

Cultures:• They were Mound

Builders.• Both Cultures created

distinctive earthworks that served as elaborate burial grounds

• Early Cultures of North America:– The Mississippian Culture

(East and Southeast)• Located in Cahokia, near

present-day St. Louis.• Built temple mounds

that extended 6 miles and contained 85 burial and temple mounds