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The Americas: A Separate

World

Mr. McKinley

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Hunters & Farmers in the Americas• More than 10,000 years ago,

humans migrate from Asia to the Americas across a land bridge.

• Originally hunters and gatherers, these groups developed farming methods and create settlements.

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The Earliest Americas

• Most experts believe that the first people came to the Americas from Asia over the land bridge known as Beringia.

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The Earliest Americas Cont…• Towards the end of the last Ice Age,

nomadic groups migrate from Asia to the Americas.

• The development of agriculture allows these nomadic hunter-gatherers to settle in one place.

• By adapting to various environments, the groups spread across the Americas.

Way of Life for early Americans: Hunters & Gatherers

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Agriculture Prompts a New Way of Life• Early peoples in Mexico begin

to farm, leading to the development of corn, beans, and squash.

• As growing crops becomes more sophisticated, farmers learn to manipulate the terrain.

• The birth of agriculture leads to changes in society and the rise of civilization.

Before Agriculture

People hunted or gathered what they ate.

Families continually moved in search of big game.

Groups remained small due to the scarcity of reliable sources of food.

Humans devoted much of their time to obtaining food.

After Agriculture

People enjoyed a more reliable and seaty source of food.

Families settled down and formed larger communities.

Humans concentrated on new skills: arts and crafts, architecture, social organization.

Compex societies eventually arose.

The Effects of Agriculture

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Geography and climate makes a difference in how people live…

• NORTH AMERICAN Tribes and areas:1. Desert Southwest – Hohokam, Apache,

Puebloans, etc…2. Eastern Woodlands – Hopewell,

Mississippians, Seminole, Adena, etc…3. Pacific Northwest – Chinook, Columbia4. Great Plains – Sioux, Blackfoot, Crow5. Arctic – Inuit, Aleut

1. Native Americans of the Desert Southwest (AZ,NM,CO,UT)

Life in the Desert Southwest300 BC – 1500 AD

• Lived in dry, rocky environment• Used irrigation techniques to grow corn,

squash and beans• Built houses out of adobe or into the sides

of cliffs• May have irreversibly changed the

environment by cutting down too many trees in an already fragile biosphere

Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde, CO

Balcony House Mesa Verde, CO

The Four Corners (CO, UT, AZ, NM)

Metate grinding stones – grinds grain into flour

Newspaper Rock

Ruins at Pueblo Bonito (present day NM) contained 800 rooms - built around 900AD

2. Eastern Woodlands Native Americans

• Mound builders – may have been used for burial and religious purposes

• Warm temperate forests• Relied on hunting and gathering as well as

farming some native crops• Lived in log houses built from forest materials• Built cities – like Cahokia (near present day St.

Louis)

Sketch of Iroquois Longhouse

Great Serpent Moundpresent day Ohio – built by the Adena tribe

Old Postcard of the serpent mound from the ground

Monk’s Mound near St. Louis, MO

Recreation of Cahokia (Monk’ Mound)

Cahokia

• Largest city in North America until Philadelphia in 1800

• Up to 20,000 Mississippians lived in the city. Social classes appear to have existed

• Monk’s mound may have been 100 feet in height.

• All of this is done without any animal power!

3. Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest

Life in the Pacific Northwest

• Rivers, forests, and long coastline along Pacific Ocean (WA,OR,CA, BC Canada)

• Fishing provided main food supply – salmon, etc…

• Built houses and canoes out of wood from forests

• Land of totem poles

Spear fishing circa 1900 – Oregonduring a Salmon run

4. Native Americans of the Great Plains (SD,ND,KS,NE,TX,OK, etc...)

o The plains are mostly treeless and grassy with fertile soil. First settlers lived along the many rivers and farmed

o Later, many tribes existed by hunting buffalo and other animals, especially after the introduction of horses from Europeans

o Because of that, they were mostly nomadic and lived in portable houses called teepees

Typical view on the Great Plains

Typical Plains teepee

Native Americans on the plains hunting buffalo (horses make this easier!)

5. Native Americans of the Arctic

• Environmental conditions included permanent snow and ice

• Relied on hunting and fishing of sea mammals (seals, whales, etc..) for food and skins

• Built houses out of ice - igloos

Aleutian Native Americans work on an igloo

Sketch of an Aleutian village

Getting around by dog sled (one of the few indigenous animals of North America to be

domesticated)

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