Precontact Native Americans
U.S. History I
The First Immigrants to America
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Siberian hunters crossed
“Beringia” before 12,000 BCE
& spread southwards
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Ice Age lowered sea level about
350 feet, exposing land under
Bering Sea
Siberians hunting wooly
mammoths, mastadons, etc.
followed them across to Alaska
Quickly killed off large
mammals
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included horses & camels
thus only dogs & llamas
domesticated
Others may have crossed by sea
from Asia or SW Europe
Peopled both continents by
10,000 BCE
Copyright 2001, A.B. Longman
Mesoamerican Civilizations
©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson
Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.
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Agriculture began in
Mesoamerica 5000 BCE
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Olmecs & Zapotecs (1st
millenium BCE)
Teotihuacán (300 BCE 800 CE)
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Ruins of Teotihuacán
Maize, beans & squash
150,000 people living in
stucco apartment
complexes
Temple of the Sun over
200’ high
Trade in cocoa, rubber,
feathers, obsidian &
pulque
The Mayan Civilization
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3 million population on the
Yucatan peninsula
City-states ruled by powerful
kings
Polytheistic religion
 Human sacrifice
 Ceremonial ball game
Developed hieroglyphics
Overcultivation coupled with
prolonged drought led to
collapse of southern cities in
9th – 10th centuries
New urban centers in northern
Yucatan flourished under
Toltecs
Mayan pyramid at Uxmal
Mayan Glyphs carved on wall at Palenque, Mexico
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Mayan Pyramid at Chichen-Itza
©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.
The Aztecs
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Mexica (Aztecs) migrated from the
northwest (Land of Aztlán)
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Politics and society:
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©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein
under license.
Founded Tenochtitlán on island in
Lake Texcoco
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Monarch had both divine and secular
responsibilities
Hereditary nobility trained in harsh
temple schools
Commoners belonged to calpulli
(kinship group) headed by elected chief
 Held land in common & maintained
temples & schools
 Responsible for taxes and
conscription
Women could own property & make
contracts, but not equal to men
Aztec Religion and Culture
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Polytheistic religion:
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Ometeotl = all-powerful creator god
Huitzilopochtli = sun god; protector
of Aztec people
Quetzalcoatl = feather serpent god
of learning; left in 10th century but
destined to return one day
Fatalistic religion – believed world
had been created & destroyed 4
times
Human sacrifice necessary to
prevent 5th destruction of world
Impressive art and sculpture
Aztec Calendar Stone
Examples of early South American ceramics
(6th - 9th centuries, Peru)
©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.
©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.
The Inca Empire
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Inca Empire est. by Pachakuti in
1440s
Highly centralized gov’t
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used herein under license.
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Forced labor used to build:
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Provinces & districts had equal numbers
of residents
Governors members of royal family
Collective farming under state control
cities like Cuzco & Machu Picchu
24,800 miles of roads with rest houses,
storage depots & suspension bridges
20,000-man army raised by universal
conscription
No writing, but system of knotted
strings (quipu) served as mnemonic
devices for messengers
Peoples of North America
©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a
trademark used herein under license.
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Agriculture & pottery
entered North America
around 2000 BCE
Hohokam & Anasazi
(Pueblo) culture flourished
in Southwest from 700 –
1300 CE
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Bandelier, NM
Irrigation to grow crops
Clay & timber buildings
Adena & Hopewell cultures
in Ohio & Illinois River
valleys, 100 BCE – 400 CE
Mississippian chiefdoms
flourished in Southeast
between 700 – 1500 CE
Mississippian Culture (700 – 1300)
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Cahokia: city of 20,000 at
its height (1100-1200 CE)
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Artist’s conception of Cahokia
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Central city enclosed by wooden
stockade nearly 6 square miles
Central plaza covered 50 acres
“Monks Mound” - 100 feet high,
topped with large palace/temple
“Woodhenge” – circles of
wooden posts served as calendar
to mark solstices & equinoxes
Climate change &drought led to
dwindling population after 1200
– abandoned by 1400
Native North American Cultures
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Eastern Woodlands
 Algonquian – Wampanoag,
Mahican, Lenni Lenape,
Powhatans
 Iriquoian – 5 Nations, Hurons,
Susquehannocks, Cherokee
 Muskogean – Creek,
Chickasaw, Choctaw
Great Plains
 Sedentary farmers – Mandans,
Hidatsas
 Nomadic buffalo hunters –
Sioux, Crow, Comanche
Southwestern
 Athapascans - Apache &
Navajo
Pacific Northwest
 Chinook, Salish
Eastern Woodlands Culture
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Matrilineal descent
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Clans & villages were primary
identity, not tribes
Wars fought for 2 reasons:
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Husband joined wife’s clan
Iriquois women chose chiefs
Algonquin women could be
chiefs
Make other village pay tribute
Gain captives to be adopted
(requickening)
No written language
European diseases spread ahead
of contact through trade
Algonquian Village
17th Century European Society
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Mostly small agricultural communities based on
nuclear families
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Society tied together by cooperation between
neighbors and patronage & deference between
nobles & commoners
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Young marriage age & large families
No “generation gap”
Nobles owed patronage to commoners
Commoners owed deference to nobles
Supernatural still credible
Violence & death very common
Pre-capitalist economic order
Intercultural Exchange
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Indians & Europeans met on “middle
ground,” but Europeans had the upper
hand
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Iriquois Wampum Belts
Communication problems not just due
to language - sometimes same concept
had different meanings in different
cultures
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Indians tried to use Europeans as allies, or
play one group off another
some accepted Christianity, but almost all
rejected imposition of culture
“Father” was benevolent figure for
Indians, authoritarian for Europeans
Indians understood land ownership as
usufruct rights, not exclusive ownership
Each learned others’ customs, but
appropriated for their own use
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wampum became money for some
European colonists
Indians gave new meanings & uses to
European trade goods