ROOTS OF THE AMERICAN
PEOPLE (PRE-HISTORY TO 1500)
Essential Question: How and
when did people get here?
A Navajo answer: Long ago, before
being rejected by three former worlds
owing to quarreling, the first people
came up into this world but found the
Pueblo people already here!
When did people first reach the land
we now call the United States?
How did they get there?
What career fields might be involved
in developing a hypothesis?
How do you know if a reference source
is correct when researching questions?
In Archeology, Absence of Evidence is
NOT Evidence of Absence
• People may have come by boat rather than on
foot. (Coastal Route Theory)
• People from many places may have washed up in
the Americas.
• Clovis points haven’t been found in Siberia.
• A comet may have hit North America around
13,000 BCE, causing a firestorm and transforming
human life.
• Humans may have spread throughout the
hemisphere before 13,000 BCE, including
throughout Amazonia
What is cultural diffusion?
Forms of Bias: Presentism and
Chronological Ethnocentrism
What is primitive?
What is civilized?
In what ways could Native societies be
superior to modern societies?
What do you already know about the
geography of the Americas?
When should we begin the history of
the United States?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1492?
The Land Bridge in the Bering Strait?
Europe?
Africa?
The Middle East?
Asia?
The Ocean?
The Donut Theory of Our Planet
What was the paradigm shift?
• BEFORE EXPLORATION:
The world is a donut!
(But they knew it was a
sphere)
• AFTER EXPLORATION:
There are many donuts!
(Many WORLDS!)
THE “ISLAND” WORLD
• Between 200 BCE and 400 CE, trade routes
linked the Roman Empire with Han China.
What are these trade routes called?
• What was going on in the rest of the world
during the Dark Ages in Europe?
• Who was Marco Polo? Who was Ibn Battuta?
(read quote on page 24)
• How did things change once Europe start
exploring the oceans?
GOING GLOBAL
• Why did the Europeans want a sea route to Asia?
(Rhymes with Macbeth.)
• Who was poised to take the lead in navigation
and trade?
– “…government subsidies for such maritime travel
ended, and without government support, which was
essential for the very large ships, private traders
turned to regional trading in smaller ships.”
• What was Africa like during the age of
exploration?
• Was there slavery before Columbus? (p. 32)
Who was Mansa Musa (1280 to 1337)?
•
PEOPLE FROM THE SEA
• Who were the people from the sea?
– Ocean barbarians?
– Mountain range floating on the water?
– Men who lived under the ocean?
• What new alliances were formed during the
age of exploration? (page 34, 39)
• Why were the Europeans able to colonize the
Americas so quickly?
• How did Europeans envision the Americas?
ATLANTIC CREOLES
THE PLANTATION COMPLEX
THE OCEAN WORLD