Native Americans
Background
What are the most important
events in Early American History
What are the most important
events in early New York History
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Iroquois
Women’s Rights
Erie Canal
Holland Land Company
Where do we start?
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Obvious start date is 1492 with
Columbus’ arrival in the Americas
To fully understand development of
region need to examine years
leading to the arrival of the
Europeans in the Americas.
The roots of Native American
civilization
First Americans
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Common belief—Native Americans came
from Asia
Crossed a land bridge between Asia and
America (Beringia)
Likely unaware they were entering a new
land.
Migrations occurred over an extended
period, involved small, independent
groups of nomads
Changing Climate
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Around 13,000 BC, global warming
altered the North American continent
Continental glaciers melted—Beringia
was flooded
Native American population is now
isolated from rest of world.
Native Peoples Expand
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Within a few thousand years-Native
Americans reached the southern tip of
South America
Environment provided almost unlimited
food supply—population grew rapidly
Gradually food supply dies out—Loss of
Woolly Mammoths and Mastodons.
Forced to develop new opportunities—
small mammals, fish, nuts and berries
Agricultural Developments
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Begins around 2500 BC but in many
areas not fully involved until around
700 AD.
Learn to cultivate certain plants.
Corn, Squash, beans
Agricultural Developments
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However, Farming was not an inevitable outcome
for Native Americans
Where climate favored it, people tended to adopt
farming as a way of increasing production.
Where other options remained-- hunting and
gathering was emphasized.
• Pacific Northwest
• Great Plains
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Facilitated the establishment of permanent
settlements
Produced ceramics—pottery for the storage of
grain
Typical land usage patterns
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Native American tended to move
from habitat to habitat
Seeking maximum abundance
through minimum work—This
remains a pattern of hunting and
gathering peoples
• Tended to reduce impact on land
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This policy of mobility and freedom
would frequently put the Native
Americans in conflict with Europeans.
Successful Civilizations
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Several groups reflect success of Native peoples
in North America prior to European contact
• Anasazi Culture(New Mexico)— built massive pueblo
structures that housed as many as 15,000 people
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Developed sophisticated irrigation system
Well developed network of roads
• Cahokia(Mississippi Valley)—huge settlement of mound
building people near present-day St. Louis.
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Community supported over 20,000 residents
About the size of medieval London
Dominated a region of several hundred miles
Trade
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Both civilizations disappeared prior to the
arrival of Europeans
It is likely that simple agricultural methods
were unable to support long-term large
populations.
Collapse of cities disrupted trade networks
Some goods pass from tribe to tribe, but
flow reduced to a trickle by time of
Europeans.
Tribes throughout North America exist in
relative isolation
Eastern Woodland Cultures
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Indians living in the Northeast region
numbered about 1 million at time of
first contact.
Generally supplemented farming with
seasonal hunting and gathering.
• Small bands formed villages during
warm months—cultivated corn and
other crops
• Typically broke into small bands during
winter—living off the land
Eastern Woodlands Cultures
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English settlers initially contacted
Algonquian-speaking peoples.
• Lived along Atlantic Coast from Maine to
North Carolina.
• Despite their language ties, most
Algonquian groups shared few common
bonds.
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These divisions facilitated conquest by the
Europeans
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At time of European contact, Native
Americans represented over 2,000
cultures, spoke hundreds of different
languages and made their living in scores
of different environments.
Native Americans encountered by
Columbus were relatively primitive, but
other civilizations such as the Incas in
Peru and the Aztecs in Mexico were in
some respects as developed as any in
Europe or Asia.