AP US History
Summer Notes
I.
Native American Societies Before Contact
A. 13000 BCE
1. travelled over Bering Bridge?
2. spread north south and east over America’s
B. DIDN’T HAVE: metal, gunpowder, domestication, WHEELS,
written languages
C. HAD: complex societies, political structures, and long trade
routes
1. Domestication of Maize in Mexico 5000 BCE
a) less nomads and increased in social hierarchy and
settlements
D. Estimated 2-10 million ppl in the America’s just before
Columbus arrived
E. N.A societies developed based on their environment and
resources
1. Plains and Great Basin : DRY
a) teepees : nomadic life
b) hunting bison and following hers
2. Southwest (Pueblo) :DRY
a) advanced irrigation system for maize
b) large cave complexes because they settled!
3. Northwest : COASTAL
a) fishing in the Pacific
4. Mississippians (East Coast)
a) farming
b) developed huge settlements 25,000 residents
II.
c) 3 sister farming : corn beans and squash mutually
benefited each other AND GOOD. NUTRIENTS for
population rise
F. the NA ppl were doing pretty damn well until the
Europeans™️ came
American Indian Culture of the West
A. A Diverse Culture Based on Geography
1. west very diverse in micro environments and therefore
culture varied
2. Pacific Northwest
3. California: home to the Makah and the Kwakiutl
4. The Great Basin: home to the Mono, Paiute, Bannock,
Shoshone, Ute, and Gosiute
B. Hunting, Gathering, Fishing
1. gathering
a) Colorado River: gathered and planted tobacco
b) ACORNS: base of the California diet- used as flour
2. hunting
a) buffalo and bison in Northwest, easy target for
hunters
3. fishing
a) fishing sustained Great Basin’s population salmon in Columbia and Colorado Rivers
b) harpoons to stop fish and traps !!
c) mudslides / earthquake could disrupt salmon
patterns :(
d) the Great Basin : CANOES to help with fishing and
helped create surplus as you should
e) Western N.As had very protein rich diet and
healthier than the Plains and Northeast farmers
C. Social Organization : Distinct Yet Connected Communities
1. trading
a) the Dalles : area upstream of Long Narrows on the
Columbia River : trading network that stretched to
the Plains and Pacific
b) West trades salmonsalmonsalmon mmmM
c) the Chumash had TRADE FAIRS wildt- they traded
marine mammals for shells (?..lmao)
d) acorns used as currency
2. shelter
a) western Indians lived in wickiups (WIGWAM!) :
wood, leaves, and brush, easy to build and easy to
take down
b) in the Pacific Northwest, more permanent
settlements where there’s a lot of aCoRns and fish
(sALmoN)
c) shelter is mostly well built and permanent in
resource-rich plcs
D. Society and Religion : Resources Dictate Wealth
1. the west had an abundance of resources => rigidly
stratified social structure (different social levels that
could be hard to move up and down classes)
III.
American Indian Culture of the Southwest
A. Southwest NAs 7000BCE - 1300 CE
1. Pueblo (Ancestral) : Mogollon, Anasazi, Hohokam
2. Navajo
3. Apache
B. Geographic and Temporal Setting : the Pueblo Desert
1. the Pueblo : group of people in SW that lived in
permanent settlements in towns and villages
2. 3 groups : Mongollon, Anasazi, Hohokam, 200-1500 CE
3. Anasazi : lived in 4 corners at the Utah, New Mexico,
Colorado, and Arizona
IV.