1491 – 1607
On a North American continent controlled by
American Indians, contact among the peoples
of Europe, the Americas, and West Africa
created a new world
How did the political, economic, and religious
systems of Native Americans, Europeans, and
Africans compare and how did things change as a
result of contacts among them?
Native Americans Europeans
Africans
Politics
Economy
Religion/Society
Explain how things changed within each
category as a result of contact among the three
groups.

Native populations in America
1490s: est. 50 – 100 million
 1 – 10 million in North America
 Slow spread of maize from south


Variety of social, political, economic structures
Based on environment, interaction w/ each other
 Adapted to environment
 Transformed environment


Complex societies
Astronomy, art, writing systems, math, monument
building
 Central & South America: Aztecs, Maya, Inca



Domesticated crops (maize, potato)
Permanent farming towns  more food 
more time  SPECIALIZATION!


Culture: arts, crafts, religion, science, calendars,
astronomy, etc.
Also. . . WAR!

Dense population


250k
Bureaucracy
State controlled land
 Tenochtitlan
 Rule by priests (sun god), warrior-nobles


Trade & tribute  gold, textiles, turquoise,
feathers, cacoa


War  subordinate kingdoms
Human sacrifice  fertile fields, return of sun
Complex Civs in
MesoAmerica
& Andes
Semi-sedentary
societies
Note: This is not a hierarchy!
H-G in kinship
groups

Climate change


Grasslands
Forests
 plants, small animals
  fiber snares, basketry, mills (grinding nuts)
  domestication of dog, turkey

Great Basin/Great Plains (western)



H-G lifestyles
Deer, moose, antelope, elk
Northeast/Atlantic Seaboard

Mixed AG + H-G


There are two sides to every story.
POV study. . .

Ohio River Valley ( 800 BCE – 600 CE)



Adena-Hopewell culture, Midwest
Earthworks (animal shapes), H-G, division of labor
(priests/warriors – laborers), trade
Mississippi Valley (600 CE – 1500)



SE US, Cahokia (center)
AG- corn, beans, squash
Towns around temples, plazas, social structure,
human sacrifice, trade, division of labor, gov.
structure, worship of sun
Snake mound- S. Ohio. Adena peoples
(500 BCE – 200 CE OR 950 – 1200 CE) OR
Mississippian (b/c of animal imagery).
Snake head aligned with sunset of
summer solstice- June 20/21.
Kincaid Site (IL)- 140 mi.
from Cahokia. Mississippian
town (1050-1450), 19 mound
+ buildings- temples, council
houses. Image painted by
Herb Roe.

Anasazi- earliest AG society (1st cent. CE)

“Four corners”
 CO, UT, AZ, NM


Climate factor: arid & dry  irrigation-based
(maize)  villages, towns developed
Adobe dwellings (pueblos), temple mounds
 Adobe, rock- molded to canyon walls


Chaco Canyon (NM)- 12 towns, roads connected to
villages
No known class structure, war as self-defense

Moral codes, myths/beliefs (nature = sacred),
COMMUNAL LIVING = similar

Developed in different ways, different places,
different times

Three regional groups



Eastern Woodlands, Great Plains, Western
Differences: geography, language, customs
Similarities: sacred spirits in plants/animals
(animism) gods ensure good weather, good
hunts, good harvests, good wars

Three regional groups

Algonquian, Iroquois, Muskogee
 Smaller, powerful New England groups:
Narragansetts, Wampanoags, Mohegans


AG + H-G, method of burning land
No single style of political organization


Chiefdoms- multiple chiefs, one w/ preeminent
power
Paramount chiefdoms- communities w/ local chiefs
come together under single, more powerful ruler
 Powhatan Chiefdom- Chesapeake Bay
 Made of 30 smaller chiefdom
 Met by John Smith

Mid-Atlantic- many small, local chiefdoms

New England  Great Lakes  Carolinas




Coastal = fishing; inland = hunting
Limited AG
Canoes = technology & transportation




Clan ID cross through various tribes
Very mobile- rivers, lakes
For trade, hunt/fish, ceremonies, alliances
Live in small, round shelters (wig-wams)
500 – 2,000 people

Upstate NY  PA, Carolinas, GA
Comprised of Five Nations- Mohawks, Oneidas,
Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas
 Fighting b/t groups  wars of retribution
 Mohawk Hiawatha- peace and power, condolence
rituals


Maize  permanent villages

Log walls around, wooden long-houses within
 Multi-family unit


Political authority to council of chiefs
Matriarchal society




d
Absence of men (war, trade, hunt, fish)
Select council of sachems, distribute property,
plant/harvest
Power inherited through female line of authority


Chiefdoms in S
Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw

Very diverse
Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Arapaho (Algonquin)
 Comanche (Shoshonean)
 Apache (Athabaskan)
 Teton Sioux, Crow (Siouan)


Mostly nomadic

Biggest change? HORSE
 Also… horses = advantage over enemy  POWER

Culture- hunting (bison)

Comanche



Expert raiders
Prisoners/horses for food, weapons, etc.
Sioux
Domination of Black Hills
(MS river, MN, west)


For some- farming incorporated

Settled villages along rivers

Goods: food, raw materials, tools, ritual
artifacts, decorative goods


Regional trade networks




Those w/ access to trade goods  luxury items,
power, elite status
Nomadic hunters of plains traded w/ Pueblos
Hides/meat  maize, pottery, blankets
War captives traded as slaves, diplomatic gifts
Long distance trade

Copper (Great Lakes), obsidian (NM), pipestone
(midwest), seashells, bear claws

Large nations- leaders controlled wealth


Smaller groups- strongest hunters = most food


distribute to show generosity, gain authority
But, sharing essential
Chiefdoms- rulers collect wealth, redistribute it
to followers


Religion and understanding based on
interpreting dreams, visions
Rituals to appease spirits


AG



Successful hunts, battles
Female power, fertility linked to earth
Festivals/ceremonies for life-giving world
H-G



Spiritual power through hunting, war
Fearful of offending spirits of animals killed
Rituals before, during, after

War- geopolitical (gain land vs. enemy), rite of
passage (raids to prove self), person motives
(blood feuds, mourning wars)