American History
1492 to 1877
8.H.2
8th Grade
History Standard
Colonization to Independence
2. North America, originally inhabited by
American Indians, was explored and
colonized by Europeans for economic and
religious reasons.
8H.2 North America, originally inhabited by American Indians,
was explored and colonized by Europeans for economic and
religious reasons.
Terms
Archaeology – the study of ancient people
Artifact – an item left behind by early people that represents their culture
Nomad- people who move from place to place, usually in search of food or
grazing land
Migration – a movement of larger number of people into a new homeland.
Maize – an early form of corn grown by Native Americans
Carbon Dating – a scientific method used to determine the age of an artifact
Culture – a way of life of a group of people who share similar beliefs and
customs
Civilizations – a highly developed culture, usually with organized religions and
laws
Hieroglyphics – an ancient form of writing using symbols and pictures to
represent words, sounds and concepts.
Federation – a type of government that links different groups together.
AD 1300 Aztec
build Tenochtitlan
in Mexico
28,000 BC
Asian Hunters
entered North
America
7000 BC
Farming
develops in
Mexico
PreHistory
AD 1085
Anasazi build
pueblos in
North America
1050
10,000 BC
Last Ice Age Ends
AD 1492
Columbus lands in the
Americas
AD 1400s
Inca Empire reaches
its height in South
America
1250
AD 1295
Italian traveler Marco
Polo returns from
China
1450
AD 1609
Henry Hudson sails up
the Hudson River
1650
Early People
When Europeans arrived in the Americas in the late 1400s, they found
Native Americans living there.
• Archaeology – the study of ancient peoples
• Artifacts – things left behind by early people, such as stone tools,
weapons, baskets, and carvings.
Archaeologists have found artifacts that support the theory that Native
Americans came across the land bridge, Beringia, that once joined Asia
and the Americas.
• Nomads – people who moved from place to place. They gathered
wild grains and fruits but depended on hunting for their food.
• Migration – a movement of a large number of people into a new
homeland.
Beringia
Land Bridge
First Americans
Migration to the Americas
Cause and Effect
Causes
•
•
•
The Earth enters a long ice age
Water from the oceans freezes into glaciers
Sea levels drop, exposing the Beringia land bridge
Effects
•
•
•
Nomadic hunters from Asia cross into North
America
People spread into Central America and South
America
The early Americans create many new cultures
Extended Response Questions
Cause and Effect
The earth entered a long ice age causing
oceans to freeze exposing the Beringia land
bridge. What was one of the effects of this
event?
Hunting for Food
The early Americans were skilled at hunting. They
shaped pieces of stone and bone to make tools for
chopping and scrapping.
Early on there were woolly mammoth, and
mastodons which resembled modern elephants in
size. A single mammoth provided tons of meat,
enough to feed a group of people for months. They
used every part of the animal. The skin was turned
into clothing, carved the bones into weapons and
tools, and have used the long ribs to build shelters.
The Thaw
About 12,000 years ago the earth’s
temperatures began to rise. The great glaciers
melted, the oceans rose, and Beringia was
submerged again. The Americas were cut off
from Asia.
The mammoths and other large animals began
to die out, either from overhunting or because
of changes in the environment. The early
Americans had to find other sources of food.
Making roots
The early Americans began to hunt for smaller
game, such as deer, birds, and rodents. Those near
rivers or lakes learned to catch fish with nets and
traps. They began to collect wild berries and grains.
About 9,000 years ago, tribes in Mexico made a
discovery that would shape the lives of Native
Americans for thousands of years. They learned to
plant and raise an early form of corn called maize.
Their harvests were steady and a reliable source of
food. They no longer needed to move from place
to place to survive.
Cause and Effect
The Natives began to experiment with other
kinds of seeds. They planted pumpkins, beans,
chili peppers, avocados and squashes. They
began producing more than enough food to feed
themselves. They no longer needed to depend
on wandering animals as their food source. The
population grew along with the ever-increasing
food supply.
Early Communities
Scientists have found traces
of early villages that date
from about 5,000 years ago.
They used a method called
carbon dating to find out
the age of an artifact.
Carbon dating measures the
amount of radioactive
carbon that remains in the
object helping to date the
age of the object.
North American Peoples
Hohokam – AD 300 to AD
1200, lived in the dry, hot
desert of present-day
Arizona. They were
experts at squeezing every
drop of water from the
sunbaked soil. They
developed irrigation
channels to carry river
water into their fields.
Anasazi – AD 200 to AD
1300, lived in four corners
(Utah, Colorado, Arizona,
and New Mexico). They
were known for their
great stone dwellings
called pueblos. Many of
the pueblos were built
into the walls of steep
cliffs. This was for
protection from enemies
and winter weather.
The Mound Builders
(Hopewell and Adena) –
200BC to 500AD in
present day Pennsylvania
to the Mississippi River
Valley. These mounds
were built as huge burial
mounds in the shape of
birds, bears, and snakes.
Cahokia – largest group of
mound builders in present
day Illinois. They built
Monks Mound which is
nearly 100 feet high.
Native America before the
Europeans