The Roots of America
Objectives
• Understand how people may have first reached
the Americas.
• Find out how people learned to farm.
• Explore the civilizations of the Mayas, Aztecs,
and Incas.
Terms and People
• glacier – thick sheet of ice
• irrigate – to water crops by channeling water
from rivers or streams
• surplus – excess; quantity that is left over
• civilization – an advanced culture in which
people have developed cities, science, and
industries
How did early civilizations develop in the
Americas?
Scientists have several theories about how
people first came to the Americas.
One theory says
people migrated
over a land
bridge.
One theory says
people came by
boat.
Between 10,000 and 100,000 years ago, much of the
world was covered by glaciers.
As more of the world’s water froze, the level of the
oceans dropped, and a land bridge appeared between
Siberia and Alaska.
Today, that land bridge lies
under a narrow waterway
called the Bering Strait.
Many scientists think people first came to
North America between 20,000 and
30,000 years ago.
They believe that hunters crossed the
land bridge in pursuit of animals such as
the woolly mammoth.
Over
thousands of
years, people
spread across
North and
South America.
The coastal-route theory says that people
crossed the arctic waters by boat and
traveled southward along the Pacific coast.
Many Native American
groups dismiss both
theories in favor of their
own creation stories.
For centuries, early humans could fill most of their
needs by hunting, but then many of the larger
animals began to disappear.
Hunters became gatherers, traveling around
and searching for wild plants and small
game.
gatherers
hunters
About 8,000 years ago, gatherers in Mexico
began growing food, including squash and
lima beans.
This discovery of farming meant that families
no longer had to wander in search of food.
Farmers began to irrigate and
learned to raise animals.
The population grew rapidly, and once they
began to produce surplus food, Native
Americans started trading with others.
Some farming communities grew into cities,
which became centers of government and
religious life.
With the development of cities came the
beginnings of civilization.
Ways of Life
Hunting and
Gathering
• In many culture areas, women gathered
plants and roots, and men hunted and
fished.
Farming
• In other culture areas, Native Americans
grew crops suited to the climate in which
they lived.
• Populations were much larger in farming
areas than in non-farming areas.
Trading
• Trade was common in all culture areas.
• Seashells or beads were used as currency
in some areas.
Many Native Americans felt a close
relationship to the natural world.
They believed that spirits dwelled in
nature and that these spirits were part
of their daily lives.
Native American storytellers passed down
their beliefs and history from generation to
generation.
Well before
10,000 B.C.,
Native
Americans
had spread
across the
North
American
continent.
Native American
tribes built different
kinds of homes.
The types of houses
they built depended
on the climate and
the geography in the
region where they
lived.
People of the Arctic, Subarctic, and Pacific
Northwest
People of
the Arctic
• They lived in a bitterly cold land.
People
of the
Subarctic
• They lived in dense forests in a land too
cold for farming.
People of
the Pacific
Northwest
• There were plenty of animals and plants
where they lived, so they could live in
permanent settlements even though they
were not farmers.
• They ate fish, shellfish, and birds and
hunted marine mammals from kayaks.
• They hunted caribou, moose, and bear.
People of the Far West and the Southwest
People
of the
Far West
• They lived in different geographic regions,
ranging from cold northern forests and
grasslands to hot southern deserts.
• Housing types ranged from pit houses to
bark houses to wooden houses.
People
of the
Southwest
• The climate in their region was dry most of
the year but wet in July and August.
• Some people farmed; others hunted.
The Pueblo
people, such
as the Hopis
and Zunis,
had stable
towns with
houses made
of adobe.
The towns
lasted for
hundreds of
years.
In the eastern Plains, the people farmed and lived
in earth lodges.
Much of the western Plains was too dry to
farm, so the people hunted buffalo, which
provided them with most of the things they
needed to live.
People in the western
Plains lived in tepees or
round pits in the ground.
People of the Eastern Woodlands
Early
People
of the
Eastern
Woodlands
• The earliest woodlands people hunted,
fished, and gathered nuts and berries.
• By about A.D. 1000, some woodlands
people had begun farming.
Algonquian • These people spoke Algonquian languages
People
and lived in southern Canada, the Great
Lakes area, and along the Atlantic coast to
Virginia.
Iroquois
People
• These groups of people spoke Iroquoian
languages and lived in what is now New
York.
People of the Southeast
Cherokees
and Creeks
• The land and the climate of the southeast
supported farming.
• The Cherokees and the Creeks built
wooden-frame houses covered with straw
mats and plastered with mud clay.
Natchez
People
• These people lived on the Gulf Coast.
• They created a complex society with a
ruler, nobles, and commoners.
Over the centuries,
several civilizations
rose and declined
in the Americas:
• the Mayas
• the Aztecs
• the Incas
The Mayas
Time Period
• Between A.D. 250 and A.D. 900
Location
• Present-day Mexico and Central
America
Achievements
• Built splendid cities
• Developed arts, a system of
government, and a written
language
• Created the most accurate calendar
known until modern times
Around A.D. 900, the Mayas began to
abandon their cities, perhaps because of
disease or overpopulation.
The Aztecs
Time Period
• Between 1325 and 1521
Location
• Present-day Mexico
Achievements
• Built the city Tenochtitlán, which
may have been the biggest city in
the world at the time
• Built Tenochtitlán on islands in a
large lake and connected them by
stone roadways
On a series of islands in a large lake, the
Aztecs built a great capital city, Tenochtitlán,
on the site of present-day Mexico City.
Tenochtitlán
Population
• More than 200,000 people lived there at the
city’s height.
Farming
• Many farmers raised crops on floating
platforms.
Religion
• Religion dominated Aztec life.
• The center of the city had dozens of
temples that honored Aztec gods.
• The Aztecs practiced human sacrifice as an
offering to their gods.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3QA2J
9UxJE&feature=related
During the 1400s, Aztec armies brought half
of modern-day Mexico under their control.
The Aztecs were harsh rulers, and their
subjects would eventually turn on them
when Europeans came to conquer the region.
Aztecs
Europeans
subjects
The Incas
Time Period
• Between the early 1400s and 1533
Location
• Down the coast of South America
along the Andes, across the Atacama
desert, and to the fringes of the
Amazon rain forest
Achievements
• Built the largest empire in the world
in the 1400s
• Buildings of huge stones shaped to
fit together
• Roads, walls, canals, and bridges
• Fine weavings and metalwork
Encounter of 1492
1492
A. Columbus leads a Spanish fleet to the
Bahamas- changed history forever.
B. Tainos were Native Americans he met
there. Within 100 years, the entire Taino
population was destroyed.
Encounter of 1492
Columbian Exchange
The encounter started a a worldwide
exchange of good and ideas.
Food, technology, arts, language,
medicine, Government.
The Columbian Exchange
Positive
Changes
• The Europeans introduced new food plants
and domestic animals to the Western
hemisphere.
• The Americas introduced new food plants
and animals to the rest of the world, which
now account for nearly one-third of the
world’s food supply.
Negative
Changes
• Europeans enslaved Native Americans as
they mined for gold.
• Contagious diseases brought by Europeans
killed Native Americans by the thousands.
KNOW IT SHOW GAME
Take out a Piece of Paper.
Number 1-10
Write down the letter of the answer for
each question.
Read, Set Go….
Objectives
• Learn about the earliest peoples of North
America.
• Discover what different groups of Native
Americans had in common.
• Explore the impact of geography on Native
American cultures.
Terms and People
• culture – way of life
• culture area – region in which groups of people
have a similar way of life
Terms and People (continued)
• adobe – sun-dried brick
• clans – groups of families that were related to
one another
• sachem – tribal chief
How did geography influence the
development of cultures in North
America?
In North America, groups of people
developed unique cultures.
Around 3,000 years ago, various
groups began to emerge in an area
stretching from the Appalachian
Mountains to the Mississippi Valley.
These people are called Mound Builders
because they constructed large piles of earth
as burial places or as the foundations of
buildings.
One group of Mound Builders, the
Mississippians, built the first cities in North
America.
Scholars
classify
Native
Americans
into several
culture
areas.
Ways of Life
Hunting and
Gathering
• In many culture areas, women gathered plants
and roots, and men hunted and fished.
Farming
• In other culture areas, Native Americans grew
crops suited to the climate in which they lived.
• Populations were much larger in farming areas
than in non-farming areas.
Trading
• Trade was common in all culture areas.
• Seashells or beads were used as currency in
some areas.
Well
before
10,000
B.C.,
Native
American
s had
spread
across the
North
American
continent.
Native
American
tribes built
different
kinds of
homes.
The types
of houses
they built
depended
on the
climate and
the
geography
in the
region
where they
lived.
People of the Arctic, Subarctic, and Pacific
Northwest
People of the
Arctic
• They lived in a bitterly cold land.
People
of
the Subarctic
• They lived in dense forests in a land too cold for
farming.
• They ate fish, shellfish, and birds and hunted
marine mammals from kayaks.
• They hunted caribou, moose, and bear.
People of the
Pacific
Northwest
• There were plenty of animals and plants where
they lived, so they could live in permanent
settlements even though they were not farmers.
The
Pueblo
people,
such as
the Hopis
and Zunis,
had stable
towns
with
houses
made of
adobe.
The towns
lasted for
hundreds
of years.
People of the Eastern Woodlands
Early
People
of the
Eastern
Woodlands
• The earliest woodlands people hunted,
fished, and gathered nuts and berries.
• By about A.D. 1000, some woodlands
people had begun farming.
Algonquian • These people spoke Algonquian languages
People
and lived in southern Canada, the Great
Lakes area, and along the Atlantic coast to
Virginia.
Iroquois
People
• These groups of people spoke Iroquoian
languages and lived in what is now New
York.
The Iroquois were made up of five distinct
nations, and each nation was made up of clans.
Women had great influence in Iroquois
society:
Membership in a clan
was passed from a
mother to her
children.
Women owned all
the property that
belonged to a clan
and chose the clan’s
sachem.
During the 1500s, the five Iroquois nations went
through a period of constant warfare.
When the nations finally stopped fighting,
they established the League of the Iroquois,
a council that made laws to keep the peace.
The Iroquois wrote their own constitution.
Objectives
• Learn about the role played by Muslims in world
trade.
• Discover how great trading states rose in East
Africa and West Africa.
• Find out how China dominated an important
trade route across Asia.
Terms and People
• Muhammad – the prophet and founder of Islam
• Mansa Musa – a Muslim ruler of the Mali
empire during its height
• navigation – the science of locating the
position and plotting the course of ships
• Zheng He – a Chinese explorer who made
several voyages to trade with nations in Asia
and Africa
How did trade link Europe, Africa, and
Asia?
From the earliest times, trade linked groups
who lived at great distances from one
another.
Merchants carried their cultures with them
as they traveled along their established
trade routes.
The Silk Road, one of the great trade routes of
ancient times, stretched 5,000 miles from China to
Persia.
Merchants on the Silk Road brought silk,
jade, pottery, spices, and bronze goods from
China to Middle Eastern and European
markets.
Along the way, they traded in the Middle East for
spices and other products.
Trade in Africa
began with Egypt
in 3100 B.C.
In about A.D. 1000,
trade centers
began to appear in
eastern Africa.
The growth in trade was also linked to the
rise of the religion of Islam.
In the 600s, Islam was founded on the Arabian
Peninsula by the prophet Muhammad.
Muslims believe in one
God, and their sacred
book is called the Quran.
Islam spread rapidly when Arab armies swept
across North Africa and into Spain.
Muslim merchants also spread their religion far
into Africa, and from Persia to India.
Millions of people across Europe, Asia, and
Africa became Muslims.
By the 1500s, a global trading network linked the
civilizations of Europe, Africa, and Asia.
The Silk Road became less important when
alternative sea routes were discovered.
Objectives
• Understand the importance of the JudeoChristian tradition.
• Learn how Greece and Rome shaped ideas about
government and law.
• Discover the impact of the Crusades and the
Renaissance on Europe.
• Find out why Europeans began to look beyond
their borders.
What major influences shaped
European civilization?
European beliefs and values were
influenced by Judaism and Christianity,
collectively referred to as the JudeoChristian tradition.
The political traditions of Greece and Rome
also influenced Europe.
Christianity
Christian
Beliefs
• The religion is based on the belief
that Jesus was God in human form
and that he came to Earth to save
the world.
Teachings
of Jesus
• His teachings emphasized love,
mercy, and forgiveness.
• He taught that all people have an
equal chance for salvation.
Spread of
Christianity
• Jesus’ teachings appealed to the
poor and the oppressed.
• This helped the religion spread from
the Middle East across Europe.
The Renaissance
Time Period
The Renaissance, a rebirth of learning in
Europe, began in the 1300s.
Philosophy
and Art
European scholars and artists
rediscovered classical Greek and Roman
texts and art.
Science and
Inventions
Johann Gutenberg’s printing press made
more books available and boosted
literacy rates.
Powerful
New NationStates
The new nations—Spain, Portugal,
France, and England—shifted important
trade routes from the Mediterranean to
the Atlantic Ocean.
Beginning of the Age of Exploration
Center for
Exploration
• In the 1400s, Prince Henry the Navigator
set up a center for exploration at Sagres,
Portugal.
• There, sailors learned to use the magnetic
compass and the astrolabe.
Water Route
Around Africa
• By 1498, Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama
passed the southern tip of Africa on his way to
India.
• His course became an important trade route
and helped boost Portuguese wealth and
power.
Hip Hop History
Long ago, much of the world was covered by ice layers
These thick sheets of ice are called glaciers
As the water froze, the ocean level dropped
Revealing dry land on which people could walk
Watering crops by channeling water from other places
Like rivers and streams is a method called irrigation
Advanced cultures with cities, science, and industries
We name them with the term civilizations
People developed unique ways of life they were known
for
The way of life of a people is called their culture
The Pueblo people like the Zunis and Hopis
Made their homes from brick called adobe
In the Arctic, the land was harsh and vast
People hunted in small boats called kayaks
Across the ocean, major trade started
This helped to spread Islam founded by Muhammad
The West African Kingdom of Mali’s ruler
Was a Muslim king named Mansa Musa
The Chinese made advancements in location
And plotting ship’s courses it’s called navigation
The idea that one God exists is
A belief called monotheism
Christianity was started by a Jewish teacher
Who began to preach; his name was Jesus
Ordinary citizens make decisions in an assembly
This form of government is direct democracy
People choose representatives to govern
This type of government is called a republic