Native Peoples of
America
TO 1500
How did they get here?

Boats, much like kayaks, traveled the coast line from Asia to North
America.

Bering Land Bridge
Who did they hang out with?

Nomadic Tribes: Moved from place to place following an animal
herd, or looking for food to hunt and gather.

Paleo Indians: lived in small bands of 15-50 people.

Reciprocity: Mutual bestowing of gifts and favors rather than
competition for resources.
What is Happening?

Ice Age: Sea levels rose, New Waterways

Climate Change: Things are getting warmer

Animal Extinction: Mastodon, Mammoth

Creation of new Forest areas
Now what?

The climate change created a lot of changes.

Archaic Peoples: Native American people from 8000bce-2500bce

Lived off fish, smaller animals, and wild plants

Villages vs Nomadic Tribes

Distinction between Male and Female roles.

Men: hunted, fished

Women: foraged for food

Both: served as religious healers
If we plant it, it will grow.

Agricultural Societies

Women started to realize they could manipulate the plants they were
eating.

They started planting the seeds and producing food to eat

Created tools for digging and grinding

Drying and storing seeds

Soon these areas were domesticating animals

America lacked large animals so they domesticated:

Guinea Pigs, Llamas, Dogs, and Turkeys
Thank God for Farmers

Centuries later societies would be built around farming.

They would be able to grow a surplus of crops

This created trade.
Farming Surplus of crops Trade  Large City Centers  Civilizations
The Maya, Aztec, Inca



The Maya: Mexico-Honduras

Kingdom-States

Written Language & Numbers

Studied the Stars
The Aztec: Mexico

200,000 inhabitants

Relied heavily on agriculture, floating islands

Collected Taxes
The Inca: Peru

Terraced irrigation systems

Advanced Farming

Roads and Bridges
The Southwest


Hokokam

Southern Arizona, along the Gila and Salt River

Farming society

Established institutions: government, coordinated work forces,

Celebrated Recreation: Ball Courts, Artists, etc.
Anasazi

Located in the four corners: Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado

Kivas: a large chamber often underground, used for religious and other
purposes.

Wet season allowed them to spread across much of the Southwest, but
drought drastically affected their size later.
Your Turn

A big part of this class will be how well you can read and take notes
from the book.

I have done the first part of Chapter 1 for you.

Starting on page 8 Finish the rest of the chapter while taking notes for
your quiz next week.