BEGINNINGS

• Passage to Alaska– Hunters moved north in Asia in search

of large mammals– Around 12,000 B.C., hunters walk

across Bering Strait into North America

– Hunters arrived at the Great Plains and find lush grasslands and millions of large mammals

• The Demise of the Big Mammals– Clovis hunters develop long spears

and stone blades for more effective hunting

– The animal slaughter begins– Some histoians debate the role of the

Clovis hunters in killing these mammals

• The Archaic Period: A World Without Big Mammals, 9000 B.C.-- 1000 B.C.– Absence of big mammals forces people

to find new sources of food, clothing and shelter

– The Archaic Period lasts for several hundred human generations

– Bands of Archaic people migrated in search of food according to season

– Some plant cultivation beings around 2500 B.C. The First Sedentary Communities, 1000 B.C.

– Sedentary communities developed in different places at different times

– Poverty Point, Mississippi: an important early sedentary community

– Egalitarian social structure– Hopewell Mounds developed in Ohio and

Illinois.

• Corn Transforms the Southwest– The Aztec city of Teotihuacán: population

near 100,000, paved roads, complex housing system

– Gradual domestication of corn– importance of corn in culture– corn growing moves north to Mexican

desert

• The Diffusion of Corn– Corn moved slowly through North

America because of weather and labor demands of the crop

– Hunting and gathering peoples slowly learned the necessity of agricultural labor

• Population Growth After 800 A.D.– Corn stimulated population growth by

improving physical health– Increased population caused people to

clear more land, which in turn allowed for higher population

– Trade system evolves

• Cahokia: The Hub of Mississippian Culture– By 1000 A.D., Cahokia had become a major

center of trade, religion and politics– Vast and complex system of mounds and

buildings– Sharp class divisions were present at Cohokja

• The Collapse of Urban Centers– By 1200 A.D. most of the urban areas across

North America were losing their populations– Why? Ecological disasters, land abuse, crop

failure all contributed to lack of adequate food supply

– Many corn-growing tribes also began a long period of warfare with each other

• American Beginnings in Eurasia and Africa– The domestication of a variety of crops

(wheat, oats, peas, olives, etc.) and animals spread through African and Eurasia

– Disease wrought havoc on Eurasian populations

• Europe in Ferment– Growing population put pressure on resources of

land which in turn caused political unrest

– Shortage of tillable land created a large, wandering peasant class

– Invention of movable type created communication revolution

– By the 15th century, Europeans were sharply divided along class and education lines and wholly cut-off for the worlds across the Atlantic Ocean