The First Americans

Ben Kramer

Eighth Grade American History

The American Nation

Chapter Two

The First Americans

The First Americans

• The first people reached America sometime during the Ice Age.

• They reached North America by the Land Bridge.

• The Land Bridge contained huge sheets of ice called glaciers that took up water allowing land to appear.

First Americans

• Beringia, the land bridge in the north connecting Siberia to Alaska.

• The first Americans were probably hunters traveling in small bands hunting wooly mammoths, bison, and other game.

• Experts date the arrival of these Americans anywhere from 30,000 to 15,000 years ago.

Global Warming

• 12,000 years ago temperatures rose again and tha glaciers melted.

• At the same time the bison died out and the people of the America’s had to adapt to a new way of life hunting smaller game.

Study of Early Peoples

• Native Americans, descendants of the first people to reach the America’s thousands of years ago.

• Through the study of languages scholars are trying to trace how these people spread out across the Americas.

Native Americans

• Other scholars examined stone tools,weapons,baskets,and carvings found. These objects made by humans are called artifacts.

• They are the building blocks of archaeology, the study of evidence of early people.

The Mound Builders

• Wealth of artifacts found in earthen mounds in North America. The people who built these mounds were called Mound Builders. Mounds streached all across the Mid West.

Purpose of the Mounds

• The first mounds were burial mounds, probably for important leaders.

• Some mounds were used to store valuables.

• Other mounds were used for religious purposes.

A Sprawling City

• Some time ago the Mississippi's built a large city at Cahokia in present day Illinois.

• As Many as 30,000 people may have lived there.

• The people built Monk’s Mound, a 16 acre platform, along with other smaller ones.

Early Cultures of the Southwest

• Hohokams lived in southern Arizona, they developed ways to turn desert into farmland.

• Anasazi pueblos farmed by use of irrigation.

Early Cultures of the Southwest

• The Anasazi built larger homes of sun-dried brick called adobe.

• The Spanish called these homes that could house hundreds of people pueblos.

• Cliff Dwellers built adobe homes along cliffs to hide from warlike neighbors.

Culture Areas and Tribes

• A culture area is a region in which people share a similar way of life.

• Frozen seas and icy, treeless plains made up the world of the Inui's.

• In the winter they lived in houses of ice and snow called igloos.

Peoples of the West

• The Great Basin lies in the dry Intermountain region of the United States.

• The people lived off the vast land by hunting and fishing from its’ many rivers.

Peoples of the Southwest

• The Pueblos, Spanish name for peoples of the southwest.

• Their religious ceremonies were held in underground chambers called kivas.

• Kachinas were masked dancers who represented the spirits.

• The Apaches and Navajo arrived to the region in about 1500.

• These tribes were great hunters .

Blackfoot

• A Blackfeet chief named Shaved Head went in search of the Shoshone tribe. What he found were “big dogs” carrying men on their backs. These dogs were horses. Shaved Head brought horses back to the West.

Farming and Religion

• Men and women had clearly defined roles in the community.

• Men cleared the land and hunted deer and other animals.

• Women harvested and weeded the crops and took care of the house and children.

Natchez Society

• The Natchez hunted and farmed the land of the fertile Gulf Coast region.

• The Natchez people worshiped the sun and thought off it as a God.

The House Builders

• The Iroquiois were the most powerful people of this region, which is the present day New York state.

• The Iroquios built long homes out of poles sided with bark.

• A typical long home was 150 feet long by 20 feet wide with a hallway going down the middle with small rooms on either side.

The Mayas

• Mayan civilization emerged in the rain forests. The rain forests were actually very dangerous places to live with wild animals and disease infested insects.

• The Mayans built houses of mud and sticks.

• Wealthier Mayans lived in houses of stone and brick.

Mayas

• The Mayas were the first people to have large cities within their society.

• The cities arose in many parts of Mexico and Central America.

• Above each city were huge stone pyramids.

The Aztecs

• Techochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was built on an island in Central America.

• The Aztecs built roads of packed earthen material so they could travel between their capital and the mainland.

• Religion was central to Aztec life.

• The Aztecs ruled millions of people from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean.

The Incas

• The Incas were expert farmers and engineers.

• Empire stretched 3000 miles down South America.

The Incas

• The Incas built a complex network of roads stretching over 19,000 miles.

• The Incas also made a great deal of progress in the field of medicine.

– The Americas were inhibited by these tribes and ways of life until later on when sea voyages of people from the east like the Vikings and Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas. After this the Native American tribes were slowly pushed away and died off due to wars and disease from the new settlers.