Who was in the Americas?Northern Regions

• Arctic and Northwest• California Great Basin• Southwest• Great plains• Eastern Woodlands

Arctic and Northwest• Cold climate• Hunted whales and other

sea life• Limited trade along coast• Lived in small lineage

groups• Mythical stories created to

strengthen lineage group• Potlatches- dinners that

symbolized lineage wealth• totem poles represent

culture

California/Great Basin• Warm climate• Diets of mussels &

shellfish• Celebrated religious

festivals• Religion based on

natural spirits of animals and earth

• GB - moved in small bands

• Built windbreak shelters

Southwest• High desert regions• Built irrigation

canals because farms had a lack of water

• Pueblo built adobe buildings (sun-dried brick)

• multi-storied apartments

• Some tribes were raiders rather than sedentary

• Religion revolved around honoring spirits of the earth

Includes Hohokam, Pueblo, Apache & Navajo

Great Plains

• Between Rocky Mts & Miss. River• Grasslands - dry• Hunters followed big game - bison (buffalo)• Used every part of bison for food, clothing, shelter &

tools• Crow and Blackfoot

Eastern Woodlands• Had protected environment

due to forests• hunted (deer, turkey) and

farmed (corn, squash, tobacco)

• Villages built, some mound builders

• Villages centered around religious structure and activities

• Formed Iroquois League to settle dispute

Who was in the Americas?Meso-America (“Middle America”)

• Olmec• Maya• Aztec• Inca

OLMEC• 1500 -300 BC• Near Gulf of Mexico• Carved enormous stone

heads of volcanic rock• Chief god - cat-like with

jaguar face• Division of labor• Hieroglyphics• calendar• farm techniques - slash and

burn

Maya

MAYANS• Yucatan Peninsula• City States• Complex religion - two

layers (now and otherworld)

• Human sacrifice • Writing, ball playing

(pok-a-tok), astronomy, mathematicians (zero)

• Calendar (365)• demise - war, drought,

infighting

Palenque

Mayan Temples

The Aztecs

AZTECSPyramids of

Tenochtitlán

• Capital city of Tenochtitlan - island in middle of lake

• Society - hierarchy with emperor at top & criminals/debtors at bottom

• human sacrifice• children of the sun• Empire under

Montezuma conquered by Spaniards (Cortes)

Pyramid of the Sun

Pyramid of the Moon

Teotihuacan

Quetzalcoatlgod of wind &

knowledge

Canoe moving about the

chinampas

Weaving

Aztec Calendar

Montezuma Cortes

The Inca

INCASMachu Picchu

• Located in Andes Mountains (S. Amer)

• Strong central gov’t; huge empire extending length of South America

• Built paved roads & suspension bridges - used running messengers

• Instead of writing system used knotted string to communicate messages & keep records - quipu

Inca terraces

Suspension bridge

Quipu

Atahualpa Pizarro

Destruction of Culture

• The Meso-American kingdoms were as advanced and sophisticated as the ancient Greeks and Romans

• The European conquerors tried to destroy the evidence of this sophisticated culture