Pre-Columbian America

Migration to the Americas Estimates: as long as 35,000 years ago Crossed the Bering Sea over a land bridge As people fanned through the W. Hemisphere, separate and distinct cultures emerged

Agriculture & Resources Agriculture is the key to the birth of civilization Control over the food supply Increased population growth Allow for groups to splinter off and form new communities Pursuits of other interests Maize Societies developed based on the resources available to them

Mayans, Aztecs & Incans

Mayan Structures Ball Court – Chichen Itza Observatory

Hohokam & Anasazi (Southwestern Cultures) Spanish called them Pueblos Terraced buildings Complex irrigation system

Northwest/Pacific Coast Cultures Homes were plank houses made of red cedar Used totem poles to guard villages Lived off of fish and hunting. Not as agriculturally based

Mississippian Cultures Built great earthen structures Used rivers to trade with other cultures Cahokia

Eastern Cultures & the Iroquois Hunted, fished & planted Fertilzer Three Sisters Wooden structures and boats Iroquois Confederation of tribes – political structure Communal societies Matrilineal in nature

Contact European contact begins with Columbus Estimates are 60- 70 million pre- Columbian Native Americans in W. Hemisphere (about 3-10 million north of Mexico) Columbian Exchange