The First Americans

First Migration - Beringia

Native Americans Arrival in the Americas

Native Americans – Cultural Similarities Importance of kinship Importance of animals & nature Polytheistic Religion Purpose of warfare Education & childrearing Communal living Plains Indians

"But in liberality they excel; nothing is too good for their friends "But in liberality they excel; nothing is too good for their friends. Give them a fine gun, coat, or other thing; it may pass twenty hands before it sticks… Wealth circulateth like the blood, all parts partake…" - William Penn, 1683

Northwest Region Demonstrated an ability to adapt to various environments Ancestors of the Inuit in Alaska Abundant food Totem Poles Large houses Alaskan Totem Pole

Southwest Region Demonstrated knowledge of advance farming and architecture Anasazi (Ancient Ones) Dams, irrigation, and cliff dwellings Engaged in warfare as a means of self-defense Cliff Dwellings, Anasazi

Mound Builders East of Mississippi River to the Atlantic Adena & Hopewell Burial mounds contain artifacts that show social structure Cahokia Serpent Mound, Ohio

Iroquois Confederacy Mohawks (People of the Flint Oneidas (People of the Stone) Onondagas (People of the Mountain) Cayugas (People at the Landing) Seneca (Great Hill People) “In our society, women are the center of all things. Nature, we believe, has given women the ability to create; therefore it is only natural that women be in positions of power to protect his function” - Iroquois Elder

Algonquin Territory from New England to the Great Lakes and south to the Carolinas Lived in wigwams Hunters and fishermen Traveled in canoes Pequot Canoe

Muskogean Lived along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico Matrilineal society Included tribes like the Creek, Chickasaw, and Choctaw More rigid class structure Lived in towns around a central plaza

Native Americans - Stereotypes Noble savage Side-kick of the white man Brute savage

“Marriage laws are non-existent: men and women alike choose their mates and leave them as they please, without offense, jealousy or anger…If they [women] tire of their men, they give themselves abortions with herbs that force stillbirths, covering their shameful parts with leaves or cotton cloth; although on the whole, Indian men and women look upon total nakedness with as much casualness as we look upon a man’s head or at his hands.” -Bartolome de las Casas

Native Americans - Impression of Europeans Terror Evidence of friendship Disbelief of European technology Lack of understanding of the purpose of European possessions

Europeans – Culture & Society Difficult living Alcohol, tobacco, and religion Enclosure Mercantilism Pieter Bruegel, Fight Between Carnival and Lent

Contact – Chinese Exploration Chinese Fleet, 15th Century

Contact - European Exploration Portugal Spain & Christopher Columbus, 1492 AmerigoVespucci, 1499-1502

Contact - Columbus Arawaks Enslavement of Indians Columbian Exchange Transfer of Disease

“Thus husbands and wives were together only once every eight or ten months and when they met they were so exhausted and depressed on both sides…the ceased to procreate. As for the newly born, they died early because their mothers, overworked and famished, had no milk to nurse them…Some mothers even drowned their babies from sheer desperation…In this way husbands died in the mine, wives died at work, and children died from lack of milk…and in a short time this land which was so great, so powerful and fertile…was depopulated…My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature, and now I tremble as I write…” - Bartolome de las Casas

The First Americans Key Terms: Anasazi, Great Serpent Mound, Enclosure, Mercantilism, Amerigo Vespucci, Columbian Exchange