Ancient Native American Civilizations

Native Americans originally came from Asia. During the Ice Age, Asia and America were connected by a land bridge.

20,000 years ago, people must have walked across the land bridge while following herds of animals.

Their journey must have been difficult.

They must have lived mostly by hunting large mammals.

Some Native Americans stayed in Alaska and Canada. They are still there today.

These people traveled south and eventually filled up North and South America.

There was so much food in the Americas that most people never needed to farm. They could hunt, fish, and gather more than they needed. For this reason, civilization was slow to come in some places.

Some Native Americans started farming between 5,000 and 3,000 B.C.

They had few domesticated animals such as cows, pigs, or chickens. Some Native American farmers had turkeys or llamas. Native Americans grew corn, potatoes, squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, chocolate, tobacco, and beans. The rest of the world did not have these crops until after Some Native Americans learned how to make clothing from cotton.

Comprehension Check Where did the first Americans come from? How did they come to America? Why were some Native Americans slow to start farming? What did Native American farmers have? What did Native American farmers not have?

The first Native American civilization was the Olmec. The Olmec started in Mexico in 1300 B.C. The Olmec built giant temples and statues. Their civilization lasted over a thousand years.

Another ancient Native American civilization in Mexico was the Maya. They Maya were strongest between 250 B.C. and 800 A.D.

The Maya lived in Mexico.

The Maya built huge cities and pyramids. They used boats to trade with people all over the Americas. They wrote books to record their history. They studied the sun, moon, and stars very carefully.

In the Andes Mountains of Peru, the Inca built a great civilization.

Their roads, bridges and buildings still stand today.

They were excellent at math and science.

They had so much gold that in some places it was used to make sidewalks.

Just like the Egyptians, they would mummify their dead leaders.

The Inca civilization was special. They took care of all the people well. People were equal. There were no poor people.

One Native American civilization called the Moundbuilders lived in the part of the Americas that is the United States today.

Not much is known about them, but they built large mounds of earth to use as tombs for their leaders. The mounds were so large that they looked like large hills. Some are in the shapes of giant snakes or birds.

This Mound looks like a giant snake from above.

Another civilization of North America was the Pueblo. The Pueblo built their cities in the sides of cliffs in the desert.