The First Americans: Prehistory - 1492 North American Peoples

Early Native Americans Long before the Europeans came in 1500’s CE Many native cultures… Rose Flourished Disappeared Most advanced Hohokam (Southwest) Anasazi (Southwest) Mound Builders (Ohio River Valley)

The Hohokam Present-day Arizona Believed from Mexico Dry, hot desert Area b/t Gila and Salt River Valleys Believed from Mexico Came around 300BCE Flourished 300CE-1300CE Experts @ squeezing every drop of water Life depended on irrigation 100’s miles of channels bringing H2O Left behind… Pottery Carved stone Shells etched w/ acid (acquired in trade from coastal people) Hohokam: Skywatchers (9:07)

The Anasazi 1CE-1300CE 4 Corners (where Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico meet) Built great stone dwellings Pueblo Bonita Spanish for pretty village Stone and sun-dried clay 4 stories high 800+ rooms and 32 kivas!!! Cliff Dwellings Carved & built into walls of cliffs Mesa Verde 1000’s of inhabitants Easy to defend Protection from winter weather Complex system of roads linking the villages Env’t issues finally caused demise Drought Etc. Anasazi: People of Peace (4:29)

The Mound Builders Earthen mounds dot US landscape Major Builders… Not work of a single group, but many called, the Mound Builders Earliest built around 1000BCE Some shape of pyramids; some elaborate animals Some contain burial chambers From Pennsylvania to Mississippi River As far north as Great Lakes and south as far as Florida Major Builders… Adena 800BCE Ohio Valley hunter-gatherers Hopewell 200BCE-500CE Farmers and traders Burial mounds in shape of birds, snakes, alligators Mound Builders (4:56)

Cahokia Largest settlement of mound builders Built by Mississippians Present-day Illinois Largest mound (Monk’s Mound)- 100ft!!! Looks like cities of Aztecs even though more than 2,000 miles away Believed they travelled from Mexico through Gulf and up the Mississippi River Dominated by pyramid-shaped mounds

The First Americans: Prehistory - 1492 North American Peoples

Modern Native Americans As early groups faded away… Other rise to take their place Europeans arrive and NA full of many new, different native cultures Modern Natives are the ones we think of today Wherever they lived and how… Did what best suited their environment All of this will change when the “white man” arrives!!!

Peoples of the North Inuit People who settled northernmost part of NA Land surrounding Arctic Ocean Believed to be the last to pass over Beringia Many skills (brought from original home in Siberia) Winter they built igloos Made of blocks of ice and snow to protect from extreme cold Cloths made of furs and sealskin Made both warm and waterproof Hunters and Fisherman Coastal Waters Whales, seals, and walruses Skin-covered boats Land Hunted caribou Made cloths from hides and burned seal- oil lamps

Peoples of the West Mild climate and dependable food = good place for many different groups California Great variety of cultures Northern Coast Fished for their food Southern Deserts Nomadic groups gathered roots and seeds Central Valley Pomo people Women gathered acorns and pounded into flour Great Basin Area b/t Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mts. Dry climate, hard rocky soil Ute and Shoshone Traveled for food, nomadic Ate small game, nuts, berries, roots, and insects Northwest Coast Tlingit, Haida, Chinook Used resources of forest and sea Built wooden houses, canoes, cloth, baskets from tree bark Spears and traps Fished for salmon Main food source Smoked over fires to preserve Plateau Area b/t Cascade and Rocky Mts. Nez Perce and Yakima Hunted deer in forests Gathered roots and berries Made earthen houses

Peoples of the Southwest Descendents of Anasazi Hopi, Acoma, Zuni Built homes of adobe Raised maize (main) Beans, squash, pumpkins, melons, and fruit Part of major trade network Into SW and Mexico 1500’s 2 new groups settled in area Apache and Navajo Hunter-gatherers Deer and other game Eventually… Became stationary Permanent homes called Hogans Grew maize Raised sheep

People of the Plains Nomadic 1500’s Spanish brought horses to Mexico Temporary villages (growing season) Tepees Men hunted antelope, deer but mainly buffalo Women grew plots of maize, beans, squash 1500’s Spanish brought horses to Mexico Some got out migrated North Tamed wild horses Became skilled riders who hunted, and fought from backs Used spears, bows, clubs, and knives

People of the NE Woodlands Northeast Woodlands Iroquois and Cherokee Complex political systems to govern nations Longhouses Used forest to hunt and grow crops Deer, corn, beans, squash Iroquois near Canada, now northern NY 5 nations Onondaga, Seneca, Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga Warred w/ each other until 1500’s Joined together to form Iroquois Confederacy Women ruled; chose the men for the tribal council 1st Constitution in the new world

People of the Southeast Woodland, but warmer climate Creek, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Catawba Creek: farming villages (GA, ALAB) Corn, tobacco, squash, etc. Chickasaw: now Miss. Farmed river bottoms Cherokee and Catawba Farmed mts. of GA and Carolinas