Ch. 11: The Americas (400-1500) Section 1: North America Section 2: Mesoamerica Section 3: South America
The peoples of North America
The First Americans During the last Ice Age (between 100,000 – 8,000 years ago) there were low sea levels created a land bridge in the Bering Strait Google Earth!
The First Americans Scholars believe small communities crossed the land bridge (most likely hunters pursuing herds of bison and caribou)
Different cultures developed throughout North America
Arctic/ Northwest: Inuit Clothing: furs Homes: made of stone and turf (igloos served as temporary housing during times of travel)
Arctic/ Northwest: Inuit Food: hunted seal, caribou, fish using harpoons and spears made from antlers and narwal husks
Plains Food – beans, corn, squash; also hunted buffalo Homes – buffalo skins stretched over wooden poles = teepees
Southwest: Anasazi Food: farming society Homes: used adobe to build pueblos
Southwest: Anasazi Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde are examples of this civilization Why did they abandon these places? Prolonged drought
Chaco Canyon was a major center of ancestral Pueblo culture between AD 850 and 1250. It was a hub of ceremony, trade, and administration for the prehistoric Four Corners area - unlike anything before or since.
Early civilizations in Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica – areas of Mexico and Central America before the Spaniards arrive
Olmec 1200 BC – 400 BC architecture: large cities, colossal stone heads
Teotihuacán first major city in Mesoamerica, located near present day Mexico City.
Video clip: Mesoamerica
Maya (A.D. 300 – 900) Location: Yucatán Peninsula Religion: polytheistic, nature gods—especially sun, rain, corn Architecture: temples and pyramids built in each city- state
Maya Government: city-states governed by a hereditary ruling class who claimed to be descended from the gods
Maya What happened to the Maya? Mayan cities were abandoned and covered by dense jungle growth. They weren’t rediscovered until the 19th and 20th centuries.
Warm-up: Monday What color represents the location of the Inca? What color represents the location of the Aztec? What color represents the location of the Maya?
Aztec (1300s-1500s) Video Clip: Aztec Empire
Aztec (1300s-1500s) Location: Capital city in the Valley of Mexico where current day Mexico City is located. The Aztecs founded their capital city on Lake Texcoco by building artificial islands.
Aztec Religion: polytheistic practiced human sacrifice Why? If they appeased the gods, they could delay the final destruction of their world.
Aztec Economy: Aztec ruler received tribute – goods or money paid by conquered peoples to their conquerors
Aztec What happened to the Aztec? Fall of the Aztec: 1519: Spanish arrived at Veracruz, on the Gulf of Mexico Montezuma, the Aztec monarch, greeted them with gifts, but eventually tensions rose between the two Fall of the Aztec: weakened by diseases brought from the Spanish Eventually defeated by the Spanish
Civilizations in South America
Inca location: Andes Mountains Video Clip: Inca
Inca Religion: polytheistic—sun god important Machu Pichu
Inca Engineering: The Inca connected their empire with roads and bridges: 24,800 miles of it!
Incan bridges http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/education/ancient/grass- bridge.html http://www.teachersdomain.org/asset/eng06_vid_incabrid ge/
Inca What happened to the Inca? In 1531, the Spanish arrived on the Pacific coast of South America. They brought with them: weapons, gunpowder, horses, and disease The Inca Empire experienced an epidemic of smallpox, which also killed the emperor This led to civil war Eventually, the Spanish took over