Cultures of Central and South America Tara Madsen

Background The first humans to arrive in the Americas arrived thousands of years ago… Archeologist disagree on the exact time frame for migrants…. They have found evidence dating from around 15,000 years ago. During the Ice Age, many people passed over a land bridge that extended from present day Russia into Alaska. From there the migrates moved over the entire continent of North, Central and South America.

Early Americans The first Americans were hunters and gatherers. They followed wild hers of big game like mastodons and mammoths… as the big game herds died out they turned to hunting bison and smaller game like rabbits and deer. Some hunters and gatherers in Mexico and South America learned to domesticate plants and began growing crops… this Neolithic Revolutions had far reaching effects… Farming produced a food surplus and freed some people to become craft workers, soldiers and priests. As in other areas of the world, the development of farming allowed for civilizations to develop.

Mayan Civilizations The largest civilization in Mexico and Central America was the Mayan… much of it was centered on the Yucatan Peninsula… the area is mainly rain forest. The Mayan civilization reached its height between 300 and 900. Mayans were known for human sacrifice to the gods… They were farmers… their chief crops were beans, corn, and squash… they also had slaves. Mayans over cultivated their lands and as a result they migrated in search of new lands… they also could have been invaded… today their descendants live in Guatemala…

The Aztec Empire During the 1200s… the Aztecs migrated from the northwest into the Valley of Mexico… they were pushed out of their homelands by invaders. In 1325, the Aztecs settled on islands in Lace Texcoco… there they built the city of Tenochtitlan… in time it became a huge empire. They empire was broken into city states and they were taxed by a central government. By the time the Spanish arrived in 1519, the Aztecs ruled appx 5 million people. They also practiced human sacrifice.

The Inca Empire The Inca began as a small group in the mountains of Peru… their center was Cuzco…. Beginning with the rule of Pachacuti in 1438, the Inca set out to conquer surrounding groups. Pachacuti used wealth from his empire to beautify his capital… huge stone palaces The Inca Empire was divided into four provinces… they had roads that helped with military travels and trade… the empire had 24 thousand miles of crisscrossing roads… The Inca did not develop a system of writing… they did develop a calendar.

North American Cultures Experts think that about 70 million people lived in the Americas when Christopher Columbus sailed west in Of these, about 5 million lived in what would become the United States. There were various cultural regions, each with many different groups.

Puebloans of the Southwest The Puebloans (Anasazi) lived in the area of modern day Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. Around 100 CE they shifted from Hunting/Gathering to Farming… although it is very dry, they learned to use the rains in the spring to irrigate the fields. Around 900 CE, they had grown in size and began to develop apartment style housing. In the late 1200’s they moved from their stone houses and left the area… this could have been because they were pushed out by other tribes OR because of a huge drought.

Plains People The earliest people on the Plains were hunters and gatherers. Some along the Missouri River became farmers (Mandan). Most, however continued to hunt Bison and gather foods well into the 1800’s. Although they did not convert to farming like other civilizations, they did change from hunting on foot to hunting on horseback. Horses were brought over from Spain as a part of the COLUMBIAN EXCHANGEEEEEEEEEEEE. They used the bison for their meat to eat and hides for covering their tepees.

Iroquois of the East The Eastern woodlands covered from around the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Ocean (it was all forest). The Iroquois lived in these forest in villages that were made of logs. There are 5 Iroquois Nations: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca. When we hear of Indians and British settlers clashing… these are the Native Americans we are hearing of…