Chapter 11 The Americas

The Peoples of North America People from Asia crossed the Bering Strait to get to North America 3000 BC the Inuit moved into N.A. from Asia skilled hunters, had specific skills to survive the cold and harsh environment

People of North America Eastern Woodlands Hopewell Ohio Valley river Mound Builders, built large earth mounds used as tombs and ceremonies Farming villages but also gathered wild plants

People of North America Northeast of Mississippi – Iroquois – villages of longhouses – men hunted deer, bear, caribou and small animals – women gathered wild plants and grew crops – corn, beans, squash – war was common between Iroquois groups – alliance was created – Iroquois League - five groups

People of North America Plains Indians West of Mississippi River Hunted buffalo (important animal) Lived in tepees

People of North America Southwest – Anasazi farming society used canals and earthen dams to turn the desert into fertile gardens lived in pueblos center of their civilization at Chaco Canyon was Pueblo Bonito over 50 year drought, they abandon the center moved to community in Mesa Verde eventually abandoned region from long period of drought

Mesoamerica Olmec culture (oldest society) 1st known civilization around 1200 BC farmed along riverbanks – trade with other mesoamericans large cities - religion rituals - oldest city San Lorenzo skilled workers of stone- around 400 BC civilization collapsed Olmec played a ceremonial game on a stone ball court Maya culture would continue many of the Olmec fascination and adopt the calendar and numerical system

Mesoamerica Major city Teotihuacan capital of early kingdom around 250 BC – 800 had temples and palaces most people were farmers center of trade for unknown reasons it collapsed and the city was destroyed and abandoned

Mesoamerica Maya civilization AD East on the Yucatan Peninsula built temples and pyramids, complicated calendars farming people - centered their culture in city-states Maya cities were built around a central pyramid topped by a shrine to the gods city-states were governed by a ruler, may wars between towns people - rulers, nobles, townspeople, peasants crucial to Maya civilization was its spiritual perspective

Mesoamerica Believed in Gods and had human sacrifice to appease them created writing system based on hieroglyphs calendar was written from the hieroglyphs called Long Count based on a belief in cycles of creation and destruction Solar and sacred calendar

Mesoamerica they recorded important events in Mayan history civilization declined and eventually disappear, researchers believe people overused the land and crops stopped growing

Mesoamerica Toltec AD Center of empire was at Tula Aztec later plundered the city and destroyed much historical evidence

Toltec people irrigated their fields - grew beans, maize and peppers warlike people constructed pyramids and palaces two important gods - Quetzalocatl (took two different forms) Empire to decline AD 125 from fighting among different groups

Mesoamerica Aztecs not sure of their origins established a capital at Tenochtitlan ruled until Spanish conquest

Mesoamerica When arrived in the Valley of Mexico they were told by their god when they saw an eagle perched on a cactus growing out of a rock, their journey would end they would be driven by attackers to islands of Lake Texcoco where on one island they saw the eagle Next 100 years the Aztec built temples, houses, public buildings. They built roadways of stone across Lake Texcoco linking the island to the mainland

Aztec state was authoritarian people - ruler - nobles - commoners - workers – slaves men in noble families were sent to military school trade of merchants was big cause of canals built believed in gods – Ometeotl with help of two other city-states, Tenochtitlan formed a Triple Alliance - this enabled Aztec to dominate an empire

Early Civilizations in South America Inca late 1300s, Cuzco in the mountains of Peru Ruler Pachacuti launch a campaign of conquest empire included about 12 million people Inca state was built on war, all young men were required to serve in army

Inca Pachacuti divided empire into four quarters each ruled by a governor forced labor - important feature of the state people lived by farming, watered by irrigation systems, houses built of stone great builders roadways over mountains and tunnels through them, bridges and aqueducts famous city Machu Picchu no writing system, recorded using a system of knotted strings call quipu