1. Chapter 1: The World Before 1600
Big Picture: During the Ice Age, nomads crossed a land bridge connecting Asia and North America. Since then, people of various cultures have made America their home. Meanwhile in Europe and Africa, cultures that would one day explore the world and build colonies in the Americas were coming into contact.

2. Chapter 1 Section 1: The Early Americas
Main Idea: People arrived on the American continents thousands of years ago and developed flourishing societies.

3. Migration to the Americas
10,000 years ago Asia and North America were connected by a land bridge across the Bering Strait
Small groups of nomads (people who move from place to place) crossed the bridge into North America following a hunter-gatherer way of life
Females collected nuts, berries, wild plants, and birds’ eggs
Males went on extended hunts, following herds

4. As the climate warmed, the land bridge disappeared
Skillful hunters wiped out most of the huge Ice Age animals
Need for new food supplies led to the agricultural revolution; Native Americans began planting and harvesting crops, which allowed them to settle into villages
Three crops dominated: corn, beans, and squash
Men hunted seasonally and began to raise animals
This allowed populations to grow, crafts to develop, and governments to be established

5. Cultures of Central America and South America
Olmec: centered around the Gulf of Mexico and influenced surrounding cultures
had the first system of writing
used slash-and-burn agriculture
Maya: rose as the Olmec declined
Cities served as religious cities
Created the concept of zero
Declined but still exist today
Toltec: rose as the Mayan declined
Dominated central Mexico
were warriors, artisans, and builders

6. Aztec: came to power in the 1400s
Used canals and floating gardens to support large cities
Conquered most of their neighbors and demanded tribute payments
Most famous for their large- scale human sacrifice to their gods
Inca: rose to power in the Andes Mountains in South America
Conquered tribes along the coast and created an empire connected by roads and bridges

7. The Earliest Cultures of North America
Southwest
Grew crops and traded with each other
Hohokam and Anasazi built irrigation ditches and adobe buildings the Spanish later called pueblos
Declined due to drought and war
Mound Builders
Centered in eastern North American from Mississippi River to Atlantic Ocean
Lived in clans and built massive mounds (included Adena and Hopewell) and had extensive trade networks
Mississippian Culture
Also mound builders but were the most advanced culture
Introduced the agriculture hoe and built massive pyramids for rulers

8. Chapter 1 Review Write the Question and the Answer
Chapter 1 Section 1
How did the first people arrive in North America?
What were the main effects of the agricultural revolution?

9. Chapter 1 Section 2: North American Cultures in the 1400s
Main Idea: A variety of complex societies existed in different regions of North America before European explorers arrived in the early 1500s.

10. Regional Differences Among Native Americans

11. Northwest Coast and California Southwest Climate cool and rainy
Hunted game and fished in dugout canoes
Built large wooden houses
Southwest
Pueblo people: governed by council of religious elders
Grew corn, beans, squash & cotton
Made pottery and baskets

12. Far North
Inuits: survived through hunting (not much agriculture)

13. Plateau and Great Basin Great Plains Little rain, few trees
Populations remained small as they foraged and hunted small game
Great Plains
Best known groups (Sioux, Cheyenne)
Followed the large herds (deer, elk and buffalo)

14. Eastern Woodlands Southeast
Rather isolated from each other due to dense forests and mountains
Iroquois included several nations in the Northeast and built longhouses
Southeast
Grew crops and built thatch-roof log cabins plastered with mud

15. Native American Customs
Family Relations
Family was the center of society and family groups were arranged into clans
Kinship determined status, marriage and inheritance; usually matrilineal
Social and Political Structures
Some had strict social classes, others were more equal
Nearly all tribes were headed by a chief and run by a council of elders

16. Land Use Division of Labor Did not believe in ownership of land
Believed it was a gift from the Great Spirit to be used by all
Would go to war over control of hunting grounds
Division of Labor
Women usually cultivated and harvested crops and men hunted
Childcare usually went to women
Women made clothes and pottery, men usually did wood and metal work

17. Religious Beliefs Different from European beliefs of Christianity
All tribes had a spiritual connection to the natural world
All societies had creation myths
Animals were thought to be powerful spirits
Most tribes had shamans thought to have spiritual and healing powers

18. Trading Networks Link Native American Societies
Trade was usually conducted through a barter system
Tribes traded surplus goods for more scarce materials, leading to specialization by tribe
Trading networks developed to connect various tribes and varied in size
Tribes traded ideas as well as goods, especially architectural techniques and religious beliefs

19. Chapter 1 Review Write the Question and the Answer
Chapter 1 Section 2
How could Native Americans’ view of land ownership work in favor of Europeans when they established colonies in the Americas?
Write a brief definition of shaman.
What were the main differences between Native American and European religious beliefs?

20. Chapter 1 Section 3: African Cultures before 1500
Main Idea: Trade was a major factor in the development of African societies south of the Sahara.

21. African Society and the Slave Trade
Family was the center of society
The largest class distinction was between free and slave
People were enslaved due to war, crime, and debt
BUT could usually work their way out of it

22. The Portuguese in West Africa
The Portuguese established trading posts and later built forts on the Atlantic coast
They found riches in the area called the Gold Coast; most other ventures were unsuccessful
Later the Portuguese and the Spanish set up plantations on islands off the Atlantic coast
In the 1500s, they started sugar plantations on the Caribbean islands and elsewhere in America; they were later joined by the British, the French, and the Dutch
Plantations require large numbers of workers because it is labor-intensive; first try to use Native Americans, but harsh conditions took a heavy toll

23. The Atlantic Slave Trade begins and its impact on African society
Atlantic slave trade met a need for cheap labor but also reflected a European belief that black Africans were inferior
Misunderstandings over slavery and a desire to weaken other tribes or obtain European goods led to cooperation by tribes with European slave traders
The slave trade lasted 400 years and 20 million slaves were shipped to the Americas

24. Chapter 1 Review Write the Question and the Answer
Chapter 1 Section 3
Who were the first European explorers on he Atlantic coast of Africa?
How did the demand for slave labor begin?
What factors led to the Atlantic slave trade?

25. Chapter 1 Section 4: Europe and Exploration
Main Idea: Renaissance ideas changed Europeans’ medieval outlook and inspired them to explore the world.

26. The Middle Ages
A.D. the time immediately following the fall of the Roman Empire
Feudalism rose to protect peasants by binding them to lords
The Roman Catholic Church dominated peoples’ lives and led to the Crusades (a series of wars to take the Holy Land from Muslims)
Led to trade with Middle East and the development of towns as centers of trade and commerce

27. The Late Middle Ages saw a rise of nation-states (kings with centralized power and armies taking power from lords)
Some nobles fought back; English nobles forced King John to sign the Magna Carta in (established trial by jury, representation in government)

28. The Renaissance and Protestant Reformation
The Renaissance (French word, “rebirth”) begins in Italy in the 1300s as an era of learning and creativity and spreads throughout Europe
led to a revival of learning, science, and trade

29. People began questioning the church which led to the Protestant Reformation: an attempt to correct abuses within the Church that led to the development of various denominations

30. In Spain, Catholicism was firmly established with the rule of Ferdinand and Isabella
They expelled the Muslims in Granada and purged Protestants in the Spanish Inquisition

31. The Age of Exploration Marco Polo & Prince Henry the Navigator
Renaissance and Crusades led to exploration and expansion of trade
Italian Marco Polo made a successful voyage to China and wrote a book that inspired other explorers
Prince Henry of Portugal established a school and naval observatory to encourage exploration
Sponsored expeditions along the western coast of Africa
Established trade with many costal tribes

32. Sailing Technology and Sea Route to Asia
Portuguese developed a new sailing vessel called the caravel: central rudder, triangular sails, cargo holds
Inventions like the astrolabe allowed sea travel beyond the coast
Travel to Asia by land was time consuming, expensive, and dangerous
Explorers began looking for a sea route
Dias and da Gama both rounded the southern tip of Africa; da Gama made it to India and back

33. Chapter 1 Review Write the Question and the Answer
Chapter 1 Section 4
What were the Crusades?
In what ways was the Renaissance a rebirth for Europe?

34. Chapter 1 Section 5: Cultures Make Contact
Main Idea: Columbus’ voyages to the Americas established contact with Native Americans and led to European colonies and an exchange of goods and ideas.

35. Vikings and Columbus Vikings Visit North America
Vikings from Norway are first to reach North America
They attempt to colonize in Vineland, a settlement in what is now eastern Canada but it is unsuccessful due to hostility of Native Americans

36. Columbus Voyages to the Caribbean
Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer who convinced Queen Isabella of Spain that a westward voyage to Asia was possible
August 1492: Columbus sails westward with three ships
They find land three weeks later in the Caribbean
Because he thought he was in the east Indies, Columbus called the people Indians
The locals showed him gold, but after one of his ships ran aground, Columbus returned to Spain
Columbus made three more voyages to the Americas and died assuming he was in the east Indies

37. Impact on Native Americans
Columbus’ voyages set off a wave of colonization, starting in Hispaniola
Relations between the Spanish and the natives quickly soured and Europeans began enslaving the natives
Priest Bartolome de Las Casas attempted to win better treatment of the natives and laws were passed to protect them, but these laws were rarely enforced

38. The Columbian Exchange
Exchange of plants, animals, language, technology, and disease between Europe and the Americas
From North America: From Europe:
*Beans *bananas
*Corn *cattle
*Coca *citrus fruit
*pumpkins/squash *peaches
*peanuts *honeybees
*turkey *pigs
*tobacco *horses
*potatoes/sweet potatoes *wheat
*tomatoes *grapes
*syphilis *smallpox/measles

39. Chapter 1 Review Write the Question and the Answer
Chapter 1 Section 5
What was the Viking experience in America?
What impact did European exploration have on Native Americans?
Who do you think benefited most from the Columbian Exchange, Native Americans or Europeans? Why?

40. Chapter 1 Review Write the Question and the Answer
This is part of Columbus’s description of encountering the Tainos.
“I gave them a thousand good, pleasing things which I had brought, in order that they might be fond of us, and furthermore might be made Christians and be inclined to the love and service of their Highness and of the whole Castilian [Spanish] nation and try to help us and to give us of the things which they have in abundance and which are necessary to us.”
~ Columbus’s Letter on his First Voyage
Who was Columbus referring to when he wrote “their Highness”?
What were Columbus’s goals in giving the Tainos “pleasing things”?

41. Chapter 1 Review Write the Question and the Answer
Read the passage in Section 4 that begins with the heading “The Crusades” (page 24). Then answer the following question.
According to the passage, the leading institution in medieval Europe was
the military.
the nation-state.
the Catholic Church.
the nobility.

42. Mystery migration to America
Anthropologists have long believed that the Americas were settled more than 15,000 years ago by people from Siberia and East Asia who crossed the now submerged Bering Land Bridge to North America, then worked their way south. But new research at Harvard Medical School suggests an entirely different population made a separate trip from Siberia to the Americas, and that the first Americans were a far more diverse lot than previously thought. DNA studies have found that Native Americans living in Brazil today have a distant, surprising genetic connection to indigenous groups in Australia, New Guinea, and the Andaman Islands. It remains unclear how and when this second group, dubbed Population Y—after ypykuéra, a word meaning “ancestor” in two Amazonian -languages—found its way to South America. Danish researchers uphold the prevailing theory that Native Americans arrived in a single wave of migration and differentiated into today’s distinct groups much later. The Harvard researchers disagree, asserting that this mystery population represents a separate migratory wave. Senior study author David Reich tells The New York Times that “we have overwhelming evidence of two founding populations in the Americas.”
THE WEEK