1. Unit 2: Native Peoples and Explorers STUDY PRESENTATION
© 2010 Clairmont Press

2. Section 1: Georgia’s First People
What terms do I need to know?
artifacts
archaeology
culture
nomad
horticulture
palisades

3. Section 1: Georgia’s First People
Human beings have lived for thousands of years in the place we now call Georgia.
What we know about the lives of these early people primarily comes from studying:
artifacts or the tools, pottery, remains of their structures and other items that are on or underneath Georgia’s soil
archaeology or the study of the artifacts
culture or people’s beliefs, traditions, and their ways of life

4. Paleo-Indian Culture time period dates around 11,000 to 8,000 B.C.
Oldest group of humans in the Americas are called Paleo-Indians (paleo means “very old”):
Beringia - land bridge
time period dates around 11,000 to 8,000 B.C.
many areas of North America covered by glaciers
Indians were nomads in small groups of 20 – 50.
mastodons and mammoths – major food sources
stone used for making tools, hunting, etc.; Clovis points = spear heads
Lived in natural shelters like caves and rock overhangs.
New developments slowly came about due to changes in climate, plant, and animal life.
Top: Paleo-Indian spear point. Photo: Brian Stansberry
Below: Paleo-Indian hunters engage a wooly mammoth. Image: Clairmont Press

5. Clovis points

7. Archaic Culture Archaic Period followed the Paleo- Indian culture:
time period – from 8,000 to about B.C.
nomads, but more settled than Paleo
Indians lived in small groups based around families.
also used stone, but cutting tools were smaller, finer than Paleo tools.
Atlatl – weapon first used by archaic people.
hunted small game like rabbits and squirel.
settlements built near rivers (5000 – B.C.)
pottery-making invented, later resulting in oldest examples of pottery in North America
The atlatl (below) and refined point (above) were tools of the archaic period. Images: Public Domain

9. Georgia’s First People
Woodland and Mississippian

10. Woodland Culture Woodland Indians followed the Archaic culture:
time period – around 1000 B.C. to about 1000 A.D.
shelter more permanent, including circular houses
Wattle & daub houses
more control over food supply using horticulture
used digging sticks for horticulture
bow and arrow emerged in late Woodland Period
corn was planted (not yet main food)
Native groups built mounds and stone effigies.
Top: Woodland Culture family. Image: Clairmont Press
Bottom: Rock Eagle effigy mound near Eatonton. Image: Public Domain

11. Mississippian Culture
The next period of Native American development (following Woodland ) is the Mississippian culture:
time period – about 800 to A.D.
societies more complex
horticulture more advanced
food supply included corn, squash, beans, fruits, nuts, berries; also deer and other animals
art and jewelry crafted by the Indians
villages built with centers (houses of vines and mud)
Palisades surrounded villages
tools used similar to those of Woodland peoples
Mississippian culture was known for its villages. The people had time to create games. Image: Clairmont Press
Link: Etowah Indian Mounds

12. Palisade surrounding a Mississippian Village.

13. Mississippian Culture
There were definite ranks in society:
some ranks had more power/respect
chiefdoms arose (chief had power over his village & several others;
1100 to 1350 A.D. – the culture began again to build mounds:
These were structures connected to chiefs and religion
The late Mississippian Period -
The Spanish had arrived.
Over the next 100 years, three worlds became part of the Americas (world of Native American Indians, world of Europeans, world of Africans) and brought lasting changes for religion, families, food, dress, and ways of looking at life and the world.

14. Prehistory
Time before a written language existed

15. Native American Time Line

16. European Exploration

17. Section 2: Europe and the Colonization of America
Focus Question:
Why did European countries explore, claim, and settle the North American continent?

18. How could Europeans trade with the Far East?

19. European Exploration and Conquest
Western Europeans were searching for a water route to allow trade with the Middle East and the Far East.
By the 1400s, European nations began to explore and conquer other lands:
looking for more wealth, greater empire, and power
spread religious beliefs
God, Gold, Glory!

20. The Meeting of Different Worlds
During the 1400s:
Spain and Portugal are the strongest powers.
They make a treaty called:
Treaty of Tordesillas ( ) basically divided all “newly discovered” lands between Spain & Portugal.
Impact of Spanish contact with people of the Americas:
Animals and plants crossed the ocean.
New varieties of foods were introduced.
Diseases (90% or more of native people died – largest population loss in written history).
Later: customs and property.

21. The Early Spanish Exploration of Georgia
The earliest Spanish explorations in North America were to search for gold and silver.
First major exploration of Georgia area (1540) was with Hernando de Soto:
No gold or silver was found in Georgia.
Almost 300 years passed before any gold was discovered in mountains of North Georgia.

22. English Exploration and Colonization
England joined Portugal and Spain when they became more prosperous and stable under Queen Elizabeth I (1558):
A larger navy was built; permission to found (start) colonies was given.
Sir Walter Raleigh (1580s) established two colonies.
England established first permanent colony in America (Jamestown, Virginia – 1607).

23. Hernando de Soto
1540

24. What Do You See?
Pick one person from the picture and write, in your notebook, what you see, hear, and feel.

25. Arrival in the New World
Hernando was a Spanish explorer.
He landed in Florida in 1539 and marched north into GA in 1540.
De Soto came to GA to find riches.

26. Hernando’s Search
While de Soto was searching for gold, he and his soldiers killed thousands of Native Americans.
The Native Americans fought back but the Spanish soldiers had better weapons.
And they also wore armors, which the arrows could not pierce.

27. Hernando & His Men
The lack of food was continuously a problem for de Soto and his men.
They stole food from the Native Americans and sometimes even ate dog meat to survive.

28. The Results…
Millions of Native Americans were killed (by disease and war).
De Soto and his men found very little gold.
½ of de Soto’s men and de Soto himself died.

29. Spanish Missions in Early Georgia

30. Spanish Missions in Georgia
In 1560, the Spanish set up missions:
Each mission had a church and house for the Catholic priest.
The priests came to convert Native Americans to Catholicism and teach them Spanish customs.
The mission era began to decline (middle & late 1600s) partly because of a decrease in Native American population due to diseases brought by the explorers.
Note: Georgia under Spanish rule was known as Guale (pronounced Wah-lee).