1. The Earliest Americans
Pre-Colonization

2. How did people get here? Ice Age Migration Bering land Bridge
Huge Glaciers formed all over the Earth
Sea levels dropped up to three hundred feet
Many parts of the sea floor once under water were now visible and able to be traveled upon
Migration: movement of people or animals to one region from another
Bering land Bridge
Land between present day Alaska and Russia was able to be used as a bridge due to the drop in sea level
People who crossed this bridge between 40,000 – 38,000 B.C.E. are referred to as Paleo-Indians

3. The Shrinking of the Land Bridge

4. The Area Today
This is the Bering Land Bridge today. Notice the narrow waterway between the Chukotka Peninsula in Russia and the Seward Peninsula in the United States.

5. The Formation of Cultures
Paleo-Indians traveled all over the continent
Hunter-gatherers: people who hunted and gathered wild plants for food
They followed animals and better conditions further south for survival.
As the Ice Age subsided, living conditions improved.
As these early migrants settled, they began to establish a variety of cultures
Culture: Common values and traditions, including language, government, family relationships, and religions

6. Early North American Civilizations
As time goes on, different people settle in different parts of North America depending upon:
Climate
Resources
Water
Food
By 5000 B.C.E., these peoples have learned to farm and create villages

7. Anasazi
Settled in the North American Southwest (present day Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah)
Learned to survive in the harsh desert environment
Over time, they developed irrigation systems to aid in farming, growing corn, beans and squash
Built above-ground clay houses called pueblos.
Pueblos at Canyon de Chelly in Arizona

8. Native Southwestern people
Areas of settlement of the early southwestern people, including the Hohokam, who settled in what is modern day Phoenix, Mogollon, and Anasazi people

9. Plano Settled in the Great Plains are of the present day United States
Hunter Gatherers
Sophisticated hunting equipment
Sharp tools
Spears
Arrows
B.C.E.
The Plano Indians settled in the Great Plains

10. Mound Builders Hopewell Indians Mississippians
Lived along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers
Survived through agriculture and trade
Built large burial mounds to honor their dead, thus the name
Mississippians
Thrived in the same area after the decline of the Hopewell civilization
Built some of the earliest North American Cities, including Cahokia, near present-day St. Louis, Missouri. Cahokia had 30,000 people
Also built mounds to honor dead, and for various other religious ceremonies

11. Northwest peoples Iroquois Most powerful of the large tribes
Included the Mohawk, Seneca, and Tuscarora tribes
The first people to deal with the Europeans
Some of the first examples of modern government in North America
Algonquin
Stretch from present-day Virginia up to Canada in the east
Allies of the French during the French and Indian War

13. Were you paying attention?
How did the indigenous people arrive in North America?
What is a culture?
What is a hunter-gatherer?
Who settled in what is present-day Phoenix, Arizona?