1. Who was in the Americas? Northern Regions
Arctic and Northwest
California Great Basin
Southwest
Great plains
Eastern Woodlands

2. Arctic and Northwest Cold climate Hunted whales and other sea life
Limited trade along coast
Lived in small lineage groups
Mythical stories created to strengthen lineage group
Potlatches- dinners that symbolized lineage wealth
totem poles represent culture

3. California/Great Basin
Warm climate
Diets of mussels & shellfish
Celebrated religious festivals
Religion based on natural spirits of animals and earth
GB - moved in small bands
Built windbreak shelters

4. Southwest High desert regions
Built irrigation canals because farms had a lack of water
Pueblo built adobe buildings (sun-dried brick)
multi-storied apartments
Some tribes were raiders rather than sedentary
Religion revolved around honoring spirits of the earth
Includes Hohokam, Pueblo, Apache & Navajo

5. Great Plains Between Rocky Mts & Miss. River Grasslands - dry
Hunters followed big game - bison (buffalo)
Used every part of bison for food, clothing, shelter & tools
Crow and Blackfoot

6. Eastern Woodlands Had protected environment due to forests
hunted (deer, turkey) and farmed (corn, squash, tobacco)
Villages built, some mound builders
Villages centered around religious structure and activities
Formed Iroquois League to settle dispute

7. Who was in the Americas? Meso-America (“Middle America”)
Olmec
Maya
Aztec
Inca

8. OLMEC 1500 -300 BC Near Gulf of Mexico
Carved enormous stone heads of volcanic rock
Chief god - cat-like with jaguar face
Division of labor
Hieroglyphics
calendar
farm techniques - slash and burn

9. Maya

10. MAYANS Yucatan Peninsula City States
Complex religion - two layers (now and otherworld)
Human sacrifice
Writing, ball playing (pok-a-tok), astronomy, mathematicians (zero)
Calendar (365)
demise - war, drought, infighting
MAYANS

12. Palenque

13. Mayan Temples

14. The Aztecs

15. AZTECS Pyramids of Tenochtitlán
Capital city of Tenochtitlan - island in middle of lake
Society - hierarchy with emperor at top & criminals/debtors at bottom
human sacrifice
children of the sun
Empire under Montezuma conquered by Spaniards (Cortes)
AZTECS Pyramids of Tenochtitlán

16. Teotihuacan
Pyramid of the Sun
Pyramid of the Moon

17. Quetzalcoatl god of wind & knowledge

18. Canoe moving about the chinampas

19. Weaving

20. Aztec Calendar

21. Montezuma Cortes

22. The Inca

23. INCAS Machu Picchu Located in Andes Mountains (S. Amer)
Strong central gov’t; huge empire extending length of South America
Built paved roads & suspension bridges - used running messengers
Instead of writing system used knotted string to communicate messages & keep records - quipu

24. Inca terraces

25. Suspension bridge

26. Quipu

27. Atahualpa Pizarro

28. Destruction of Culture
The Meso-American kingdoms were as advanced and sophisticated as the ancient Greeks and Romans
The European conquerors tried to destroy the evidence of this sophisticated culture