1. Pre-Columbian America
The complexity of societies
Cultural influences from other places

2. The people of north america lesson 1
Eastern Woodlands
Great Plains and Southwest
Land bridge to get here following bison and caribou.
Hopewell Indians were known as mound builders, used as tombs. (Ohio River)
Iroquois were hunters
Longhouse: ft built of wooden poles covered with sheets of bark and housing about a dozen families.
Clans: Groups of related families
Located west of the Mississippi river
The buffalo was important to Plain people.
Teepees were circular tents made from buffalo skin and poles.
The southwest is NM, AZ, UT, CO.

3. What does this picture represent?
What key elements gave it away? List them.
Great plains – flat grasslands

4. What does this picture represent?
What indicates that this picture represents your idea. List them.
Mound builders – bodies located in the mound

5. Anasazi The Anasazi were the most known SW group.
Used canals and earthen dams to garden in the desert.
Pueblo Bonita was a complex pueblo they built.
Culture did not die

6. The Maya
Mesoamerica: areas of Mexico and Central America that were civilized before the Spaniards arrived.
Flourished between 300 and 900 AD.
Developed a complicated calendar that was the most accurate at that time.
The Mayan empire began to decline;
Invasion
Internal revolts
A volcanic eruption
Overuse of land
Mayan cities were abandoned and were rediscovered in the 19th century
Called the calendar round.
Has 2 parts: one was based on the suns 365 days divided into 18 months of 20 days each and an extra 5 days at the end.
The other was a sacred part of 260 days and 13 weeks of 20 days.

7. Mayan religion
Nature was sacred to them so they interacted with nature not dominate it
Itzamna is the god of knowledge and wisdom.
Human sacrifices
Captured warriors from other places usually
Used hieroglyphics to keep record of their society.
Only 3 books survived the climate
Later the Mayans adopted the Latin alphabet.

8. Mayan politics and social structures
Cities were built around a central pyramid topped by a shrine to the gods
Tikal, located in Guatemala, is believed to have 100,00 inhabitants at this time
Composed of city states headed by a ruling class
Lots of internal conflict and war
Class system
Peasants were farmers.
A lot of townspeople were skilled artisans, officials, and merchants.
Cultivated cacao trees – the source of chocolate
Homes were built of tree branches packed with mud for walls and thatched roofs.

9. toltec Rose to prominence in Mexico around 1000AD
Tula was the center of the empire
Used irrigated fields to get crops:
Beans
Maize
Peppers
Supported 40-60k people
The Toltec controlled the upper Yucatan peninsula for centuries
Tula declined due to too much fighting among different groups in Tula.
There was no single ruling group for nearly 200 years until the Aztec empire emerged and carried on the traditions

10. The aztec Capital is Tenochtitlan which is current day New Mexico.
Not sure how they began.
When they arrived they were pushed to a valley filled with snakes but they survived and said it was because their god Huitzilopochtli (god of war and of the sun.
He said when they saw an eagle perched on a cactus their journey would end
They built Tenochtitlan where they saw the eagle because it stands for ‘place of the stone and prickly pear cactus’

11. Aztec politics and social structures
Montezuma was the Aztec leader and he formed a triple alliance with other city states.
Supported other rulers in return for tribute or money
By million Aztec lived in the Valley of Mexico.
Monarch (King) lineage from the gods
Nobility, elite of society, held positions in government
Sons of nobility got military training
Rest of the population was indentured servants- landless laborers
Most people were commoners or farmers.
Farmers built chinampas: swampy islands crisscrossed by canals that provided water to crops.

12. Aztec religion and culture
Had a polytheistic religion
Quetzalcoatl was the second most important god to them- led to their demise when he said he would come back. Spaniards were mistaken for this god.
Practiced human sacrifice
Aztec made advancements in astronomy and created the Aztec calendar stone
They believed the earth was doomed by earthquakes that were bound to come.

13. Early South American Civilizations
Lesson 2

14. The nazca Appeared in southern Peru
The Nazca did not build great temples.
practiced their religion outdoors, as suggested by ancient formations known as the Nazca Lines.
These are grooves etched into the rocky soil of southern
The images are so large, however, that their shapes can only be seen from the air. 

15. The moche Located near the southern border of Ecuador
Farmers in the area grew maize, peanuts, potatoes, and cotton.  
The people of Moche had no written language.
Their lives were centered around warfare.

16. The incas: politics and social structure
In the late 1300s, the Inca located at 11,000 feet (3,353 m) in the mountains of southern Peru.
Inca means ruler
12 million people lived in this empire
All young men were required to serve in the army – largest and best in the region.
To encourage loyalty, the children of local leaders were taken as hostages to the Inca capital, where they were educated in Inca ways before returning home.
Spoke Quechua

17. Inca economics and culture
Based on high altitude and agriculture – used terrace farms in the mountains
Established extensive trade networks for long distance trading
Trade was organized by government officials not individual merchants
They were the best engineers among native American peoples.
Built major road systems
No writing system- kept records using a system of knotted strings called the quipu.
The Inca had a well-developed tradition of court theater, consisting of tragic and comic works. Plays often involved the recounting of valiant deeds and other historical events