1. Native American Empires

2. Unit Objectives To identify where Native American empires existed
To learn various Native American cultures
To learn the impact of European exploration on the Native Americans and the Europeans
To learn why the Native Americans were conquered by the Europeans

3. North America
The first Americans came to North America 12-40,000 years ago across a land bridge from Asia; They were hunters and gatherers and relied on and adapted to the environment
Maize: CORN—FIRST AGRICULTURAL CROP

4. Main North American Cultures
Southwest: HAD TO ADAPT TO HARSH DESERT ENVIRONMENT (IRRIGATION); Main Tribes: Hohokam, Pueblo, Apache, Mohave, Navajo, Anasazi (cliff dwellers)
Great Plains: DEPENDED ON HERDS OF BISON & BUFFALO—USED EVERY PART OF ANIMAL; Main Tribes: Lakota, Crow, Cheyene, Arapaho, Apache, Comanche, Navajo, Sioux

5. Anasazi Cliff Dwellings

6. Crazy Horse (Lakota)

7. Crazy Horse Memorial (Black Hills, South Dakota)

8. Eastern Woodlands
LOTS OF FOOD SOURCES, GOOD HUNTERS, USED EVERY PART OF ANIMAL, LIVED IN VILLAGES, GREW CORN AND TOBACCO; Main Tribes: Chippewa, Shawnee, Illinois, Oneida, Mohawk, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Seminole, Creek, Choctaw, Iroquois
-Mound Builders: BUILT LARGE EARTHEN
MOUNDS FOR CEREMONIES AND TOMBS;
OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEYS
-Confederations: LOOSE ALLIANCES
-Iroquois League: Alliance of five tribes to preserve
peace; Set up a democratic government that was
modeled by early colonists

9. Meso-America (Middle America)
Olmec: Earliest known group to have inhabited Meso-America
LIVED NEAR GULF OF MEXICO
USED A DIVISION OF LABOR
HIEROGLYPHICS
STRONG RELIGION
GONE BEFORE SPANISH ARRIVED

10. Maya Maya: Dominated the Yucatan Peninsula and built pyramids FARMERS
SEVERAL LANGUAGES
PRIMITIVE GOVERNMENT; NOT UNIFIED
RELIGION WAS CENTER OF LIFE
ONE OF FIRST TO DEVELOP WRITING
GONE BEFORE SPANISH ARRIVED

11. Mayan Pyramid

12. Aztecs Aztec: Strongest Native American empire in all of the New World
CENTRAL MEXICO
COMBINED CULTURE WITH THOSE THEY CONQUERED
CENTRAL GOVERNMENT
FARMERS; PYRAMIDS; STRONG RELIGION; HUMAN SACRIFICE
CONQUERED BY SPANISH CONQUISTADORS (CORTES)
Tenochtitlan: AZTEC CAPITAL (MODERN
DAY MEXICO CITY)
-Itzcoatl: MOST POWERFUL RULER

13. Aztecs Tenochtitlan: AZTEC CAPITAL (MODERN DAY MEXICO CITY)
Itzcoatl: MOST POWERFUL RULER

14. Aztec temple (artist rendering)

15. Itzcoatl

16. South America Inca: Strongest empire in South America
ANDES MOUNTAINS OF PERU
SIMILAR TO AZTECS IN CULTURE AND RELIGION, BUT NO HUMAN SACRIFICE
BUILT TEMPLES, NOT PYRAMIDS
CONQUERED BY CONQUISTADORS (PIZARRO)

17. Inca
Cuzco: INCAN CAPITAL
Pachacuti: MOST POWERFUL RULER