1. Native Americans before “finding” the New World
GUIDING QUESTIONS for LECTURE:
How does the term “Indian” tell us that history is Euro-centric?
How did the native people distinguish themselves?
What were political, economic, and social similarities and differences?

2. Who were the native people?
The name “Indian” from Columbus (VIDEO)
Diverse groups of people
2,000 separate cultures
Hundreds of languages
Kinship networks
Widely distributed

3. Where did natives come from?
Bering Land Bridge theory—Ice Age exposed a land bridge between Asia and N. America
Moved across in three phases, starting 15,000 years ago
Bridge disappears about 5,000 years ago
Originally hunter-gatherers

4. Development of agriculture & economy
3000 BC—people in present-day Mexico began farming
Spreads unevenly
The “three sisters” crops most important
Maize (later, corn)
Beans
Squash
Other crops: tomatoes, potatoes, cassava

5. Corn? So what? Maize (corn) became the dominant crop of the Americas
With European interaction beginning in the 1480s, it would eventually spread to the “Old World”
Trade networks based on maize and other staple crops supported economic development among native groups
Maize farming was present in most native cultures, even in ones that were mobile
Cultural myths and social diversification were also driven by maize

6. Maya & Aztec (Early Southern)
Maya (Yucatan—Mexico) ~300 AD
Highly developed
Art/culture based on polytheism
Writing system, math
War-like culture
Declined for unknown reasons…
Aztecs (N. Mexico) ~1100s
Highly developed with massive cities
Monarchy/strict class system (clans)
War-like culture, demand sacrifice
SPANIARDS overthrow (Hernan Cortez)

7. Great Plains & West Hopewell Pueblo “Anasazi”
Ohio-Miss. valley; large villages
Small burial mounds
Form intricate, long-distance trade network
Obsidian (Rockies)
Copper (Great Lakes)
Mica (Appalachia)
Shells (Gulf Coast)
Pueblo “Anasazi”
Colorado River; 4 corners
25,000 villages
Create elaborate multi-room structures in stone/canyon walls (pueblos)
Form agricultural and pottery networks

8. How did life differ on the Plains?
Lack of natural resources led to largely nomadic lifestyles
Hunting seasons dictated when and where groups would migrate
This migration also led to greater contact and conflict with other native groups (and later, those of European origin)

9. Southeast Mississippian Natchez
Villages along Miss. River (center-Cahokia) linked by river transport system
Large, shaped earthworks/mounds
Introduced bow/arrow
Intricate maize farming
Division of labor
Natchez
Floodplains of Miss. Delta
Decentralized community
Class society with small group of warrior-leaders
War-like culture
Territorial conflicts
Public torture/sacrifice

10. Eastern Woodlands
Diverse groups of people with farming and woodland culture
From PA to NC
Women: farmers
Men: hunters/gatherers
Matrilineal system based on women as “caretakers” of the land & family
no great empire system
Decimated by European diseases brought by de Soto expeditions in 1500s

11. Northeastern Algonquians Iroquois
Made of 50 distinct cultures (patrilineal)
Bands of people with loose ethnic ties to others
Farming and permanent villages
Iroquois
Lived in area now part of Canada and upper NY
Matrilineal culture
Religion based on agricultural cycles
Form confederacy to eliminate warfare: “Iroquois Nation”
Iroquois, Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca