1. Bellwork Define any of the following: Mesoamerica Bering Land Bridge
Olmec
The Americas

2. Section 5, Unit 1 The Americas pt. 1 Early Mesoamerican peoples
World History
Section 5, Unit 1
The Americas pt. 1
Early Mesoamerican peoples

3. Objectives
Identify how native American peoples arrived in the Americas.
Map Mesoamerica and the Bering Land Bridge.
Describe the culture of the Olmec peoples.
Describe the lasting influences of early Mesoamerican peoples.

4. Section 5
We are now in Section 5 of World History, which mostly covers the Modern Era of human history including:
The Americas
Renaissance and Reformation
Age of Exploration
Absolutism
The Enlightenment and Revolution
French Revolution and Napoleon
The Industrial Revolution I and II
Important Inventions and Inventors
European Imperialism and Colonialism (see pg. 685)
WWI
The Great Depression
WWII
PostWar Challenges
1945-onward

5. The Americas The American continents include North and South America.
They are connected and span two hemispheres.

6. The Americas The geography of the Americas vary widely:
Deserts
Forests
Swamps
Mountains
Tundras
Rainforests
The peoples that would eventually arrive in the Americas would have to adapt to the various ecosystems.

7. The Americas
However, while the Americas are connected to one another, the Americas was once connected to Asia.
Most experts agree that the earliest Americans came from across a land bridge known as Beringia.

8. Earliest Americans
The first Americans would have arrived sometime between 40,000-10,000 B.C.
These early peoples would have moved to follow herds of animals moving into the continent.
Question: Why did early hunter-gatherers migrate?

9. Earliest Americans
Over time, these early Americans would have migrated throughout the Americas, a process that would have taken thousands of years.

10. Earliest Americans
Overtime, around 7,000 B.C., farming began in central Mexico.
By 5000 B.C., these peoples began to farm foods including squash, gourds, beans, avocados, chilies, and– by 3400 B.C.– maize or corn.
Soon, early Americans began to settle in permanent villages throughout the Americas.
Question: What effect does farming tend to have on nomadic peoples?

11. Developing Civilizations
Developed civilizations began in a region of the Americas known as Mesoamerica– modern day Central Mexico down to modern-day Honduras.
It was there that, around 3000 years ago, the first complex societies in the Americas arose.

12. Olmec Mesoamerica's first civilization was the Olmec.
They began to build a society around 1200 B.C. in the jungles of southern Mexico.
They influenced many of the later peoples that would find their home in the region.
To put this in perspective, they grew while the Egyptian Empire was falling and almost 600 years before Ancient Greece would grow.

13. Olmec
Around 1200 B.C.-400 B.C., the Olmec built a thriving society along the Gulf of Mexico.
The region they lived was hot and humid and covered in swamp land.
Around 100 inches of rain fell every year and flooding was commonplace.

14. Olmec However, the region they lived had advantages:
There were abundant amounts of salt, tar, and clay.
Wood and rubber from the rainforest was in plentiful supply.
The hills north of them provided stone for them to make their buildings.
Rivers provided a means for transport and a way to make their land fertile for farming.

15. Olmec
The Olmec were prolific builders and were very advanced in stone-work.
They built massive columns, altars, and large stone heads, which may have represented their rulers.
Individual heads could weigh up to 44 tons.

16. Olmec
Chances are, the Olmec were made up of a small class of rulers who told larger groups to build for them.
Other sites also show how skilled the Olmec were. In La Venta, a 100 ft. high mound was discovered and may have been the tomb of a Olmec ruler. This tomb has since been dubbed The Great Pyramid and may have been the center of Olmec religion.

17. Olmec The Olmec most likely prayed to a variety of nature spirits.
Most of all of these spirits, the Olmec probably held the jaguar spirit in the highest regard.
Olmec sculptures and carvings depict a half-jaguar, half-human creature and may have represented a powerful rain god.

18. Olmec The Olmec also appeared to be a very prosperous people.
It’s likely that they had a vast trading network throughout Mesoamerica.
Chances are, through trade, Olmec culture likely inspired other Mesoamerican peoples.
Question: Other than goods, what else travels through trade?

19. Decline The Olmec appear to have disappeared entirely around 400 B.C.
Reasons are unknown, but there is suspicion that either they destroyed their own temples or were attacked.
Due to the lack of written records- so far- scholars are unsure of what really occurred.

20. Rise of the Zapotec
By the time the Olmec collapse, another people- the Zapotec- began to develop an advanced society in the modern-Oaxaca (wuh-Hah-kah).
While influenced by the Olmec, the Zapotec developed an entirely unique civilization.

21. Zapotec
The peoples of the Oaxaca valley had to deal with very hot and dry weather.
However, much of the valley has fertile soil, a mild climate, and enough rainfall to support agriculture.

22. Zapotec Originally, the Zapotec lived in scattered villages.
However, by 1000 B.C., the Zapotec began to build stone platforms, temples and large structures.
By 500 B.C., they developed early forms of writing and a calendar system.

23. Zapotec Around 500 B.C., the Zapotec took a major leap forward.
Atop a mountain in the Oaxaca Valley, they built the first real urban center of the Americas: Monte Alban.
This city prospered for centuries, and at one time was home to around 15,000-25,000 people.

24. Zapotec From 250-700 A.D., Monte Alban was extremely impressive.
The entire urban complex had towering pyramids, temples, and palaces.
Scholars suspect that they had observatories for star gazing.

25. Decline
However, like the Olmec before them, the Zapotec began to decline around 600 A.D.
Scholars suspect that they lost access to trade or economic difficulties.
While they had a written language, much of what occurred to them remains a puzzle.

26. Legacy
Although both the Olmec and Zapotec collapsed, each culture left it’s mark on the civilization that followed.
The Olmec contributed much to later civilizations, including the Maya.

27. Legacy
Together, the Zapotec and Olmec most likely influenced later cultures to begin writing.
The Zapotec specifically influenced use of the calendar by later cultures and grand ceremonial centers would inspire other cultures to become prolific builders.
The Olmec may have inspired later cultures to integrate ritual sports into their culture.

28. Questions?
If you have any questions, please ask now.

29. Next Lesson
In the next lesson, we are going to begin discussing the Maya civilization.

30. Review
How did early people get to the Americas? Why did they come here?
What was the geography like where the Olmec settled?
What was the geography like in the Oaxaca Valley? How did it support agriculture?
What was the effect of agriculture on the early American peoples?
What was the city of Monte Alban like?
Name three (3) things that the Olmec and Zapotec did that inspired later cultures.
What was the religion of the Olmec like? What did they believe in?