Chapter 1, Section 1

1. Chapter 1, Section 1 The Earliest Americans

2. The First People In America • The first Americans migrated to the Americas from Asia • Scientists disagree about how and when migration occurred. • Beringia land bridge • Joined Asia and North America during the last Ice Age • Drop in sea levels

3. Beringia

4. Beringia

5. Humans arrived in the Americas much earlier • Artifacts found in South America have been found to be 30,000 years old • Many routes including boat

6. The Emergence of Civilizations • The first Americans lived in hunting and gathering cultures • Development of agriculture • Plant and animal • People no longer needed to travel far distances for food, leading to the development of Civilizations

7. Features of a Civilization • Cities that are centers of trade • Specialized jobs for different people • Organized forms of government and religion • System of record keeping • Advanced tools

8. Olmec • 1200 BC • Mesoamerica • Built large cities • Known for the use of stone in architecture • Trade routes • Allowed Olmec culture to spread • Built pyramid-like mounds • Mysteriously disappeared 400BC

9. Mesoamerica

10. Maya • 250 A.D. • Southern Mexico and Guatemala • Built pyramid mounds • Also built large stone temples • By 900, civilization decline • Revolts • Disease • Crop Failure Mayan Temple at Tikal

11. Peoples of Mexico • Aztec civilization • Irrigation system • Warlike people • Complex culture • Elaborate religious ceremonies • Sun, moon, stars

12. Aztec Temple

13. Inca • Small tribe in South America • Located near present day Peru- Andes Mts. • One of first civilizations to create a capital – Cuzco • Created a strong central government • Created highway system for entire empire • Known for massive stone buildings and Art.

14. Early Native American Civilizations • During the time of the Mayas (250A.D.-900A.D.) many Native American civilizations developed in what is now the United States • Southwest • Hohokam lived in modern day Arizona • Anasazi, lived where Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico now meet

16. Eastern United States • Mound Builders • Adena • Hopewell • Mississippians • Built some of the first cities in North America • Perished in the 1700’s due to diseases from Europe • By 1500, North America was home to hundreds of Native American cultural groups • 2,000 languages

17. Peoples of the North and West • North • The Aleut and Inuit in the far north • Environmental conditions were not favorable for farming • Hunters • Other Northwest Coast people hunted sea mammals, fished for salmon • West • Tribes in California, Columbia Plateau, Great Basin • Hunters and gatherers • In what is now the southwest United States, Pueblo, Navajo, and Apache

18. Peoples of the Great Plains and East • Great Plains: flat grasslands stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains • Diversity • Some nomadic • Some farmers • Some relied on hunting buffalo • Southeast Native Americans • East from Texas to Atlantic Ocean • Choctaw, Chickasaw • Fish, farming, hunting • Spoke Iroquoian or Algonquian language • Iroquois • Slash and Burn agriculture • Iroquois League

19. Reasons for Diversity • Adaptation to environment • Deserts • Woodlands • Coastal • Ice Fields • Use of technology varied as a result of different environments