In Review? Pangaea - was a supercontinent that existed about 300 million years ago.

About 180 million years ago Pangaea began to break up.

Through various land mass changes, Pangaea split along faults in the earth into two “super continents” and eventually some smaller land masses.

These two different continents developed into two completely different ecosystems.

 

The Movement of People In turn we came to the conclusion that at some

point in human history, people existed and began to spread out.

Over time human populations migrated in all directions throughout Africa, Europe and Asia

We discussed the two theories of how humans came to the Americas?

As original inhabitants of North America as far back as Pangaea.

Or people traveled over the Siberian Land Bridge known as Beringia

 

The Columbian exchange Pangea as been resurrected and has reemerged.

No longer do two ecosystems exist.

The European ecosystem has invaded the North American Ecosystem.

This process, first studied comprehensively by American historian Alfred Crosby, was called the Columbian Exchange.

The Columbian Exchange is the movement of plants, animals, and diseases between the Eastern and Western hemispheres.

Ecological imperialism Invasive species brought over by

Columbus and eventually other European Explores took over the North American continent.

While the apparent and intentional transfer of domestic animals and home grown plants were obvious.

It was the unseen bugs, insects and bacteria which caused most harm.

The stage is set; Who will win?At this point in human history, not only do we have an ecological collision of germ warfare between the Western Hemisphere (North America) and the Eastern Hemisphere (Europe)

We also have the stage set for a cultural collision between:

I. The local Native American tribes who have inhabited the Americas for thousands of years

II. The adventuresome Europeans whose new navigational technologies have allowed them to, sail more proficiently than ever before.

III. And the African tribes whose nomadic and feudal way of life have placed themselves in a grave cultural warfare.

Native American Societies prior to Columbus

How can we know for sure They have no iron, nor steel, nor

weapons, nor are they fit for them, because although they are well-made men of commanding stature, they appear extraordinarily timid. The only arms they have are sticks of cane, cut when in seed, with a sharpened stick at the end, and they are afraid to use these. Often I have sent two or three men ashore to some town to converse with them, and the natives came out in great numbers, and as soon as they saw our men arrive, fled without a moment's delay although I protected them from all injury.

Primary Sources

Holmberg’s Mistake

1940Holmberg reported, that the natives were “among the most culturally backward peoples of the world.” Living in constant want and hunger, he said, they had no clothes, no domestic animals, no musical instruments, no art or design, and almost no religion. Incredibly, they could not count beyond three or make fire. Their poor lean-tos, made of haphazardly heaped palm fronds, were so ineffective against rain and insects that the typical tribe member “undergoes many a sleepless night during the year.” Crouched over meager campfires during the wet, buggy nights, the natives were living exemplars of primitive humankind as Holmberg put it. For millennia, he thought, they had existed almost without change in a landscape unmarked by their presence. Then they encountered European society and for the first time their history acquired reality.

How are we to understand the native Americans?

DO we see them through a European viewpoint?

These great civilizations of the Inca’s, Maya’s and Aztec’s each had populations of 20million + were highly advanced societies in math, astronomy, government, and architecture.

Cahokia

League of Five NationsAt the time of European encounter and colonization, the original Iroquois League, based in present-day New York, was also known as the Five Nations, as it was composed of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and the Seneca. These Five Nations are believed to have emerged as distinct tribes by the 15th century or earlier. The Five Nations was one of the most

important instances of representative intertribal governance. Its leaders, chosen by the women of the various tribes and appointed for life, were selected for their wisdom, tolerance, and generosity of spirit.

So, how do the Native Americans want society to refer to them as?

“We were enslaved as American Indians, we

were colonized as American Indians, and

when we gain our freedom as American Indians we will then

decide on what to call ourselves”!

Russell Means (American Indian activist) was once quoted as saying: