Pre - SSUSH1

Native Americans prior to European Exploration

• Mesoamerica is a region that encompasses modern day Mexico and Central America.

Early Civilizations of Mesoamerica

• As early as 9,000 years ago Native Mesoamericans experienced an Agricultural Revolution.

• The first crops grown in Mesoamerica included squash, beans, and maize.

• Maize was the most important crop because it could be ground into flour to make bread or dried and stored for long periods of time.

Early Civilizations of Mesoamerica

• Early agriculture allowed permanent villages to grow into great civilizations characterized by highly organized societies.

• Among the greatest civilizations in Mesoamerica were the Mayans of the Yucatan Peninsula and the Aztecs of Central Mexico.

• Both civilizations built magnificent cities with great pyramid temples and huge palaces with pillared halls.

• Although trade and a common culture linked the people of each civilization, their numerous city-states often went to war with each other.

Early Civilizations of Mesoamerica

• Anthropologists believe that famine, internal conflicts, and eventual invasions from the north caused the decline of the Mayans.

• Meanwhile, the Aztecs created a mighty empire by using their military power to:

control regional trade,

conquer neighboring city-states,

demand them to pay tribute.

The Spread of Maize

• Maize originated on the Pacific slopes and Great Central Valley of modern Mexico.

• From there maize diffused rapidly to:

Central America

South America

North America

• Many Anthropologists believe that the growing of maize spread into North America from

Northern Chihuahua in Mexico

To the Rio Grande Valley

And the Sonoran Desert

The Spread of Maize

• From there maize spread along Major Waterways like the:

The Arkansas

The Missouri

The Platte

The Ohio

The Mississippi

• By 1200 CE, continued cultivation and dispersal allowed maize based agriculture to spread eastward among the Northern American cultures of the Atlantic Coast

• Pueblo Tribes were originally located in the region between the Sonoran Desert and the Rio Grande Valley.

Native North Americans: The Pueblos (300-1500 CE)

• The two dominant tribes were the Hohokam and the Anasazi.

• Both tribes had developed into settled farming societies due to the introduction of maize from Mesoamerica.

• Adapting to the dry conditions of the Southwest, these tribes developed complex irrigation systems made up of basins, ditches, and canals.

• The Hohokam Tribe constructed large villages made up of multi-story adobe structures.

Native North Americans: The Pueblos (300-1500 CE)

• Two of the most famous adobe villages still in existence are:

Case Grande (in Arizona) and Pueblo Bonito (in new Mexico).

• The Anasazi Tribe were architects of magnificent Cliff Dwellings.

Native North Americans: The Pueblos (300-1500 CE)

• Two of the most famous of these dwellings still in existence are:

Mesa Verde (in Colorado) and Montezuma’s Castle (in Arizona).

• Each of these settlements had a ceremonial religious chamber known as a Kivas used for purification and the worship of good spirits.

• Disease and the arrival of nomadic warrior tribes like the Apache caused the eventual decline of the Pueblo people.

• The Mississippian Culture extended from the:

Native North Americans: The Mississippians (500-1500 CE)

Coastal regions of Mississippi to

Northern plains of Missouri and

East to Georgia.

• Improved strains of maize and beans from Mesoamerica were planted in these regions due to.

• Many of these tribes built mound structures using support poles and thatch roofs covered with mud and grasses for insulation.

Fertile Rich Soils and

Seasonal Flood Plains

• Many of these tribes built mound structures using support poles and thatch roofs covered with mud and grasses for insulation

Native North Americans: The Mississippians (500-1500 CE)

• Examples of these structures still exist at the following locations in Georgia:

• Due to extreme droughts and conflicts between tribes, most of these villages were abandoned by the 1500’s.

Etowah Indian Mounds

Kolomoki Indian Mounds

Ocmulgee Indian Mounds

• Five nations of Native Americans lived in towns and villages across the southeast from the mountains of North Carolina to the valley of the Mississippi River.

Native North Americans: The Southern Appalachians

• The five nations included • the:

• Many of their towns and villages had a central plaza and were surrounded by a stockade with well-established defenses.

• Although primarily farmers and hunter-gatherers, these tribes did establish strong warrior clans that often fought against their neighbors.

Cherokee

Creek

Choctaw

Chickasaw

Seminole.

• The northern woodland tribes were primarily from two key language groups:

Native North Americans: Northern Woodland Tribes

The Algonquians.

• The Algonquian speaking tribes included the:

The Iroquois

Shawnee

Delaware

Powhatan

Mohicans

• They lived in the regions extending from Virginia to Northern Canada and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ohio River Valley.

• The Iroquois speaking tribes included the:

Erie

Huron

Seneca

Mohawk

Northern Creek

• Most of these tribes lived in Kinship groups that built Longhouses or Wigwams made with bent poles covered with animal hides and bark.

• These tribes also adopted slash and burn techniques to create nitrogen rich soils for planting maize, squash, and beans.

• Native North American tribes were Matriarchal Societies characterized by Kinship groups that were led by the eldest woman in the family, clan, or tribe.

Native North Americans Societies:

• When young males married, they would go to live in the house of their wife’s family.

• Although women had great power and influence within the tribe, the men held all the key positions of leadership within the tribe.

• Traditionally, male warriors hunted and defended the tribe, while women farmed, cared for the house, and raised the children.