Unit I 1300-1607

1
Unit I 1300-1607

• Part I
• The Native Americans

2
Origins of the Native Americans

• AKA Amerindians
• Most believe that the New World was populated by
  immigrants who crossed over Beringia (land mass
  now covered by the Bering Strait) more than
  40,000 years ago.
• Migrated to tip of S. America by 8,000 BC

3
World Map and the Bering Strait
4
Beringia under water 10,000 years ago

• The early immigrants were hunters of large game
  for food, furs and had small fishing vessels
• By 1500 Population in the New World was 50-100
  million (numbers are in dispute)

5
Issues with the Bering Strait notion

• Evidence of human habitation in Eastern Siberia
  only 12,000 years ago
• A Crow site in the Yukon my be 50,000 years old
• A site in Brazil could be 48,000 years old

6
BUT

• The Bering Strait theory is the most widely
  accepted.

7
By the Late Stone Age4,000 to 1500 BC

• Sedentary (non-migratory) societies began to
  develop (Peru, NE and South-central Mexico and SW
  United States
• Depended upon Maize, Pumkins, Sweet Potatoes,
  Chili Peppers, Tapioca, and Amaranth (a cereal)

8

• Hundreds of tribes with different
• Languages
• Religions
• Cultures

9
Three Great Civilizationsin Central and South
America

• The Mayans
• The Aztecs
• The Incas (Peru)

10
(No Transcript)
11
The Mayans

• In Mesoamerica Guatemala, Honduras, Belize up
  to Central Mexico, the Yucatan
• 2,000 BC to 900 AD disappearance a mystery
• Noted for its
• Written Language
• Architecture
• Mathematics
• Calendar
• Irrigation systems

12
The Mayans

• http//www.history.com/topics/maya/videos/ask-his
  tory-did-the-maya-predict-2012?m528e394da93aesu
  ndefinedf1freefalse

13
The Aztecs in Mexico

• 1100-1519
• Tenochtitlan
• Gods and Human Sacrifice
• Contrast with Christian sacrament ritual
• Cortes and Montezuma

14
The Incas in Peru

• Like Mayans
• Built stone-carved cities
• Mathematics and astronomy
• Agricultural surplus for trade

15
The North American tribes

• By late 15th century semi-sedentary
• Less developed than in south
• Gender roles
• Women primarily agriculture
• Men Hunters and warriors
• Most matrilineal (property ownership
• and matriilocal (new couple real extended family
  and proximity)

16
Property Ownership

• No one owned the land but families or clans
  would defend their rights to use the land
• Property was NOT acquired as it had to be hauled
  from one place to another on a regular basis
• The most important man in the tribe was the one
  giving the most away

17
Trade was important

• BUT no formal trade alliances or commercial
  treaties
• However refusal to trade was justification for war

18
Noteworthy N.A. Tribes

• The Pueblo Indians New Mexico, Arizona,
  Colorado. Lived in multistoried, terraced
  affairssome of the oldest dwellings in N.
  America.
• Depended primarily on corn
• Elaborate irrigation systems

19
N.A. Tribes

• Mound Builders Mississippi and Ohio Valleys
• Central Mound was 100 feet high worlds largest
  earthen work (near St. Louis)
• As many as 40,000 people
• Iron tools, woven fabric
• Trade routes Appalachians to Rockies, Great
  Lakes to Gulf of Mexico

20
Atlantic Seaboard Tribes

• Maize, beans, squash
• Creeks had a democratic style of government
• Choctaw
• Cherokee
• Iroquois (NY state) built a strong military
  confederacy under Hiawatha (late 16th century)
• The 5 Nations Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas,
  Cayugas, Senecas

21
The Iroquois

• Lived in Longhouses
• 8-200 feet long
• The Iroquois will ally themselves with the
  British
• They were the most politically sophisticated
  group met by the Europeans

22
Religion

• Most Amerindians had nature at the root of their
  religions
• Temples, Skull racks, human sacrifice,
  cannibalism was seen as satanic by Europeans
• But consider Native point of view regarding
  monotheism, the sacrament, witch hunts, the
  inquisition

23
War

• Native view of European warfare
• Wasteful. Prisoners could be used instead as
  sacricice
• Captured children of natives assimilated
• Europeans who could not match native guerrilla
  warfare or capture Native warriors would destroy
  Indian villages (non-combatants) Natives learned
  from this

24
War continued

• Natives used torture as a way for new widows to
  get even
• Were called mourning Wars and often lasted all
  night
• Europeans were not up to the task although
  Jesuits were admired by natives for their ability
  to withstand torture

25
Natives Borrowed

• European weapons
• Horses (were reintroduced to the Americas by the
  Spanish conquistadores. Had disappeared during
  the last ice age)