Early americans course presentation pdf
- 1. Early Americans What is something you already know about the “Early Americans” topic? What is something that excites or interests you about the “Early Americans” topic? What is something that you learned from today’s introductory reading? What is something that you want to learn about the “Early Americans” topic?
- 3. Cultures in America • When did the first Americans arrive? • Possibly 22,000 years ago • Last Ice Age had frozen vast quantities of water, creating land bridge between Russia and Alaska - the Bering Strait • Ancient hunters trekked across the frozen land into North America
- 4. Hunting and Gathering • Earliest Americans lived as big- game hunters • Lifestyle changed when temperatures warmed, glaciers melted, and sea levels rose once again • Land bridge disappeared under the Bering Sea • Climate grew warmer and larger animals no longer thrived • People gradually switched to Clovis Point hunting smaller game and fish and gathering nuts and berries
- 5. Agriculture • Many ancient groups settled in North America, others continued into what is now Mexico and South America. • Between 10,000 and 5,000 years ago, an agricultural revolution took place in what is now central Mexico. • Planting of crops eventually led to the spreading of agricultural techniques • Agriculture made it possible for people to settle in one place • Large communities developed
- 6. Early American Agriculture Complex farming methods by early societies in South America Terrace farming
- 7. Cultures in North America • Several North American groups, Hohokam and the Anasazi, introduced crops into deserts of Southwest U.S. • Other Native American societies (Adena, Mississipian, Hopewell) developed • These people became the first cultures in North America • Between 300 BC and AD 1400, each group had established its own culture • Ancestors of the many Native American groups that inhabited North America around 1400’s-1500’s
- 8. Native American Societies of the 1400s • Many different cultures emerged in North America • Varied regions of the North American continent provided for many different ways of life • Native groups that populated the continent’s coasts, deserts, and forests
- 9. Maya, Aztec and Inca • First empire of the Americas emerged as early as 1200 BC in what is now southern Mexico, the Olmec • After Olmec collapse around 400 BC, Maya built a dynamic culture in Guatemala and the Yucatan Peninsula between AD 250 and 900 • Later the Aztec settled the valley in Mexico during the 1200s • Inca people dominated South America and created a complex culture
- 10. Course Goals • Understand people and societies: • Identify, analyze and explain early American cultures and people • Understand why people change: • Examine and describe how cultures interact and result in a change of culture
- 12. The Big Picture Get familiar with 3 of 4 Cultural Characteristics major early American cultures Location and Map 1. Maya 2. Aztec 3. Inca Timeline 4. Anasazi
- 13. Cultures in Early America • Culture: Knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors shared by and passed on by members of a specific group • All products of human thought • How people should behave in the group • Cultural Characteristics: • food and shelter and religion • relationships and language • education and security/protection • political and social organization • creative expression/art • A groups that shares a geographic region, sense of identity and culture is called a society