Bellwork

• Define any of the following: –Mesoamerica– Bering Land Bridge– Olmec– The Americas

World History

Section 5, Unit 1The Americas pt. 1

Early Mesoamerican peoples

Objectives

• Identify how native American peoples arrived in the Americas.

• Map Mesoamerica and the Bering Land Bridge.

• Describe the culture of the Olmec peoples.

• Describe the lasting influences of early Mesoamerican peoples.

Section 5• We are now in Section 5 of World History, which mostly covers

the Modern Era of human history including:– The Americas– Renaissance and Reformation– Age of Exploration – Absolutism– The Enlightenment and Revolution– French Revolution and Napoleon– The Industrial Revolution I and II

• Important Inventions and Inventors

– European Imperialism and Colonialism (see pg. 685)– WWI– The Great Depression– WWII– PostWar Challenges

• 1945-onward

The Americas

• The American continents include North and South America.

• They are connected and span two hemispheres.

The Americas• The geography of the

Americas vary widely:– Deserts– Forests– Swamps– Mountains– Tundras– Rainforests

• The peoples that would eventually arrive in the Americas would have to adapt to the various ecosystems.

The Americas

• However, while the Americas are connected to one another, the Americas was once connected to Asia.

• Most experts agree that the earliest Americans came from across a land bridge known as Beringia.

Earliest Americans

• The first Americans would have arrived sometime between 40,000-10,000 B.C.

• These early peoples would have moved to follow herds of animals moving into the continent.

Question: Why did early hunter-gatherers migrate?

Earliest Americans

• Over time, these early Americans would have migrated throughout the Americas, a process that would have taken thousands of years.

Earliest Americans

• Overtime, around 7,000 B.C., farming began in central Mexico. – By 5000 B.C., these peoples began to

farm foods including squash, gourds, beans, avocados, chilies, and– by 3400 B.C.– maize or corn.

• Soon, early Americans began to settle in permanent villages throughout the Americas.

Question: What effect does farming tend to have on nomadic peoples?

Developing Civilizations• Developed

civilizations began in a region of the Americas known as Mesoamerica– modern day Central Mexico down to modern-day Honduras.

• It was there that, around 3000 years ago, the first complex societies in the Americas arose.

Olmec• Mesoamerica's first

civilization was the Olmec.

• They began to build a society around 1200 B.C. in the jungles of southern Mexico.

• They influenced many of the later peoples that would find their home in the region.

To put this in perspective, they grew while the Egyptian Empire was falling and almost 600 years before Ancient Greece would grow.

Olmec• Around 1200 B.C.-

400 B.C., the Olmec built a thriving society along the Gulf of Mexico.

• The region they lived was hot and humid and covered in swamp land.

• Around 100 inches of rain fell every year and flooding was commonplace.

Olmec

• However, the region they lived had advantages:– There were abundant amounts of salt, tar,

and clay. –Wood and rubber from the rainforest was in

plentiful supply. – The hills north of them provided stone for

them to make their buildings. – Rivers provided a means for transport and

a way to make their land fertile for farming.

Olmec

• The Olmec were prolific builders and were very advanced in stone-work.

• They built massive columns, altars, and large stone heads, which may have represented their rulers.– Individual heads could

weigh up to 44 tons.

Olmec

• Chances are, the Olmec were made up of a small class of rulers who told larger groups to build for them.

• Other sites also show how skilled the Olmec were. In La Venta, a 100 ft. high mound was discovered and may have been the tomb of a Olmec ruler. This tomb has since been dubbed The Great Pyramid and may have been the center of Olmec religion.

Olmec• The Olmec most likely

prayed to a variety of nature spirits.

• Most of all of these spirits, the Olmec probably held the jaguar spirit in the highest regard.

• Olmec sculptures and carvings depict a half-jaguar, half-human creature and may have represented a powerful rain god.

Olmec

• The Olmec also appeared to be a very prosperous people.

• It’s likely that they had a vast trading network throughout Mesoamerica.

• Chances are, through trade, Olmec culture likely inspired other Mesoamerican peoples.

Question: Other than goods, what else travels through trade?

Decline

• The Olmec appear to have disappeared entirely around 400 B.C.

• Reasons are unknown, but there is suspicion that either they destroyed their own temples or were attacked.– Due to the lack of written records- so

far- scholars are unsure of what really occurred.

Rise of the Zapotec• By the time the Olmec

collapse, another people- the Zapotec- began to develop an advanced society in the modern-Oaxaca (wuh-Hah-kah).

• While influenced by the Olmec, the Zapotec developed an entirely unique civilization.

Zapotec

• The peoples of the Oaxaca valley had to deal with very hot and dry weather.

• However, much of the valley has fertile soil, a mild climate, and enough rainfall to support agriculture.

Zapotec• Originally, the

Zapotec lived in scattered villages.

• However, by 1000 B.C., the Zapotec began to build stone platforms, temples and large structures.

• By 500 B.C., they developed early forms of writing and a calendar system.

Zapotec• Around 500 B.C., the

Zapotec took a major leap forward.

• Atop a mountain in the Oaxaca Valley, they built the first real urban center of the Americas: Monte Alban.

• This city prospered for centuries, and at one time was home to around 15,000-25,000 people.

Zapotec• From 250-700 A.D., Monte Alban was extremely

impressive. • The entire urban complex had towering

pyramids, temples, and palaces. • Scholars suspect that they had observatories for

star gazing.

Decline

• However, like the Olmec before them, the Zapotec began to decline around 600 A.D.

• Scholars suspect that they lost access to trade or economic difficulties.

• While they had a written language, much of what occurred to them remains a puzzle.

Legacy

• Although both the Olmec and Zapotec collapsed, each culture left it’s mark on the civilization that followed.

• The Olmec contributed much to later civilizations, including the Maya.

Legacy

• Together, the Zapotec and Olmec most likely influenced later cultures to begin writing.

• The Zapotec specifically influenced use of the calendar by later cultures and grand ceremonial centers would inspire other cultures to become prolific builders.

• The Olmec may have inspired later cultures to integrate ritual sports into their culture.

Questions?

• If you have any questions, please ask now.

Next Lesson

• In the next lesson, we are going to begin discussing the Maya civilization.

Review1. How did early people get to the Americas? Why

did they come here? 2. What was the geography like where the Olmec

settled? 3. What was the geography like in the Oaxaca

Valley? How did it support agriculture?4. What was the effect of agriculture on the early

American peoples?5. What was the city of Monte Alban like? 6. Name three (3) things that the Olmec and

Zapotec did that inspired later cultures.7. What was the religion of the Olmec like? What

did they believe in?