Bellwork

• In two sentences, explain why you think we study History? – What is the importance of studying it?– What can we learn from our past?

American History

Section 1, Unit 1Introduction to U.S. History: Early

Civilizations

Objectives• Expand on why we study history.• Understand the differences between BC and AD. • Identify the link between history and geography• Identify important characteristics and achievements of Paleo-

Indian cultures• Map how they arrived to the America’s• Compare them to the peoples of Africa, Asia, and Europe • Compare the cultures of Mesoamerica to those of North America

based on complexity.• Identify how geographic regions affected certain North American

Native cultures• Be able to differentiate between the culture areas of North

America and explain how these culture areas effected the different groups of people.

Why do we study history?

• To learn from our mistakes and successes– We don’t want to make the same mistakes our

ancestors did, but we do want to learn what made many civilizations so powerful.

• To understand the perspectives of the people of our past.– Historians Fallacy

• To know what shaped modern society– Laws, art, literature, etc.

Calendars

• History is generally broken into two sections to describe its age:– B.C.- Before Christ- History that occurred prior to

Christ’s birth. • This system works backwards. The higher the number

in BC, the older it is (500 BC was before 400 BC).

– A.D.- Anno Domini- History that occurred after Christ’s birth. • The higher numbers here indicate how recent it

occurred (so, 1994 was before 2014).

Alternative Dating Methods

• However, some scholars have began to utilize a different dating method due to religious sensitivity:– CE- Common Era – alternative to AD– BCE- Before Common Era- alternative to BC

• Both are exactly the same as BC/AD, but for this class, I will be using BC and AD.

• For the purposes of this class, we will be mostly focusing on history in the last 2000 years.

Calendars (cont.)

• For this class, we will be identifying history using what is called the Gregorian Calendar. – This calendar is the

modern calendar used in many international nations with the standard 365 day year.

Pope Gregory XIII

History and Geography

• Another part of this class will be heavily studying the geography of the area(s) in question.

• Geography studies how physical environments affected human events and how humans effect their environment

• In this class, when we study a new culture or group, we will identify how the geography has affected aforementioned group.

History and Geography (cont)

• As well, when certain events occur in human history, the environment around them can change. This can include:– A change in territories– Interaction such as irrigation, clearing forests,

building cities

• Using and reading maps will prove vital in this course.

What to expect from this class

• In this class, we will cover people and events spanning the entirety of U.S. history. Be aware, we will cover history almost sequentially (in order). – Some historical events occur at the same time, so

there may be some backtracking and skipping around, but all concepts will lead back into a central concept.

Breakdown of the Course• The class will cover the following points in American history:

– Prehistory– Discovery, Colonization, Revolution– Expansion– Formation of the Union

• New states• Civil War• Restoration Era

– Early 20th Century– World War II and The Great Depression– Post WWII Era

• Civil Rights• Cold War• Technologies

– Modern United States

Any questions?

• Do you have any questions about this class or what to expect?– What do you take notes on?

• What is underlined is the most important information to take notes on.

– How will information be presented?• Generally speaking, you will learn between the use of

PowerPoints and reading activities.

– Will we watch videos or do activities?• Yes. Where applicable, I do try to show short videos.

However, it is unlikely we will watch whole movies.

Breathe

• Take a minute to breath and be prepared to answer the following question:

1. How do you think early Native American peoples arrived to this continent?

The Bering Land Bridge• Approximately 12,000-

60,000 years ago, most archeologists agree that the first Americans- Paleo-Indians- crossed into America using the Bering Land Bridge.– They would have crossed

in from Asia, most likely following animal herds into the new world.

Paleo-Indians• Many archaeologists do

not know much about the Paleo-Indians.

• There is no written records of their existence, so researchers have to rely heavily on animal remains or artifacts, which does not give any precise date to their arrival or how they moved across the Americas.

Changing Environment• Sometime around 10,000 to 5,000 B.C., the

climate of the Americas grew hotter and drier. • This would have left the continent more similar

to what the Europeans would have seen when they came here:– Swamp vegetation in the south would have thrived.– The rivers would have carved themselves throughout

America, and large mountains- such as the Rockies- would be the edge of the plains.

– The southwest would have grown extremely dry, with only hardy plants such as grasses and cacti to grow.

Adaptations

• As the climate changed, the groups of Paleo-Indians would have moved south.

• This migration would have taken thousands of years as they spread throughout the Americas.

• These new migrants would have found rich lands with rivers growing from melting glaciers and various wildlife that would have grown from the abundance of new plants and water.

How did the Native People’s move across the continents?

Clovis People

• Many of the Paleo-Indians throughout the Americas hunted with spears, armed with points called “Clovis points”. Named after their discovery in Clovis, NM, the spears would have been very useful against the large animals of the time.

Change in People

• However, big game eventually died out (such as mammoths), perhaps being hunted to extinction.

• The Paleo-Indians would have to develop new skills to survive in a changing world.

• Some humans began to utilize fire to help them hunt smaller prey, such as clearing whole forests. Others learned new ways to hunt and capture animals, such as fish and birds.

Agricultural Revolution

• The most revolutionary change made by the Paleo-Indians would have been a shift from hunting to domestication of plants and animals.

Question: How would this change greatly affect the Paleo-Indians?

Agricultural Revolution (cont.)

• The shift to farming happened gradually over the entire planet, first in the Africa, Asia, Europe, and then the Americas.

• Some historians argue that the first farmers would have been women, who gathered seeds and most likely would have made the connection that seeds that fell to the ground produced new plants.

Farming

• Historians are not entirely certain when domestication first began, but have found evidence that by 8000 B.C., communities in Mexico were already growing maize (corn) and that by 1500 B.C., farming was well established throughout the Americas.

Effect of Farming• Because farming became so prevalent, the Paleo-

Indians were able to increase their populations as the amount of available food increased. – They no longer had to rely on changing animal

populations. • Despite the increase in populations, however, the

natives of North America- unlike their Meso- and South American counterparts- never created large-scale societies.

• However, the they would come to form various cultures based on the regions in which they grew.

Culture

• Cultures would soon vary quite differently throughout the continental United States, as we will see in the next lesson.

Breathe

• Take 1 minute to breath and be able to answer the following questions:

1. Where is Mesoamerica?2. Who were the Maya and the Aztecs?

Mesoamerica

• Central America, and the southern and central regions of Mexico is the area that archaeologists refer to as Mesoamerica. It was home to some of the largest of the early cultures. It is estimated that at the height of the region, the population would have been almost 25 million people who all shared a common cultural heritage.

Mesoamerica

Olmecs• The Olmecs were the first

great culture of Mesoamerica and would have thrived near the Gulf of Mexico between 1200 to 400 B.C.

• The Olmecs were farmers and that influenced their culture:– They prayed to a rain god– Development of a calendar to

predict seasons– The farms even circled

important ceremonial areas in their cities.

Olmecs (cont.)

• However, around 400 B.C., the Olmec civilization began to crumble.

• However, their way of life was adopted by others in Mesoamerica and would lead into the growth of the Mayan civilization.

Mayan• The Mayans improved

upon the Olmecs accomplishments, including developing a far more accurate calendar than the one used in Europe. – They even adopted the

concept of zero before the Europeans.

• The Mayans also developed a water-management system for their farming, which allowed them to vastly increase their population

Mayan Civilization Falls

• Despite a population of millions, around 900 A.D., the Mayans had abandoned almost all of their cities and merged with other cultures in the area.

• Why this happened is unknown.

Toltecs • In a century prior to the decline of the Maya, the Toltecs came to dominate the region known as the Valley of Mexico.

• Adopting the cultures of the people they conquered, they built a vast empire.

• However, due to internal conflicts, they fell to invading groups to the north in around the 12th century.

Aztecs• Of the groups that came from

the north, the Aztecs (Mexicas) proved powerful enough to control the vast empire of the Toltecs.

• The Aztecs were a fierce warriorlike people.

• Over the course of two centuries, they would come to dominate a region of over 5 million people.

• Human sacrifice was central to their religion and they believed it was important to do so as to ensure the survival of their peoples.

• As we will discuss later, the Aztecs in 1500’s would fall to Spanish conquest.

Why such a brief overview?

• We did not go into a very in-depth discuss on the Mesoamerican peoples. Why? – They’re not the focus of this class. – And there should have been a discussion of them

in World History.

Cultures of North America

• Unlike the Mesoamerican cultures, who were all centralized in one location, the cultures of North America never grew to the same size or splendor of their southern counterparts.

Cultures of North America

• The North American natives were far too spread out to reach the size and complexity of the Native Mesoamericans. Few groups north of Mesoamerica numbered over a thousand people.

• However, despite this, many Native American cultures were similar to one another, despite geographic separation.

Southwestern cultures

• Native Americans who settled in the Southwest began to cultivate corn (maize) and other crops by around 3500 B.C.

• Their farming methods, pottery styles, and social practices show very strong Mesoamerican influences, highlighting a distinct possibility of either relationship or the cultures having met.

Anasazi

• Between 800 and 1100 AD, the Anasazi began to build multistory rock and adobe dwellings- usually nested against cliffs.

• These structures are referred to as pueblos (villages) and housed various members of the community.

• However, around 1400, the Anasazi ceased to exist as a distinct people, but are believed to have been the ancestors of the Pueblo people, who would have met the Spanish in the 1500’s.

Eastern Cultures• The Adena and Hopewell

cultures in the east dominated the region for about 1,700 years.

• They are often referred to as the Mound Builders because of the distinctive earthworks they created.

• The Hopewell eventually pushed the Adenas out of the region. The Hopewell dominated the area until a more advance culture- the Mississippian culture- replaced them.

Mississippian People

• The Mississippian people occupied much of the Southeast and Midwest.

• Huge temple mounds dominated their villages.

• At one point, it is believed that some populations reach almost 40,000. However, overtime, the Mississippian people abandoned some of their larger cities, but would continue to dominate the area for several more centuries.

Iroquois League

• Eastern tribes (those near or along the eastern coast) had much in common with the Mississippian peoples, including a similar environment. However, woodland groups of the east developed a variety of cultures and spoke very distinct languages- Algonquian, Iroquoian, and Muskogean.

• Many of these groups fought one another for land. • However, some groups would come together and

form alliances.

Iroquois League• The Iroquois League was a

political alliance amongst 5 (five) tribes living in the Eastern Great Lakes Region: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca.

• The league promoted a joint defense and cooperation among the tribes– the confederacy lasted for almost 200 years.

Cultural Connections

• The relationship between the Iroquois nations- and tribes outside of the league- was both economic and cultural.

Cultural Connections

• While the varying geography defined Native cultures, groups began to share cultural concepts through trade.

• They would have similar religious beliefs, and shared social patterns.

• Trade was a major factor for the natives in North America.

Trade

• Trade was very important to the Native peoples. • Trade centers and traveling merchants were

found throughout North America. – For example: the Chinook of Oregon established a

lively marketplace that brought goods from all over the west.

• In some places, goods would travel hundreds (if not thousands) of miles from the original source. – This was especially true for exotic goods like colored

feathers and jewelry.

Religion• Many Native Americans

shared a similar belief system.

• Nearly all Native American groups believed that the world around them was filled with nature spirits- - and the native peoples recognized these spirits.

The Spirits• Some groups of Native

Americans believed in a supreme being, or the Great Spirit (Wakan Tanka) that lived above all else.

• North American peoples believed that the spirits gave them rituals and customs to guide their lives.

• If people practiced these rituals, they would live in peace and harmony.

Land

• Native American religious beliefs also included a great respect for the land as a source of life.

• Native Americans used the land, but altered it as little as possible– to them, it was sacred. – This would become a

contentious issue later when the Europeans, who believed that land could be bought and sold, unlike the Natives.

Cultural Areas • Northwest Coast- coastal dwellers, fishers, developed complex culture

• Plateau- river dwellers, primarily fishers, relatively low populations

• Great Plains- grasslands dwellers, nomadic buffalo hunters after the introduction of horses

• Northeast- forest dwellers- primarily hunter-gatherers but also farmed and fished.

• Great Basin- desert basic dwellers; primarily gathering society- low population

• California- desert, mountain, river, or coastal dwellers- primarily gatherers and fishers

• Southwest- canyon, mountain, and desert dwellers; usually farmers or nomadic hunters

• Southeast- river-valley dwellers; primarily farmers, but also hunted and gathered.

Review Objectives• Expand on why we study history.• Understand the differences between BC and AD. • Identify the link between history and geography• Identify important characteristics and achievements of Paleo-Indian

cultures• Map how they arrived to the America’s• Compare them to the peoples of Africa, Asia, and Europe • Compare the cultures of Mesoamerica to those of North America

based on complexity.• Identify how geographic regions affected certain North American

Native cultures• Be able to differentiate between the culture areas of North America

and explain how these culture areas effected the different groups of people.

Questions?

• If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Next Lesson

• In the next lesson, we are going to briefly discuss Europe prior to the contact with the new world.

Review1. What was the major cause of cultural variety in North

American Natives? 2. Why did the North American cultures never grow to the size of

their Mesoamerican counterparts? 3. Why did many Native American groups have similar

customs/beliefs/etc.? 4. How were the Europeans and Native Americans different in

their stance on land ownership? 5. What was the goal of the Iroquois League? 6. What was one of the earliest food products that the Paleo-

Indians cultivated?7. Why do you think it took so long for the Americas to begin to

farm foods (consider the geography of the Americas v. the rest of the world)?

8. How did the Paleo-Indians spread across the Americas?