Chapter 1

Section 1

• Explain how American Indians may have come to North America.

• Describe the process by which different American Indian groups and cultures developed.

• Describe the major culture areas prior to the arrival of Europeans in North America.

Objectives

Terms and People

• ice age − period in Earth’s history with low global temperatures and glaciers covering large areas

• migrate − to travel

• Mayas − ancient people of Mexico who lived along the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean coast

Terms and People (continued)

• Aztecs − ancient people of Mexico who lived in the central highlands

• adobe − sun-dried brick made from earth, water, and straw

• Iroquois League − loose confederation made up of five Iroquois peoples: the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas

How did the spread of civilization begin in the Americas?

As they settled across the land, they adapted to local environments and developed distinct ways of life.

Paleo-Indians were the first humans to live in the Americas.

• Scholars believe the Paleo-Indians came from Siberia, a region in Asia.

• They disagree, however, about when and how the Paleo-Indians arrived.

Migration to the Americas

Land Bridge Theory

• Many scholars think that 15,000 years ago, during an ice age, hunters crossed a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska in search of mammoths and other animals.

Coastal Route Theory

• Today, some scholars think that 40,000 years ago, hunters and gatherers arrived in small boats, eventually working their way down the west coasts of the Americas.

The Paleo-Indians eventually migrated throughout the Americas.

About 12,000 to 10,000 years ago, the climate warmed, melting the polar ice and raising the ocean level.

The warming climate and the skill of hunters killed off the mammoths and other large animals.

Paleo-Indians adapted by turning their attention to fishing, gathering of nuts and berries, and hunting smaller mammals.

In Mexico, some villages grew into great cities ruled by powerful chiefs.

The expanded food supply led to population growth and permanent villages.

About 3,500 years ago in central Mexico, Native Americans developed agriculture.

Farming

• With a dependable food supply, native populations exploded in the Americas.

• The surplus of food allowed communities to trade with others and allowed farming centers to become cities.

From Mexico, agriculture slowly spread northward into North America.

In Mexico, the Mayas and the Aztecs built advanced civilizations.

However, in some places, people continued hunting, gathering, and fishing.

Three Civilizations

• Mayas• Built cities in Central America and Mexico with

large public plazas surrounded by pyramids and palaces.

• Developed arts and a written language and used their knowledge of astronomy to develop the most accurate calendar known until modern times

• For an unknown reason the Mayans began to abandon their cities and many still speculate on the reasons today.

• However, the Mayan language is the basis for more than 20 languages of Central America.

Aztecs

• Built their capital ( Tenochtitlan) on the present day site of Mexico city.

• The city was built on islands in a lake and connected to the mainland with stone walkways.

• Crops were grown on floating gardens which allowed the population to grow to become the largest in the world at the time.

• The center of the city was dedicated to the many Aztec gods which were the center of Aztec life.

• To appease the Aztec gods they would sacrifice their captured enemies or even unfortunate citizens.

• During the 1400s, the Aztecs conquered much of Mexico and put the new subjects under a harsh rule of taxes such as sending food and prisoners to the capital to be sacrificed.

Incas

• In the late 1400s the largest empire in the world was the Inca Empire in South America.

• Their vast empire was connected by a network of roads. And when the Spanish arrived they said they were the finest roads in the world.

• The Inca stone buildings were put together so well that no mortar was needed to keep them standing for centuries.

Chapter 1 Section 2

• Objectives:• Describe the early civilizations of

Mesoamerica.

Diverse cultures emerged in what would later become the United States. In

different regions, Indian tribes:

• had different kinds of homes and clothes.

• ate different foods.

• developed different traditions.

• spoke hundreds of different languages.

The arid Southwest climate forced Native Americans to build dams and irrigation

canals in order to grow crops.

Some Native Americans in this region lived in adobe houses in farming villages, while others lived in pueblos and cliff dwellings.

The Great Plains

Climate• The region was an immense, windy,

arid grassland that is hotter in the south and colder in the north.

Cultural Features

• Native Americans in this region lived in thatched houses, log lodges, or tepees.

• They farmed in small villages and hunted the plentiful bison.

• They traded and fought with western nomads.

Northeastern people developed into two major language groups:

the Algonquians and the Iroquoians.

The Algonquians lived in wigwams on the Atlantic seaboard, while the Iroquois lived in longhouses around Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

Five Iroquois peoples united to form the Iroquois League, which promoted peace among the member nations.

The Mississippi River Valley

Climate• The region had a humid and

temperate climate and generally fertile soil.

Cultural Features

• The Native Americans in this region were influenced by the great cultures of Mexico.

• They built towns with central plazas, pyramids, and temples.

• They traveled by river to trade with other groups.

Due to the mild winters, warm summers, and ample rainfall of the Southeast, most Native Americans in this region were farmers.

But they also hunted in the forests and fished in the rivers and lakes of the region.

Native American Cultures, ca. 1500

Despite their cultural diversity, most Native American groups

shared several cultural features:

• decentralized political power.

• spiritual beliefs and shamanism.

• little private ownership of property.

• equality among the various tribes and nations.

• division of labor along gender lines.

• Objectives

• Describe the development and cultural characteristics of West Africa in the fifteenth century.

• Summarize the events that led to contact between Europeans and West Africans.

• Explore the roots of the system of slavery practiced in the Americas.

Chapter 1 section 3

Terms and People

• Ghana − prominent kingdom in West Africa, known for its wealth and trade in gold, lasting from A.D. 800 to A.D. 1050

• Mali − West African empire lasting from 1200 to the 1400s that prospered from the gold trade

• Mansa Musa − king of Mali in the early 1300s who expanded the kingdom’s domain, increased the role of Islam, and promoted scholarship

• Songhai − large West African empire lasting from 1460 to the 1600s

What was life like in West Africa before the age of European exploration?

The early civilizations of West Africa grew into great trading empires with rich and varied cultures.

Trade between West Africans and Europeans—including trade in slaves—would shape the future of both peoples for years to come.

West Africa is a land of varied geographic features.

• The Sahara Desert dominates the northern part.

• To the south of the desert lies a broad savanna.

• South of the savanna is a lush region watered by the Niger and Senegal rivers.

• Valuable natural resources such as gold and salt are found in West Africa.

A thriving trade network promoted the growth of trading towns.

In time, the trading routes of these empires linked West Africa with North Africa,

the Mediterranean, and Asia.

Trading towns eventually grew into great and

powerful empires.

• Ghana

• Mali

• Songhai

• Other, smaller kingdoms

West African Kingdoms, A.D. 800–A.D. 1600

Trade promoted rich and thriving cultures.

The earliest kingdom, Ghana, supplied much of the gold for the Mediterranean

region by the 11th century.

A thriving caravan trade with African peoples across the Sahara to Morocco resulted in extensive Muslim influence in North Africa.

Ghana had large towns, beautiful buildings, a system of commerce, and a complex political structure.

Attacks from outsiders weakened Ghana until it was supplanted around A.D. 1200

by a new kingdom known as Mali.

• Mansa Musa, who reigned in the early 1300s, expanded Mali’s domain.

• His promotion of Islamic scholarship led to the founding of the famous university at Timbuktu.

• Mali weakened after his death in 1332.

By the 1400s, the Songhai empire emerged.

Education and Trade

• Songhai sustained an Islamic system of education based at Timbuktu.

• Like Ghana and Mali, Songhai grew rich from trade.

Conquest

• In 1468, Songhai conquered Mali.

• As a result, Songhai became the largest and most powerful kingdom in West Africa.

West African Trade Routes, A.D. 800−A.D. 1600

West African societies were diverse.

Spiritual Beliefs

• Islam had a strong influence, although many held traditional beliefs about the spirit world and the influence of ancestors.

Land

• Land belonged to extended kinship networks.

• People often farmed the land in common and divided the harvest.

Slavery was common in West Africa, and slaves were often used as items of trade.

The slave trade was an important part of West Africa’s economy.

West African rulers sold about 1,000 slaves annually to Arab traders, who took them to the Mediterranean.

West African slavery had developed as a system with unique characteristics.

• It was not based on racial superiority or inferiority.

• Prisoners of war and criminals often became slaves.

• Slaves were usually adopted by their owners, and their children usually did not inherit slave status.

• Slaves could become wealthy, important officials and soldiers.

Initially, they acted as pirates, seizing gold, pepper, and slaves.

But African resistance soon forced the Portuguese to shift to trading.

Throughout the 1400s, the Portuguese explored farther south along the West

African coast.

In this way, Europeans first

became involved in the long-

standing slave trade of Africa.

The Portuguese exported peppers, ivory, copper, and

African slaves.

In time, the Portuguese established a profitable trade with the West Africans.

The Portuguese greatly expanded the slave trade.

By 1500, Europeans purchased about 1,800 African slaves a year, nearly doubling the trade between the West Africans and the Arabs.

• Some slaves were shipped to Europe.

• Most worked on sugar plantations on islands in the East Atlantic.

• Growing numbers went to new plantations in the Americas.

Thus began the brutal exploitation of West Africans enslaved by Europeans.

This fate would befall millions more African men and women in the centuries ahead.

• Describe the conditions in Europe in the fifteenth century.

• Analyze how the changes taking place in Europe affected the inhabitants.

• Describe the major developments on the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the Middle Ages and the start of the Renaissance.

Chapter 1 section 4Objectives

Terms and People

• Middle Ages − period in European history from the 5th century through the 14th century marked by an absence of effective central government

• Renaissance − period in European history lasting from the 14th to the 16th century, which ushered in a more secular age and encouraged freedom of thought, the importance of the individual, and renewed interest in classical learning

Terms and People (continued)

• reconquista − prolonged battle, ending in 1492, that reestablished Spanish Christian rule on the Iberian Peninsula after 700 years of Muslim dominance

• Prince Henry the Navigator − leader who directed Portuguese efforts to sail into the Atlantic, spread Christianity, and outflank Muslim domination of trade

How did Europeans begin to explore more of the world?

New ideas swept through Europe during the 1400s, causing enormous cultural, economic, and technological changes.

Europeans began to look beyond their shores on a quest of exploration and discovery that would change Europe and much of the world.

After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the early years of the Middle Ages

were marked by:

• the absence of an effective central government.

• the constant threat of famine, disease, and foreign invasion.

But as new institutions and ideas slowly took hold, a new civilization emerged in Europe.

Europe was recovering from the effects of the bubonic plague, which had killed about a third of all Europeans during the 1340s.

Most of the surviving population lived in the countryside, and the economy was overwhelmingly agricultural.

But cities and towns were growing, especially in northern Italy and the Netherlands.

Artisans produced cloth, tools, and other goods in city workshops.

Cities also were centers of trade.

A ruling elite of less than 5 percent of the population controlled almost all of the land.

Royalty and Aristocrats

• A monarch was at the top of the social pyramid in each kingdom.

• Aristocrats inherited social rank, title, and landed estates worked by peasants.

Church Leaders and Merchants

• The elite also included leaders of the Roman Catholic Church.

• Wealthy merchants shipped cargoes between cities for profit.

Under the domination of this small elite class were the commoners.

Middle-Class Families

• These families owned enough property to employ themselves as farmers, artisans, and shopkeepers.

• They accounted for only a fifth of the population.

The Working Poor

• In good years, they farmed on rented land or worked for pay, and in bad years, many were beggars.

• They accounted for three-fifths of the population.

The kingdoms were often at war over land and power.

Each was ruled by a monarch who depended on the elite class to do much of the governing.

The most important kingdoms in Western Europe were Castile, Portugal, France, and England.

In the end, the Muslims defeated the Christian Crusaders.

During the latter half of the Middle Ages, European Christians and Southwest Asian Muslims fought one

another in a series of religious wars known

as the Crusades.

Despite their rivalries, many Europeans united in the common cause of capturing

and controlling the Holy Land.

But the Crusades had lasting effects that benefitted the people of Europe.

• Europeans became aware of distant lands and different ways of life.

• Soldiers returned home with exotic goods.

• Demand for these products soared, and European traders expanded their businesses into Asia.

Trade Routes in Europe, 1000−1300

By the mid-1400s, the European Renaissance had begun, and during this period:

• trade with and knowledge of other lands expanded.

• the wealth generated from trade fueled further exploration.

• the development of the printing press made books more widely available.

• literature promoted new ideas.

Christian Europeans felt hemmed in by the superior wealth, power, and technology of the Muslims, whose realm included:

• North Africa.

• areas around the southern and eastern Mediterranean Sea.

• parts of Eastern Europe and Southeast, Southwest, and Central Asia.

In some places, violent conflicts continued between Christians and Muslims.

On the Iberian Peninsula, the kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, and Portugal were waging the reconquista.

They hoped to drive out the Muslim Moors, who had ruled Iberia for centuries.

Spain and Portugal were now well-situated to seek

new trades routes and expand

European influence.

In 1492, the monarchs won the

reconquista by capturing the

Muslim stronghold of Granada.

In 1469, the marriage of Prince Ferdinand and Queen Isabella united Aragon and

Castile to create Spain.

Starting in 1419, Portugal’s Prince Henry the Navigator led early efforts at exploration and expansion of trade.

• He founded a school of navigation.

• He sponsored expeditions down the west coast of Africa.

Technological innovations helped the Portuguese take the early lead in sailing

into the Atlantic Ocean.

• Sailors used the compass, the astrolabe, and the quadrant to determine their location and direction.

• Shipbuilders created the sturdy caravel, capable of sailing hundreds of miles.