Transcript North America Before Columbus

North America Before
Columbus
15,000 BCE to 1492CE
Why does geography matter?
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Use your map, make some
assumptions about the people living
in the area…explain why.
What do you know?
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How did people get to North America?
The First People in North America
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Who were the first? It’s hard to
say
12,000 to 16,000 years ago are
widely accepted time frames
Recent Evidence suggests
people may have been here for
50,000 years
Most Accepted Theory to Date
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Theory: people from
Asia crossed the
“Bering Land Bridge”
to get to North
America
This bridge was
“Open” between
25,000 and 11,000
years ago
Clovis People
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Is the name given to the first
peoples to settle North
America
Dates from 13,000 to 11,000
for their arrival
Clovis people left behind
many artifacts that have been
scientifically dated
Clovis People Continued…
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There are many sites
throughout North America
Identified as “Clovis sites”
Sites are identified usually
by the types of arrowheads
found
They lived by hunting big
game, most of which is
now extinct
Pre-Clovis People?
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There have been sites found that date
earlier than Clovis People—15,000
years ago in South America
Evidence is found in arrowheads that
are not as well made as Clovis
They are thought to have survived by
hunting, gathering and fishing
Pre-Clovis sites have caused a great
deal of controversy
Megafuana
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This is the name given to the many large
animals that went extinct at the end of the last
ice age—about 10,000 years ago
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These large animals went extinct at the same
time humans arrived in North America—
coincidence?
Mastodon
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Similar to Wooly
Mammoth, but had
different teeth and
tusks
Lived in cold forests
Wooly Mammoth
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Lived in colder climates
Had thick, greasy hair
Probably used tusks to shovel
snow off of vegetation
Many frozen specimens have
been found
It is rumored that members of
the National Geographic's
Society once ate preserved
mammoth
Some scientists are trying to
create one using preserved DNA
Saber Tooth Tiger
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While it’s in the cat family,
it’s not really a tiger
Probably did not run very
fast
Most likely a social animal
that lived in groups, as do
lions and tigers
Could open it’s mouth 120
degree (modern cats can
only go 60 degrees)
Giant Beaver
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Can you imagine the
dam a 900 pound
beaver could make?
Giant Ground Sloth
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One of the largest land
mammals ever
Could get to 20 feet tall
and weighed 8 tons (same
as an African Bull
Elephant)
Was a vegetarian
Had no real enemies—their
huge claws could easily
fend off Saber ToothTigers
Human hunters could have
easily caused their
extinction
Glyptodon
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Large relative of the
armadillo
About the size of a
Volkswagen Beetle
They were herbivores
that grazed on grasses
It is believed that
humans hunted them
and used their shells
for shelter
Hagerman Horse
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Related to the African
Zebra
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Was a grazer, just like
modern horses
Camelops
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You guessed it, it was
just like the camels
alive today
Many Clovis sites
show signs that these
animals were
frequently butched
After Clovis
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Prevailing theory is that Clovis People are the
ancestors of all Native American groups
The Clovis way of life ended with the extinction of
the animals they hunted
Different groups split off from one another, forming
their own cultures in different locations throughout
North America
Genetic study suggests that all Native American
groups can be linked to a single “founding
population”
It is Worth Noting…
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While scientific evidence points in favor of the “Bering Land
Bridge” and “Clovis-first” theories, most present-day Native
Americans do not accept these theories
Native Americans generally believe that they have always
been in North America
Their evidence—all Native American groups have rich oral
traditions
There are no known Native American oral histories that refer
to ancestors crossing a land bridge or leaving Asia by other
means to come to North America
Native American Before Columbus
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Today there are 562 Federally recognized
Native American tribes
There were probably many more before
Columbus
We will now look at the major groupings of
Native American tribes throughout the United
States
Each region had different natural resources.
Each culture group used the natural
resources in its region to meet its needs.
Native Americans used natural resources
to meet their needs.
trees
water
stones
buffalo
Natural resources are things in nature that
people can use.
Great Plaines Tribes
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Arapaho Indians
Arikara Indians
Assiniboine Indians
Atsina Indians
Brule Indians
Cheyenne Indians
Chipewyan Indians
Cree Indians
Crow Indians
Dakota Indians
Hidatsa Indians
•Kainah Indians
•Mandan Indians
•Oglala Indians
•Osage Indians
•Oto Indians
•Piegan Indians
•Ponca Indians
•Quapaw Indians
•Sarsi Indians
•Siksika Indians
•Teton Indians
•Wichita Indians
•Yanktonai Indians
Iroquois Confederacy
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Political alliance formed by five language related
tribes in the Northeastern Woodlands
Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca
Alliance formed to ensure protection of tribal lands
U.S. uses similar ideas when creating its own
government
Cliff Palace
Mesa Verde
Kiva
Underground ceremonial chambers
The Pacific Northwest
California
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Encompasses the western states.
The Pomo, an Indian tribe, crafted beautiful baskets
of all different sizes and for all different occasions.
Lived in communities numbering up to 2,000
More than 100 languages flourished in California
before European contact; most are gone today.
Cherokee
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The Cherokee lived in the mountains
and valleys of the southern
Appalachian Mountains
Lived in domed houses in villages
along riverbanks
They were farmers, hunters, and
fishermen
Held festivals to celebrate planting
and harvesting of corn
Invented Lacross
Algonquin
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These are Great Lakes tribes that
include Ojibwa, Delaware, Powhatan,
and Massachusetts tribes
Lived in wigwams
Wore very little clothes in summer,
dressed in animal skins in the winter
They were hunters, gatherers,
trappers, and planters
Traveled in birch bark canoes
Iroquois
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Included Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga,
Cayuga, and Seneca tribes
Lived in what is now New York state
along the St Lawrence River
They lived in Long Houses that held 30
to 60 people
Wore mostly buckskin clothes
They grew “The Three Sisters”—corn,
squash, and beans
They used snowshoes in the winter
Seminoles
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They settled in the Southeast,
mostly in Florida
Their lived in “Chikee”
homes, the homes were
usually placed in swamplands
They wore clothing woven
from Palmetto
They were hunters and
gatherers who traveled in
dugout canoes
Navajo
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Included in this group are the Pueblo, Zuni,
Rio, and Hopi tribes, as all had similar
cultures and beliefs
Lived in what is now New Mexico and
Northeastern Arizona
Their homes were called “Hogans”—these
were round houses built with forked sticks
and covered with brush, packed earth,
hides, and whatever they could find
Their clothing was made from rabbit skins
and the Yuka plant
They were raiders (they usually stole crops
from the Pueblos), gatherers, and hunters,
and eventually farmed for themselves
They are well known for their turquoise
jewelry
Apache
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Also lived in what is now New Mexico and
Arizona
They were nomads who did not stay in one
place for very long
They lived in “Wickiups,” small domeshaped homes that were not very sturdy, and
women made them in a few hours
They wore deerskin clothes
They did not farm, but women gathered
plants, mostly yucca and mescaline (tasted
like cabbage)
They are known for their well-made and
intricate baskets
Northwest Coastal Native Americans
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Includes tribes such as the Tlingit and Chicook
Lived along the Northwest coast from Alaska to
Northern California
The Northwest Coastal Indians wore little clothing.
They wore fiber rain capes and skin robes
They lived in large plank houses in groups of 30 or
so
The men tattooed their arms and hands for
measuring dentalium. Dentalium was a shell that
was strung together and used as money
Of all tribal groups, these people enjoyed the most
abundant natural resources
They were hunters, gatherers, and fishermen, and
they took slaves. Slaves were a sign of wealth.
Children were kept close to their camp for fear that
they would be stolen by another tribe and become a
slave.
Plains Native Americans
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Group includes Sauk, Fox,
Cheyenne, Arapaho, Sioux,
Blackfeet, Comanche, and Pawnee
tribes
They lived in the area from the
Mississippi River to the Rocky
Mountains and from Canada to
Mexico
Most lived in Teepee
They wore buffalo skins
They used “Peace Pipes” in
ceremonies
Inuit
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Lived in the Arctic region of North
America
Their homes were igloos in the winter
and skin, wood, mud, or sod homes in
the summer
Their clothing was sealskin in the
summer and in the winter they wore
caribou skin
They made the most out of very
limited resources, particularly of use
were all parts of whales and seals
Never in Anger—they were a very
peaceful people
Map of Pre-Columbus Tribes
About Pre-Columbian Native Societies
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Native Americans spoke over 300 languages
Many Native societies had urban settlements,
farming, architecture, and complex societies
Native Americans domesticated plants that constitute
50-60% of all crops now grown world-wide
Prior to Columbus’ arrival, there were between 10
and 100 million people who live in the Americas