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Chapter 1, Section 1
The Earliest Americans


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• The First People In America
▫ The first Americans migrated to the Americas
from Asia
▫ Scientists disagree about how and when migration
occurred.
 Beringia land bridge
 Joined Asia and North America during the last Ice Age
 Drop in sea levels


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Beringia


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Beringia


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 Humans arrived in the Americas much earlier
 Artifacts found in South America have been found to
be 30,000 years old
 Many routes including boat


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The Emergence of Civilizations
• The first Americans lived in hunting and
gathering cultures
▫ Development of agriculture
▫ Plant and animal
 People no longer needed to travel far distances for
food, leading to the development of Civilizations


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Features of a Civilization
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Cities that are centers of trade
Specialized jobs for different people
Organized forms of government and religion
System of record keeping
Advanced tools


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Olmec
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1200 BC
Mesoamerica
Built large cities
Known for the use of stone in architecture
Trade routes
▫ Allowed Olmec culture to spread

• Built pyramid-like mounds
• Mysteriously disappeared 400BC


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Mesoamerica


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Maya
• 250 A.D.
• Southern Mexico and
Guatemala
• Built pyramid mounds
• Also built large stone
temples
• By 900, civilization
decline
▫ Revolts
▫ Disease
▫ Crop Failure

Mayan Temple at Tikal


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Peoples of Mexico
• Aztec civilization
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Irrigation system
Warlike people
Complex culture
Elaborate religious ceremonies
 Sun, moon, stars


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Aztec Temple


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Inca
• Small tribe in South America
• Located near present day Peru- Andes Mts.
• One of first civilizations to create a capital –
Cuzco
• Created a strong central government
• Created highway system for entire empire
• Known for massive stone buildings and Art.


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Early Native American Civilizations
• During the time of the Mayas (250A.D.900A.D.) many Native American civilizations
developed in what is now the United States
• Southwest
▫ Hohokam lived in modern day Arizona
▫ Anasazi, lived where Utah, Arizona, Colorado,
and New Mexico now meet


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Eastern United States
• Mound Builders
▫ Adena
▫ Hopewell
▫ Mississippians
 Built some of the first cities in North America
 Perished in the 1700’s due to diseases from Europe

• By 1500, North America was home to hundreds
of Native American cultural groups
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2,000 languages


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Peoples of the North and West
• North
▫ The Aleut and Inuit in the far north
 Environmental conditions were not favorable for farming
 Hunters

▫ Other Northwest Coast people hunted sea mammals,
fished for salmon

• West
▫ Tribes in California, Columbia Plateau, Great Basin
▫ Hunters and gatherers
▫ In what is now the southwest United States, Pueblo,
Navajo, and Apache


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Peoples of the Great Plains and East
• Great Plains: flat grasslands stretching from the Mississippi River
to the Rocky Mountains
• Diversity
▫ Some nomadic
▫ Some farmers
▫ Some relied on hunting buffalo

• Southeast Native Americans
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East from Texas to Atlantic Ocean
Choctaw, Chickasaw
Fish, farming, hunting
Spoke Iroquoian or Algonquian language
Iroquois
 Slash and Burn agriculture
 Iroquois League


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Reasons for Diversity
• Adaptation to environment
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Deserts
Woodlands
Coastal
Ice Fields

• Use of technology varied as a result of
different environments