1 7 1 11 1 7 1 11 The First Americans Beriniga A million years ago earth s climate was a lot cooler than it is today The lowering ocean levels due to glaciers exposed a land bridge that connected Alaska with Siberia several hundred miles in width This bridge is called Beringia The first Americans crossed into North America into Alaska using this bridge and then filtered into other states North Americans were hunters and gatherers Hunted meat and used berries as supplement Used every part of the animal Clovis Hunters North Americans became known as the Clovis Hunters by anthropologists Called clovis hunters because a collection of arrowheads was found in New Mexico All the Americans that came across Beringia and their descendants are hunters and gatherers Archaic Hunters Great Plains Bison Hunters Great Basin Cultures Agriculture Revolution 3 000 BC The valley where Mexico City is located is where the Agricultural Revolution occurred Occurred very slowly did not reach what is now the US until 200 AD Major impact The Revolution allowed people to form villages They could stay in one place plant crops harvest crops etc Anasaz i lived in the 4 corner region of the US Utah Colorado Arizona and New Mexico Lived in Southern Colorado and northern New Mexico in the mountains for protection The built cliff dwellings to inhabit Anasazi means old people A later tribe of Indians gave this term to them They were fairly advanced people for Native Americans They developed irrigation and channeled snow in order to water their crops Three main crops Beans squash and corn Controlled an extensive trade network that covers most of the Western US traded their main crops for meat Built a road network to facilitate trade and travel Last until 1250 AD A drought hit New Mexico and the Anasazi are unable to water their crops and grow the amount of food they need to sustain their population They then abandon the city and disburse into smaller villages in order to feed smaller amounts of people Mount Societies Cahokia a new superpower that arises after the Anasazi They arise around the village of Cahokia East St Louis Indians that built Cahokia were sun worshippers and believed that better worship required being closer to the sun They built large pyramids of dirt and the base of these pyramids covered several hundred acres that were there for ceremonial and religious purposes Buried their dead in burial mounds Believed they could bring things with them to the afterlife so they put their possessions in these mounds They also killed friends of a dead person so that they went into the afterlife with them 1350 AD Cahokia had 40 000 people 1400 AD Cahokia suffered a drought and the people living there were forced to split up and go to different areas so they could have food for survival The city was then abandoned Eastern Woodlands When Cahokia collapses two tribes rise to take their place Indians Tribes in 1492 Algonquian diverse group but bound together by a common language Live among the Great Lakes Very warlike people Iroquois rivals of the Algonquian A lot of different people that were bound by a common language Had a formal treaty that was mutual amongst all tribes If any one attacked one of the tribes the other tribes would come in for defense and aid Always at war and always contesting lands that had food and trade goods Iroquois Gumbo the Iroquois made soup from their opponent s dead body in hopes to receive warrior power Both the Algonquian and Iroquois members would kidnap a member from the opposing tribe when one of their own died Seneca Onondaga Mohawk Oneida Cayuga Muskogean Creek Cherokee Chickasaw Natchez Meso American Culture 4 million Native Americans living in North America in 1492 76 million Native Americans living in Central and South America and the Caribbean in 1492 Aztecs Mexica We call them the Aztecs but their native language translates to Mexica Not native to Central Mexico When they conquered Central Mexico the people that were already there had to send trade goods to the Aztecs as tribute Tenochtitlan the city that the Aztecs built Built in the middle of a lake The only way to get to the city was a series of bridges Had temples and large pyramids for religious ceremonies Aztecs believed the sun god held the universe together and had to make him happy They sacrificed people to the sun god in form of celebration There were tens of thousands of human sacrifices each year The tribes that the Aztecs had in tribute were angered with the Aztecs and wanted to overthrow them Aztec Empire Inca only Native American tribe that had knowledge of metal work only tribe that knew how to make things out of metal Stretched along coast of Peru and Chile to the Andes Mountains Had 2 000 miles of roads that connected the empire Very wealthy because the Andes Mountains had gold and silver deposits Problem ruled by a royal family and only a small select group of people ruled the entire empire because rulers had to be friends with the royal family Many bloody civil wars weakened the Inca Empire because people tried to overthrow the royal family Spanish took the place of the royal family and used their same system to rule the Incas Peru Incan Empire Disease and the Native Americans Native Americans did not keep farm animals and livestock They didn t have fleas because of this so disease was not present in North America So Indians did not have immune systems When Europeans arrived and had diseases like the common cold the disease killed the Indians by the thousands This led to their downfall Europeans contracted syphilis from the Native Americans and brought that back to Europe Europe Prior to 1492 Cold snap occurred in late 1200 s and early 1300 s that occurred for about a decade The Europeans could not plant and harvest crops so many people died of starvation Also lack of nutrition damaged their immune systems Black Death mid 1300s Arrived by horses from European opponents from Mongolia and China The fleas that were on the horses spread to farm animals First indication was a high fever the fever became so high that blood vessels would burst under the skin and bleed black 1 3 of all Europeans died from the Black Death from 1347 1351 The 1350 s are then seen as a turning point in European history because fewer people were there work So machinery and other innovation had to come about that allowed fewer amount of people to do the same amount of work This led to the Renaissance Renaissance Rebirth invented