History 105 TAMU 1 What were the patterns of Native American life in North America before Chapter 1 A New World Europeans arrived Approximately 10 million men women and children who crossed from the old world to the new world between 1492 and 1820 the vast majority about 7 7 million were African Americans The new world had become the site of many forms of unfree labor including indentured servitude forced labor and one of the most brutal and unjust systems plantation slavery About 9 000 years ago at the same time that agriculture was being developed in the Near east it also emerged in modern day Mexico and the Andes and then spread to other parts of the Americas making settled civilizations possible The Hemisphere contained cities roads irrigation systems extensive trade networks and large structures such as the pyramid temples whose beauty still inspires wonder With a population close to 250 000 Tenochtitl n the capital of the Aztec empire in what is now Mexico was one of the world s largest cities It s population of perhaps 12 million was linked by a complex system of roads and bridges that extended 2 000 miles along the Andes mountain chain No society north of Mexico had achieved literacy although some made maps on bark and animal hides Their backwardness became a central justification for European conquest Indian societies had perfected techniques of farming hunting and fishing developed structures of political power and religious belief and engaged in far reaching networks of trade and communication Around 3 500 years ago before Egyptians built the pyramids Native Americans constructed a large community centered on a series of giant semicircular mounds on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi river in present day Louisiana More than a thousand years before Columbus sailed Indians of the Ohio River valley called Mound builders by the eighteenth century settlers who encountered the large earthen burial mounds they created had traded across half the continent After their decline another culture flourished in the Mississippi river valley centered on the city of Cahokia near present day St Louis fortified community with between 10 000 and 30 000 inhabitants in the year 1200 It stood as the largest settled community in what is now the U S until surpassed in population by New York and Philadelphia around 1800 In the arid northwestern area of present day Arizona the Hopi and Zuni and their ancestors engaged in settled village life for over 3 000 years During the peak of the regions culture between the years 900 and 1200 these peoples built great planned towns with large multiple family dwellings in local canyons constructed dams and canals to gather and distribute water and conducted trade with groups as far away as central Mexico and the Mississippi River Valley After the decline of these communities probably because of drought survivors moved to the south and east where they established villages and perfected the techniques of desert farming In eastern North America hundreds of tribes inhabited towns and villages scattered from the Gulf of Mexico to present day Canada Tribes frequently warred with one another to obtain goods seize captives or take revenge for the killing of relatives In the Southeast the Choctaw Cherokee and Chickasaw each united dozens of towns in loose alliances In present day New York and Pennsylvania five Iroquois peoples the Mowhawk Oneida Cayuga Seneca and Onondaga formed Great leagues of peace bringing a period of stability to the area Indian identity centered on the immediate social group a tribe village chiefdom or confederacy Spiritual power they believed suffused the world and sacred spirits could be found in all kinds of living and inanimate things animals plants trees water and wind In all Indian societies those who seemed to possess special abilities to invoke supernatural powers shamans medicine men and other religious leaders held positions of respect and authority Indians saw land as a common resource not economic commodity There was no market in real estate before the coming of Europeans Generosity was among the most valued social qualities and gift giving was essential to Indian society Membership in a family defined women s lives but they openly engaged in premarital sexual relations and could even choose to divorce their husbands Indian women owned dwellings and tools and a husband generally moved to live with the family of his wife Europeans tended to view Indians in extreme terms They were regarded either as Noble savage gentle friendly and superior in some ways to Europeans or uncivilized and brutal savages 2 How did Indian and European ideas of freedom differ on the eve of contact Indians did not define freedom as individual autonomy or tie it to the ownership of property two attributes important to Europeans The modern notion of freedom as personal independence had little meaning in most Indian societies but individuals were expected to think for themselves and did not always have to go along with collective decision making Christian Liberty however had no connection to later ideas of religious toleration a noting that scarcely existed anywhere on the eve of colonization 3 What impelled European explorers to look west across the Atlantic The European conquest of America began as an offshoot of the quest for sea route to India China and the islands of the East Indies the source of the silk tea spices porcelain and other luxury goods Between 1405 and 1433 Admiral Zheng led seven large naval expeditions in the Indian Ocean After 1433 the government ended support for long distance maritime expeditions It fell to Portugal far removed from the overland route to Asia to begin exploring the Atlantic Taking advantage of new long distance ships known as caravels and new navigational devices such as the compass and quadrant the Portuguese showed that it was possible to sail down the coast of Africa and return to Portugal Portuguese established plantations on the Atlantic islands eventually replacing the native populations with thousands of slaves shipped from Africa an ominous precedent for the New World Traditionally African slaves tended to be criminals debtors and captives in war At least 100 000 African slaves were transported to Spain and Portugal between 1450 and 1500 journey to the Americas King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain agreed to sponsor Columbus on his Their marriage in 1469 had united the warring kingdoms of Aragon and Castile