The Americas

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The Americas
CHAPTER 9

• Section 1 The Earliest Americans
• Section 2 Cultures of North America
• Section 3 Mesoamerica and Andean South America

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Objectives
Section 1
The Earliest Americans

• Explain how people first arrived in the Americas.
• Describe changes that the development of
  agriculture brought to the Americas.

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The Land and the People
Section 1
The Earliest Americans

• The physical setting mountains, rivers, land
  bridge between the Americas and Asia
• First arrivals from Asia as early as 10,500
  B.C.
• Creation myths

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Beringia
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The Development of American Agriculture
Section 1
The Earliest Americans

• Hunters became farmers after large prehistoric
  animals became extinct
• Native Americans would rely on smaller prey such
  as deer and rabbits for food
• They would also gather foods like edible fruits
  and plants

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Wooly Mammoth
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Mastodon
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Simple Farming Methods

• The Earliest Americans began to experiment with
  simple methods of farming. People would begin
  planting and harvesting preferred edible plants
  from seeds.
• The crops that would grow well were maize,
  squashes, beans, avocados, chilies.
• What would happen as a result of agriculture?
• The Natives began to settle down into permanent
  settlements, and villages and towns would
  surround the farmlands.

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• Also the structure of society would change.
• People would become involved in specialized
  skills such as arts and crafts an building trades.

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Objectives
Section 2
Cultures of North America

• Explain how geography and climate affected life
  in different regions of North America.
• Distinguish between the early American cultures
  in the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest, the
  Great Plains, and the Eastern Woodlands.

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Western North America
Section 2
Cultures of North America

• The Northwest fishing, weaving, carving
• The Southwest irrigation, adobe
• The Great Plains used buffalo for food and
  clothing

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The Eastern Woodlands
Section 2
Cultures of North America

• Hopewell were skilled artists, built burial
  mounds
• Mississippians were successful farmers and
  traders

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Objectives
Section 3
Mesoamerica and Andean South America

• Identify the characteristics of the Olmec,
  Toltec, and Maya cultures.
• Explain how the Aztec and Inca built and
  strengthened their empires.

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Early Civilizations
Section 3
Mesoamerica and Andean South America

• The Olmec and Chavin many farmers, few elite
  skilled artists
• The Maya developed writing system, studied
  astronomy
• The Toltec pyramids, metalworking

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The Aztec and Inca Empires
Section 3
Mesoamerica and Andean South America

• The Aztec warriors who borrowed from cultures
  they conquered
• The Inca brought conquered people into one
  imperial culture