Chapter 1

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Chapter 1 The Americas
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Summary of Chapter 1

• Culture and early life of Americans similar to
  Mesopotamia, Indus River, Egypt, Huang He
• Reliance upon water
• Geography climate enable Americans to build a
  civilization

Sioux Warrior Shirt
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Summary of Chapter 1

• The early inhabitants of the Americas probably
  traveled from Asia across a Bering Strait land
  bridge produced by the Ice Age.
• The Inuit, Iroquois, Hopewell, Plains Indians,
  and Anasazi were major North American groups.
• The Mayan, Aztec, and Incan civilizations
  developed and administered complex societies.

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The Grand Council

• The Iroquois League was as model for British
  colonies.
• Ben Franklin used the Iroquois League as an
  example for American democracy.
• The men were hunters and warriors.
• The women owned the longhouses, and harvested the
  crops corn, beans, and squash, called the three
  sisters.

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The Great Peace Alliance of the 5 groups of
Iroquois

• Principles of Great Peace
• do not act on self-interest
• act for the welfare of the whole
• act with the good of future generations in mind
• Iroquois lived in Longhouses

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North American Natives

• In North America, these early inhabitants
  included the Inuit people near the Arctic Circle
• The Hopewell peoples of the Ohio River valley,
  known as The Moundbuilders
• The Great Plains Indians lived in teepees

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Video Mystery of the Anasazi The Ancient Ones
SW America Disappeared suddenly
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MesoAmericans

• Name for areas of Mexico and Central America that
  were civilized before the Spaniards arrived.
• Major civilizations were the Aztecs, Mayans, and
  Incas
• Most advanced civilizations of ancient Americas

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The Aztecs

• The Aztecs develop into an empire that could have
  rivaled Rome.
• Floating city, pyramids, aqueducts
• Teotihuacán TAY oh wuh KAHN
• (Place of the Gods) was Mesoamericas first
  major city.
• Located near where Mexico City is today
• 200,000 inhabitants
• 200 ft tall Pyramids

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Aztec Turquoise Mosaic Serpent
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Maximum extent of the Aztec Empire
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The Avenue of the Dead in Teotihuacan, an example
of a Mesoamerican settlement planned according to
concepts of directionality. Their concepts of
space and time are associated with the four
cardinal compass points and linked together by
the calendar
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A view of the Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan
which flourished from 200 AD to 600 AD, and which
is the site of the second largest pyramid in the
Americas
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The Aztecs The Rome of the Americas
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The Mayans

• They developed an agriculturally intensive,
  city-centered empire consisting of numerous
  independent city-states.
• The Mayans collapsed suddenly
• There is no universally accepted theory to
  explain this collapse.

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What Happened to the Mayans?
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Engineering an Empire - Maya
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Incas

• Located on western coast of S. America
• Became an empire under the leadership of
  Pachacuti created highly centralized govt.
• A system of roads that extended 24,800 miles

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Incan Empire

• No writing system, kept records on quipu a
  series of strings and knots
• Like all the MesoAmerican civilizations, the
  Incas were no match for the Spanish Conquistadors
  and their steel weapons, gunpowder, and horses.
• Disease also plays a large role in the downfall
  of Native American civilizations after contact
  with Europeans

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