AMERICAN HISTORYCHAPTER 1THE WORLD BEFORE 1600

People arrived on the American continents thousands of years ago and developed flourishing societies.

1. ACCORDING TO SCIENTISTS AND HISTORIANS, HOW AND WHEN DID THE FIRST MIGRATION TO THE AMERICAS OCCUR?

Via a land bridge that connected Asia and North America. Between 12,000 and 40,000 years ago.

2. WHAT KIND OF CULTURES DEVELOPED IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA? Olmec

1st Mesoamerican society 1200 BC-400BC

Adena & Hopewell Mound builders in the Ohio area 500 BC-AD 500

Anasazi and Hohokam Lived in the desert southwest of the US 200 BC-AD 1300

Maya Mexico area temple builders 400 BC-AD 1500

Mississippian Farming society in southeast US 600-1500

Toltec Dominated central Mexico after the decline of Aztecs 900-1500

Inca Dominated South America 110-1532

Aztec Dominated central valley of Mexico 1400-1521

3. WHAT CHARACTERIZED THE EARLIEST CULTURES OF NORTH AMERICA?

Different kinds of societies and cultures developed in different regions.

These societies and cultures developed differently according to environmental conditions.

4. HOW DID REGIONAL DIFFERENCES AMONG NATIVE AMERICANS SHAPE THEIR DIVERSE CULTURES?

Adapting to diverse environments, Native Americans developed a wide range of cultures.

NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL AREAS

5. WHAT NATIVE AMERICAN CUSTOMS WERE SHARED AMONG SEVERAL GROUPS?

Groups organized by kinship. Idea that land could not be owned. Idea of a spiritual connection to the natural

world.

6. HOW DID TRADING NETWORKS LINK NATIVE AMERICAN SOCIETIES?

Native Americans traded food, raw materials, exotic goods, and ideas.

7. WHAT POWERFUL WEST AFRICAN TRADING KINGDOMS AROSE BETWEEN 300 AND 1500?

Ghana Located along gold/salt trade route.

Mali Muslim country ruled by Mansa Musa.

Songhai Along Niger River Valley and trading routes.

Benin Coastal kingdom that grew rich from foreign

trade. Kongo

Located along Congo River in central Africa.

8. HOW DID TRADE SHAPE KINGDOMS IN EAST AFRICA?

Traded with countries as far away as India and China.

Arab influence on the coast led to the development of a new culture.

9. HOW DID AFRICAN SOCIETY CHANGE AS A RESULT OF THE SLAVE TRADE?

The slave trade devastated Africa socially, economically, and politically.

CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE

Settlers in the Americas needed many workers for labor-intensive plantation agriculture.

Planters wanted cheap labor.

Europeans thought Africans were inferior.

Historians estimate that 20 million Africans landed in the Americas.

Historians estimate that millions of Africans died on slave ships crossing the Atlantic.

Millions were deprived of their freedom, causing tremendous human suffering.

The American economy became dependent on slavery.

In the 19th century, conflicting views over slavery led to the Civil War in the U.S.

Causes Effects

10. WHAT CHANGES TOOK PLACE IN EUROPE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES?

Feudalism and the manor system developed. Catholic Church became the leading

institution. Nation-states emerged.

11. WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE RENAISSANCE AND THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION?

Rebirth of interest in the classics of ancient Greece and Rome.

Church reformers broke with Catholicism and started new religions.

12. AFTER THE REFORMATION, HOW DID RELIGION DIVIDE EUROPE?

Protestant majority in northern Europe. Catholic Church controlled most of southern

Europe. Central Europe divided.

13. WHAT DID EUROPEANS HOPE TO FIND DURING THE AGE OF EXPLORATION?

New sea routes to Asia.

14. WHEN DID VIKINGS VISIT NORTH AMERICA, AND WHY WAS THEIR STAY BRIEF?

In the late 900s, they landed in Greenland, but soon left.

The native people were too hostile.

15. WHY WERE COLUMBUS’S VOYAGES TO THE CARIBBEAN SIGNIFICANT?

Until then, Europeans had no idea that Americas existed.

16. WHAT IMPACT DID EUROPEAN EXPLORATION HAVE ON NATIVE AMERICANS?

Profound impact Europeans forced the Native Americans to work

for them as slave laborers. Many died from European diseases.

17. WHAT WAS THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE, AND HOW DID IT AFFECT BOTH EUROPE AND AMERICA?

Transfer of goods and ideas from the New World to the Old World.

Many exchanges were valuable, except some diseases and epidemics brought to the New World.