Big Picture: During the Ice Age, nomads crossed a land bridge connecting Asia and North America. Since then, people of various cultures have made America their home. Meanwhile in Europe and Africa, cultures that would one day explore the world and build colonies in the Americas were coming into contact.

CHAPTER 1: THE WORLD BEFORE 1600

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

CHAPTER 1 SECTION 1: THE EARLY AMERICAS

Migration to the Americas

• 10,000 years ago Asia and North America were connected by a land bridge across the Bering Strait• Small groups of nomads

(people who move from place to place) crossed the bridge into North America following a hunter-gatherer way of life• As the climate warmed, the

land bridge disappeared and in the agricultural revolution Native Americans began planting and harvesting crops, which allowed them to settle into villages

• Three crops dominated: corn, beans, and squash

• This caused the population to grow and allowed for the growth of crafts

Hunters and Gatherers

Cultures of Central America and South America

• Olmec: centered around the Gulf of Mexico and influenced surrounding cultures• had the first system of writing

• used slash-and-burn agriculture

• Maya: rose as the Olmec declined• Cities served as religious cities

• Created the concept of zero

• Declined but still exist today

• Toltec: rose as the Maya declined• Dominated central Mexico

• were warriors, artisans, and

builders

• Aztec: came to power in the 1400s• Used canals and floating gardens to

support large cities

• Conquered most of their neighbors and demanded tribute payments

• Most famous for their large-scale human sacrifice to their gods

• Inca: rose to power in the Andes Mountains in South America• Conquered tribes along the coast

and created an empire connected by roads and bridges

Olmec, Maya & Toltec

Aztec and Inca

The Earliest Cultures of North America

• Southwest:• Grew crops and traded with each other• Hohokam and Anasazi built irrigation ditches and adobe buildings the

Spanish later called pueblos• Declined due to drought and war

• Mound Builders:• Centered in eastern North American from Mississippi River to Atlantic

Ocean• Lived in clans and built massive mounds (included Adena and Hopewell) and

had extensive trade networks

• Mississippian Culture:• Also mound builders but were the most advanced culture• Introduced the hoe in agriculture and built massive pyramids for rulers

Main Idea: A variety of complex societies existed in different regions of North America before European explorers arrived in the early 1500s.

CHAPTER 1 SECTION 2: NORTH AMERICAN CULTURES IN THE 1400S

Regional Differences Among Native AmericansSouthwest• Pueblo people: governed by

council of religious elders

• Grew corn, beans, squash & cotton

• Made pottery and baskets

Northwest Coast and CA• Climate cool and rainy

• Hunted game and fished in dugout canoes

• Built large wooden houses

Far North• Inuits: survived through

hunting (not much agriculture)

Great Basin and Plateau• Little rain, few trees

• Populations remained small as they foraged and hunted small game

Great Plains• Best known groups (Sioux,

Cheyenne)

• Followed the large herds (deer, elk and buffalo)

Eastern Woodlands• Rather isolated from each other due

to dense forests and mountains

• Iroquois included several nations in the Northeast and built longhouses

Southeast• Grew crops and built thatch-roof log

cabins plastered with mud

Native American CustomsFamily Relations• Family was the center of society

and family groups were arranged into clans

• Kinship determined status, marriage and inheritance; usually matrilineal

Social and Political Structures• Some had strict social classes,

others were more equal

• Nearly all tribes were headed by a chief and run by a council of elders

Land Use• Did not believe in ownership of

land

• Believed it was a gift from the Great Spirit to be used by all

• Would go to war over control of hunting grounds

Division of Labor• Women usually cultivated and

harvested crops and men hunted

• Childcare usually went to women

• Women made clothes and pottery, men usually did wood and metal work

Religious Beliefs• All had spiritual connection to the

natural world

• All societies had creation myths

• Animals were thought to be powerful spirits

• Most tribes had shamans thought to have spiritual and healing powers

Trading Networks Link Native American Societies• Trade was usually conducted through a barter system• Tribes traded surplus goods for more scarce materials, leading to specialization by tribe• Trading networks developed to connect various tribes and varied in size• Tribes traded ideas as well as goods, especially architectural techniques and religious beliefs

Main Idea: Trade was a major factor in the development of African societies south of the Sahara.

CHAPTER 1 SECTION 3: AFRICAN CULTURES BEFORE 1500

West African Trading Kingdoms/Kingdoms in East AfricaTrans-Sahara Trade• Trade through the desert was

dangerous but was worth the risk

• Tribes in the interior traded gold and ivory for salt

• Traders also helped spread Islam into West Africa

Ghana: most powerful, wealthy tribe

• Culture spread through the oral tradition

• They did not convert to Islam

Mali• Conquered Ghana in 1240 and

were Muslims

• Built a university in Timbuktu that became a center of Islamic learning

Songhai• Mid-1400s, surpass the Mali

• Eventually control most of the Niger River Valley

Costal Kingdoms• 1300- Benin becomes a powerful

costal state

• in 1400s, trade centers shift to the coast

East Africa• Traded with the Middle East, Egypt

& India

• Influenced religion and culture

• Swahili emerged combining Arabic and the language of the Bantu people

African Society and the Slave Trade• Family was the center of society; biggest division was between free and slave• People were enslaved due to war, crime, and debt but could usually work their way out• When the Portuguese arrived in the late 1400s, they made slavery permanent and used slaves to work plantations, especially in the Caribbean• Atlantic slave trade met a need for cheap labor but also reflected a European belief that black Africans were inferior • Misunderstandings over slavery and desire to weaken other tribes or obtain European goods led to cooperation by tribes with European slave traders• Slave trade lasted 400 years and 20 million slaves were shipped to the Americas

Main Idea: Renaissance ideas changed Europeans’ medieval outlook and inspired them to explore the world.

CHAPTER 1 SECTION 4: EUROPE AND EXPLORATION

The Middle Ages• Middle Ages: 500-1500- time immediately

following the fall of the Roman Empire• Feudalism rose to protect peasants by binding

them to lords• Roman Catholic Church dominated peoples’ lives

and led to the Crusades: series of wars to take the Holy Land from Muslims• Led to trade with Middle East and the

development of towns as centers of trade and commerce• Late Middle Ages- rise of nation-states: kings

with centralized power and armies taking power from lords• Some nobles fought back: English nobles forced

King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215 (trial by jury, representation in government)

The Renaissance and Protestant Reformation•Renaissance: begins in Italy and spreads throughout Europe• led to a revival of learning, science, and trade• People began questioning the church Protestant Reformation: attempt to correct abuses within the Church that led to the development of various denominations • In Spain, Catholicism was firmly established with the rule of Ferdinand and Isabella• They expelled the Muslims in Granada and purged Protestants in the Spanish Inquisition

The Age of ExplorationMarco Polo & Prince Henry the Navigator

• Renaissance and Crusades led to exploration and expansion of trade

• Italian Marco Polo made a successful voyage to China and wrote a book that inspired other explorers

• Prince Henry of Portugal established a school and naval observatory to encourage exploration

• Sponsored expeditions along the western coast of Africa

• Established trade with many costal tribes

Sailing Technology & Sea Route to Asia• Portuguese developed a new

sailing vessel called the caravel: central rudder, triangular sails, cargo holds

• Inventions like the astrolabe allowed sea travel beyond the coast

• Travel to Asia by land was time consuming, expensive, and dangerous

• Explorers began looking for a sea route

• Dias and da Gama both rounded the southern tip of Africa; da Gama made it to India and back

Main Idea: Columbus’ voyages to the Americas established contact with Native Americans and led to European colonies and an exchange of goods and ideas.

CHAPTER 1 SECTION 5: CULTURES MAKE CONTACT

Vikings and ColumbusVikings Visit North America• Vikings from Norway are first to reach

North America

• They attempt to colonize in Vineland, a settlement in what is now eastern Canada but it is unsuccessful

Columbus Voyages to the Caribbean• Christopher Columbus was an Italian

explorer who convinced Queen Isabella of Spain that a westward voyage to Asia was possible

• August 1492: Columbus sails westward with three ships

• They find land three weeks later in the Caribbean

• Because he thought he was in the east Indies, Columbus called the people Indians

• The locals showed him gold, but after one of his ships ran aground, Columbus returned to Spain

• Columbus made three more voyages to the Americas and died assuming he was in the east Indies

Impact on Native Americans• Columbus’ voyages set off a wave of colonization, starting in Hispaniola• Relations between the Spanish and the natives quickly soured and Europeans began enslaving the natives• Priest Bartolome de Las Casas attempted to win better treatment of the natives and laws were passed to protect them, but these laws were rarely enforced

The Columbian Exchange• Exchange of plants, animals, language, technology, and disease between Europe and the AmericasFrom North America: From Europe:

*Beans *bananas

*Corn *cattle

*Coca *citrus fruit

*pumpkins/squash *peaches

*peanuts *honeybees

*turkey *pigs

*tobacco *horses

*potatoes/sweet potatoes *wheat

*tomatoes *grapes

*syphilis *smallpox/measles