The American Pageant Chapter 1

New World Beginnings: 33,000 B.C. - A.D. 1769

The Shaping of North America

Pangea – 225 million years ago a single continent

containing all of the worlds land. – Continents began shifting and came to rest

about 10 million years ago

Ice Age

Aprox 2 million years ago 2 mile thick ice sheet over Canada and

part of U.S. Retreated only 10,000 years ago Great Lakes Lake Bonneville

– Only Great Salt Lake remains

Peoples of the Americas

Controversial evidence suggests the earliest inhabitants came in crude boats, most came by land.

The Ice Age caused sea levels to drop as most of the water was frozen.

A land bridge was formed between Siberia and Alaska in the Bering Sea.

followed migratory birds they hunted into N. America.

ice melted and the bridge was covered with water

People continued to move southward until they hit the tip of S. America.

Prominent civilizations – The Mayans in Central America– Incas in Peru– Aztecs in Mexico.

Possibly 54 million people were in the Americas by the time Columbus came in 1492.

These civilizations displayed exemplary agricultural techniques planting maize

Aztecs sacrificed humans to please their gods.

Mayan Maize God

The Earliest Americans Agriculture showed how sophisticated the

Native Americans were. Most of the crops were corn.

5000 B.C. corn became staple crop in Mexico– foundation to the Aztec and Incan Empires– hunters-gatherers to settled people.

1200 B.C. - – Corn planting reached the present-day American

Southwest resulting in a powerful Pueblo culture.• irrigation system using the Rio Grande Valley.• They lived in multi-storied buildings when the Spanish

explorers arrived.

Cliff Palace

Mound Builders in the Ohio River Valley and the

Mississippian culture of of the Midwest Cahokia - housed 25000 people at one

time.

Anasazi Southwestern Desert Chaco Canyon (modern day NM) Faded in 1300’s

Maize, bean and squash cultivation in SE Atlantic area in about year 1000.

three-sister farming used with beans growing on the trellis of cornstalks. Squash on the planting mounds to restore soil moisture.

The rich diet resulted in strong civilizations such as the Creek, Choctaw, and Cherokee.

Iroquois

The Iroquois civilization equivalent to the Incas and Aztecs

Iroquois were inspired by Hiawatha. political and organizational skill that

would establish military alliances with neighbors, even Europeans.

They weren’t massive and they were not always organized, most of them scattered about.

Authority to female figures

At one with nature

Native Americans did not feel the necessity of modifying the natural surroundings – Spiritual properties– Burning of trees

Europeans felt that humans dominated the earth and had the right and the ability to alter the face of the earth with their technologies.

Columbus

In October 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Little did the Native Americans know, their world was about to be opened up to the rest of the world.

Indirect Discoverers

Europeans did not know America existed. Norse seafarers from Scandinavia came

upon the Northeastern corner of America Wild grapes grew in the area causing them to

name the area Vinland. Year 1000 These people did not wish to settle there so

they eventually left. The discovery was forgotten except in Scandinavian folklore.

Mercantilism

the amount of gold and silver determines the wealth of the country led to the ambition of many governments to look for a wider world with conquest and trade.

Christian crusaders from Europe came to try to evict the Muslims from the Holy Land of Jerusalem.

developed a taste of Asia, craving silk, medicines, perfumes, draperies, and spices esp. sugar.

Very expensive Muslims in the middle charged heavy

tolls for traveling routes. eager to find a less expensive route to

Asia.

Reasons for Exploration Africa was now a source of cheap slave labor. Portuguese proved long-distance ocean

voyages were possible. Spain was united and became a powerful,

wealthy nation ready for discovery, conquest and colonization.

Renaissance period also contributed to the spirit of optimism and adventure

Printing presses introduced in 1450 made the spread of information

The mariner’s compass made navigation easier.

Columbian Exchange

Tobacco, maize, beans, tomatoes, and potatoes

Three-fifths of the crop cultivated around the world originated in the Americas.

Europeans gave the Indians some Old World crops and animals.

Columbus returned to Hispanola (currently Haiti and the Dominican Republic) in 1493

Apaches, Souix, and the Blackfoot tribes used horses transforming themselves into mobile hunter

Columbus brought sugarcane seedlings that grew well in the Caribbean.

Unintentionally, the European brought seeds of Kentucky bluegrass, dandelions, and daisies. They also brought along smallpox viruses.

However, the Indians gave a disease back. Syphilis was brought back by the Europeans.