Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Chapter 1 APUSH notes


Chapter 1 APUSH notes
       American History began more than 10,000 pre Columbus 1st voyage.
The Native Peoples of America, to 1500
       Native Americans
       Diverse cultures
      Much interaction between groups
       How did environmental change shape the transition from Paleo-Indian to Archaic ways of life?
       What were the principal differences among the  Native American cultures that emerged after 2500 B.C.?
       Despite their diversity, what significant values and practices did North American Indians share?
       The First Americans, c. 13,000-2500 B.C.
Peopling New Worlds
      2 main theories about the origins of the people of the Americas
       During the last Ice Age (10,500 B.C.), bands of hunters from Siberia crossed the then-existing land bridge into Alaska and from there spread out over the Western Hemisphere
       As early as 13,000 B.C. people came by boat, settling at various spots along the western coast of the Americas
       Most archaeologists believe both theories are correct
       Around 7000 B.C.=Athapaskan-speaking people arrived in AK and northwestern Canada
      Migrated southwest
      Ancestors of the Apaches and Navajo
       More recent group
      Non-Indian
      Eskimos, Inuits, Aleuts
      Crossed the Bering Sea to AK
       Collectively called Paleo-Indian
       Lived in small hunting bands
       Moved constantly
       Pursuit of mammoths, mastodons, other big game
       9000 B.C. mammoths and mastodons became extinct (climatic warming)
       Groups of Paleo-Indians came together
       Obtained flint for spear points and tools
       Intermarried
       Traded
       Exchanged cultural traits
Archaic Societies
       Archaic peoples
      Native Americans of the period 8000 to 2500 B.C.
       Broadened their diets
      Small mammals, fish, wild plants
       Where there was an abundance of food, permanent villages were established
       Men’s roles
      Hunted and fished
       Women’s roles
      Harvested and prepared wild plants
       Early 5000 B.C. some Native Americans began to farm
       Mexico and Central America
       By 3000 B.C.=Indians grew squash, beans, some fruit, maize
       By 2500 by B.C.=maize cultivation spread as far north as New Mexico and as far south as Amazon River basin
       Cultural Diversity
c. 2500 B.C.-A.D. 1500
       After 2500 B.C. many Native American cultures began to change
       Farming
       Religious systems
       Political systems
       Hierarchical states
Mesoamerica and South America
       Mesoamerica
      Southern Mexico and Central America
       Food production (from farming) greatly increased
       Olmecs
      One of the most productive of these farming peoples
      Established large urban centers
      Hereditary rulers imposed their rule on small surrounding areas (“chiefdoms”)
       1 and 500 A.D. some chiefdoms grew into full-fledged states
       Teotihuacan
      Capital of state
      Over 100,000 people
      Eventually over taken by Aztecs
       These states built huge engineering and public works projects
       Extensive trade
       Sophisticated calendars
       Writing and number systems
       Aztec and Inca Empires were still expanding when the Spanish conquistadores arrived in the 16th century
The Southwest
       Southwestern part of the U.S.A. and northern Mexico
       Water was often scarce
       Maize cultivation did not reach the area until 2500 B.C.
       Full-time farming was common only after 400 B.C.
       With agriculture, new Indian cultures arose
       Hohokam people
      Southern AZ
      Built extensive canal systems for irrigation
      Could harvest 2 crops a year
      Permanent villages of several hundred people
       Anasazi people
      Primarily by farming
      Dominated Southwest for about 600 years
      Confederations of towns
      Chaco Canyon, New Mexico
      15,000 people
       By 13th century, Anasazi and Hohokam cultures declined
      Long drought
       People abandoned large settlements
       Apaches and Navajo started arrive in Southwest
The Eastern Woodlands
       Mississippi Valley to the Atlantic coast
       Village life and political centralization
       Poverty Point
      1200 B.C.
      5,000 people
      Shore of Mississippi River in LA
       Adena
      Ohio Valley
      Mound-building
      Mounds often contained graves
       2nd century B.C. evolved into Hopewell civilization
      More complex
      More elaborate mounds
       Agriculture
      Not important until 7th century A.D.
      1st full-time farmers lived on flood plains of Mississippi River
      Evolved into more sophisticated Mississippian civilization
      Towns had thousands of inhabitants
       Largest was Cahokia (near St. Louis)
       Mississippian artists
      Clay, stone, shell, copper
       Religion was based on sun worship
       Political system
      Centralized and hierarchical
       13th century A.D.=Mississippian culture had declined
      Most Eastern Woodlands Indians had abandoned large settlements and centralized political power
       Continued to engage in agriculture
      Slash-and-burn method of land clearing
      Grew corn and beans
Nonfarming Societies
       Pacific coast
      Southern Alaska to northern Calf.
       Fished for salmon
       Dry and store their catch year-round
       Permanent villages
       Several hundred people
       Further south Calf. Indians
      Lived in permanent villages
      Collect and grind acorns for meals
       Both groups engaged in trade and warfare
       United under the leadership of chiefs
       Great Plains and Great Basin
       Uncertain rainfall
       Did not have permanent settlements
       Roamed over large areas
       Hunted variety of animals (mostly bison)
       Wild seeds and nuts
       Eskimos and Aleuts
      Arrived in western AK from Siberia
      Advanced hunting tools
       Harpoons and spears
       Hunted sea mammals and caribou
      Spread across northern Canada
       980-1100=limited contact with Noresmen trying to colonize in Greenland and Newfoundland
       Mostly the peoples of the Americas developed in isolation form those on other continents
       Evolution of the American cultures paralleled those in Europe, Asia, and Africa
North American Peoples on the Eve of Contact
       By 1500=about 75 million people lived in the Western Hemisphere
       7-10 million inhabited land north of Mesoamerica
       Divided into several hundred nations and tribes
       Spoke diverse languages
       Common characteristics
      Bows and arrows
      Ceramic pottery
      Some common religious beliefs, practices, and rituals
      Living in kinship-based communities
      Agreeing to communal control of resources
Kinship and Gender
       Kinship=extended family
      Held Indian society together
      More important than nuclear family (husband, wife, children)
       Gender
      Women did the farming (except among the tribes of the Southwest, where both sexes were cultivators)
       Fighting among kinship groups and tribes over scarce resources and other conflicts
       Rarely did they try to kill large numbers of the enemy
Spiritual and Social Values
       All nature, including humanity, was interrelated and had spiritual powers (manitou)
       Wanted to be in tune with these spiritual forces
      Dreaming
      Altering their state of consciousness by acts of physical endurance and self-torture (Sun Dance of the Plains Indians)
      Medicine men and women
       To smooth relations between persons of unequal status and power and to hold their societies together, Indians relied on reciprocity.
      Giving of gifts and trading of goods in return for receiving prestige, submission, and authority
       Indian communities generally demanded conformity and close cooperation of their members
Conclusion
       Human history in the Western Hemisphere did not begin with the arrival of Columbus
       Thousands of years before 1492, Native Americans hunted; gathered; farmed; built communities, roads, and trails; and created complex societies
       Not always good conservationists, Indians did, for the most part, respect the land and used it in ways that allowed natural resources to renew themselves.
       Europeans arriving in North America after 1500 showed no self-restraint

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