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