History of the United States

HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES

Discovery of America

Paleo-Indians

the term “Paleo Indians” is generally used to refer to early Native Americans up through the end of the Ice Age (c.8000 B.C.). Most authorities believe they entered North America from Siberia as small bands of migratory big game hunters. Such a journey could have been made by means of a land bridge, known as Beringia (Bering Strait) from Siberia to Alaska

they were nomadic hunters/gatherers of wild plants and migrated with families called bands; they also hunted using stone projectile points attached to wooden shafts to hunt/butcher animals

Clovis Point Hunters - necessity was the mother of invention, as Paleo-Indians had to devise a more efficient technology to feed an increase population and thus invented the Clovis point; these Paleo-Indians migrated from place to place looking for large mammals to kill; they generally built camps near sources of water that attracted game animals and houses in Clovis villages were arranged in a half-circle with doors opening toward the south so inhabitants could avoid the chill from the north wind

Paleo-Indians lifestyle change - nomadic lifestyle changed at end of “Ice Age” as large mammals disappeared; they thus had to find an alternative to meat (necessity is the mother of invention) for survival and turned to agriculture (maize, beans, squash, peppers); results of this change allowed human population to increase and for people to settle down in villages (nomadic hunters and gatherers changed to village farmers)

Windover site in Florida

Mayas, Incas, Aztecs

Mayas

mountains, deserts, rainforests in the Yucaton Peninsula (Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Mexico)

had pyramids, temples, plazas

educated people as they created first system of hieroglyphic writing in North and South America, developed system of mathematics (discovered number zero), studied astronomy and could calculate beginnings of eclipses and seasons as accurately as Europeans, developed calender most accurate in entire world at the time

obsidian - major trading partner of Mayans was city-state of Teotihuacan that was a center of commerce and traders from this city-state traveled hundreds of miles in all directions to trade this obsidian - all the way to Ohio River Valley and Great Lakes

worship - Teotihuacan was also the center of religious worship of the feathered serpent god named Quetzalcoatl

no warrior class

Chichen Itza (see attachment)

Incas

located in Andes Mountains in Peru

constructed an elaborate system of roads that connected virtually every place in the empire with every other place; also a system of canals and stone aqueducts to irrigate crops, potato, tomato

sophisticated - known as most sophisticated of all Native American civilizations and yet had no form of writing

wealth - had abundance of gold, silver, copper as metallurgists made weapons, tools, jewelry from these minerals; buildings were covered with gold; an attractive target for Spanish conquistadores searching for precious metals

welfare system - government operated a type of welfare system for the physically handicapped and mentally ill, and those suffering chronic illness

yes warrior class

Aztecs

migration - people known as Mexica migrated to Mexico in 12th century and capital city, ordered by Huitzilopochtli (Aztec god of war), was built on an island where they saw an eagle eating a snake and the city’s name was Tenochtitlan and the population of this city in 15th century was about five million

sacrifices - neighboring tribes under Aztec domination hated them because captives taken for ritualistic sacrifices as Huit demanded a steady diet of human hearts, which were torn from victim’s chest while still alive; at coronation of Emperor Montezuma in 1502, five thousand humans were sacrificed to Huit (all alive and without sedation when beating hearts ripped out of bodies); at temple dedication, twenty thousand victims were sacrificed with hearts ripped out

Inventions