Download Pre-Contact Scenarios: The Arrival of Europeans and the Civilizations of North America and more Study notes United States History in PDF only on Docsity! TERMS 8/23/10 The Pre-Contact Scenario Paleo-Indians Archaic People Hohokam/Anasazi Mound Builders/Cahokia RE: Scenario before arrival of the Europeans Who’s more violent? Europeans had superior power to inflict misery rooted in technology, religious ideologies, military organization Resulting bloodshed unprecedented on North American continent Tlatelolco—Mexico City Indians have their own origin/creation stories—passed down orally through tribal elders/religious leaders Generally revolve around great spirit or multiple gods Great spirit lays down rules for people to follow Describe ancestor who disobeyed god and was driven away from original dwelling place Include a “trickster” that accounts for pain, illness, strife, and death Designed to give sense of common origin, purpose, to explain evil, promise afterlife Homo sapiens likely evolved from ape-like creatures in Africa North and South America last to be inhabited by humans, about 15,000 years ago arrived in America 1st wave—Paleo-Indians descended from handful of ancestors likely from Siberia—land bridge connecting Siberia and northeast Alaska (Ice Age lowered water level of ocean) Weapon of choice-spear--lifestyle Bison, horses, camels, caribou, moose Population explosion from abundant diet, tax resourcesspread over continent 10000ya Game dies out from warmer weather and overhuntingdecline in mega-animals Athabascan languages 8-10000ya—2nd wave of migration (Athabascan speakers), crossed Bering Strait using crude boats first in Alaska, north___ Canada, and arrived in American Southwest Navajos and Apaches Hunters and gatherers, enormous slow moving herbivores 3rd wave of migrants—ancestors of Inuit and Aleut Aleuts in Aleutian Islands Inuit expanded eastward to Labrador and Greenland Forces them to change relationship with land—diversify subsistence strategy--gathering from land, become more skilled hunters from having to track smaller, faster animalsArchaic People Causes another population explosion from more efficient means of obtaining food Permanent dwellings in specific areas Modifying environment to increase yield of crops and support livestock, burning fields for pasture land Began to develop distinctive cultures and languages People and goods moving across the continent Anasazi/Hohokam 300-1100AD emergence of these people Northern NM and Arizona Neither constituted a nation Politically independent groups Cultural characteristics bring them together No beasts of burden—had dog No system of writing No wheel Talented engineers—large stone and adobe towns, substantial pueblos Ruled by leaders who = chief+priest Heavily influences by Meso-America—connected by trade networks MA taught them how to grow cotton, weave, corns, beans, squash AH constructed elaborate systems of irrigation Abundant crops allowed large groups of people to live in small area Anasazi—Chaco Canyon mortared sandstone blocks-more advanced construction than Hohokam, also had highway system Mid 12th/13th century Overpopulation Depletion of soil by corn crops Series of prolonged drouts Social and political unrest Violence Hohokam retreated 13th century and adopted a nomadic lifestyle Pimas and Papagos (Tohono O’odham) Anasazi plagued by warfare and violence—surge in violent death, mutilation, torture, and cannibalism, fled to south and eastAcoma/Hopi/Zuni + Pueblos Mound Builders of Mississippi No need for man made irrigation Adopted trinity of corn, beans, and squash Population growth
