American History: a Survey Capter 1 Outline
- people were believed to have crossed a Bering Strait into the Americas 14,000 years ago
- there were 75 million Europeans and by 1500 there were 10 million Americans
- in the late 15th century, many people came to the Americas and brought diseases that started to kill a lot of people that weren’t immune to the diseases
- Conquistadores were able to dominate because the empires were becoming weak from low population
1. America Before Columbus
- at first people lived as hunters and gatherers, but then had agriculture
- civilizations were then built and were as varied as they were in Europe
a. The Civilization of the South o the Incans built an empire in Peru and developed a complex political system and had roads that connected the many tribes o the Mayans in Mexico had a written language, calendar, advanced agricultural system and a numerical system o the Aztecs were the Mayans successors and had a harsh religion o their economies were agriculture based, but they had big cities with huge buildings and temples that were beautiful
b. The Civilizations of the North o people living in Canada and the U.S. had complex societies, but they weren’t as massive as the Mayans, Incans or Aztecs that were hunting, gathering and fishing based (seals, salmon, moose, caribou) o other communities were agriculturally based and some even had irrigational canals and substantial towns with pueblo houses o in the east there was a big food surplus so many people lived there o people also farmed along the Mississippi River valley and grew corn and grains o Northeast agriculture societies would only stay at a place for 4 years at a time o the 3 main Indian societies were the Iroquois, Algonquin and the Muskogean o Indian tribes usually stuck to themselves even when threatened by whites
c. Tribal Cultures o native Americans were at the beginnings of sedentary agriculture and were starting to create complex societies with religion, population growth and clothing
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- there were 75 million Europeans and by 1500 there were 10 million Americans
- in the late 15th century, many people came to the Americas and brought diseases that started to kill a lot of people that weren’t immune to the diseases
- Conquistadores were able to dominate because the empires were becoming weak from low population
1. America Before Columbus
- at first people lived as hunters and gatherers, but then had agriculture
- civilizations were then built and were as varied as they were in Europe
a. The Civilization of the South o the Incans built an empire in Peru and developed a complex political system and had roads that connected the many tribes o the Mayans in Mexico had a written language, calendar, advanced agricultural system and a numerical system o the Aztecs were the Mayans successors and had a harsh religion o their economies were agriculture based, but they had big cities with huge buildings and temples that were beautiful
b. The Civilizations of the North o people living in Canada and the U.S. had complex societies, but they weren’t as massive as the Mayans, Incans or Aztecs that were hunting, gathering and fishing based (seals, salmon, moose, caribou) o other communities were agriculturally based and some even had irrigational canals and substantial towns with pueblo houses o in the east there was a big food surplus so many people lived there o people also farmed along the Mississippi River valley and grew corn and grains o Northeast agriculture societies would only stay at a place for 4 years at a time o the 3 main Indian societies were the Iroquois, Algonquin and the Muskogean o Indian tribes usually stuck to themselves even when threatened by whites
c. Tribal Cultures o native Americans were at the beginnings of sedentary agriculture and were starting to create complex societies with religion, population growth and clothing
o