North America Before Columbus

1
North America Before Columbus

• Native Americans

2
Traditional History vs. New History

• Traditional history White men, fleeing from
  rigid customs, social hierarchies, and the
  constrained resources of Europe to a land of
  opportunity

3
Old History vs. New History

• New history Many colonists failed to prosper
  due to disease, crop problems, predators, and
  hostile Native Americans those who did do well
  did so at the expense of Indians, indentured
  servants, and slaves

4
Go West?

• Not all of America was the English going west
• Spanish were heading north from Mexico
• Russians coming east from Siberia
• French coming south through the Great Lakes and
  down the Mississippi River

5

• We cannot simply say there were Europeans,
  Africans, and Indians converging together because
  it was far more complex than that.
• When thrown together in the New World, each had
  to find a new commonality to aid in their
  survival in the new world.
• All three groupsEuropeans, Africans, Indians
  were in a flux when they encountered each other
  in the colonies.

6
Settlement
7
Paleo-Indians
Hunters, Gatherers, Small tribal communities,
simple tools and weapons.
8
Archaic Indians
Still hunting and gathering, use of fire, more
permanent settlements. Still using simple tools
and weapons
9
Agriculture

• Agriculture evolved over generations from the
  practices of gathering wild plants
• Indians developed hybrids of increasing
  reliability and productivity
• They developed the three great crops of North
  Americans agriculture maize, squash, and beans
• As plants became more important in their diet,
  less time was devoted to hunting, gathering, and
  fishing.

10
Hohokam Anasazi
11
Hohokam
Complex Civilization in Southwest USA. -Organized
irrigation system -Built group dwellings in
cliffs and canyons -Prodigious Farmers -Highly
Advanced
12
Anasazi
-Southwest America -Built pueblo style
houses -Great pottery
13
Mound Builders
-Constructed various styles of earthen mounds for
religious and ceremonial, burial, and elite
residential purposes. -Cahokia Indians (near
Collinvsville IL)
14
Indians in America
15
Beliefs

• Indians had a more complex understanding of the
  interdependent relationship between the natural
  and the supernatural.
• Indians believed that they lived within a
  contentious world of spiritual power that
  sometimes demanded human restraint and at other
  times offered opportunities for exploitation.

16
Native Population in the Americas in 1491

• Difficult to estimate because of wide spread
  populations
• By 1990s, scholars estimate between 50-100
  million natives
• In North America, estimates are 9-20 million
  (Dobyns, 1983)
• Biggest Empires were Aztecs in Mexico (15
  million) and Inca in S. American (6 million).

17
Population in Europe

• About 60 million
• Farmland was worn out
• Grazing land was worn out
• Forests were torn down
• Major domesticated animals in Europe in 1491
  horse, cow, pig, sheep, goat, chicken, camel,
  oxen, cat, dog

18
Columbian Exchange

• The Columbian Exchange was a widespread exchange
  of animals, plants, culture, human populations
  (including African Slaves), disease (smallpox,
  measles), and ideas between the American and
  Afro-Eurasian hemispheres following the voyage to
  the Americas by Columbus in 1492.
• Estimated population of Europe in 1492 about 60
  million
• Estimated population of the Americas in 1492
  50-100 million
• Estimated population of Europe in 1800 150
  million
• Estimated population of the Americas in 1800 25
  million (the vast majority of whom were of
  European or African descent
• WHY?