Cities Empires People of America

1
Cities Empires People of America

• BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF THE EUROPEANS

2
INCA

• Located on western coast of S. America
• Powerful army, draft 25-50 years of age
• Complex road system to control empire
• Quipu system of record keeping
• Terrace farming
• Emperor controlled all land

3
AZTEC

• Central Mexico
• Tenochtitlan center of trade, largest city
• Military empire, conquer rival communities
• Religion dominated society, human sacrifice
• Cortes Quetzalcoatl?

4
MAYA

• Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize
• Large cities, pyramids religious center
• Priests are powerful theocracy
• Astronomers, hieroglyphics
• Maize, beans, sweet potatoes, veggies
• Decline..revolts, drought

5
HOHOKAM

• Pre historic desert people in Arizona
• Irrigation known as the Canal Builders
• Trading (neighbors Anasazi)
• 7 Hohokam Archeological Sites
• Pottery, stone, shells left behind

Hohokam Irrigation
Hohokam Rabbit Hunt
Hohokam Pit House
6
ANASAZI
Mesa Verde, Colorado

• Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah
• Means ancient ones
• Homes called pueblos by Spanish
• Semi-circular apartments built into cliffs
• Drought forces them to abandon villages

Pueblo Bonito Pretty Homes
7
MOUND BUILDERS

• Great Lakes to Gulf of Mexico, Miss. River to
  Appalachian Mts.
• Burial chambers and foundations for buildings and
  temples
• Farmers and traders that lived in villages

Great Serpent Mound, Southwest Ohio 1330 ft.
by 3 ft.
8
CAHOKIA

• Illinois largest group of mound builders
• Farmers along Miss. River
• Largest mound (Monks Mound) temple on top
• Studied astronomy

9
PEOPLE OF THE NORTH

• Inuit last to cross land bridge
• Skills help survive cold climate
• hunters (clothingfurs and sealskins)
• fisherman (whales, seals, walruses)
• hunting (caribou and deer)

• Canada
• Greenland
• Alaska

Igloo today!
10
PEOPLE OF THE WEST

• Chinook Northwest took advantage of both the
  forest and sea
• Wood homes, canoes, baskets from tree bark
• Salmon on coast and rivers
• Pomo California gathered acorns and turned
  them into flour
• Lived in roundhouses
• Utes Rocky Mts. nomads who created temporary
  shelters

11
PEOPLE OF THE SOUTHWEST

• Apache and Navajo
• Hunter/gatherers livestock, fruits, deer
• Located in Arizona, New Mexico
• 3 million acres of reservation today!

12
PEOPLE OF EAST/S.EAST

• Iroquois
• Create law codes and form federations
• Located in Canada and New York
• Women active in communities

Longhouse elevated and built near water for
protection
13
PEOPLE OF THE PLAINS

• Nomads when they moved, they dragged their
  homes with them (tepees)
• Men hunt deer and buffalo
• Women tend to the crops (corn, squash)
• Capture and tame wild horses
• Horses were from the Europeans