PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICAS IN WORLD HISTORY

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PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICAS IN WORLD HISTORY

• THE FORGOTTEN
• WORLDS OF THE AMERICAS

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WHATS IN A WORD?

• The Word America or American
• Ask your students what it means
• Have students brainstorm some responses
• Have students offer definitions
• Accept all answers
• Do this about five minutes
• Narrow the definition down
• Try to come up with a broad, useful definition
• Guide definition to include all Americans
• Try to avoid anything that equates USA America

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THE PROBLEM

• American Historiography and Classrooms
• Frequently not taught by instructors
• Frequently not researched well
• Frequently not well presented in textbooks
• Content fragmented in textbooks
• Lack of written records prior to 1492
• Reasons Perhaps The Black Legend
• The College Board
• Teach all regions
• Essays frequently involve the Region

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POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

• The Comparative Approach
• Teach content sequentially, chronologically
• Compare region with other regions around world
• The Regional Approach
• Teach Latin America as a Coherent Unit
• Create a three to four week unit
• Combine separate sections of your text
• Solutions for Both
• Reinforce with outside readings
• Enrich with Latin American literature
• Include a research project on a modern nation

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ON-LINE SOURCES

• Timeline of Art History (The MOMA)
• http//www.metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm
• World Civilizations On-Line
• http//www.wsu.edu8080/dee/
• Latin American Literature
• http//www.library.csustan.edu/lboyer/modern_langu
  ages/mexican.htm
• Sources/General Resources on Latin America
• http//www.oberlin.edu/faculty/svolk/latinam.htm
• Latin American Studies
• http//www.latinamericanstudies.org/home.html
• Latin America Pre-History Webpage
• http//www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/latinameric
  a/index.shtml

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BEGIN WITH GEOGRAPHY

• Physical Geography
• Two Continents, numerous islands
• Diverse landforms, climates
• Historical and Cultural Geography
• American history is a product of geography
• Regional histories are quite different
• Political Geography
• Teach nations and capitals
• Teach modern economic alliances

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LOST IN SPACE

• Among people in some English-speaking countries,
  there is a tendency to confuse the linguistic and
  geographic divisions of the Americas thus,
  Mexico, some Central American and Caribbean
  territories, despite their location in North
  America, are mistakenly included in South
  America. The term Latin America is correctly used
  when referring to those territories whose
  official or national languages come from Latin
  (namely Portuguese, Spanish, and French).
  Conversely, Anglo-America is used to refer to
  areas whose major languages are Germanic (namely
  English) such as Guyana, Suriname, Belize,
  Jamaica, and much of the West Indies. Similarly,
  areas where English is prominent are considered
  part of the Anglosphere.
• Did you know In Latin America, Iberia and some
  other parts of Europe, the Americas are often
  considered a single continent. Under such
  circumstances, North America is considered a
  subcontinent containing only Canada, U.S. and
  Mexico.

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REGIONS
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PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
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WHERE IN THE WORLD?
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CLIMATIC GEOGRAPHY
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POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY
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TEACHING CONCEPTSRIMLAND vs. MAINLAND

• Mainland
• Mountains, plateaus, uplands of Mesoamerica
• Large scale agriculture
• Sedentary Indian cultures
• Cultural Hearth of Classical Indian Civilizations
• Large, dense Indian populations
• Rimland
• Caribbean coasts, Hot and humid
• Thinly populated by Indians
• Arrival of Europeans
• Mainland
• European settlements
• European capital cities
• Intermixture with Indians (Mestizo)
• Only remaining dense Indian populations
• Spanish institution
• Large personal estates (Haciendas)
• Self-sufficient agriculture
• Share cropping by Amerindians / landless peasants
  

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TEACHING CONCEPTVERTICAL ZONATION

• Socio-Economic structures
• Based on height above sea level
• Tierra Caliente
• Coastal lands, hot, jungles
• Thinly populated by Indians
• Post-1492
• European commercial plantations
• Slaves work one-crop export industries
• Tierra Templada, Intermediate Zones
• Cool uplands
• Home to classical Indian civilizations
• Post-1492
• European capital cities located here
• Appropriated by European haciendas
• Ranching, Grains
• Europeans, Mestizo populations
• Tierra Fria
• Cold, damp mountainous areas potatoes
• Thinly settled by historic Indians

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TEACHING CONCEPTMOVEMENT

• Overland Migration Theory The migration to the
  Americas took place via the Beringia Land Bridge.
  Tribes or bands of Paleo-Indians slowly pushed
  east and south from Asia to the Americas, hunting
  as they came. These migrations would have taken
  generations.
• Coastal Migration Theory - Some Paleo-Indians
  migrated to the Americas in small boats via a
  coastal route, since the immediate coast would
  not have been covered by the Cordillian Ice
  Sheet.
• Trans-Pacific Migration Theory - Though there is
  some evidence of a trans-Pacific migration, it is
  also unlikely that large numbers arrived in the
  Americas via that route. The existence of Old
  World tropical parasites in Andean mummies is
  evidence that at least some trans-Pacific
  migrations did take place via a tropical ocean
  corridor.

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THEMESPALEO-INDIANS

• Compare and Contrast
• Hunter-Gatherers
• Teach with Paleolithic History
• Movement
• Teach with world-wide spread of humans
• Comparative to other popular movements
• Indo-Europeans, Aryans, Polynesians
• Germans, Bantu
• Human-Environment Interaction
• Humans follow game animals
• Adapting to environment as needed
• Mass Extinction of large animals
• Technology
• Folsom Point spears led to mass extinction
• Cause and Effects
• Extinction of large game animals
• Led to Sedentary Life
• Led to the beginnings of agriculture

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THEME1st FARMERS

• Gatherers, Hunters, Gardeners
• Large game became limited
• Needed secure food supply
• Valley of Mexico
• Tehuacan area
• Compare with Jericho
• Cultivation of Corn, beans
• Pottery, tools

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NORTHERN PERIPHERIES SOUTHERN PERIPHERIES

• Many Advanced Indian cultures in Americas
• North America
• Anaszi
• Mississippian
• Iroquois
• South America
• Moche
• Chimu
• Tihuanaco
• Problem 1
• Many had similar characteristics as more famous
  civilizations
• Most not called civilizations
• Problem 2
• They are not on the AP test generally
• But students might be interested in discussing
  them

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WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A CIVILIZATION?

• Pair students off
• Put question on the board
• Have students brainstorm ideas
• Settle on five definitions
• Have students go to board one at time
• Have them add definitions
• Look at definitions and refine
• Have students settle on characteristics
• Discussion Questions
• Ask students what would happen if a civilization
  did not have any of the characteristics?
• Ask students what minimum characteristics would a
  culture have to have to be considered a
  civilization?
• Ask why would American historians not consider
  some Amer-Indian cultures as civilizations?

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THE ANASAZI

• The Anasazi
• Indian civilization in the 4-states area
• Compare with Ghana, Sumer
• Technology
• Irrigation, canals, dams
• Sun Dial and Calendar
• Agriculture
• Irrigation
• Beans, Squash, Corns
• Trade, trade routes
• Roads
• Architecture
• Pueblo cities

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MISSISSIPPIAN MOUNDBUILDERS

• Mississippian Civilization
• Compare with Egypt
• Compare with Shang
• Complex culture
• Social Hierarchy
• Elaborate kingship
• Priesthood
• Cities for elite, religion, trade
• Agriculture
• Villages
• Grow corn, beans, squash
• Trade network
• Extends to Athapaska
• Extends to Gulf Coast
• Priesthood
• Corn, calendar
• Astronomy

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CAHOKIA

• Height of Mississippian
• Extremely large city
• Compare with Indus Cities
• Solar calendar, math
• Mound temples
• Trade with Mexico

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IROQUOIS

• Late Mississippian
• Compare with Assyrians
• Tribes or nations
• Diplomacy, treaties
• Compare with Hammurabi
• Expert warriors
• Matrilineal
• Farmers

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CHAVIN

• Earliest urban culture in South America
• Chavín culture
• Named after Chavín de Huantar
• Arose in highlands of northern Peru
• Around 1000 BC500 BC
• About same time as the Olmecs
• We know very little about them
• They had urban centers, farmed
• Fishing was important in their lives
• They worshipped a jaguar-man god
• Strong metallurgists, cloth makers
• For 500 years, the Chavín culture dominated Peru

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MOCHE

• Northern Peru, 100 800 CE
• Group of autonomous polities
• Broke off from Chavin
• Centralized theocratic government system
• Shared common elite culture
• Elaborate culture and ritual
• Farmers
• Extensive canals
• Raised fields growing potatoes and corn
• Sophisticated artifacts but no written language
• Art very detailed, especially pottery
• Famous for their gold works
• Temples with elaborate tombs
• Art works often signed with artistic symbol
  individuality?
• Religion
• Chief deity was the decapitator
• Probably practiced ritual human sacrifice

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HAURI-TIHUANACOCHIMU

• Huari-Tiahuanaco
• Dominated Andes (600-1000 AD)
• Enforced cultural conformity
• Centered around Lake Titicaca
• Built massive architectural works
• Giant stones cut with extreme precision.
• Influenced the Incas
• Northern area of Peru
• Dominated by the Chimu empire from 1000-1400 AD
• Built on conquest, expansion
• Chan-Chan (capital) had 70,000 inhabitants
• Chimmu produced many innovations in urban life
• Irrgation systems, canals, and highways
• All adopted by the Incas

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THE FIRST CIVILIZATION

• The Olmecs
• Compare with Sumer
• The First in Americas
• Location
• Coastal jungles, river valleys
• Irrigation needed to drain water
• Raised platforms for agriculture
• Towns and Villages
• La Venta was a ceremonial city
• Surrounding farming villages
• Trade, Commerce
• Jade, feathers, rubber
• Political Institutions
• Royal Absolutism
• Priesthood, nobles assist king, rule peasants
• Intellectual Accomplishments
• Olmec heads, jade figurines
• Ball courts, Calendars
• Rudimentary written language

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ON-LINE RESEARCH PROJECTCOMPARE, CONTRAST
OLMECS MAYAS AZTECS INCAS
INTERACTIONS WAR, ECONOMICS
TYPE OF STATE STRUCTURE, RULING ELITE
RELIGIOUS, INTELLECTUAL, CULTURAL
SOCIAL, GENDER STRUCTURES
IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON CULTURE
IMPACT OF DEMOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENT
CHANGE, CONTINUITY COMPARE WITH NEOLITHIC COMPARE WITH OLMEC COMPARE WITH OLMEC COMPARE WITH CHIMU, HAURI
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REINFORCE WITHLITERATURE, SOAPPS-TONE

• In the Language of the Kings
• Editor, Miguel Leon-Portilla
• Mesoamericans left literature
• Church often preserved some literature
• Many tribes kept materials alive, continued
  chronicles
• Many temples had histories, stories written in
  stone
• Popul Vuh is easy enough to find
• Mayan Codices often on line
• Chronicles of the Incas, 1540
• Pedro de Cieza de Léon
• Conquistador married an Inca princess
• Proceeded to write down Incan history
• Only resource we have and its wonderful!

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PROJECTS

• Art Slide Show
• Many galleries on line
• Research history
• Present the art as the people of the time saw it
• Movie Maker
• Select a people
• Identify a piece of music you wish to use
• Locate art, images to use in the maker
• Create a movie-like presentation
• Use a minimum of language, tell a peoples story!

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ASSESSMENT

• TWEDYADWTS
• Do this daily to check understanding
• Use it as an introduction to the day
• Free Response Essays
• Tell the students the general prompt up front
• Encourage them to use the preparation grids
• Write the essays
• Compare and Contrast
• Change over Time
• Document Based Questions