Bellwork

1
Bellwork

• Consider the two questions below (you do not need
  to write them down, but be ready to talk about
  it).
• Why do we study history? What is the purpose?
• What do you expect to gain out of this class
  (U.S. History)?

2
American History

• Unit 1, Section 1
• Introduction to U.S. History Early Civilizations

3
Objectives

• Expand on why we study history.
• Understand the differences between BC and AD.
• Discuss the link between history and geography
• Identify important characteristics and
  achievements of Paleo-Indian cultures
• Identify how geographic regions affected certain
  North American Native cultures
• Review over Mesoamerica
• Discuss Native American religions
• Analyze and present Native American cultural
  regions

4
Question

• Take one minute and be prepared to answer these
  questions
• What do you want to gain from this class?
• What concerns do you have about the class?
• What do you expect will happen in this class?

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Why do we study history?

• To learn from our mistakes and successes
• We dont want to make the same mistakes our
  ancestors did, but we do want to learn what made
  many civilizations so powerful.
• To understand the perspectives of the people of
  our past.
• Historians Fallacy
• To know what shaped modern society
• Laws, art, literature, etc.

6
Calendars

• History is generally broken into two sections to
  describe its age
• B.C.- Before Christ- History that occurred prior
  to Christs birth.
• This system works backwards. The higher the
  number in BC, the older it is (500 BC was before
  400 BC).
• A.D.- Anno Domini- History that occurred after
  Christs birth.
• The higher numbers here indicate how recent it
  occurred (so, 1994 was before 2014).

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Alternative Dating Methods

• However, some scholars have began to utilize a
  different dating method due to religious
  sensitivity
• CE- Common Era alternative to AD
• BCE- Before Common Era- alternative to BC
• Both are exactly the same as BC/AD, but for this
  class, I will be using BC and AD.
• For the purposes of this class, we will be mostly
  focusing on history in the last 2000 years.

8
Calendars (cont.)

• For this class, we will be identifying history
  using what is called the Gregorian Calendar.
• This calendar is the modern calendar used in many
  international nations with the standard 365 day
  year.

Pope Gregory XIII
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History and Geography

• Another part of this class will be heavily
  studying the geography of the area(s) in
  question.
• Geography studies how physical environments
  affected human events and how humans effect their
  environment
• In this class, when we study a new culture or
  group, we will identify how the geography has
  affected aforementioned group.

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History and Geography (cont)

• As well, when certain events occur in human
  history, the environment around them can change.
  This can include
• A change in territories
• Interaction such as irrigation, clearing forests,
  building cities
• Using and reading maps will prove vital in this
  course.

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What to expect from this class

• Lets start with what we will not do (generally)
  rote memorization.
• What we will do
• Understand how America changed over time
• Determining cause and effect when it comes to
  events in U.S. history
• Analyze how people experienced these events
  through reading their experiences
• Practicing research skills, debate skills,
  discussion skills, and reading/writing skills
• Synthesizing materials
• And, finally, gaining a greater appreciation of
  history through earnest interest

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Activities

• Expect to do quite a few of the following
  activities
• Reading primary and secondary sources. We want to
  get an understanding of a time from those who
  lived it. This give us the greatest insight.
• Comparing and contrasting sources is also a major
  part of this class. History is too complex to
  believe there is only one viewpoint in most
  situations.
• Projects. There are various kinds of projects in
  this class, such as creating presentations,
  posters, researching, writing, etc.
• Debating. There are a few debates littered
  throughout the class. Debates help us critically
  think about major issues from sides that we dont
  always agree with. Its an important skill to be
  able to defend your beliefs.
• Intermittent tests and quizzes we have to be
  able to remember what we learn. This summative
  assessments help me know what you know.
• Socratic Discussions. These are designed to
  better understand sources or events.

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Breakdown of the Course

• The class will cover the following points in
  American history
• Prehistory
• Discovery, Colonization, Revolution
• Expansion
• Formation of the Union
• New states
• Civil War
• Restoration Era
• Early 20th Century
• World War II and The Great Depression
• Post WWII Era
• Civil Rights
• Cold War
• Technologies
• Modern United States

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Any questions?

• Do you have any questions about this class or
  what to expect?
• What do you take notes on?
• What is underlined is the most important
  information to take notes on.
• How will information be presented?
• Generally speaking, you will learn between the
  use of PowerPoints and reading activities.
• Will we watch videos or do activities?
• Yes. Where applicable, I do try to show short
  videos. However, it is unlikely we will watch
  whole movies.

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Question!

• How do you think early Native American peoples
  arrived to this continent?
• Why do you think they came here?

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The Bering Land Bridge

• Approximately 12,000-60,000 years ago, most
  archeologists agree that the first Americans-
  Paleo-Indians- crossed into America using the
  Bering Land Bridge.

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Paleo-Indians

• Many archaeologists do not know much about the
  Paleo-Indians.
• There is no written records of their existence,
  so researchers have to rely heavily on animal
  remains or artifacts, which does not give any
  precise date to their arrival or how they moved
  across the Americas.

18
Changing Environment

• Sometime around 10,000 to 5,000 B.C., the climate
  of the Americas grew hotter and drier.
• As the climate changed, the groups of
  Paleo-Indians would have moved south, a process
  that would have taken thousands of years.
• As they moved south, they most likely would have
  followed herds of animals.

19
How did the Native Peoples move across the
continents?
20
Changing Environment

• However, big game eventually died out (such as
  mammoths), perhaps being hunted to extinction.
• Some humans began to utilize fire to help them
  hunt smaller prey, such as clearing whole
  forests. Others learned new ways to hunt and
  capture animals, such as fish and birds.

21
Farming

• The most revolutionary change made by the
  Paleo-Indians would have been a shift from
  hunting to domestication of plants and animals.

Question How would this change greatly affect
the Paleo-Indians?
22
Farming

• The shift to farming happened gradually over the
  entire planet, first in the Africa, Asia, Europe,
  and then the Americas.
• Historians are not entirely certain when
  domestication first began, but by 1500 B.C.,
  farming was well established throughout the
  Americas.

23
Farming

• Because farming became so prevalent, the
  Paleo-Indians were able to increase their
  populations as there was more food.
• The natives of North America never created
  large-scale societies.

24
Breathe

• Take 1 minute to breath and be able to answer the
  following questions
• Where is Mesoamerica?
• Who were the Maya and the Aztecs?

25
Mesoamerica

• Central America, and the southern and central
  regions of Mexico is the area that archaeologists
  refer to as Mesoamerica. It was home to some of
  the largest of the early cultures. It is
  estimated that at the height of the region, the
  population would have been almost 25 million
  people who all shared a common cultural heritage.

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Mesoamerica
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Olmecs

• The Olmecs were the first great culture of
  Mesoamerica and would have thrived near the Gulf
  of Mexico between 1200 to 400 B.C.
• The Olmecs were farmers and that influenced their
  culture
• They prayed to a rain god
• Development of a calendar to predict seasons
• The farms even circled important ceremonial areas
  in their cities.

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Olmecs (cont.)

• However, around 400 B.C., the Olmec civilization
  began to crumble.
• However, their way of life was adopted by others
  in Mesoamerica and would lead into the growth of
  the Mayan civilization.

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Mayan

• The Mayans improved upon the Olmecs
  accomplishments, including developing a far more
  accurate calendar than the one used in Europe.
• They even adopted the concept of zero before the
  Europeans.
• The Mayans also developed a water-management
  system for their farming, which allowed them to
  vastly increase their population

30
Mayan Civilization Falls

• Despite a population of millions, around 900
  A.D., the Mayans had abandoned almost all of
  their cities and merged with other cultures in
  the area.
• Why this happened is unknown.

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Toltecs

• In a century prior to the decline of the Maya,
  the Toltecs came to dominate the region known as
  the Valley of Mexico.
• Adopting the cultures of the people they
  conquered, they built a vast empire.
• However, due to internal conflicts, they fell to
  invading groups to the north in around the 12th
  century.

32
Aztecs

• Of the groups that came from the north, the
  Aztecs (Mexicas) proved powerful enough to
  control the vast empire of the Toltecs.
• Over the course of two centuries, they would come
  to dominate a region of over 5 million people.
• Human sacrifice was central to their religion.
• As we will discuss later, the Aztecs in 1500s
  would fall to Spanish conquest.

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Why such a brief overview?

• We did not go into a very in-depth discuss on the
  Mesoamerican peoples. Why?
• Theyre not the focus of this class.
• And there should have been a discussion of them
  in World History.

34
Cultures of North America

• Unlike the Mesoamerican cultures, who were all
  centralized in one location, North American
  natives were far too spread out to reach the size
  and complexity of the Native Mesoamericans.
• However, despite this, many Native American
  cultures were similar to one another, despite
  geographic separation.

35
Southwestern cultures

• Native Americans who settled in the Southwest
  began to cultivate corn (maize) and other crops
  by around 3500 B.C.
• Between 800 and 1100 AD, the Anasazi began to
  build multistory rock and adobe dwellings-
  usually nested against cliffs.
• However, around 1400, the Anasazi ceased to exist
  as a distinct people.

36
Eastern Cultures

• The Adena and Hopewell cultures in the east
  dominated the region for about 1,700 years.
• They are often referred to as the Mound Builders
  because of the distinctive earthworks they
  created.
• The Hopewell dominated the area.

37
Eastern Cultures

• The Mississippian people occupied much of the
  Southeast and Midwest.
• Huge temple mounds dominated their villages.
• The populations reach almost 40,000. However,
  overtime, the Mississippian people abandoned some
  of their larger cities.

38
Iroquois League

• Eastern tribes (those near or along the eastern
  coast) had much in common with the Mississippian
  peoples, including a similar environment.
  However, woodland groups of the east developed a
  variety of cultures and spoke very distinct
  languages- Algonquian, Iroquoian, and Muskogean.
• Many of these groups fought one another for land.
  
• However, some groups would come together and form
  alliances.

39
Iroquois League

• The Iroquois League was a political alliance
  amongst five tribes Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga,
  Cayuga, and Seneca.
• The league promoted a joint defense and
  cooperation among the tribes the confederacy
  lasted for almost 200 years.

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Cultural Connections

• The relationship between the Iroquois nations-
  and tribes outside of the league- was both
  economic and cultural.
• While the varying geography defined Native
  cultures, groups began to share cultural concepts
  through trade.
• They would have similar religious beliefs, and
  shared social patterns.

41
Cultural Connections

• Trade was very important to the Native peoples.
• Trade centers and traveling merchants were found
  throughout North America.
• For example the Chinook of Oregon established a
  lively marketplace that brought goods from all
  over the west.
• In some places, goods would travel hundreds (if
  not thousands) of miles from the original source.
  
• This was especially true for exotic goods like
  colored feathers and jewelry.

42
Religion

• Many Native Americans shared a similar belief
  system.
• Nearly all Native American groups believed that
  the world was filled with nature spirits- and the
  native peoples recognized these spirits.

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The Spirits

• Some groups of Native Americans believed in a
  supreme being, or the Great Spirit (Wakan Tanka).
• North American peoples believed that the spirits
  gave them rituals and customs to guide their
  lives.
• If people practiced these rituals, they would
  live in peace and harmony.

Question If so many Native American groups
believe the same thing or similar things what
does that tell you about their society/societies?
44
Land

• Native American religious beliefs also included a
  great respect for the land as a source of life
  and rarely altered it.
• They didnt believe land could be bought and sold
  like Europeans.

45
Native Americans

• As we will see when we move forward, Native
  American groups continued to influence the
  American political and social landscape for
  centuries to come even after European arrival.

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Review Objectives

• Expand on why we study history.
• Understand the differences between BC and AD.
• Discuss the link between history and geography
• Identify important characteristics and
  achievements of Paleo-Indian cultures
• Identify how geographic regions affected certain
  North American Native cultures
• Review over Mesoamerica
• Discuss Native American religions
• Analyze and present Native American cultural
  regions

47
Questions?

• If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

48
Next Lesson

• In the next lesson, we are going to briefly
  discuss Europe prior to the contact with the new
  world.

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Closure Activity

• Find one partner to work with there has to be
  7-8 groups.
• You will need the two worksheets titled Native
  American Cultures
• The goal of this assignment is for each group to
  research and present some information (poster,
  pamphlet, PowerPoint, etc.) about a particular
  Native American culture region and map it on the
  next slide.

50
Cultural Areas

• Northwest Coast- coastal dwellers, fishers,
  developed complex culture
• Plateau- river dwellers, primarily fishers,
  relatively low populations
• Great Plains- grasslands dwellers, nomadic
  buffalo hunters after the introduction of horses
• Northeast- forest dwellers- primarily
  hunter-gatherers but also farmed and fished.
• Great Basin- desert basic dwellers primarily
  gathering society- low population
• California- desert, mountain, river, or coastal
  dwellers- primarily gatherers and fishers
• Southwest- canyon, mountain, and desert dwellers
  usually farmers or nomadic hunters
• Southeast- river-valley dwellers primarily
  farmers, but also hunted and gathered.

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Final Questions

1. What two main crops did Native Americans produce?
2. Why didnt North American natives create large
   scale societies?
3. Why do Native Americans share so many cultural
   aspects?
4. How did people get to the Americas?
5. Why did people come to the Americas?