Heimler's History: AP U.S. History - Unit 1, Topic 2

Introduction

• Focus: The Americas before European arrival
• Key Point: Native American cultures were diverse and organized based on geography

Central and South American Civilizations

Aztecs (Mexica)

• Location: Central America (Mesoamerica)
• Capital: Tenochtitlan (300,000 people)
• Features: Written language, complex irrigation, fertility cult with human sacrifices

Maya

• Location: Yucatan Peninsula
• Features: Large cities, complex irrigation and water storage, stone temples and palaces, rulers believed to be descended from gods

Inca

• Location: Andes Mountains (modern-day Peru)
• Empire: 16 million people, 350,000 square miles
• Features: Fertile mountain valleys, potato cultivation, complex irrigation systems

Commonalities

• All cultivated maize (corn), which supported economic development and social diversification

North American Civilizations

Southwest (Pueblo People)

• Location: Present-day New Mexico and Arizona
• Features: Sedentary farmers of maize, adobe and masonry homes, organized society with administrative offices, religious centers, craft shops

Great Plains and Great Basin (Ute People)

• Lifestyle: Nomadic hunter-gatherers
• Features: Required large land areas, small egalitarian kinship-based bands

Pacific Northwest (Chinook and Chumash People)

• Chinook: Fishing villages, elk hunting, cedar plank houses housing up to 70 kinship members
• Chumash: Hunters and gatherers, permanent settlements in resource-rich areas

Mississippi River Valley (Hopewell and Cahokia People)

• Hopewell: Towns of 4,000-6,000 people, extensive trade networks
• Cahokia: Largest settlement (10,000-30,000 people), centralized government by powerful chieftains, trade from Great Lakes to Gulf of Mexico

Northeast (Iroquois)

• Features: Villages of several hundred people, grew maize, squash, beans, lived in longhouses with 30-50 family members

Conclusion

• Emphasis on the diverse and complex nature of Native American societies before European arrival
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