NATIVE AMERICAN CLASS NOTES
GIGLIOTTI’S CLASS NOTES

NATIVE AMERICAN POPULATIONS

*Native Americans crossed a land bridge over the Bering Straight 10,000 years ago from Asia

EARLY CIVILIZATIONS:

THE MOUND BUILDERS:
-built mounds to bury their dead
-lived at various times - 2,800 years ago until 1700’s
-lived in what is now the eastern USA & the Midwest
-Adenas, Hopewells, Mississippians, others

PEOPLE OF THE DESERT:
-lived in what is now the American Southwest (Arizona,
New Mex.)
-Hohokams built homes of adobe (sun dried clay bricks)
-Anasazi also known as Cliff Dwellers because
structures were carved out of cliffs
-villages were called pueblos
-several stories high, small rooms, no stairs (used
latters)
-farmers raised corn, beans, squash, etc. - irrigation
system

NATIVE AMERICANS IN NORTH AMERICA & THE PRESENT DAY UNITED STATES:

*At the time the Europeans arrived their were about 1,000,000 Native Americans living in what is now the
United States
FAR NORTH: Eskimos (Intuits)
-bitterly cold winters - icy seas
-built igloos - houses made of snow and ice
-warm cloths made of seal skins
-hunt wolves, foxes, polar bears
-worshiped animal spirits

THE WEST:
-many different climates

NORTHWEST COAST:(W. Can., Wash., Oregon, Idaho, Mont., Nev. Cal.)
-more mild climate - food plentiful
-made good use of forests
-families hold potlatch dinner to show off their wealth

INTERMOUNTAIN:
-not much water around - food difficult to find & grow
-Ute & Shoshone

THE SOUTHWEST:
-Pueblo - adopted Anasazi structures
-Navajos - lived in Hogans (mud plaster house with
wooden pole)
-believed in Earth surface people (people) - Holy
People (Gods)



GREAT PLAINS:
-hunters & farmers (planted corn & flowers)
-villages ruled by a council

SOUTHEAST:
-Mississippi, Louisiana
-Natchez descended from Mound Builders
-had social classes - believed in an after life

EASTERN WOODLANDS: (New York)
-The Five Nations of the Iroquois
-lived in long houses 18’ wide 60’ long
-League of the Iroquois: council of 50 leaders that
met to settle disputes

GREAT EMPIRES IN SOUTH AMERICA:

THE MAYAS:
-Central America & Mexico
-3,000 years ago lived in tropical rainforests
-drained swamps - grew food
-built great cities - Tikal
-towering stone temples & pyramids (human sacrifice)
-social classes
-created a calendar - sports 7 games

THE AZTECS:
-moved into central Mexico around 1300
-built a capital called Tenochtitlan (what is now
Mexico City)
-largest city in the Americas 250,000 in 1400
-great buildings, temples (human sacrifice)
-conquered many of their neighbors

THE INCA:
-lived in what is now Peru in the Andes Mountains
-well organized government - roads - army to put down revolts (civil wars) -communications system
-excellent engineers (temples, terraces, other)
-Civil War in 1520’s