Native Americans

Notes and Review Questions for the "Native Americans" Unit!

*Download a "Native American" Activity Worksheet

Check out a 3d view of an Inca City at the link below:

http://www.destination360.com/start1.htm

NATIVE AMERICAN 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

"Team Extreme" students expect only their best!

(Human sacrifice was common among many Native American Tribes such as the Maya in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula)

* Download a Copy of the Review Questions

1. What types of early Native American tribes existed in the Americas?

2. List the regions and characteristics of Native American tribes that once lived in what is now the United States.

3. Discuss the advanced societies of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca.