Chapter 1

Who Are the Indian People?

More than 2000 distinct cultures
At one point there was thought to have been decedents of Greeks, Chinese
Enrico Martin thought there was a land bridge of Pacific side of the continent
Migration From Asia
Natives from Americas some 25,000-30,000 years ago
Common dental pattern in Asia and America from that period
O Blood type-Asians have all three
Need at least 25,000 years to develop a distinct language
Used the Beringia Land Bridge
Clovis: The First American Technology
Earliest North American tools were similar to Old World tools
2000 years ago there was a new tech in North America (Clovis)
Developed Clovis to feed growing population
Clovis users were mobile communities of around 30 people
Hunters drove animals into bogs, then killed with Clovis spear points
Regional Cultures
Change in climate (glaciers)
No giant continental climate
Learned to adapt to their own regions
Hunting Traditions
Big game died after climate change
Combined with Pleistocene overkill
FNP then concentrated on buffalo
To Hunt Buffalo they invented Folsom pointes
Can throw quickly
Range of 100 yards
Lighter but deadlier than Clovis
Wooden throwers
FNP were on the way to developing a diverse diet
Head smashed in was very complicated in planning
Pemmican was used to preserved buffalo meat
Second Invasion from Asia
NaDene, ancestors of the Navajos and Apaches
Glaciers once blocked path but now melted
Third Invasion from Asia
Inuit crossed in boats
Desert Culture in North America
Archaic Period
10,000 years ago
Desert foraging
Hunting and gathering
Desert culture was based on the pursuit of small game and foraging
Social equality as they had to move = few possessions
Forest Culture
Forest efficiency = use all the tree
Burned forests to stimulate berry plants
Became permanent = Different roles in society
The Development of Farming
Different crops, different areas
Potatoes fueled expansion fueled European expansion
Rubber and cotton fueled European industry
Productive plants = less land

Led to specialists
Wealth was concentrated in a few hands
Warfare and religion developed
Technochitalan (not the Aztec City)
200,000 people
Center of a trade empire
Mayans advanced writing and calendar
Aztecs became an Imperial power
The Resisted Revolution
No farming revolution, it was a long evolution
Nomadic peoples had vast knowledge of plants
They ignored farming not cause they were dumb
Foragers consider their lifestyles to be superior
They were not devastated by famine
Can adapt better to changes in environment
With widespread food like salmon farming, agriculture would be as waste of time
Social Complexity
More people = tribes
Chief was the leader of the biggest clan, and the leaders of the smaller clans
were his advisers
Rulers were to supervise the economy
No one owned land the concept was not present
Land was a common resource-goes back to the foraging days
Strict division of labor in foraging
Men were hunters, women were homemakers
In farms both female and males farmed the land
Marriage was weak
Religion
Hunting Tradition
Relationship between hunters and prey
Used simple shamans
Agrarian Tradition
Fertility and seasons
Groups of priests
Pantheism-a kinship with all animals
Early Farmers in the South West
Farmed maize and corn
The Anasazis (Pueblo people)
Best known farmers
Were found in Utah, New Mexico, Colarada, and Arizona
Population pressures forced them to build apartments
Bow and arrow was used to supplement farming
Pueblo Bonito, was the center of the nation
Road and town communications-mountain signaling
Had irrigation systems to combat drought
Driven out by Athapascans
Farming in Easter Woodlands (Hopewell community)
Left permanent home seasonally to take advantage of certain seasons
Grew tobacco?
Grew maize
Large burial mounds
Trade network
Artistically sophisticated
Mississippian Society
Hopewell culture failed (drought?)
Bow appeared from the Great Plains

Permanent villages
Master maize farmers
Sophisticated division of labor, like Cahokia
Artisans
Priests
Rulers
Great Serpent Mound
City states like North of Mexico
Powerful chiefs = power to build public works
Took advantage of Mexican technology
Warfare
Late 13th century climate change
Lowered potential yields form farms
Less food = more violence
Nomads probably didn't fight vs. war in farming societies
Cahokia had a log stockade
Eve of Colonization
When Euros came there were at least 350 native societies
Population of America
North America had a population of 7-10 million
Mexico had 25 million
60-70 million in the Western hemisphere = same population as Europe
The nomads were not dense
California was populated by fishers and had medium density
In the South where there were farming communities population was dense
The Southwest
Dry!
Rancherias-far apart to avoid each other
The South
Rich climate for farming
Lived in towns and cities
Confederation of farming towns
More powerful clans lived on the flood plains
Natchez was in the lower Mississippi Delta and were class bred
Floridians also lived in a complicated class structure
Their city was built around ceremonial mounds
Plazas
Ordinary people were on the fringes
Other confederacies
Cherokee was made up of more than 60 towns
Iroquois had women in power
The Northeast
Iroquois
Population was large and dense
Iroquois lived here for 4500 years
Moved from fishing to farming
Had big houses
Had wooden stockades
Iroquois Nations
Mohawk
Oneidas
Onandagas
Cayugas
Senecas
Oral history indicates there was lots of violence
Confederacy was formed to control violence

It was acceptable to war against outsiders

Algonquians
Lived in less elaborate homes
Lose bands together
Big, population
No fortifications
Farmed, fished and hunted