Chapter 1

• It is believed the first to arrive in America were from Asia, crossing a land bridge. The nomads were following food. Finally, people decided to settle down and there was an agricultural revolution in Mesoamerica.

• Meso means “middle”

• Later, people began living together (civilization) in huts, wigwams, and eventually buildings (large structures, small structures) that the Spanish explorers called pueblos.

• After crossing the land bridge, many people dispersed. Some lived in the Southwest, some in the Great Plains, some in what is known as Canada, some in the Northeast, and some in the Southeast.

• The people of the Southwest grew maize (corn) and had to develop a way to get moisture in a very dry climate. Buried the corn with a taproot.

• The people of the Great Plains tamed horses. This allowed them to become better hunters and fighters.

• People of the Northeast were without much farmland. This lead to slash-and-burn agriculture. Cut down the forests, burned the trees and it lead to very nitrogen rich grounds to farm.

• People of the Southeast were big hunters; men hunted deer, bear, fowl, and alligator.

• In each of these areas, many different tribes coexisted. Sometimes with friction, sometimes peacefully.

• African geography determined empires. Much like the geography of America, climate controlled which people settled where. Portions of Africa are savannahs (rolling grasslands.) This is where the majority of civilizations settled.

• First religion to make it to Africa was Islam. People came down to trade in Africa (giving Camels, and crops) for the gold. Muslims came down and spread Islam throughout Africa.

• West Africa was a major place of importance because of the gold. More people came down to trade, leaving more and more traditions.

• Disease has always been a problem in Africa, the medicine did not improve much due to a lack of proper record keeping. Many people died and continue to die of simple diseases.

• Many people were nomadic. Many people were traders (taking gold and sugar to where they believed travelers would visit. Other men were hunters. Hunting was dangerous in Africa. (Lions, rain forest, etc.) This led many men to be traders (ivory, gum, pepper, cotton.)

• With men missing (trading, died from hunting, or abducted) people would trace lineage matrilineal. This means through mother’s side not father’s.

• People were abducted to become slaves. The big, strong men were taken from their villages and sold as slaves. Some in other countries and overseas, some in colonies where sugar cane grew.

• Slaves were taken by both Europeans and by natives for Europeans. Europeans traded gold to natives to round up slaves.

• Slaves were needed for sugar cane because it grew in thick and tough. Heavy knives were needed to cut and gather the product.