Pre-History
c. 28,000 B.C.
c. 10,000 B.C.
Last Ice Age ends
Asian huntersenter North America
Farming developsin Mexico
7000 B.C.
The Americas
The World
DifferentWorlds Meet
Beginnings to 1625
“The people of thisisland [have] such agenerosity that they
would give awaytheir own hearts.”
DifferentWorlds Meet
Beginnings to 1625
“The people of thisisland [have] such agenerosity that they
would give away their own hearts.”
—CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, 1493
Portfolio Activity Draw a freehandmap of North America, Central Amer-ica, and South America. As you readUnit 1, draw arrows on your map thatshow how the first Americans trav-eled throughout the Americas andwhere they ultimately settled. Also in-clude the European explorers’ routeson your map.
AmericaAmericaMAPPINGMAPPING
Unit 1Unit 1
Viking carving
Navigator’s binocularsand compass
12
To learn more about thisperiod in history, visit the Glencoe
Social Studies Web Site at www.glencoe.com for information,
activities, and links to other sites.
1650
A.D. 1295
A.D. 1492
A.D. 1400sA.D. 1085Anasazi buildpueblos inNorth America
Italian traveler Marco Polo returns from China
A.D. 1312Ruler Mansa Musa begins West Africankingdom of Mali
A.D. 1517Luther starts Protestant Reformation
Henry Hudsonsails up the Hudson RiverColumbus
lands in the Americas
Inca Empire reaches its height in South America
A.D. 1300Aztec buildTenochtitlánin Mexico
1050 1250 1450
A.D. 1609
World Map by Martin Waldseemüller,1507 This hand-drawn map by a German
mapmaker gave a view of the world as known by Euro-peans in the early 1500s. It was the first map to use the nameAmerica for the lands of the Western Hemisphere.
HISTORYAND ART
Chief’s chair, Taino people
14 Unit 1 Different Worlds Meet
Dawn made a glare on the ocean,so I splashed through the shal-low surf and dived without look-
ing. I felt the hair lift from around myhead, felt a school of tiny fish glideagainst my leg as I swam underwater.Then, far in the distance, I heard an unfa-miliar and frightening sound. It was likethe panting of some giant animal, asteady, slow rhythm, dangerous andhungry. And it was coming closer.
I forgot I was still beneath the surfaceuntil I needed air. But when I broke intothe sunlight, the water sparkling allaround me, the noise turned out to benothing! Only a canoe! The breathingwas the dip of many paddles! It was onlypeople coming to visit, and since I couldsee they hadn’t painted themselves to ap-pear fierce, they must be friendly or lost.
I swam closer to get a better look andhad to stop myself from laughing. Thestrangers had wrapped every part oftheir bodies with colorful leaves and cot-ton. Some had decorated their faces withfur and wore shiny rocks on their heads.Compared to us, they were very round.Their canoe was short and square, and,in spite of all their dipping and pulling, itmoved so slowly. What a backward, dis-tant island they must have come from.But really, to laugh at guests, no matterhow odd, would be impolite, especiallysince I was the first to meet them. If I wasfoolish, they would think they had ar-rived at a foolish place. . . .
I kicked toward the canoe and calledout the simplest thing.
“Hello!”One of the people heard me, and he
was so startled that he stood up, madehis eyes small, as fearful as I had been amoment earlier. . . .
Morning Girlby Michael Dorris
Michael Dorris, a ModocNative American, was aneducator, a social activist, and anaward-winning author. MorningGirl, his first book for youngadults, portrays the lives of theTaino people of the Bahamas.
■ READ TO DISCOVERMorning Girl is the fictional story of a young
Native American woman who meets Columbusand his crew as they arrive in the Bahamas in1492. While reading this passage, think about the ways that Morning Girl’s life might change as a result of Columbus’s visit.
■ READER’S DICTIONARYcanoe: a light, narrow boatsurf: wavesMorning Girl: a young Taino womandrifting: floating smoothly, without effort
The man stared at me as though he’d neverseen a girl before, then shouted something tohis relatives. They all stopped paddling andlooked in my direction.
“Hello,” I tried again. “Welcome to home.My name is Morning Girl. My mother is SheWins the Race. My father is Speaks to Birds. Mybrother is Star Boy. We will feed you and intro-duce you to everyone.”
All the fat people in the canoe began point-ing at me and talking at once. In their excite-ment they almost turned themselves over, and Iallowed my body to sink beneath the waves fora moment in order to hide my smile. . . .
When I came up they were still watching,the way babies do: wide eyed and with theirmouths uncovered. They had much to learnabout how to behave.
“Bring your canoe to the beach,” I shouted,saying each word slowly so that they might un-derstand and calm themselves. “I will go to thevillage and bring back Mother and Father. . . .”
. . . The strangers were drifting in the surf,arguing among themselves, not even paying
attention to me any longer. They seemed veryworried, very confused, very unsure what to donext. It was clear that they hadn’t traveledmuch before.
From Morning Girl by Michael Dorris. Text © 1992 byMichael Dorris. Reprinted with permission from Hyperion Booksfor Children.
1. How does Morning Girl treat the unex-pected visitors?
2. Why does Morning Girl think the visi-tors have poor manners?
Activity
Writing a Play Imagine that explorersfrom another planet landed in yourbackyard. How would you respond?Write the dialogue you think wouldoccur between you and the aliens. Thenask a classmate to read the dialoguewith you in the form of a play.
RESPONDING TO LITERATURE
Unit 1 Different Worlds Meet 15
Christopher Columbusand the Taino
16
Chapter Themes■ Section 1, Geography and History■ Section 2, Culture and Traditions■ Section 3, Groups and Institutions
Why It’s ImportantMany groups of Native Americans live in the Americas
today. Their history is the story of many different peoples, allof whom helped shape the American society we live intoday. They are part of the modern world, yet many of themalso preserve the ways of life, customs, and traditions devel-oped by their ancestors centuries ago.
The First Americans
Chapter 1Chapter 1
Maya Wall Painting The Maya were one of many Native Americanpeoples living in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans. This
wall painting, located at a ceremonial center, shows musicians celebrating a royal birth.
HISTORYAND ART
Prehistory to 1492
See pages 936–937 for primary source readings to accompany Chapter 1
PRIMARY SOURCESPRIMARY SOURCES
LibraryLibrary
Chapter 1 The First Americans 17
When Europeans arrived in the Ameri-cas in the late 1400s, they found NativeAmericans living there. The Euro-
peans wondered where these peoples had comefrom and how they happened to settle in theAmericas. Some believed the Native Americanshad come from Atlantis, a mythical island thatwas supposed to have sunk beneath the waves ofthe Atlantic Ocean.
Modern scientists are still trying to determinewhen and how the first people appeared in Northand South America. The story of the first Ameri-cans is still being pieced together by experts in archaeology, the study of ancient peoples. Ar-chaeologists learn about the past from artifacts,things left behind by early people, such as stonetools, weapons, baskets, and carvings. Their mostrecent discoveries show that the Native Ameri-cans did come from a land that later sank into thesea. It was not the mythical Atlantis, however, buta stretch of land called Beringia that once joinedAsia and the Americas.
The Journey From AsiaDuring its long history, the earth haspassed through several Ice Ages, periods
of extremely cold temperatures when part of theplanet's surface was covered with massive icesheets. Much of the water from the oceans wasfrozen into these ice sheets, or glaciers. For thatreason the sea levels were much lower during
Geography
30,000 B.C.
Asian hunters enterNorth America Last Ice Age
ends
Farmingdevelops inMexico
Early villagessettled inMexico
c. 10,000 B.C.
c. 28,000 B.C.
c. 7000 B.C.
c. 3000 B.C.
10,000 B.C.
5000 B.C.
1000 B.C.
Early PeoplesSection 1Section 1
READ TO DISCOVER . . .■ how the first people arrived in the
Americas.■ which discovery changed the lives of the
early Native Americans.
TERMS TO LEARNarchaeology migrationartifact maizeIce Age carbon datingnomad culture
No one knows for sure why the first peo-ple to settle in North America crossed the landbridge that once connected Asia and NorthAmerica. With spears poised, small bands ofhunters may have pursued amammoth, a large game ani-mal that is now extinct, orother large animals. Later set-tlers may have come byboat, hunting seals andwhales. Over time, these“native Americans” wouldinhabit both North andSouth America.
SThetoryteller
Arrowhead, hand-chipped stone
18 Chapter 1 The First Americans
that period than they are today. The lower sea lev-els exposed large areas of the seabed that wouldonce again be covered with water when the IceAge ended and the glaciers melted.
Crossing the Land Bridge
The most recent Ice Age began 100,000 yearsago and ended about 12,000 years ago. Duringthis period the lower sea level exposed a broadstrip of land between Asia and North America.This land bridge ran from Siberia in northeasternAsia to present-day Alaska, the westernmost partof the Americas. The land bridge, Beringia, nowlies under the Bering Strait.
Scientists are fairly certain that the first Amer-icans were people from Asia who crossed overBeringia during the last Ice Age. These early peo-ples probably reached the Americas about 30,000years ago.
In Search of Hunting Grounds
The early Americans were nomads, peoplewho moved from place to place. They gatheredwild grains and fruits but depended on huntingfor much of their food. While traveling in searchof game or following herds of animals, theycrossed Beringia into what are now Alaska andCanada.
The crossing of the land bridge was a migra-tion, a movement of a large number of peopleinto a new homeland. It did not happen in a sin-gle journey. As the centuries passed, many groupsof people traveled from Asia, either on foot acrossthe land bridge or in boats along its coast. Fromthe north, the migrants gradually moved intonew territory. They spread out across the Ameri-cas, going as far east as the Atlantic Ocean and asfar south as the tip of South America.
Hunting for FoodNative American legends tell of giantbeasts that roamed the earth in ancient
times. When the first Americans arrived fromAsia, they did indeed find huge mammals. Therewas the saber-toothed tiger—a large, flesh-eatingcat—the woolly mammoth, and the mastodon.The mammoth and mastodon resembled modernelephants in size and shape but had shaggy furand tusks up to 13 feet (4 m) long.
The early Americans were skilled at huntingthese beasts. The hunters shaped pieces of stoneand bone to make tools for chopping and scrap-ing. They chipped rocks into extremely sharppoints and fastened them on poles to make
The Land Bridge Beringia takes its namefrom Vitus Bering, a Danish explorer hired bythe Russians to explore the Arctic waters ofthe Bering Strait in the early 1700s.
ootnotes to HistoryF
Migration tothe Americas
CAUSES� The earth enters a long Ice Age.� Water from the oceans freezes into
glaciers.� Sea levels drop, exposing the Beringia
land bridge.
Chart Study
The settlement of the Americas can be traced to a geographic element—the earth’s climate.Analyzing Information When did people from Asia first come to the Americas?
EFFECTS� Nomadic hunters from Asia cross into
North America.� People spread into Central America and
South America.� The early Americans create many new
cultures.
Causes and Effects
Chapter 1 The First Americans 19
spears. Bands of hunters armed with these spearsstalked herds of giant bison, mastodons, or mam-moths and then charged at the animals, hurlingtheir weapons.
A single mammoth provided tons of meat,enough to feed a group of people for months. Thehunters and their families used every part of theanimal. They made the skin into clothing, carvedthe bones into weapons and tools, and may haveused the long ribs to build shelters.
About 12,000 years ago the earth’s tempera-tures began to rise. The Ice Age was drawing to anend. As the great glaciers melted, the oceans rose,and Beringia was submerged again. The Americ-as were cut off from Asia. At the same time, thehunters of America faced a new challenge. The
mammoths and other large animals began to dieout, either from overhunting or because ofchanges in the environment. The early Americanshad to find other sources of food.
Settling DownAs the large game animals disappeared,the early Americans found new sources of
food. They hunted smaller game, such as deer,birds, and rodents. Those who lived along riversor near the seacoast learned to catch fish with nets and traps—as Native Americans still dotoday. They continued to gather wild berries andgrains.
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SOUTH AMERICA
ASIA
CENTRALAMERICA
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Folsom
ROCKY
MO
UN
TAIN
S
ANDESM
OU
NTA
INS
ARCTIC OCEAN
PACIFICOCEAN
ATLANTICOCEAN
Caribbean Sea
60°N
40°N
0°
20°S
80°N
160°E140°E 180° 160°W 140°W 120°W 100°W 80°W 60°W 40°W
Berin
gS
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it
40°S
Tropic of Capricorn
Tropic of Cancer
Equator
20°N
Glaciers
Land exposed during the Ice Age
Migration routes
Known sites of prehistoric hunters
��
Prehistoric Migrations Through the Americas
N
S
EW
1,000 kilometers0Miller projection
1,000 miles0
Over thousands of years, prehistoric people migrated southward through the Americas. 1. Movement Along what major mountain ranges did the migration routes flow? 2. Analyzing Information Why was it possible for prehistoric people to cross the Bering Strait?
Map Study
a piece of wood—they can tell how long ago itlived.
Sometime after the early settlements in Mexi-co, people began farming in what is now thesouthwestern United States. Not all the early peo-ples in the Americas farmed, however. Some re-mained nomadic hunters, and others relied onfishing or trading instead of agriculture.
The Growth of Cultures
Farming allowed people to spend time on ac-tivities other than finding food. Knowing thatthey would harvest an abundant supply of grainsand vegetables, the people of ancient Mexicobegan to improve their lives in other ways. Theybuilt permanent shelters of clay, brick, stone, orwood. They made pottery and cloth and decorat-ed these goods with dyes made from roots andherbs. They also began to develop more complexforms of government and religion.
Agriculture changed the lives of these earlypeople and led to the birth of a new culture, a wayof life of a particular group of people. Rather thanmove from place to place in search of food, thepeople who farmed were able to settle down. Theyformed communities and developed commoncustoms, beliefs, artistic styles, and ways of pro-tecting themselves. Over time, the many differentgroups of people living in the Americas developeddistinctive cultures.
Checking for Understanding1. Identify Siberia, Alaska, Bering Strait.2. Define archaeology, artifact, Ice Age,
nomad, migration, maize, carbon dating,culture.
3. Explain how farming changed the lives ofnomads.
Reviewing Themes4. Geography and History How did an Ice
Age make it possible for Asian hunters tomigrate to the Americas?
Critical Thinking5. Determining Cause and Effect How do
you think the first Americans discoveredthat they could grow their own plants?
Activity
Making a Map Create an enlarged version ofthe map on page 19. Label all landmasses andbodies of water. Add illustrations to the map totell the story of how the first Americans migratedto North America.
Planting Seeds
About 9,000 years ago, people living in pres-ent-day Mexico made a discovery that wouldshape the lives of Native Americans for thou-sands of years. They learned to plant and raise anearly form of corn called maize. Their harvests ofmaize provided a steady, reliable source of food.No longer did they have to move from place toplace in order to survive.
Early Americans in Mexico also experiment-ed with other kinds of seeds. They planted pump-kins, edible gourds, beans, chili peppers,avocados, and squashes. The people who hadonce depended on wandering animals for theirfood were producing more than enough food tofeed themselves. The population grew along withthe ever-increasing food supply.
Early Communities
With rising numbers of people and a depend-able supply of food, early Americans in Mexicogave up their nomadic way of life and started toform stable communities. Scientists have foundtraces of early villages that date from about 5,000years ago.
Scientists use a method called carbon datingto find out how old an artifact is. By measuringthe amount of radioactive carbon that remains insomething that was once alive—such as a bone or
20 Chapter 1 The First Americans
Section 1 AssessmentSection 1 Assessment
Long before the arrival of Europeans in theearly 1500s, several great civilizations, orhighly developed societies, arose in pres-
ent-day Mexico and in Central and South Ameri-ca. These civilizations built enormous cities indense jungles and on difficult-to-reach mountain-tops. They also developed complex systems ofwriting, counting, and tracking time.
Among the largest and most advanced ofthese early civilizations were the Olmec, theMaya, the Aztec, and the Inca. Each civilizationspread out over hundreds of miles, included mil-lions of people, and thrived for centuries.
The Olmec flourished between 1200 B.C. and400 B.C. along the Gulf Coast of what are nowMexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. Olmec farm-ers produced enough food to sustain cities con-taining thousands of people. Olmec workerssculpted large stone monuments and built stonepavements and drainage systems. Their civiliza-tion strongly influenced their neighbors.
The MayaThe Maya built their civilization in thedense, steamy rain forests of present-day
Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize.Around 1000 B.C. they began clearing the land.They planted maize, beans, sweet potatoes, andother vegetables. They also pulled enormousstones from the earth to build monuments andpyramids that still stand today. Much of this laborwas performed by enslaved people, usually pris-oners of war.
Rise of Olmecin Mexico
Maya civilizationat its height inCentral America
Aztec establishTenochtitlánin Mexico
Inca Empire at its height inSouth America
c. A.D. 700c. 1200 B.C.
A.D. 1400sA.D. 1325
1200 B.C. B.C./A.D.
A.D.1200
A.D.1400
Cities and EmpiresREAD TO DISCOVER . . .■ why powerful empires rose up in the
Americas.■ how the people of each empire adapted to
their environment and used their resources.
TERMS TO LEARNcivilization hieroglyphicstheocracy terrace
Rumors of a lost city led American histori-an Hiram Bingham to the mountains of Peruin 1911. Bingham followed a steep mountaintrail, pulling himself along by grabbing vines.After many hours of climbing, he reached aclearing. Suddenly he saw acres of huge,crumbling walls and pillars of white stone cov-ered with vines and moss.“It fairly took my breathaway,” wrote Bingham.He knew that thesetemples and mon-uments were theremains of a veryadvanced people.
SThetoryteller
Section 2Section 2
A Mayan deity
Chapter 1 The First Americans 21
22 Chapter 1 The First Americans
Mayan Cities
By A.D. 300 the Maya had built many largecities. Each city was dominated by at least onestone pyramid. Some pyramids reached about200 feet (60 m)—the height of a 20-story building.Steps ran up the pyramid sides to a temple on top.The largest Mayan city, Tikal, in present-dayGuatemala, was surrounded by six pyramids.The pyramid in Chichén Itzá (chih•CHEHN
iht•SAH), located on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsu-la, covered an acre of ground.
The temples on top of the pyramids were reli-gious and governmental centers. Wearing goldjewelry and elaborate headdresses, the priests inthe temples performed rituals dedicated to theMayan gods. On special days, the whole city at-tended religious festivals. Crowds gathered in theplazas to watch masked dancers, drummers, andflute players perform for the gods.
The Maya believed the gods controlled every-thing that happened on earth. Because onlypriests knew the gods’ wishes, the priests heldgreat power in Mayan society and made most ofthe important decisions. The civilization of theMaya was a theocracy, a society ruled by religiousleaders.
Mayan Astronomy
The Mayan priests believed that the godswere visible in the stars, sun, and moon. Theythought that studying the night sky would helpthem understand the gods and predict the future.Their intense interest in the workings of the heav-ens led to an understanding of astronomy. Theirdesire to measure time advanced their knowledgeof mathematics. The priests created a 365-day cal-endar by which to schedule plantings, harvests,and religious ceremonies.
In Tikal and other cities, the Maya built huge pyramids where peoplecould gather for ceremonies honoring the deities. A model of a Mayan
city is shown (top left). How were the Maya governed?
PicturingHISTORY
The Aztec were a warriorpeople, and much of their art
reflected military themes. Birds and animalsknown for their strength and beauty—espe-cially the eagle, jaguar, and coyote—werehonored in the Aztec’s art and folklore.How did the Aztec treat the people theyconquered?
PicturingHISTORY
Chapter 1 The First Americans 23
Mayan priests recorded the movements of thestars, sun, and moon by carving pictures onstones. These images developed into hieroglyph-ics, pictures or symbols that are used to representwords, sounds, or concepts. The Maya developeda complex vocabulary of hieroglyphics.
Transport and Trade
The Maya did not have wheeled vehicles orhorses, so everything they transported overlandwas carried on human backs. Mayan traders trav-eled on a network of roads that had been carvedout of the jungle. Farmers brought maize and veg-etables to outdoor markets in the cities. They ex-changed their crops for cotton cloth, pottery, deermeat, and salt.
The Maya also engaged in long-distancetrade. At the height of the civilization—from A.D.300 to A.D. 900—thousands of Mayan canoes trav-eled up and down Mexico’s east coast. The canoescarried jade statues, turquoise jewelry, parrotfeathers, cacao beans for making chocolate, andother luxury goods to traders throughout a largearea.
Decline of a Civilization
Around A.D. 800 the Maya civilization beganto decline. By A.D. 900 the great cities were almostghost towns. The jungle crept back across theplazas, roads, and fields. No one knows whatcaused the decline. Perhaps slaves and farmers re-volted against their masters. Perhaps the soil be-came too exhausted by erosion and fire toproduce enough food. The Maya civilization col-lapsed, but descendants of the Maya still live inparts of Mexico and Central America.
The AztecCenturies after the fall of the Maya, a groupof hunters called the Aztec wandered
through central Mexico, searching for a perma-
Economics
nent home. In 1325 they came upon an island inLake Texcoco, today part of Mexico City. Therethe Aztec saw a sign: an eagle sitting on a cactus,a snake in its beak. That meant this island was tobe their home.
Tenochtitlán
On this island “amidst the water, in the reeds,in the sugar-canes” emerged Tenochtitlán(tay•NAWCH•teet•LAHN), one of the greatestcities in the Americas. Its construction was a miracle of engineering and human labor. Directed
Feather shield
Eagle warrior
24 Chapter 1 The First Americans
by priests and nobles, workers toiled day andnight, sometimes until they died of exhaustion.They pulled soil from the bottom of the lake tomake causeways, or bridges of earth, linking theisland and the shore. They filled parts of the lakewith earth so they could grow crops.
In time the Aztec capital expanded to themainland around the lake. At its height Tenochti-tlán was the largest city in the Americas, perhapsthe largest in the world. By A.D. 1500 nearly200,000 people lived there. Tenochtitlán alsoserved as a center of trade, attracting thousands ofmerchants to its outdoor marketplaces.
War and Religion
The Aztec civilization grew into a militaryempire. In the 1400s the Aztec army marchedthrough central and southern Mexico, conqueringnearly all rival communities. Aztec warriors tookeverything they could carry from their victims, in-cluding maize, cotton cloth, copper, andweapons. Conquered people were forced to workas slaves in Aztec cities and villages.
Like the Maya, the Aztec organized their soci-ety around their religion. Aztec priests studiedthe stars, moon, and sun and created a complexcalendar. At the center of the Aztec religion wasthe powerful sun god. To make sure that the sungod would rise each morning, the priests offeredthe blood of humans. Thousands of prisoners ofwar were sacrificed in ceremonies to the sun god.
A Great City Remembered
The first Europeans to see the Aztec capitalwere awed by its splendor. In 1519, 550 Spanishsoldiers entered Tenochtitlán, led by HernánCortés. He wrote:
“There are forty towers at least, all ofstout construction and very lofty. . . . The workmanship both in wood and stone could not be bettered anywhere.”
to HISTORYEyewitness
Bernal Díaz del Castillo, one of the soldiers,marveled at the “great stone towers and templesand buildings that rose straight up out of thewater.” Tenochtitlán, he explained, was a city ofwater, and many of the streets were waterwaysfor canoes.
Díaz also admired the gardens, “the diversityof trees and the scents given off by each . . . andthe paths choked with roses and other flowers.”Some of the Spaniards thought that Tenochtitlánwas more magnificent than Rome and other Eu-ropean capitals of the time.
The IncaAnother great American civilization devel-oped in the western highlands of South
America. The empire of the Inca was the largest ofthe early American civilizations.
Empire Builders
The Inca founded their capital city of Cuzco(KOOS•koh) around A.D. 1200. In 1438 an emper-or named Pachacuti (PAH•chah•KOO•tee) IncaYupanqui came to the throne and began a cam-paign of conquest against the neighboring peo-ples. He and his son, Topa Inca, built an empirethat stretched from north to south for more than3,000 miles (4,800 km), from present-day Colom-bia to northern Argentina and Chile.
The Incan army was a formidable force. Allmen between 25 and 50 years old could be draftedto serve in the army for up to five years. Theirweapons included clubs, short spears, and spikedcopper balls on ropes. Using slings of woven cloth,they could throw stones as far as 30 yards (27 m).
Communication and the Empire
At its height, the Inca Empire had a popula-tion of more than 6 million, including many con-quered peoples. To control this far-flung empire,the Inca built at least 10,000 miles (16,000 km) ofstone-paved roads that ran over mountains,across deserts, and through jungles. Rope bridges,made from grass, crossed canyons and rivers.
Chapter 1 The First Americans 25
Runners carrying messages to and from theemperor linked remote outposts of the empire tothe capital at Cuzco. The Inca language, Quechua(KEH•chuh•wuh), became the official languagefor all the different peoples in the empire. Al-though the Inca did not possess paper or writing,they developed a system of record keeping withstring called quipus (KEE•poos). Using variouslengths and colors of string, knotted in specialpatterns, the quipus carried information about re-sources such as grain supplies.
Agricultural Achievements
Although mountainous land is not well suit-ed for farming, the Inca devised ways to producea steady supply of food. They cut terraces, orbroad platforms, into steep slopes so they couldplant crops. They built stone walls on the terracesto hold the soil and plants in place. Incan farmersgrew maize, squash, tomatoes, peanuts, chili pep-pers, melons, cotton, and potatoes.
Religious Beliefs
All land and property within the Inca’s do-main belonged to the emperor, who was believedto be a descendant of the sun god. Because theInca thought that the sun god enjoyed displays ofgold, they crafted magnificent gold jewelry andtemple ornaments. The Inca also built special
Checking for Understanding1. Identify Olmec, Maya, Aztec, Inca. 2. Define civilization, theocracy, hiero-
glyphics, terrace.3. List reasons the Maya, Aztec, and Inca
were considered advanced civilizations.Reviewing Themes
4. Culture and Traditions What was theconnection between religion and astrono-my in the Maya civilization?
Critical Thinking5. Making Inferences How does trade help
to enrich a civilization? Provide examplesin your answer.
Activity
Making a Chart Create a chart that lists some ofthe accomplishments of the Maya, Aztec, andInca in the areas of communication, science, andmath.
Machu Picchu
cities devoted to religious ceremonies. One ofthese religious centers was Machu Picchu(MAH•choo PEE•choo), the mountaintop site dis-covered by Hiram Bingham in 1911.
The wealth and high achievements of the Incawere remarkable. Inca civilization, however,could not stand up against the Spanish invaders.
Inca ceremonial cup
Section 2 AssessmentSection 2 Assessment
Maps can direct you down the street, oraround the world. There are as manydifferent kinds of maps as there are
uses for them. Being able to read a map beginswith learning about its parts.
Learning the Skill
Maps usually include a key, a compass rose,and a scale bar. The map key explains the mean-ing of special colors, symbols, and lines used onthe map. On a road map, for example, the key tellswhat map lines stand for paved roads, dirt roads,and interstate highways.
After reading the map key, look for the com-pass rose. It is the direction marker that shows thecardinal directions of north, south, east, and west.North and south are the directions of the Northand South Poles. If you stand facing north, east isthe direction to your right—toward the risingsun. West is the direction on your left.
A measuring line, often called a scale bar,helps you estimate distance on a map. The map’sscale tells you what distance on the earth is repre-sented by the measurement on the scale bar. Forexample, 1 inch (2.54 cm) on the map may repre-sent 100 miles (160.9 km) on the earth. Knowingthe scale allows you to visualize how large an areais and to measure distances.
Practicing the Skill
The map on this page shows where the ancientMaya, Aztec, and Inca built their empires in NorthAmerica and South America. Look at the parts ofthis map, then answer the questions that follow.1. What information is given in the key?2. What color shows the Inca Empire?3. What direction would you travel to go
from Tenochtitlán to Chichén Itzá?
4. About how many miles long was the IncaEmpire?
5. What was the capital of the Aztec Empire?
Social StudiesSocial Studies
Understanding the Parts of a Map
26 Chapter 1 The First Americans
Cuzco
Machu Picchu
Tenochtitlán
NORTH AMERICAMEXICO
PERUSOUTH
AMERICA
CENTRALAMERICA
ANDESM
OU
NT
AIN
S
Chichén Itzá
Purumacu
Quito
Tikal
YUCATÁNPENINSULA
Equator0°
20°S
20°N
60°W100°W 80°W
PACIFICOCEAN
ATLANTICOCEAN
Gulf ofMexico
CaribbeanSea
Capital City
Major City
Maya
Inca
Aztec
1,000 kilometers0Goode's Interrupted Homolosine projection
1,000 miles0
Empires of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca
N
S
EW
Drawing a Map Picture a mental image ofyour house or room. Draw a map showing thelocation of various areas. Include a map keyexplaining any symbols or colors you use. Alsoinclude a scale bar explaining the size of yourmap compared to the real area. Finally, add acompass rose and title to your map.
Applying the Skill
Glencoe’s Skillbuilder InteractiveWorkbook, Level 1provides instructionand practice in key social studiesskills.
Chapter 1 The FIrst Americans 27
The jars and other objects found in the cavewere left there by the Sinagua, NativeAmericans who lived in present-day
Arizona hundreds of years ago. The Sinagua are just one of many Native American peopleswho are now being studied by archaeologists and historians.
Early Native AmericansMany Native American cultures rose,flourished, and disappeared in North
America long before Europeans arrived in the1500s. Among the most advanced of these earlycultures were the Hohokam and Anasazi of theSouthwest and the Mound Builders of the OhioRiver valley.
The Hohokam
The dry, hot desert of present-day Arizonawas home to the Hohokam people. They mayhave come from Mexico about 300 B.C. The Ho-hokam culture flourished from about A.D. 300 toA.D. 1200 in an area bordered by the Gila and SaltRiver valleys.
The Hohokam were experts at squeezingevery drop of available water from the sun-bakedsoil. Their way of life depended on the irrigationchannels they dug to carry river water into theirfields. In addition to hundreds of miles of irriga-tion channels, the Hohokam left behind pottery,carved stone, and shells etched with acid. Theshells came from trade with coastal peoples.
First ceremonialmounds built
Anasazi buildpueblos inNorth America
City ofCahokia isbuilt in Illinois
Hohokamcivilizationof Southwestbegins todecline
c. A.D. 1085 c. 1000 B.C. A.D. 1200c. A.D. 1100
A.D.1000
A.D.1100
A.D.1200
1000 B.C.
B.C./A.D.
North American PeoplesREAD TO DISCOVER . . .■ why Native Americans built cliff dwellings in
canyons in the American Southwest.■ how different Native American groups
adapted to their environments.
TERMS TO LEARNpueblo adobedrought federation
In the summer of 1991, a helicopter pas-senger made an amazing discovery in Arizona’sCoconino National Forest. As the helicopterhovered among the sandstone cliffs, the sunshone into a cave 200 feet (60 m) below therim of one cliff. Standing in the opening of thecave were three large pottery jars.
Up to that moment, no one even knew thecave existed. It had never been spotted fromthe ground, and it could not beseen from the cliff top. Thethree jars had been sitting, untouched andunseen, for more than700 years.
SThetoryteller
Section 3Section 3
Hohokam jar
28 Chapter 1 The First Americans
The Anasazi
The Anasazi lived around the same time asthe Hohokam, roughly A.D. 200 to A.D. 1300, in thearea known as the Four Corners (the meetingplace of the present-day states of Utah, Colorado,Arizona, and New Mexico). There they built greatstone dwellings that the Spanish explorers latercalled pueblos (PWEH•blohs), or villages.Pueblo Bonito, one of the most spectacular of theAnasazi pueblos, can still be seen in New Mexico.The huge semicircular structure of stone and sun-dried earth resembles an apartment building. It isfour stories high and has hundreds of rooms. Ar-chaeologists have found traces of a complex roadsystem linking Pueblo Bonito with other villages.This suggests that Pueblo Bonito was an impor-tant trade or religious center for the Anasazi.
The Anasazi also built dwellings in the wallsof steep cliffs. Cliff dwellings were easy to defendand offered protection from winter weather.Mesa Verde in Colorado, one of the largest andmost elaborate cliff dwellings, held several thou-sand inhabitants.
In about 1300 the Anasazi began leaving thepueblos and cliff dwellings to settle in smaller
communities. Their largevillages may have been aban-doned because of droughts, long periods of littlerainfall, during which their crops dried up.
The Mound Builders
The early cultures of Mexico and CentralAmerica appear to have influenced people livingin lands to the north. In central North America,prehistoric Native Americans built thousands ofmounds of earth that look very much like thestone pyramids of the Maya and the Aztec. Someof the mounds contain burial chambers. Somewere topped with temples, as in the Mayan andAztec cultures.
The mounds are dotted across the landscapefrom present-day Pennsylvania to the MississippiRiver valley. They have been found as far north asthe Great Lakes and as far south as Florida. Ar-chaeologists think that the first mounds werebuilt about 1000 B.C. They were not the work of asingle group but of many different peoples, re-ferred to as the Mound Builders.
Among the earliest Mound Builders were theAdena, hunters and gatherers who flourished inthe Ohio Valley by 800 B.C. They were followed bythe Hopewell people, who lived between 200 B.C.
Pueblo Bonito had more than800 rooms and 32 kivas, or
underground ceremonial chambers. Today,the ruins of Pueblo Bonito are part of ChacoCulture National Historical Park in northwest-ern New Mexico. What other kind ofdwellings were built by the Anasazi?
PicturingHISTORY Kivas at Pueblo
Bonito
Anasazi jar
Chapter 1 The First Americans 29
and A.D. 500. Farmers and traders, the Hopewellbuilt huge burial mounds in the shape of birds,bears, and snakes. One of them, the Great SerpentMound, looks like a giant snake winding acrossthe ground. Archaeologists have found freshwa-ter pearls, shells, cloth, and copper in the mounds.The objects indicate a widespread pattern of trade.
Cahokia
The largest settlement of the Mound Builderswas Cahokia (kuh•HOH•kee•uh) in present-dayIllinois. This city, built between A.D. 900 and A.D.1200 by a people called the Mississippians, mayhave had 30,000 or more residents. The largestmound in Cahokia, the Monks Mound, rises near-ly 100 feet (30 m). When it was built, it was proba-bly the highest structure north of Mexico.
Although nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 km) awayfrom the great cities of Mexico, Cahokia resem-bled them. The city was dominated by the greatpyramid-shaped mound. A temple crowned thesummit—perhaps a place where priests studiedthe movements of the sun and stars or where thepriest-ruler of Cahokia lived. A legend of theNatchez people, descendants of the Mississippi-ans, hints of a direct link to Mexico:
“Before we came into this land we lived yonder under the sun [the speaker pointed southwest towardMexico]. . . . Our nation extended itselfalong the great water [the Gulf of Mexico] where this large river [the Mississippi] loses itself.”
Other Native North Americans
Although the civilizations of the Hohokam,the Anasazi, and the Mound Builders even-
tually faded away, other Native American cul-tures arose to take their place. Around the timethat Europeans began arriving, North Americawas home to dozens of diverse societies.
Peoples of the North
The people who settled in the northernmostpart of North America, in the lands around theArctic Ocean, are called the Inuit. Some scientiststhink that the Inuit were the last migrants to crossthe land bridge into North America.
Workshops, dwellings, mounds, and pyramids developed around the cen-tral plaza of Cahokia. Farms stretched along the Mississippi River valley.
In what way did Cahokia resemble Native American cities in Mexico?
PicturingHISTORY
The Inuit possessed many skills that helpedthem survive in the cold Arctic climate. They mayhave brought some of these skills from northernSiberia, probably their original home. In the winter the Inuit built igloos, low-lying structures of snow blocks, which protected them from se-vere weather. Their clothing of furs and sealskins
was both warm and waterproof. The Inuit werehunters and fishers. In the coastal waters, theypursued whales, seals, andwalruses in small, skin-cov-ered boats. On land theyhunted caribou, large deer-like animals of the far north.
Inupiat
Yupik Tanaina
Tlingit
Haida
Kwakiutl
Nootka
ChinookTillamook
Pomo
Chumash
Yakima
Palus
Nez Percé
Walla Walla
Palute
PaiuteNavajoHopi
Pueblo
Zuni
Papago
ComancheApache
Blackfoot
Inuit
Cree
MandanCrow
Cheyenne
Pawnee
Sioux
Omaha
Osage
Chickasaw
Wichita
Natchez
Yuchi Cherokee
ChoctawCreek
Seminole
Ojibway(Chippewa)
Ottawa
Winnebago
SaukFox
Miami
Shawnee
Mound Builders Algonquian
PowhatanDelaware
HuronIroquois
Mohegan, Pequot
Cayuga
Narraganset
Onondaga
Seneca
Mohawk
Oneida
ARCTICOCEAN
PACIFICOCEAN
ATLANTICOCEAN
Gulf ofMexico
HudsonBay
Tepees wereused by thePlains cultures. Cultures in the
Northeast Woodlandsbuilt longhouses.
Southwestculturesbuilt pueblos.
Native American Cultures Before 1500
Map Study
Early Native Americans spread throughout the continent and adapted their way of life to the terrain and climate where they settled.
1. Region To which culture group did the Apache and Hopi belong? 2. Analyzing Information What type of dwelling did the Iroquois build?
Arctic
Subarctic
Northwest Coast
Plateau
Great Basin
California
Southwest
Plains
Northeast Woodlands
Southeast
N
S
EW
1,000 kilometers0Lambert Equal-Area projection
1,000 miles0
Culture Groups
Hopi Kachina doll
Chapter 1 The First Americans 31
The Inuit made clothing from caribou skins andburned seal oil in lamps.
Peoples of the WestThe mild climate and dependable foodsources of the West Coast created a favor-
able environment for many different groups.The peoples of the northwestern coast, such
as the Tlingit (TLIHNG•kuht), Haida, and Chi-nook, developed a way of life that used the re-sources of the forest and the sea. They builtwooden houses and made canoes, cloth, and bas-kets from tree bark. Using spears and traps, theyfished for salmon along the coast and in riverssuch as the Columbia. This large fish was themain food of the northwestern people. They pre-served the salmon by smoking it over fires.
Salmon was also important for the people ofthe plateau region, the area between the Cas-cade Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. TheNez Perce (NEHZ PUHRS) and Yakima peoplefished the rivers, hunted deer in forests, andgathered roots and berries. The root of thecamas plant, a relative of the lily, was an impor-tant part of their diet. The plateau peoples livedin earthen houses.
Present-day California was home to a greatvariety of cultures. Along the northern coast, Na-tive Americans fished for their food. In the morebarren environment of the southern deserts, no-madic groups wandered from place to place col-lecting roots and seeds. In the central valley, thePomo gathered acorns and pounded them intoflour. As in many Indian cultures, the women ofthe Pomo did most of the gathering and flourmaking.
In the Great Basin between the Sierra Nevadaand the Rocky Mountains, Native Americansfound ways to live in the dry climate. The soil wastoo hard and rocky for farming, so peoples such as the Ute (YOOT) and Shoshone (shuh•SHOHN) traveled in search of food. They atesmall game, pine nuts, juniper berries, roots, and some insects. Instead of making permanentsettlements, the Great Basin people created tem-porary shelters of branches and reeds.
Peoples of the Southwest
Descendants of the Anasazi formed the Hopi,the Acoma, and the Zuni. They built their homesfrom a type of sun-dried mud brick called adobe.They raised maize, beans, and squash.
In the 1500s two new groups settled in the re-gion—the Apache and the Navajo. Unlike theother peoples of the Southwest, the Apache andNavajo were hunters. They chased buffalo andother game. Eventually the Navajo settled intostationary communities and built square housescalled hogans. Although they grew maize to addto their diet of buffalo meat, they depended pri-marily on hunting for food.
Peoples of the Plains
The peoples of the Great Plains were nomadic;villages were temporary, lasting only for a grow-ing season or two. When the people moved fromplace to place, they dragged their homes—cone-shaped skin tents called tepees—behind them.The men hunted antelope, deer, and buffalo. Thewomen tended plots of maize, squash, and beans.
When the Spanish brought horses to Mexicoin the 1500s, some got loose. In time horses madetheir way north, roaming from Texas to the GreatPlains. Native Americans captured and tamed thewild horses, and the Apache, the Dakota, andother Plains peoples became skilled riders. Theylearned to use the horses in warfare, attackingtheir enemies with long spears, and to hunt onhorseback.
LinkingPAST & PRESENTLinkingPAST & PRESENT
What’s In a Name?
Perhaps the most obvious sign of ourcountry’s Native American heritage is the hun-dreds of place names that dot the map. Someof these names offer a vivid physical descrip-tion of the place. Chattanooga, for example,means “rock rising to a point,” while Nantuck-et means “the faraway place.”
32 Chapter 1 The First Americans
Peoples of the East
The Native Americans who lived in thewoodlands of eastern North America formedcomplex political systems to govern their nations.The Iroquois (IHR•uh•KWAWIH) and Cherokeehad formal law codes. They also formed federa-tions, governments that linked different groups.
The Iroquois lived near Canada in what isnow northern New York State. There were fiveIroquois groups or nations: the Onondaga, theSeneca, the Mohawk, the Oneida, and the Cayu-ga. These groups warred with each other until thelate 1500s, when they joined in an organizationcalled the Iroquois League.
Iroquois women occupied positions of powerand importance in their communities. Theyowned the land and were responsible for theplanting and harvesting of crops. Women alsohad a strong voice in the community’s govern-ment. According to the constitution of the Iro-quois League, women chose the 50 men whoserved on the league council.
The Iroquois constitution was written downafter the Europeans came to North America. It de-scribes the Iroquois peoples’ desire for peace:
“I am Dekanawidah and with the FiveNations’ Confederate Lords I plant the
Citizenship Tree of Great Peace. . . . Roots havespread out from the Tree of the GreatPeace, one to the north, one to theeast, one to the south and one to thewest. The name of these roots is TheGreat White Roots and their nature isPeace and Strength.”
Peoples of the Southeast
The Southeast was also a woodlands area, butwith a warmer climate than the eastern wood-lands. The Creek, Chickasaw, and Cherokee wereamong the region’s Native American peoples.Many Creek lived in loosely knit farming com-munities in present-day Georgia and Alabama.There they grew corn, tobacco, squash, and othercrops. The Chickasaw, most of whom lived far-ther west in what is now Mississippi, farmed theriver bottomlands. The Cherokee farmed in themountains of Georgia and the Carolinas.
Wherever they lived in North America, thefirst Americans developed ways of life that werewell suited to their environments. In the 1500s,however, the Native Americans met people whosecultures, beliefs, and ways of life were differentfrom anything they had known or ever seen.These newcomers were the Europeans, and theirarrival would change the Native Americans’world forever.
Activity
Designing a Home Draw a model of a homethat a Native American could have built. Use nat-ural materials that exist in the area where youlive and label the materials on your diagram.Consider the climate of your area in your design.
Checking for Understanding1. Identify Hohokam, Anasazi, Mound
Builders, Hopewell, Inuit, Iroquois.2. Define pueblo, drought, adobe, federation.3. Identify clues that led archaeologists to
believe that the Mound Builders wereinfluenced by other cultures.
Reviewing Themes4. Groups and Institutions What organiza-
tion did the Iroquois form to promotepeace among their people?
Critical Thinking5. Making Generalizations Why was the
environment of the West Coast favorablefor settlement by so many groups ofNative Americans?
Section 3 AssessmentSection 3 Assessment
Many European explorers used primitive navi-gational instruments to help guide them in findingnew places. Today, people explore new and excit-ing places by using the Internet. To become amodern explorer, follow the instructions below.
Getting TherePick a country you would like to know more
about. Follow these steps to gather informationabout this place.
1. Use a search engine. Type in the name of thecountry that you want to learn more about.
2. After the country’s name, enter words likethe following to find more specific informa-tion about this place:
• geography • travel• maps • culture• population • sports
3. The search engine will provide you with anumber of links to follow. Links are “point-ers” to different sites on the Internet andcommonly appear as blue underlined words.
What to Do When You Are ThereOnce you are at the country you have chosen,
click on the links to navigate through the pages ofinformation. Gather your findings by creating a factsheet using a word processor. Using the findings,create an illustrated map of the region you ex-plored. Attach your facts to the map.
Setting up the VideoWork with a group of your classmates to view
“Cahokia Mounds” on the videodisc HistoricAmerica: Electronic Field Trips. The community ofCahokia, built about 1,000 years ago, left hugemounds dotting the surrounding landscape. Thismound-building civilization, located in present-dayIllinois, may have had 30,000 or more residents.The program shows students working with guidesto protect the mounds.
Side 1, Chapter 3 !7JÅ"
Surfing the “Net”
Historic America Electronic Field Trips
Multimedia ActivitiesMultimedia Activities
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Field Trip to Cahokia Mounds
Modern Explorers
View the video by scanning the bar code or by entering thechapter number on your keypad and pressing Search.
Chapter 1 The First Americans 33
Hands-On ActivityJust as the Cahokia mounds revealed details
of the Cahokia people, modern monuments andbuildings express who we, as Americans, aretoday. Create a collage of photographs showingAmerican architecture andmonuments. Write captionsthat explain what the build-ings reveal about modernAmerican society.
Reviewing Key TermsOn a sheet of paper, define the following terms:archaeology culture artifact civilizationIce Age hieroglyphics nomad pueblocarbon dating federation
Reviewing Key Facts1. Why did Asians cross the land bridge to the
Americas?2. What was the first crop raised by Native
Americans in Mexico?3. What were two advantages of living in cliff
dwellings?4. How did horses change the lives of Native
Americans who lived on the Great Plains?
Critical ThinkingAnalyzing Information
Over time Native Americans formed uniquecultures.
1. In what ways did farming contribute to thegrowth of large empires in Central andSouth America?
2. How did living in Siberia help the Inuitadapt to life in the Arctic region?
Time Line ActivityCreate a time line on which you place the followingevents in chronological order.
• Europeans arrive in the Americas• Asian hunters cross Beringia• Inca establish their capital at Cuzco• Maya civilization begins to decline• Mound Builders begin building
mounds• Native Americans in Mexico learn to grow
maize
Reviewing Themes1. Geography and History In what ways did
the environment of Native Americans wholived in the Northwest differ from the environment of those who lived in theSouthwest?
2. Culture and Traditions How do we knowthat religion was an important part ofNative American life?
3. Groups and Institutions How did the Incaand Aztec use war to increase their power?
Geography ActivityStudy the map below and answer the questions thatfollow.
1. Location Along what two major rivers didmany of the Mound Builders settle?
Chapter 1Chapter 1
Assessment and Activities
34 Chapter 1 The First Americans
Adena sites
Hopewell sites
Mississippian sites
40°N
30°N
80°W90°W
SerpentMound
Cahokia
Moundville
Lake
Mic
higa
n
Gulfof
Mexico
LakeHuron Lake
Ontario
Ohio RiverMissouri River
ATLANTICOCEAN
Mis
siss
ippi
Rive
r
Lake Erie
Selected Sites of the Mound Builders
150 kilometers0Lambert Conic projection
150 miles0
N
S
EW
Technology ActivityUsing the Internet Search the Inter-net for a Web site created by a mod-ern Native Americanorganization or group.Based on informationyou find at the Web site,explain the group’s purpose or goals. How doyou think this group’s activities will help to pre-serve the culture of Native Americans?
Cooperative ActivityHistory and Art Create a Native American arti-fact museum for your classroom. With a partner,find an existing photo or illustration (or makeyour own drawing or model) of a Native Ameri-can artifact created before 1500. Label your arti-fact with the name of the Native Americangroup that created it, the approximate date itwas made, a description of how it was used, andthe materials from which it was made. Mountyour artifact on cardboard and display it withother artifacts in a classroom “museum.”
Chapter 1Chapter 1
2. Place Near which river did the Adenabuild most of their settlements?
3. Movement Of the Adena, Hopewell, andMississippian cultures, which settled thefarthest east?
Skill Practice ActivityUnderstanding the Parts of a MapUse the key, compass rose, and scale bar on the map ofearly Ohio villages to answer the questions that follow.
1. What does the map key highlight?2. About how far from Lake Erie was Mohi-
can John’s Town?3. Which Native Americans settled
Goschochgunk?4. Which town was farther west--Pickawillany
or Upper Sandusky?5. What village is located along the Ohio
River?
Native Americans
Mingo
Delaware
Wyandot
Ottawa
Shawnee
Miami
UpperSandusky
Pickawillany
Half King'sTown
Ponty'sTown
Mohican John'sTown
Killbuck TownGoschochgunk
Mingo Town
Chillicothe
Lower ShawneeTownOhio River
OhioRiv
er
Great Mia
mi
Riv
er
Maumee River
SciotoR
iverHocking River
Mu
sking
um
River
Cuyah
oga
Lake Erie
Early Ohio Villages, 1740
60 kilometers0Lambert Conic projection
60 miles0
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5
10
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25
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HHiissttoorryy JJoouurrnnaall Scanthe chapter to findinformation describingtrade among early Native Americangroups. Write a shopping list of atleast five items that you think wouldhave been most valuable to you ifyou were living during this time.Next to each item, draw a hiero-glyph, or symbol, to represent thatitem.
ActivityPortfolioPortfolio
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