us history 10

North America Before Columbus

Mesoamerican Cultures

Agricultural Revolution

began in Mesoamerica - grew crops instead of hunter/gatherer lifstyle. Allowed for large civilizaitons to form

Multiple Choice

Where was Mesoamerica located?

• Central America

• South America

• North America

• Mesopotamia

Major Mesoamerican Groups

• The Olmecs - 1st to develop civilization around 1350BC

• The Maya - great at engineering and mathematics - disappeared around 900AD

• Toltec and Aztec -Aztec conquered the Toltec around 1150AD and created the first large empire. Practiced human sacrifice.

Western Cultures

• Technology spread out of Mesoamerica, up the Mississippi River and into the American South West

• Many different peoples and cultures developed as early as 700AD

• Most lived in cities or villages but some were nomads

Poll

Do you have Native American Ancestors?

• Yes

• No

Northeastern Peoples

• Lived between the Mississippi and Great Lakes

• Used a farming method called 'slash-and-burn' agriculture, where parts of forests are burned, then cleared for planting.

• Most spoke Algonquian or Iroquois

• The Iroquois often fought among themselves until the 1500s when they formed an alliance called the Iroquois Confederacy - which was an oral constitudtion that defined the law.

Multiple Choice

What allowed most Natives to create civilizations instead of traveling from place to place?

• Human Sacrifice

• Slash and burn agriculture

• the Iroquois Confederacy

• the Agricultural Revolution