North & South America Before Columbus

What is the name of a stretch of land that the earliest Americans may have crossed?

• Great Plains

• Maya

• Beringia

• Baja

Answer explanation

During the Ice Age, the ice created a land bridge between Alaska and Asia along the Bering Strait. This is named Beringia.

Between 9,000 & 10,000 years ago early Americans learned to raise crops. This began in a region including Central America and Mexico known as _________.

• Mesocanada

• Mesoamerica

• Maya

• The Southwest

Answer explanation

What early civilization emerged on the Yucatan Peninsula to become what is now Central America and southern Mexico?

• Aztec

• Toltec

• Olmec

• Maya

Answer explanation

The Maya civilization consists of the Yucatan peninsula by the Gulf of Mexico down to the Guatemala coast of the Pacific Ocean.

What was the first civilization to develop in Mesoamerica

between 1500 and 1200 BC?

• Olmec

• Maya

• Toltec

• Aztec

What Mesoamerica civilization grew to be an empire of approximately 5 million people?

• Olmec

• Maya

• Toltec

• Aztec

Answer explanation

The Aztec empire grew by conquering neighboring cities, and using their military power, controlled trade in the region and demanded payment or tribute from the cities they conquered.

What group of people lived in now south-central Arizona that flourished from 300 A.D. to about 1500 A.D?

Hint: they were known for building hundreds of miles of irrigation canals to water their crops.

• The Anasazi

• The Toltecs

• The Hohokam

• The Cherokee

Answer explanation

The Hohokam were clever to channel water from other areas to their crops.

What people lived in the area of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico, and

they were known by the impressive construction of villages the Spanish called "Pueblos?"

• The Hohokam

• The Zuni

• The Hopi

• The Anasazi

Answer explanation

The Anasazi build large multistory buildings of adobe and cut stone with connecting passageways and circular ceremonial rooms called kivas.

Between 700 A.D. and 900 A.D. the Mississippian culture emerged. They were known for being great _______________.

• Builders

• Hunters

• Sailors

• Nomads

Answer explanation

The Mississippian culture built a city anthropologists named Cahokia. This city was 5 square miles large with more than 100 flat topped pyramids, some having a base that covered 16 acres - larger than any in Egypt or Mexico.

Most Native Americans that lived in the north-east belonged to one of two main language groups.

Which language was used by the Powhatans and likely to be the first language encountered by the English Settlers?

• Algonquian

• French-Canadian

• Iroquoian

• Huronian

Answer explanation

Words from the Algonquian language used in English today include succotash, hominy, moccasin, and papoose. American Indians that used the Algonquian language were among the first to meet English Settlers.

What Native American language was spoken in western New York, southern Ontario, and along the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina?

• Muskogee

• Siouan

• Iroquoian

• Algonquian

Answer explanation

One of the well known American Indian tribes to use the Iroquoian language was the Cherokee. They lived primarily along the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee.

Today, there is a reservation in this same area for the Cherokee.