Precolumbian America

U.S. History to 1877

Earliest Americans

■ First arrivals

– 50–35,000 years ago?

■ Main invasion

– 11,000 years ago

Mass extinctions of all large mammals: Did people do it?

Development of Agriculture

■ 10,000 years ago: NW Mexico or SW U.S.

– Beans, gourds, squash

■ 5000 years ago

– Cotton, corn, pottery

Rise of American civilization

■ Olmec “mother culture”

– Mexican coast, 1500-900 BC

■ Temple mounds & stone monuments

■ Cities & social classes

■ Priests & armies

Mayans in the Jungles of Yucatan

Mayan civilization

■ Peak 600-900 AD

– Hieroglyphics

– Advanced astronomy, calendar, mathematics

Aztecs Conquer Central Mexico

■ Tenochtitlán

– Established 1325

Aztecs Conquer Central Mexico

■ Rise of empire from 1427 to 1521

Aztec Civilization

The Inca Empire

■ Mountain civilization in the Andes of South America

■ Rapid expansion from Cuzco, 1438-1525

Incan Civilization

■ Densest population

– Terraces

– Irrigation

■ Centralized

– 12,000 mi.
of roads

Incan Civilization

■ Architects

■ Engineers

■ Artisans

Mississippian Moundbuilders

Cahokia, Illinois

■ Peak 1100-1200

■ Up to 20,000 inhabitants

The Anasazi of
the Southwest

■ Peak 1100-1300

Woodland culture

■ Seminomadic

■ Burial mounds

■ Wigwam & longhouse

■ Wampum, calumet, canoe

Contrast between New World & Old

Contact of New World and Old

■ Epidemics & demographic disaster

■ Trade, dependence, cultural change

■ Contributions to the Old World