CHAPTER 1: THE
WORLD BEFORE 1600
Big Picture: During the Ice Age, nomads
crossed a land bridge connecting Asia and
North America. Since then, people of various
cultures have made America their home.
Meanwhile in Europe and Africa, cultures that
would one day explore the world and build
colonies in the Americas were coming into
contact.
CHAPTER 1 SECTION 1:
THE EARLY AMERICAS
Main Idea: People arrived on the
American continents thousands of
years ago and developed flourishing
societies.
Migration to the
Americas
• 10,000 years ago Asia
and North America were
connected by a land
bridge across the Bering
Strait
• Small groups of nomads (people who move from place
to place) crossed the bridge into North America
following a hunter-gatherer way of life
• Females collected nuts, berries, wild plants, and birds’ eggs
• Males went on extended hunts, following herds
• As the climate warmed, the land
bridge disappeared
• Skillful hunters wiped out most
of the huge Ice Age animals
• Need for new food supplies led
to the agricultural revolution;
Native Americans began planting
and harvesting crops, which
allowed them to settle into
villages
• Three crops dominated: corn,
beans, and squash
• Men hunted seasonally and began
to raise animals
• This allowed populations to grow,
crafts to develop, and governments
to be established
Cultures of Central America
and South America
• Olmec: centered around
the Gulf of Mexico and
influenced surrounding
cultures
• had the first system of writing
• used slash-and-burn agriculture
• Maya: rose as the Olmec
declined
• Cities served as religious cities
• Created the concept of zero
• Declined but still exist today
• Toltec: rose as the Mayan
declined
• Dominated central Mexico
• were warriors, artisans, and
builders
• Aztec: came to power in the
1400s
• Used canals and floating
gardens to support large cities
• Conquered most of their
neighbors and demanded
tribute payments
• Most famous for their largescale human sacrifice to their
gods
• Inca: rose to power in the
Andes Mountains in South
America
• Conquered tribes along the
coast and created an empire
connected by roads and bridges
The Earliest Cultures
of North America
• Southwest
• Grew crops and traded with each other
• Hohokam and Anasazi built irrigation ditches and adobe buildings
the Spanish later called pueblos
• Declined due to drought and war
• Mound Builders
• Centered in eastern North American from Mississippi River to
Atlantic Ocean
• Lived in clans and built massive mounds (included Adena and
Hopewell) and had extensive trade networks
• Mississippian Culture
• Also mound builders but were the most advanced culture
• Introduced the agriculture hoe and built massive pyramids for rulers
Chapter 1 Review
Write the Question and the Answer
Chapter 1 Section 1
1. How did the first people arrive in North
America?
2. What were the main effects of the
agricultural revolution?
CHAPTER 1 SECTION 2:
NORTH AMERICAN
CULTURES IN THE 1400S
Main Idea: A variety of complex
societies existed in different regions
of North America before European
explorers arrived in the early 1500s.
Regional Differences Among
Native Americans
Northwest Coast
and California
• Climate cool and rainy
• Hunted game and fished
in dugout canoes
• Built large wooden
houses
Southwest
• Pueblo people: governed
by council of religious
elders
• Grew corn, beans, squash
& cotton
• Made pottery and
baskets
Far North
• Inuits: survived through hunting (not much agriculture)
Plateau
and Great Basin
• Little rain, few trees
• Populations remained
small as they foraged
and hunted small game
Great Plains
• Best known groups
(Sioux, Cheyenne)
• Followed the large herds
(deer, elk and buffalo)
Eastern Woodlands
• Rather isolated from
each other due to dense
forests and mountains
• Iroquois included several
nations in the Northeast
and built longhouses
Southeast
• Grew crops and built
thatch-roof log cabins
plastered with mud
Native American Customs
Family Relations
• Family was the center of society
and family groups were arranged
into clans
• Kinship determined status,
marriage and inheritance; usually
matrilineal
Social and Political Structures
• Some had strict social classes,
others were more equal
• Nearly all tribes were headed by a
chief and run by a council of elders
Land Use
• Did not believe in
ownership of land
• Believed it was a gift from
the Great Spirit to be used
by all
• Would go to war over
control of hunting grounds
Division of Labor
• Women usually cultivated
and harvested crops and
men hunted
• Childcare usually went to
women
• Women made clothes and
pottery, men usually did
wood and metal work
Religious Beliefs
• Different from European
beliefs of Christianity
• All tribes had a spiritual
connection to the natural
world
• All societies had creation
myths
• Animals were thought to be
powerful spirits
• Most tribes had shamans
thought to have spiritual and
healing powers
Trading Networks Link
Native American Societies
• Trade was usually conducted
through a barter system
• Tribes traded surplus goods
for more scarce materials,
leading to specialization by
tribe
• Trading networks developed
to connect various tribes and
varied in size
• Tribes traded ideas as well as
goods, especially
architectural techniques and
religious beliefs
Chapter 1 Review
Write the Question and the Answer
Chapter 1 Section 2
3. How could Native Americans’ view of land
ownership work in favor of Europeans when they
established colonies in the Americas?
4. Write a brief definition of shaman.
5. What were the main differences between Native
American and European religious beliefs?
CHAPTER 1 SECTION 3:
AFRICAN CULTURES
BEFORE 1500
Main Idea: Trade was a major factor
in the development of African
societies south of the Sahara.
African Society and the Slave Trade
• Family was the center of
society
• The largest class distinction
was between free and slave
• People were enslaved due to
war, crime, and debt
• BUT could usually work their
way out of it
The Portuguese in West Africa
• The Portuguese established trading posts and later built
forts on the Atlantic coast
• They found riches in the area called the Gold Coast; most
other ventures were unsuccessful
• Later the Portuguese and the Spanish set up plantations on
islands off the Atlantic coast
• In the 1500s, they started sugar plantations on the
Caribbean islands and elsewhere in America; they were later
joined by the British, the French, and the Dutch
• Plantations require large numbers of workers because it is
labor-intensive; first try to use Native Americans, but harsh
conditions took a heavy toll
The Atlantic Slave Trade begins and its impact
on African society
• Atlantic slave trade met a need for
cheap labor but also reflected a
European belief that black Africans
were inferior
• Misunderstandings over slavery
and a desire to weaken other tribes
or obtain European goods led to
cooperation by tribes with
European slave traders
• The slave trade lasted 400 years
and 20 million slaves were shipped
to the Americas
Chapter 1 Review
Write the Question and the Answer
Chapter 1 Section 3
6. Who were the first European explorers on
he Atlantic coast of Africa?
7. How did the demand for slave labor begin?
8. What factors led to the Atlantic slave trade?
CHAPTER 1 SECTION 4:
EUROPE AND
EXPLORATION
Main Idea: Renaissance ideas
changed Europeans’ medieval
outlook and inspired them to
explore the world.
The Middle Ages
• 500-1500 A.D. the time immediately
following the fall of the Roman
Empire
• Feudalism rose to protect peasants
by binding them to lords
• The Roman Catholic Church
dominated peoples’ lives and led to
the Crusades (a series of wars to
take the Holy Land from Muslims)
• Led to trade with Middle East and
the development of towns as
centers of trade and commerce
• The Late Middle Ages saw
a rise of nation-states
(kings with centralized
power and armies taking
power from lords)
• Some nobles fought back;
English nobles forced
King John to sign the
Magna Carta in 1215
(established trial by jury,
representation in
government)
The Renaissance and
Protestant Reformation
• The Renaissance
(French word,
“rebirth”) begins in
Italy in the 1300s as an
era of learning and
creativity and spreads
throughout Europe
• led to a revival of learning,
science, and trade
• People began questioning the church which
led to the Protestant Reformation: an
attempt to correct abuses within the Church
that led to the development of various
denominations
• In Spain, Catholicism
was firmly established
with the rule of
Ferdinand and Isabella
• They expelled the
Muslims in Granada
and purged Protestants
in the Spanish
Inquisition
The Age of Exploration
Marco Polo & Prince Henry the
Navigator
• Renaissance and Crusades led to
exploration and expansion of trade
• Italian Marco Polo made a successful
voyage to China and wrote a book that
inspired other explorers
• Prince Henry of Portugal established a
school and naval observatory to
encourage exploration
• Sponsored expeditions along the
western coast of Africa
• Established trade with many costal
tribes
Sailing Technology
and Sea Route to Asia
• Portuguese developed a new
sailing vessel called the caravel:
central rudder, triangular sails,
cargo holds
• Inventions like the astrolabe
allowed sea travel beyond the
coast
• Travel to Asia by land was time
consuming, expensive, and
dangerous
• Explorers began looking for a sea
route
• Dias and da Gama both rounded
the southern tip of Africa; da Gama
made it to India and back
Chapter 1 Review
Write the Question and the Answer
Chapter 1 Section 4
9. What were the Crusades?
10. In what ways was the Renaissance a rebirth
for Europe?
CHAPTER 1 SECTION 5:
CULTURES MAKE
CONTACT
Main Idea: Columbus’ voyages to the
Americas established contact with
Native Americans and led to European
colonies and an exchange of goods and
ideas.
Vikings and Columbus
Vikings Visit North
America
• Vikings from Norway
are first to reach North
America
• They attempt to
colonize in Vineland, a
settlement in what is
now eastern Canada
but it is unsuccessful
due to hostility of
Native Americans
Columbus Voyages to the Caribbean
• Christopher Columbus was an Italian
explorer who convinced Queen Isabella of
Spain that a westward voyage to Asia was
possible
• August 1492: Columbus sails westward
with three ships
• They find land three weeks later in the
Caribbean
• Because he thought he was in the east
Indies, Columbus called the people Indians
• The locals showed him gold, but after one
of his ships ran aground, Columbus
returned to Spain
• Columbus made three more voyages to
the Americas and died assuming he was in
the east Indies
Impact on Native Americans
• Columbus’ voyages set off a wave of colonization, starting in
Hispaniola
• Relations between the Spanish and the natives quickly soured
and Europeans began enslaving the natives
• Priest Bartolome de Las Casas attempted to win better
treatment of the natives and laws were passed to protect
them, but these laws were rarely enforced
The Columbian Exchange
• Exchange of plants, animals, language, technology, and disease
between Europe and the Americas
From North America:
From Europe:
*Beans
*bananas
*Corn
*cattle
*Coca
*citrus fruit
*pumpkins/squash
*peaches
*peanuts
*honeybees
*turkey
*pigs
*tobacco
*horses
*potatoes/sweet potatoes
*wheat
*tomatoes
*grapes
*syphilis
*smallpox/measles
Chapter 1 Review
Write the Question and the Answer
Chapter 1 Section 5
11. What was the Viking experience in America?
12. What impact did European exploration have on
Native Americans?
13. Who do you think benefited most from the
Columbian Exchange, Native Americans or
Europeans? Why?
Chapter 1 Review
Write the Question and the Answer
This is part of Columbus’s description of encountering the
Tainos.
“I gave them a thousand good, pleasing things which I had
brought, in order that they might be fond of us, and
furthermore might be made Christians and be inclined to
the love and service of their Highness and of the whole
Castilian [Spanish] nation and try to help us and to give us
of the things which they have in abundance and which are
necessary to us.”
~ Columbus’s Letter on his First Voyage
14. Who was Columbus referring to when he wrote
“their Highness”?
15. What were Columbus’s goals in giving the Tainos
“pleasing things”?
Chapter 1 Review
Write the Question and the Answer
Read the passage in Section 4 that begins with the
heading “The Crusades” (page 24). Then answer the
following question.
16. According to the passage, the leading institution
in medieval Europe was
A.
B.
C.
D.
the military.
the nation-state.
the Catholic Church.
the nobility.
Mystery migration to America
Anthropologists have long believed that the Americas were settled more than
15,000 years ago by people from Siberia and East Asia who crossed the now
submerged Bering Land Bridge to North America, then worked their way south.
But new research at Harvard Medical School suggests an entirely different
population made a separate trip from Siberia to the Americas, and that the first
Americans were a far more diverse lot than previously thought. DNA studies
have found that Native Americans living in Brazil today have a distant,
surprising genetic connection to indigenous groups in Australia, New Guinea,
and the Andaman Islands. It remains unclear how and when this second group,
dubbed Population Y—after ypykuéra, a word meaning “ancestor” in two
Amazonian -languages—found its way to South America. Danish
researchers uphold the prevailing theory that Native Americans arrived
in a single wave of migration and differentiated into today’s distinct
groups much later. The Harvard researchers disagree, asserting that this
mystery population represents a separate migratory wave. Senior study
author David Reich tells The New York Times that “we have
overwhelming evidence of two founding populations in the Americas.”
THE WEEK