CHAPTER 16People and Empires in the

Americas

900-1500

SECTION 1: DIVERSE SOCIETIES OF NORTH AMERICA

• Between 40,000 and 12,000 years agoo Hunter-gatherers crossed the Bering Strait from Asia to North Americao Spread across North Americao Adapted to their environment – creating diversity

Complex Societies Build and Trade • North of Rio Grande less

developed than South America and Mesoamerica

Northwest Coast – Cultures of Abundance

• Pacific Northwest-Abundant resources supported large populations

Sea • Hunted whales in canoes Forests

Pueblo People Construct Complex Buildings

• Southwest – harsher, dryer land = deserts

• By 900’s AD – living in pueblos – apartment style compounds made of stone and sun baked clay

Mound Builders Forge Ties with Eastern People- East of Mississippi

• Last mound builders – Mississippians

o Built giant pyramids o Thrived on farming and trade o Governed by priest-rulers

Woodlands Tribes Build Alliances • Woodland tribes and Mississippian

peoples had things in common o Example – environment o Iroquois – Great Lakes region –

common language spoken among several tribes

Cultural Connections Trading Networks Tie Tribes Together • Trade linked the people of North

America • Built trade centers • Traveling merchants • Goods would travel 1000’s of miles

Religion Shapes Views of Life • Another tie was religion • Nature spirits • Mostly polytheistic – however

some believed in one Great Spirit

Shared Social Patterns: • Family was the basis for social

organization o Most lived in extended family

situations o Some were organized into clans –

groups of families from a common ancestor