WORLDSCOLLIDE!!

Native AmericansWhat do the following pictures have in common, besides being types of shelters?

The Indians of North America had many differences. However, they also had many similarities!

I. Native Americans A. Religion – based on a belief in spirits who controlled all events in life. Thus everything had a ceremony. Ceremonies passed down through oral tradition.

B. Economy – based on trade and division of labor. Traded for what they needed, but also to make friends with neighboring tribes.

Native American Cultural BeliefsC. Property – Land could never be traded or sold because no one owned land. Everyone had a right to the land.D. Family – most important aspect of Indian Life. Family was basically the entire tribe (Kinship network and hierarchy). The tribe provided many services such as: Medical care, child care, schooling, and resolving legal disputes.

II. West Africans

A. Rain Forest B. Rule based on lineage

(kinship network) C. Religion based mainly

in Animism

III. Slavery: when and why Slavery was practiced by many African tribes before Europeans came. Why? Because there was plenty of land in Africa. Everyone had it. There was a shortage in labor, however. The more people you had, the more productive your land became. Wealth was measured in people, not land. Slaves were usually POWs, criminals and orphans. However, in Africa, most slaves were treated as part of the actual family.

IV. The Europeans:

A. Feudal society was ending and nations were being formed.

B. Christianity was the main religion: caused many to believe in an ordered society.

C. Once Columbus “discovered” the Americas, the Europeans began to compete for the “New World”. However, unlike Native Americans, wealth was based on property.

New World map 1540 New World map 1626

V. Age of Exploration driven by three factors: God, gold and glory

A. The Spanish Conquer Central and South America.

What happened to many of the Native Americans in Central and South America?

What is the main language of these areas today? What is the main religion in this region?

B. North America by 17501. The French conquered much of modern day Canada all the way down the Mississippi River. They had friendly relations with native Americans because the French had far fewer settlers so there was little need of “taking” the natives’ land. The French also established a useful fur trade with the Native Americans.

B. North America 2. The English colonies on the Atlantic had different relations with the Native Americans. Land was needed, especially in the south. Native Americans were pushed off their lands and they fought back.

In the end, It was not war that killed off many of the Natives, but European diseases, such as measles, mumps and smallpox.

VI. The Columbian Exchange