Chapter 16

1. Chapter 16 People and Empires in the Americas 900-1500

2. Section 1: Diverse Societies of north America • Between 40,000 and 12,000 years ago o Hunter-gatherers crossed the Bering Strait from Asia to North America o Spread across North America o Adapted to their environment – creating diversity

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. Religion Shapes Views of Life • • Another tie was religion • • Nature spirits • • Mostly polytheistic – however some believed in one Great Spirit

9. 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