Early North American Cultures

Mound Builders in North America

Woodland and Mississippian peoples lived in the Great lakes and Mississippi area. Built burial mounds dated to 500 ce. Declined gradually and disappeared by the fourteenth century.

Adena-Hopewell

This American Indian culture centered in Ohio created large earthen mounds as tall as 300 feet. (p. 4)

Mississipian Culture

Another mound building culture that emerged in the floodplains of the major southeastern river systems about A.D. 800 and lasted until about A.D. 1500.

Puebloans/Anasazi

The Puebloans built great stone buildings in the hot dry area called The Four Corners. The Four Corners are the modern states where they meet, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.

Hohokam

Native Americans who lived in the Southwest from about 300 B.C. to A.D. 1300s and used irrigation to bring water to the crops.

Mississippi River

A major North American river and the chief river of the United States, longest river in the U.S.

Incas South America

They lived in what is now Peru, great mountain dwellers, farmers, irrigation and other traditions.

Mayans

A Mesoamerican civilization of Central America and southern Mexico. Achievements include mathematics, architecture, and a 365 day a year calendar. They flourished between the 4th and 12th centuries C.E..

Aztecs

Also known as Mexica, they created a powerful empire in central Mexico (1325-1521 C.E.). They forced defeated peoples to provide goods and labor as a tax.

irrigation

A way of supplying water to an area of land.

Olmecs

An early people who settled in modern day Mexico and who traded in jade and obsidian and erected colossal heads carved from rocks.

Civilization

A society with cities, a central government, job specialization, and social classes.

Agricultural Revolution

The time when human beings first domesticated plants and animals and no longer relied entirely on hunting and gathering. Nomadic life came to a halt. Villages started to grow.