Native American Societies — Period 1 (1491-1607)

PERIOD 1: 1491-1607

  • (1) Early Migration

    • 11,000 years ago, nomadic hunters from East Asia crossed the Bering Strait Land Bridge into the Americas.
    • During the Ice Ages, a flat bridge of land was exposed in the modern Bering Strait, enabling migration.

  • (2) Societies: Central & South America

    • ### (A) THE INCA
    • In the 15th century, the Inca created the largest empire in the Americas, stretching 2{,}000\ \text{miles} along western South America, with a population of about 12\times 10^{6} by 1500.
    • They developed a complex administrative system and a large network of paved roads under a single government & emperor.
    • They called elements like a river, stone, or mountain pass, huaca. Incans practiced animism, the belief that components of the physical world could possess supernatural abilities.
    • Using terraces and a technique called waru waru, the Incans built raised beds that collected and redirected water to be used during drier periods. Potatoes and maize were grown using intricate gardening systems.
    • ### (B) THE AZTECS (MEXICA)
    • Its population in 1500 numbered approximately 5{,}000{,}000, with over 200{,}000 living in its largest city, Tenochtitlan.
    • The Mexica developed in south and central Mexico. This city featured large and impressive public buildings, sweeping step pyramids, schools, an organized military, medical system, and a slave workforce drawn from conquered tribes.
    • A century after building the capitol, the Aztecs had conquered their neighbors and formed an empire that extended from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean.
    • Trade and agriculture were important parts of their economy, growing beans, squash, and most critically to a sedentary lifestyle… maize (corn).
    • The Mexica religion included a belief that the gods could be satisfied only by being fed the beating hearts of humans.
    • The Aztecs were for many centuries the center of civilized life in North and Central America until they were conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century.

  • (3) Societies: North America

    • ### (A) THE MISSISSIPPIANS (MOUND BUILDERS)
    • Located along the Mississippi River, Mississippians participated in trade networks that stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes & the Rocky Mountains.
    • Its largest city, Cahokia, near modern-day St. Louis, boasted a population of over 4.0\times 10^{4} at its peak in the year 1200.
    • Thus, its population exceeded even that of London at the time.
    • However, the population of Cahokia mysteriously declined after 1300, believed to be the result of major flooding.
    • Similar to the Aztecs, Mississippians maintained an agricultural economy centered around maize.
    • Chief (Great Sun) Priests, Nobles, Farmers, merchants, Enslaved — a chiefdom developed in Mississippian culture characterized by a settlement hierarchy and institutionalized social stratification.
    • Both women and men hunted but coexisted in a matrilineal society, meaning that social status was indicated by a woman’s side of the family.
    • Lastly, Mississippians were polytheistic with centralization of religious power in the hands of just a few.
    • ### (B) THE IROQUOIS
    • The Iroquois were a Native American group located in the Northeastern Woodlands of the U.S., with thick forests and an abundance of rivers and lakes.
    • Women took general charge of village affairs and farming while men hunted and gathered. Their economy was a mixture of agriculture, fishing, hunting, and gathering.
    • The Iroquois lived in multi-family longhouses (often 200+ feet in length).
    • Land was owned and worked in common with no concept of private property.
    • Similar to Mississippians, tribes were matrilineal.
    • The Five Nation Confederacy served as a loose governing council of the surrounding tribes.
    • ### (C) THE PUEBLO
    • The Pueblos were located in the American Southwest region, characterized by desert geography and an arid environment.
    • This method combined the planting of corn, squash, and beans to naturally nurture one another. Despite a dry climate, they maintained an agricultural economy using drying farming and advanced irrigation techniques like Three Sister Farming.
    • Pueblo Native Americans lived in multi-story buildings using adobe mud (sun-dried brick) and stone.
    • ### (D) GREAT PLAINS NATIVE AMERICANS
    • The Great Plains region featured a very flat grassland with few rivers and forests, leading to aridity-adapted lifestyles.
    • Responding to the aridity of the Great Basin and the grasslands of the western Great Plains, they maintained a pastoral economy based on hunting and gathering, with buffalo as a primary food source.
    • The introduction of the horse by Spanish conquistadores in the 16th century facilitated more efficient hunting.
    • Needing to follow the migration of the buffalo, they adopted a nomadic lifestyle, living in buffalo-skin tepees that could easily be disassembled and moved.
    • Gender roles were centered around hunting (men) and managing the family unit (women).
    • Most significantly, native populations interacted differently with their environments.

  • ## KEY TAKEAWAYS

    • Geographic and environmental factors, including competition over natural resources, shaped the development of Native American societies, fostering regional differences, divisions, and conflicts.
    • The material highlights how diverse ecologies produced a wide range of political and social structures, from centralized empires to kin-based chiefdoms, as well as distinct gender roles and property norms.
    • Ethno-cultural beliefs, such as animism and human-sacrifice in some belief systems, influenced social organization and rituals (e.g., the Aztec emphasis on ritual offerings).
    • Agricultural innovations (e.g., Inca waru waru; Pueblo Three Sisters farming) were crucial for sustaining large populations in various environments.
    • The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century would later intersect with these societies through conquest, exchange, and transformation of landscapes and livelihoods.