Unit 1, Topic 2: The Americas Before European Arrival

Introduction

• This video covers Unit 1, Topic 2 of the AP U.S. History curriculum, focusing on the diverse Native American cultures before European contact.
• Unit 1, Topic 1 is skipped because it serves as a general review, which is covered in separate review videos.

Big Idea

• Before European arrival, Native American peoples organized themselves into diverse cultures adapted to their respective environments.
• It's crucial to avoid the common misconception of a monolithic Native American culture (e.g., nomadic buffalo hunters).
• Native American societies included fishing villages, nomadic hunter-gatherers, agricultural settlements, and city-based empires.

Central and South America

• Three major civilizations: Aztecs, Maya, and Inca.
• Shared characteristics: large urban centers, complex political systems, and well-formed religions.

Aztecs (Mexica) in Central America (Mesoamerica)

• Capital city: Tenochtitlan (population: 300,000 at its height).
• Developed a written language.
• Complex systems of irrigation.
• Practiced a cult of fertility upheld by human sacrifice.

Maya on the Yucatan Peninsula

• Developed large cities.
• Complex irrigation and water storage systems.
• Built stone temples and palaces for rulers believed to be descended from the gods.

Inca in South America (Andes Mountains, present-day Peru)

• Massive empire: ruled 16 million people and covered 350,000 square miles.
• Success attributed to the cultivation of fertile mountain valleys.
• Grew potatoes and other crops, watered by elaborate irrigation systems.

Commonality: Maize Cultivation

• All three civilizations cultivated maize (corn).
• Maize cultivation spread north into the present-day American Southwest.
• Supported economic development, settlement, advanced irrigation, and social diversification.

North America

• Diversity of Native American peoples.

Southwest: Pueblo People (present-day New Mexico and Arizona)

• Sedentary population (farmers).
• Cultivated maize and other crops.
• Built adobe and masonry homes, both in the open and in cliffs.
• Highly organized society with administrative offices, religious centers, and craft shops.

Great Plains and Great Basin Regions

• Nomadic peoples (hunter-gatherers).
• Required large territories due to the aridity of the region.
• Example: Ute people, living in small, egalitarian, kinship-based bands.

Pacific Northwest

• Lived by the sea in fishing villages.
• Relied on elk from the forests.
• Example: Chinook people, who constructed giant plank houses (housing up to 70 family members) from cedar trees.

California Coast: Chumash People

• Hunters and gatherers.
• Lived in permanent settlements due to sufficient game and vegetation.

Mississippi River Valley

• Larger and more complex societies due to fertile soil.

Hopewell People

• Lived in towns of 4,000 to 6,000 people.
• Traded extensively with regions as far as Florida and the Rocky Mountains.

Cahokia People

• Largest settlement in the region (10,000 to 30,000 people).
• Centralized government led by powerful chieftains.
• Extensive trade networks from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.

Northeast: Iroquois

• Lived in villages of several hundred people.
• Grew crops like maize, squash, and beans.
• Lived in longhouses (30 to 50 family members).