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2 TERMS & NAMES 2 SocietiesSocieties ofof technology tundra kayak NorthNorth AmericaAmerica matrilineal slash-and-burn agriculture MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW Deganawida By 1500, a variety of Native American Many Americans today claim one or Iroquois League groups—each with a distinct more of these cultures as part of culture—lived in North America. their heritage. ONE AMERICAN’S STORY Many Native Americans today work to save their culture, so it won’t vanish as some ancient cultures did. Haida artist Bill Reid took part in this effort. When he was a teenager in the 1930s, totem poles and other Haida crafts existed mostly in museums. Few Haida carvers were making new ones. Reid himself did not learn about Haida arts until he was 23 and visited his grandparents’ island village off the west coast of Canada. Reid’s grandfather showed him the tools of a great Haida artist of the 1800s. Reid began to study Northwest Coast native arts by reading books and visiting museums. After taking a class in jewelry making, he created gold jewelry with Haida designs. He also carved totem poles and sculptures. When Reid died in 1998, his work was praised. A VOICE FROM THE PAST Canada has lost one of its greatest artists. A descendant of a lineage of great Haida artists . , Bill Reid revived an artistic tradition that had survived only in museum collections. Dr. George MacDonald, at Bill Reid’s memorial service, March 24, 1998 Creating sculptures of traditional designs was one way Bill Reid Written records and people like Reid have preserved knowledge of kept Haida culture alive. the cultures that flourished in the Americas when Europeans arrived. This section explains the diversity of Native American groups in 1500. Native American Diversity By 1500, Native Americans had divided into hundreds of cultural groups, speaking perhaps 2,000 languages. One reason Native Americans were so diverse was that each group adapted to its own envi- ronment—whether subzero ice fields, scorching deserts, or dense forests. Environment shaped each group’s economy, technology, and religion. Technology is the use of tools and knowledge to meet human needs. In some regions, Native Americans based their economy on farming. In oth- ers, they relied on hunting or fishing. Different environments caused technology to vary. In coastal areas, farmers made tools from shells. In 32 CHAPTER 1 80 Haida ° Cree W North America, 1500 120 Kwakiutl Ojibwa ° Blackfoot W Nez Algonquin Perce Crow Mandan Ottawa Dakota Huron Chinook (Sioux) Sauk Iroquois PACIFIC Shoshone Cheyenne Potawatomi Wampanoag Iowa Pequot OCEAN Pawnee Miami Arapaho Delaware Pomo Susquehanna 40°N Paiute Kansas Shawnee Powhatan ATLANTIC Kiowa Osage Navajo Apache OCEAN Hopi Chickasaw Tuscarora Chumash Zuni Pueblo Cherokee Native American Cultures Pima Subarctic Choctaw Northwest Coast 0 500 Miles Comanche Creek California 0 1,000 Kilometers Plateau Great Basin Mesoamerican Seminole Gulf of Southwest Mexico GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER Plains Interpreting Maps Eastern Woodlands Tropic of Cancer Southeastern 1. Movement Which Native Caribbean American culture was able to Huichol Major trade routes trade directly with the Aztecs? Aztec Taino 2. Location Which culture lived around the Great Lakes? Skillbuilder deserts, they used irrigation. Environment affected religion, too. Native Answers Americans strongly believed that certain places were sacred—and that 1. the people of animals, plants, and natural forces had spiritual importance. the Southwest 2. the people of Although Native American groups had many differences, they all felt the Eastern closely connected to nature, as shown in the following chant. Woodlands A VOICE FROM THE PAST Earth’s body has become my body by means of these I shall live on. Earth’s mind has become my mind by means of these I shall live on. Navajo Blessing Way, quoted in America in 1492 In addition, trade linked Native Americans. Trading centers developed across North America, especially at points where two cultures met. Peoples of the North and Northwest Coast Background The Aleut (uh•LOOT) and the Inuit (IHN•yoo•iht) were peoples of the The Inuit are far North. The Aleut lived on islands off Alaska, and the Inuit lived near also called the Eskimo. the coast on tundra. Tundra is a treeless plain that remains frozen under its top layer of soil. Ice and snow cover the ground most of the year. Because their climate was too cold for farming, the Inuit and Aleut were hunters. They paddled kayaks, small boats made of animal skins, The World in 1500 33 into icy seas to spear whales, seals, and walruses. They hunted these mammals for food, and they made seal and walrus skins into clothes. A. Possible Some Inuit religious ceremonies honored the spirits of the whales and Answer because seals they caught. The Inuit also hunted such land animals as caribou. those items were unavailable in They made arrowheads and spear points from bones and antlers. their area Farther south, Northwest Coast people also hunted sea mammals. But they mostly fished for salmon. Living by forests, Northwest Coast A. Making people used wood for houses, boats, and carved objects. They traded Inferences Why would inland such coastal products as shells for items from the people trade for “The term [potlatch] inland, such as furs. seashells? Northwest Coast groups such as the Kwakiutl comes from (KWAH•kee•OOT•uhl) and Haida had a special cere- Chinook . and mony—the potlatch. Individuals would give away most means ‘to give.’” or all of their goods as a way to claim status and bene- Gloria Cranmer Webster, fit their community. They held potlatches to mark life U’mista Cultural Centre events, such as naming a child or mourning the dead. Peoples of the West Unlike the Native Americans of the Northwest Coast, those of the West did not rely mainly on the sea. The peoples of the West included tribes B. Reading a Map On the map on in California, the Columbia Plateau, and the Great Basin. Much of the page 33, locate West is desert or is not suitable for farming. The people who lived there the cultures of existed mainly by hunting and gathering. California, the Plateau, and the The men hunted deer, elk, antelope, rabbits, and birds. They also Great Basin. fished, especially for salmon that swam up the western rivers. Women Notice why these gathered such wild foods as nuts, seeds, and berries. Many western three together are called the groups moved with the seasons to collect food. peoples of the The women of some western tribes became expert West. The Aztec Calendar weavers. Pomo women wove beautiful baskets that they This stone is the Aztec calender used to gather and store food. They wove some baskets wheel. In the center is the sun tightly enough to be watertight. god. Around it are symbols for The peoples of the West had strong spiritual beliefs, the 20 days of the Aztec month. Three are enlarged below. often linked to nature. Some held ceremonies to ensure a large food supply. Others held dances to ask for rain, for plant growth, and for good hunting. Still others believed that their religious leaders could contact the spirit world. Deer D it e b at ab h R Peoples of Mexico Far to the south, the Aztecs ruled a great civilization in what is now central Mexico. The origin of the Aztecs is unclear. They may have been hunters and gatherers like the Native Americans of the West. Sometime during the 1100s, they migrated into the Valley of Mexico. In 1325, they began to build their capital city, Tenochtitlán (teh•NAWCH•tee•TLAHN), on islands in Lake Texcoco. Two things helped the Aztecs become a strong empire. First, they drained swamps and built an 34 irrigation system. This enabled them to grow plenty of food. Second, they were a warlike people who conquered most of their neighbors. The defeated people then had to send the Aztecs food and resources. The Aztecs had a complex society. Rulers were the highest class. Priests and government workers ranked next. Slaves and servants were at the bot- tom. The Aztecs had elaborate religious ceremonies linked to their calen- dar and their study of the sun, moon, and stars. Many of their beliefs came from earlier Mesoamerican cultures. The Aztecs’ most important ritual involved feeding their sun god human blood. To do this, the Aztecs sac- rificed prisoners of war by cutting out the person’s heart while he was still alive. One reason the Aztecs fought KACHINA DANCES so many wars was to capture prisoners to sacrifice. Every year in summer the Hopi, Zuni, and other Pueblo Indians held a religious celebration. The Peoples of the Southwest ceremony called on the kachinas, North of the Aztec, in what is now the American or spirits of the ancestors. The Pueblo believed the kachinas Southwest, lived the Pueblo people. Their ancestors had the power to bring a plenti- were the ancient Hohokam and Anasazi. Like their ful harvest. At the festival, ancestors, the Pueblo used irrigation to alter their desert masked dancers played the role of different kachinas. They region for farming. They lived in many-storied houses danced and sang songs to bring of adobe—dried mud bricks. These large buildings rain in the year ahead. Today, sometimes held an entire village. the Pueblo also carve kachina dolls, shown below, as well as Pueblo Indian farmers raised corn, beans, and hold dances. squash. For meat, they hunted game and raised turkeys. Men did most of the farming, hunting, weaving, and building. Women ground the corn and cooked the food, repaired the adobe houses, and crafted pottery. The Navajo and the Apache were nomadic, or wan- dering, hunter-gatherers who came to the region later C.

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