APUSH Enduring Vision Chapter 1 Outline

Haley Luu

Chapter 1 - Outline!
AP U.S. History 


!

I. Introduction!
a. Three things Native Americans had in common!
i. They identified themselves primarily as members of multigenerational families rather than as individuals or subjects of governments.! ii. Most emphasized reciprocity and mutual obligation rather than coercion as means of maintaining harmony within and between communities. ! iii. They perceived the entire universe, including nature, as sacred.!
II. The First Americans, c. 13,000-2500 B.C.!
a. Peopling New Worlds!
i. Two main theories about the origins of the people of the Americas!
1. One theory holds that Siberian hunters, pursuing game animals, crossed the expanse of land linking Asia with North
America during the last Ice Age, arriving only around 10,500
B.C. According to this theory, the hunters made their way through a glacial corridor, dispersing themselves over much of the Western Hemisphere. !
2. A second theory, based on recent archaeological finds, suggests that the first humans arrived much earlier by boat, following the then-continuous coast to Alaska and progressing southward. At various points along the way, groups stopped and either settled nearby or traveled inland to establish new homes.! ii. Description of early Americans’ lives/culture!
1. Most Paleo-Indians appear to have traveled within welldefined hunting territories in bands consisting of several families and totaling about fifteen to fifty people. Men hunted, while women prepared food and cared for the children.!

!

1

b. Archaic Societies!
i. Description of how and why Native Americans’ culture changed!
1. Native American culture changed due to the warming of the
Earth's atmosphere, which led to a variety of different plants and animals developing. The Native Americans were able to use the resources of their environment more efficiently, required less land area, and were able to support larger populations. Men took the responsibility for fishing as well as hunting, while women procured wild plant products. By 5000
C.E., some Native Americans were starting to farm. They

Haley Luu cultivated squash, beans, chili peppers, fruit, and by 2500
B.C., maize. 


!

III. Cultural Diversity, c. 2500- A.D. 1500!
a. How did Native American’s way of life change?!
i. The Native Americans main sources of food became the crops they cultivated. In some of the societies, farming was very intensive and it radically changed the environment. Some nonfarming and farming societies transformed trade networks into extensive religious and political systems that linked several local communities. Some of the groupings evolved into formal confederacies and hierarchal states. In areas where there were few food sources, the nomadic tribes survived by hunting, fishing, and gathering. !
b. Mesoamerica and South America !
i. Describe the chiefdoms that grew !
1. Chiefdoms eventually emerged over much of the Americas, from the Mississippi valley to the Amazon valley and the
Andes Mountains. They were highly unequal, with thousands of residents dominated by a few wealthy elites and with hereditary rulers claiming kinship with religious deities.
Although men ruled most chiefdoms and states, women served as chiefs in some Andean societies until the Spanish arrived.! ii. Teotihuacan!
1. Teotihuacan was the capital of the largest early state. It is about fifty miles northeast of modern Mexico City. In the center of the city was a complex of pyramids. Teotihuacan dominated the peoples of the valley of Mexico, and its trade networks extended over much of modern-day Mexico. Even though the city declined in the eighth century, it had an enormous influence on the religion, government, and culture of its neighbors. It had the greatest influence on the Mayans. 


!

IV.The Southwest!
a. Why did maize cultivation not reach this area until 2500 B.C.- how did this affect farming?!
i. Full-time farming began after 400 B.C. when the introduction of a more drought-resistant strain enabled some farmers to move from the highlands to drier lowlands. In the centuries that followed, southwestern populations rose, and Indian cultures were transformed. !
b. Describe the Hohokam people!
i. The Hohokam people emerged during the third century B.C. They built irrigation canals that allowed them to harvest two crops a
2

Haley Luu year. To construct and maintain their canals, they organized large, coordinated work forces. They also built permanent towns that usually consisted of several hundred people. ! ii. Their culture drew extensively on Mesoamerican materials and ideas. Mesoamerican influence was seen in architecture and artwork. !
c. Describe the Anasazi people!
i. The Anasazi people and their culture originated during the first century B.C. Around 700 A.D., they were harvesting crops, living in permanent settlements, and making pottery. They expanded over a wide area and became the most powerful people in the
Southwest. One of the distinguishing characteristics of Anasazi culture was its architecture.!
d. What happened to both of these cultures?!
i. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, both of the cultures dispersed due to drought. New, smaller pueblos replaced the cultures. !

V. The Eastern Woodlands!
a. List some of the groups in the Eastern Woodlands!
i. Woodland Indians! ii. Adena People! iii. People of Poverty Point! iv. Cahokia People!
b. Describe their culture- explain what mounds were and what they were used for! v. Mounds were structures that were built and spread over wide areas and most of them contained graves. !
c. Describe the Mississippian Civilizations!
i. How did they clear land to farm!
1. They used the slash-and-burn method of land management.
It was environmentally sound and economically productive. 


!

VI.Nonfarming societies!
a. Why did these societies not farm? How did they compensate for not farming?!
i. Farming north of Mesoamerica was either impossible because of inhospitable environments or impractical because native peoples could obtain enough food from wild sources with less work. !
b. What are some examples of these societies?!
i. The Indians on the Northwest, devoted brief periods of each year to catching salmon and other fish. !
1. Makah Indians of Ozette! ii. Plains Indian hunters pursue a variety of game animals, which include antelope, deer, elk, bear, buffalo, and bison. !
c. Why did the Indians in America have no reason for a wheel?!
3

Haley Luu
i. They didn't have domesticated animals. 


!

VII.North American Peoples on the Eve of European Contact!
a. By 1500 how many people lived in the Western Hemisphere!
i. How were they different? How were they similar?!
1. There were about 75 million people in the Western
Hemisphere. They were most thickly clustered in urbanized areas of Mesoamerica and South America. !
2. They were different in their way of life, the languages and dialects they spoke, and where they were located. Some of the societies were based on fishing or gathering and others were based on agriculture. !
3. They were similar in their common practices, were based on kinship, had a common use and control of resources, and had trade that facilitated the exchange of goods, technologies, and ideas. !
b. Kinship and Gender!
i. What was the kinship group of Native American societies?!
1. Indian peoples north of the Mesoamerican states were part of the kinship group and kinship bound them together. ! ii. How did kinship impact Native American societies?!
1. Kinship bound the Native Americans together. The ties between biological relatives created complex patterns of social obligation and interdependence. !
2. They had different customs on marriage, but there were always strict rules. It was also the basis for armed conflict. !
c. Spiritual and Social Values !
i. What did most Native Americans worship? How did they do so?!
1. Native American religions revolved around the conviction that all nature was alive and it pulsated with a spiritual power called manitou, orenda, or wakan. !
2. They worshipped all the spiritual forces in their world such as living things, rocks and water, sun and moon, and ghosts and witches. !
a. An example of this could be the hunters praying to the spirits of the animals they killed and thanking them for the gift of food. !
3. They gained access to spiritual power through dreams, difficult physical ordeals, and vision quests. ! ii. Describe the Sun Dance and its purpose!
1. The Sun Dance is a collective power-seeking ritual performed by the Indians of the Plains and Great Basin. It was often practiced by entire communities. 


4

Haley Luu iii. Who were the “medicine men and women” in Native American tribes?
What was their role?!
1. Medicine men and women were healers who used both medicinal plants and magical chants to cure illnesses. !
2. They served as spiritual advisors and leaders, interpreting dreams, guiding vision quests, and conducting ceremonies. ! iv. What was “reciprocity” and how did Native Americans use it?!
1. The principle of reciprocity involved a mutual give-and-take, but its aim was not to ensure equality. Societies based on this principle tried to maintain equilibrium and interdependence between individuals of unequal power and prestige. !
2. The Native American leaders depended on the obligations instead of coercion. They distributed gifts, which obligated the members of the community to support them and to accept their authority, however limited. They also used the same principle on relations between societies. 


!

VIII.Conclusion!
a. Who was living in America before Columbus arrived and what were their civilizations like?!
i. Before Columbus arrived, Native Americans lived in the Americas.
Their civilizations transformed the landscape and environment around them. They had hunting camps, communities, and cornfields. The Native Americans were able to sustain themselves and flourish in almost every environment. !
b. How did Native Americans use the land?!
i. They divided much of the land into plots, each to be owned by an individual or family and to be valued according to the wealth it produced. !

!

5

!