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Course: US history > Unit 1
Lesson 2: Before contact- Native American societies before contact
- Native American culture of the Southwest
- Native American culture of the West
- Native American culture of the Northeast
- Native American culture of the Southeast
- Native American culture of the Plains
- Lesson summary: Native American societies before contact
- Native American societies before contact
- Native American societies before European contact
- Pre-colonization European society
- African societies and the beginning of the Atlantic slave trade
- European and African societies before contact
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Lesson summary: Native American societies before contact
Summary of key events and concepts in North America prior to European contact.
Before Europeans arrived in North America, Native American groups developed into distinct and complex societies in response to the unique environments they inhabited.
Key terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Three sisters | "Three sisters" refers to corn, squash, and beans. Farming all three plants together helped to establish more permanent and larger settlements. |
| Corn (Maize) | A major crop in the Americas that contributed to the development of large and complex settlements for Native Americans. |
| Irrigation | The process of redirecting bodies of water through channels to supply farmland. |
| Pueblos | A tribe of Native Americans who settled in the present-day American Southwest. |
| Mississippians | Native American peoples who lived in modern-day Missouri and Illinois. |
| Algonquians | Native American peoples of the east coast who spoke related languages. |
| Hunter-gatherer | A person who obtains most or all of their food by hunting, fishing, and foraging. |
Native North America
Native societies in North America developed strong regional distinctions based on their environments.
Core historical theme
Impact of environment on Native settlement patterns: Geographical and environmental factors shaped the development of Native American societies, including their migration and settlement patterns throughout the United States. Some Native societies created innovations in agriculture, like irrigation, to help sustain permanent settlements.
Review question
- How did environment and geography determine migration and hunting patterns for pre-Columbian societies?
Want to join the conversation?
How did the Europeans over throw strong societies like the native american tribes?(15 votes)
Actually it was one thing - disease. Natives didn't have immunity to the diseases that the Europeans brought through their animals (ex: pigs), so historians estimate 50-90% natives died because of lack of immunity, and knowledge about how to deal with epidemics.(26 votes)
Am I the only one that feels that these don't give us all the answers to the questions following? Or am I missing things in the docs, and I should read slower?(13 votes)
Probably you are not the only one. The questions are for you to ponder, they are not "did you get the facts that were shared above" things. You may well be missing things. Many times, I need to read the articles more than once.(7 votes)
Why so many articles(13 votes)- The topic is important, and deserves so much more than articles. It deserves books, doctoral dissertations and movies.(7 votes)
Which native american societies used a form of primitive communism?(5 votes)- completamente! al parecer la inclemencia del clima fue el factor determinante para la cultura americana, dado los canstantes cambios de agricola a nomada(0 votes)
How did beans benefit corn and squash other than the fact that beans used the cornstalk as a trellis to grow on?(1 vote)- Beans are legumes, which take nitrogen from the air and leave it in the soil, where it benefits the other stuff that is later grown there.(5 votes)
- How did Natives die from the diseases that the Europeans brought over if most tribes had a nutritious diet?(1 vote)
- A nutritious diet is good for your health, but a virus or germ that your body has never before encountered can kill you anyway. That's one part of how so many people died after the European invasion of the American continents and associated islands.(4 votes)
- Why did they only honor corn, beans and squash?(1 vote)
- They honored those crops because they were the only crops that could provide enough nutrients to fulfill a person enough without meat. Sure, there were others, but they were probably the easiest to grow as well.(4 votes)
Is Paleo-Indian a part of the pre-Columbian societies?(2 votes)
how dose everyone that are trying to teach us stuff and what stuff and such mmm,yes.children.ripeforthepicking what are you saying(1 vote)- We love picking children off trees to eat later. It is a staple of our society today.(3 votes)
- how did the africans get traded to America.and were the ships overcrowded and were some slaves trying to commit suicide(0 votes)
The Africans were traded to American through the Triangular Slave Trade, which was a trading system in which American colonies would give raw materials farmed with slave power to Europe, who would give the manufactured textiles and other goods to certain African tribes, which would give their slaves to the Americas. The ships were maximized to carry the most slaves at once, to increase profit. Regulation for these ships was sparse until Dolben's Act in 1788. Many slaves took to suicide because they were treated like animals on the ships and in horrible, cramped, sordid conditions.(4 votes)
