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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?(11 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.(3 votes)
Which native american societies used a form of primitive communism?(7 votes)- completamente! al parecer la inclemencia del clima fue el factor determinante para la cultura americana, dado los canstantes cambios de agricola a nomada(1 vote)
- why would corn, beans, and squash be called three sisters?(0 votes)
I believe that it refers to the growing of the three sisters crops of corn, beans, and squash as it relates to a family unit. Each crop also shows its own distinctive characteristics, but they also show how strong they are when grown in close proximity.(21 votes)
- Why did they decide to settle on one place?(3 votes)
because you needed many people to farm an area(3 votes)
Is Paleo-Indian a part of the pre-Columbian societies?(3 votes)- what is the meaning when saying core historical theme(0 votes)
It's like the main idea or what you were suppose to get out of it.(6 votes)
How were the peoples able to navigate by moon?(2 votes)
In celestial navigation, lunar distance is the angular distance between the Moon and another celestial body. The lunar distances method uses this angle, also called a lunar, and a nautical almanac to calculate Greenwich time. That calculated time can be used in solving a spherical triangle.(1 vote)
- how developed were the societies of Central and South America prior to the arrival of Europeans(2 votes)
- What evidence do we have for the varied and complex societies that people built in North America?(1 vote)
Mostly the structures they left behind.(2 votes)
- how did the africans get traded to America.and were the ships overcrowded and were some slaves trying to commit suicide(1 vote)
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.(2 votes)
