Early Civilizations of the Americas

Early Civilizations of the Americas — page 3 — EARLY CIVILIZATIONS OF THE AMERICA settle into villages and focus on arts and com merce By about 1200 BC the first elaborate Indian civilization in the region that of the Olmec had appeared The Olmec built large towns and created extraordinary stonework including their renowned colossal heads Later Indian cultures in Middle America showed the influence of the Olmec In the first millennium AD these civilizations created the first cities in the Western Hemisphere The Maya of Guatemala and the Yucatan Peninsula built cities with stone temples pyramids palaces ball courts and plazas They also reached great heights in astronomy mathematics calendar making and hiero glyphic writing During the same period Teotihuacán near present day Mexico City housed some 150 000 people making it one of the largest cities in the world Later came the Toltec and then the Aztec In South America's Andes Mountains complex civilizations began to develop in about 2300 BC The earliest Andean civili zations include the Tiwanaku and Chimú kingdoms which occupied lands in Bolivia and Peru When the Spanish came to Peru in 1532 the Inca controlled an extensive empire The Machu Picchu ruins reveal outstanding architecture and stepped agricultural fields

Early Civilizations of the Americas — page 4 — INTRODUCTION watered by long aqueducts The Inca had a highly stratified social hierarchy led by their emperor who was considered a child of the Sun and ruled by divine right The Indians of Northern America present day United States and Canada developed farming villages a little later than the peo ples of Middle and South America In the Southwest the Ancestral Pueblo Mogollon and Hohokam managed to grow corn squash and other crops by using irrigation to overcome the dry climate In the East the most extensive prehistoric farming culture was created by the Mississippian Indians Mississippian towns characterized by huge earthen mounds topped by temples were scattered throughout the Southeast and the Northeast Through the years many accounts of American history have begun with the arrival of European explorers and colonists in the New World As this book amply illustrates however the story of the Americas started long before the first European ships landed on their shores Read on to meet the Maya Aztec Inca and other remarkable ancient Americans AP ET

Early Civilizations of the Americas — page 5 — CHAPTER 1 THE ORIGINS OF EARLY AMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS Nhe first people to live in the Americas were the Indians or Native Americans Their settlements ranged across the Western Hemisphere and were built on many of the sites where modern cit ies now rise Indian families and traders used paths now followed by roads and railroads Indian farmers were the first in the world to domesticate corn maize beans squash potatoes tomatoes and many other food plants that help feed the peoples of the world today These resources along with others provided by hunting gathering and fishing were used to support communities ranging from small villages to expansive cities with tens of thousands of residents The first Indians arrived during the last ice age when thick ice sheets covered much of northern North America As the ice sheets absorbed water sea levels dropped and a land bridge emerged along the present day Bering Strait From about 30 000 to 12 000 years ago the land bridge connected IO

Early Civilizations of the Americas — page 6 — THE ORIGINS OF EARLYAMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS ARgrTIC OCEA Yana Rhinoceros Horn RUSSI SIBER RUSSIA Alask IU S Ushki A ME RC A SA A STATESKO Hake digit JAPAN Clovis PACIFIC OCEAN Jobo Taima LATE PLEISTOCENE PALEO INDIAN SITES SOUTH do Ame MERICA Cover PERU BRAZIL Pedra Pintada Quebrada Jagua Lapa do Quebrada Tacahuay Boquete Areas covered by glacial iced during Pleistocene Early human sites CHILE Monte Verde s To o 2010 E Early humans crossed from northeastern Asia to the Americas over a now submerged land bridge across the Bering Strait The locations of archaeological sites in the Americas suggest the migration routes followed by Paleo Indians after the glaciers of the late Pleistocene Epoch melted northeastern Asia to what is now Alaska Humans began to cross over from Asia at least 3 000 years ago and perhaps much earlier When the ice sheets melted the land bridge disappeared under the rising seas and the migration ended II

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