Chapter 9: The Americas, 10,000 BCE – AD 700

Enduring Understanding:
Human settlement of the Americas begins toward the end of the last Ice Age. The North
American civilizations have limited agriculture and subsist mainly by hunting and gathering.
The Olmec, Zappotec, Chavin, Nazca, and Moche cultures strongly influence those that come
after them in Latin America.

Essential Questions:
Explain how and why the first peoples came to the Americas.
Explain how the discovery of agriculture in Latin America led to the development complex
civilizations.

Key Information & Skills:

Beringia Zapotec
Ice Age Monte Alban
maize Chavin
Mesoamerica Nazca
Olmec Moche
Toltec

Populating the Americas

The Earliest Americans
• The earliest evidence of human occupation of the Americas was found at Old Crow Flats
in the Alaskan Refuge.
o Radiocarbon dating suggests the site is as old as
27,000 years.
• Another site in Peru is 21,000 years old, but there are few
other sites between 27,000 and 12,000 years old.
• A dramatic influx of people migrated across the Bering
Strait 12,000 years ago, at the end of the last great Ice
Age.
o During that Ice Age, vast ice sheets covered much
of the northern latitudes around the globe.
Collecting water in these sheets dropped the
levels of the world’s oceans, exposing Beringia,
the land bridge between Asia and North America
that is normally covered by arctic waters.
• These humans most likely crossed Beringia without even
knowing it as they were hunting the large game that had
wandered from Asia to North America.
North American Indians
• The North American tribes hunted and gathered whatever food was locally available.
• Most tribes were nomadic, whether because of season or animal movements. Those
tribes located near permanent food supplies, like the ocean, were sedentary.
• There was very little agriculture in North America and no animal domestication because
suitable species did not exist.
o As a result of the lack of agriculture, urbanization on the continent was very low.

Mesoamerica
• Agriculture seems to have begun in the Americas 7,000 years ago in the Mexican
highlands.
o The most important agricultural crop for Mesoamerica, and later North American
tribes, was maize, a large grass that produces a cereal grain in the form of kernels
on a cob.
• Following the rise of agriculture early urban civilizations arose in Mesoamerica, the area
south of central Mexico to the northern reaches of Honduras.
o The Olmec, often
called the Mother
Culture of
Mesoamerica,
thrived from 1200
until 400 BCE.
 Two major
cities of the
Olmec
were San
Lorenzo and La Venta.
 Artifacts from far away regions lead researchers to conclude that the
Olmec had a vibrant trading and commercial system. This probably
spread Olmec culture and tradition far and wide.
 A powerful Olmec cult used the jaguar as its symbol; this becomes a
common theme across many future Mesoamerican cultures.
o After the Olmec, a second civilization arose in the Valley of Mexico at
Teotihuacan. By 700 AD the city was abandoned.
o In 700 AD the Toltec began conquering villages and tribes in the Valley of
Mexico. This warlike tribe, the Toltec, expanded rapidly throughout Mexico,
Guatamala, and the Yucatan peninsula.
 Their dominance faded around 1200.
o The Zapotec developed in the area around the Mexican state of Oaxaca for a
thousand years.
 The Zapotec flourished at Monte Alban, which eventually reached a peak
population of 25,000.
South America
• The earliest urban culture on the South American continent was the Chavin culture, so-
called because its major site was found in the area of Chavin de Huantar.
o This culture arose in the highlands of Peru around 1000 BCE – about the same
time as the Olmec – and lasted until 500 BCE.
• In the centuries following the decline of the Chavin, there were two regional civilizations,
the Moche to the north, and the Nazca to the south.
o The Moche, which developed on the northern coast of Peru, lasted from 100 to
700 AD.
 They took advantage of the rivers that flowed out of the Andes and built
large irrigation canals to grow corn, beans, potatoes, squash, and peanuts.
o The Nazca flourished along the southern Peruvian coast from 200 BCE until AD
600.
 The Nazca built extensive irrigation canals, including underwater canals to
avoid evaporation.
 The most famous artifacts from this culture, however, are the Nazca Lines.
These lines depict animals, people, and flowers – but their purpose is not
known.