America Before Columbus Culture

When Columbus landed in the Bahamas in 1492, he thought he reached Asia. He has made himself believe that he has found the New World and that he was the first to inhabit the land. This was not the case as an Indian Tribe, the Arawaks, was swimming to their boats with excitement. As Columbus’s crew arrived on the shores, he was shocked from the Indians hospitality. Columbus was carrying iron swords as the tribes brought gifts, food and water.

The Mayan, Aztec and Incan civilizations each contributed major accomplishments to the world today. These accomplishments established them as advanced societies during their time. The Incans built a large road system, devised a complex irrigation system and developed their own language. The Mayans constructed the largest structure known until modern times, made drastic accomplishments in mathematics, studied astronomy and formed a calendar. The Aztecs built well-organized cities and developed a writing system based on pictures.

Prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) the Americas were already a home to millions of natives that had already been there for thousands of years. The original natives of America before the arrival of Europeans were descendants of groups of hunters and fishers that crossed the Bering Strait between 15,000-60,000 years ago. Over time these natives developed their own techniques for farming, hunting and fishing. In addition, they had also developed their own religious beliefs, political structures, trading networks and hundreds of different languages. The natives, mostly lived on corn, squash, beans, and some fish, deer and turkey. They lived in 3 different kinds of societies. The three different kinds of societies were nomadic, semi-nomadic and

Samuel Eliot Morison- A Harvard historian, most distinguished writer on Columbus, the author of a multivolume biography Christopher Columbus, Mariner, and was himself a sailor, retraced Columbus 's route across the Atlantic and tells about the enslavement and the mass genocide of the natives

This week for our essay we had to watch a video titled America before Columbus. I enjoyed this video as it concentrated on the food aspect of the particular time from and before 1491. The introduction itself made it clear that the search for a short cut to India and the accidental 'run in' with the Americas was spearheaded and funded by the Queen of Spain. I believe this is an important fact to remember and to note that Columbus was not simply conquering inhabited lands willy-nilly but rather followed orders and working for the Queen of Spain. The area of the America's that Columbus landed on, and all of the America's, was inhabited by Natives that had infrastructures. In the North America's there was an entire civilization that stretched the

Zinn argues that the perspective of indigenous people should not be omitted and argues that their perspectives are as significant as any other. He provides insight and perspectives of the Indians to describe how the heinous acts of the Europeans were unjustified. He also discusses that the Europeans had a continual motive of exploring during that time which was to increase the power/authority of the Spanish Crown by whatever means necessary, usually leading to violent wars.

1)Paleo-Indians, the first Americans lived in bands of fifteen to fifty people, and traveled within their territory to hunt. Archaic Indians experienced a warming climate. One of the results of the warming climate was better hunting. Forest grew larger with a greater variety of plants and animals. The changes allowed some Indians to reside in permanent homes. The ample supply of food allowed more peoples to live on less acreage. The weather also allowed for specialization of caring for plants; this was the beginning of controlling crops to better supply the people.

To start, Royal’s first points out that America was not “discovered” by Columbus as was taught in grade school, it was filled with thriving Native American tribes. As he wrote, “Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of different indigenous groups lived here at the time of Columbus 's arrival, and historians estimate the total population of the Americas at somewhere between 20 million and 100 million” (Royal 44). This population counts indicates a high-level society, in order for this many people to survive. This disproves many people’s incorrect

Geographically California is located in the Western Coast of North America, and is the third largest State in the United States. The largest cities are; Los Angeles which is known for Disney Land, San Diego which is known for the Sea World, San Francisco which is known for the Golden Bridge and Sacramento which is known for the largest preserved historic district of the Gold Rush and for being its capital since 1854. Although California superiority comes from its warm weather, it does have the most diverse Geography. The Central Valley which is in the center of California dominates do to the major agriculture area. “the Sacramento Valley was then a true sea of grass, grass so high a man riding into it could tie across his saddle.” (Didion.

We have all heard the story of how America came to be, and how Native Americans were pushed out because of this. In regards to the west coast, the history is a bit different. There is evidence of natives living in California since from at least 17,000 BCE. Prior to contact with Europeans, the California region contained the highest native American population north of what is now Mexico. Because of the temperate climate and easy access to food sources, approximately one-third of all Native Americans in the United States were living in California.

Columbus, the first Spanish explorer to reach America, initially thought that the he had landed in the East Indies, which had been his ultimate goal. “His sea wanderings would have been written off as an expensive failure, once it was realized that he had not found the illusive water route to India, had it not been for the discovery of gold on Hispaniola in 1493”(Nash, 18). Once it became known that there were gold and other precious metals on this continent, people from Spain began to journey to America in hopes of gaining immense wealth. The Spanish claimed Panama, Mexico, parts of South America, and southern areas of what is now North America and these expeditions were typically led by military figures. The Spanish viewed America as land to be conquered and they viewed Native Americans

• had a formal language to write, a type of counting system, an correct calendar, and a agri system that was ahead of the time

The Native Americans had built several large empires that thrived in South and Central America that we based off of farmers who stayed in one place so that larger numbers of people could gather in cities. There were mostly nomadic tribes and small groups roaming in North America and there were few large tribes that ruled anywhere near as much are as those in South America.

In 1492 Columbus discovered the “new world” which is now known as the Americas today. Furthermore, in the 1700 people from the English origin traveled across the sea to North America to start a new life. When they got to North America the people settled in two regions, the Chesapeake and the New England region. Even though these people came from the same place they thrived in two different societies. Some of the countless reasons why these two regions are different from each other are religion, ways of life, and economics.

There is no certain answers as to how pre columbian natives got to America. There are many theories based on hard evidence. The Paleo-Indians, archaeologists refer to as the first americans. At this point there was no official scripture in their society. Paleo Indians seemed to have paved the way for many other cultures to settle. All though in many cases these native settlers were very different from one another, they also had a plethora of similarities.