Agriculture and Trade in Native America, c. 1450

Native Americans before European Contact Pre-contact population – figures vary widely from as low as 2 million to as much as 18 million people Archaeological evidence of human presence in North America dates up to 12,000 years ago some other estimates push habitation back as far as 40,000 years Creation Stories & Migration Theories

Clovis point spears were used for hunting Clovis point spears were sharp that it could inflict wounds on animals as large as elephants Bows and arrows – a major innovation in hunting and warfare will replace the point spears

Glimpses of Pre-contact Societies Native Americans built irrigation systems that allowed them to farm in the deserts They cultivated corn, beans, and squash Improved hunting and fishing techniques and crafted more efficient weapons and tools Exchanged commodities and ideas across far- reaching trade networks Developed various forms of architecture

West Coast Affluence The inhabitants cultivated only one crop – tobacco – but harvested an abundant variety of natural foods Women gathered acorns and ground them into bread meal The Chumash Indians of the Santa Barbara region Columbia Plateau Fishers

Native Peoples of California at Time of First European Contact, c. 1542

Great Basin Foragers The Great Basin, an area of some 400,000 square miles between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada Native Americans harvested wild plants and had a diet of fish and small game Trade included shells, obsidian, food, hides, and other perishable goods Buffalo hunters of the Plains

This is a popular image of Native Americans, wearing leather headdresses and hunt buffalo from horseback, this however, developed much later with European contact. Native American peoples of the Great Plains hunted on foot for big game – mammoths, mastodons, and bison

First Farmers of the Southwest The ancient inhabitants of the southwestern United States developed agriculturally based societies approximately 3,000 years ago Clay pots improved methods for preparing and storing food Built sophisticated irrigation systems & created a network of canals Built villages of adobe houses

In a period of drought, southwestern farming peoples placed faith in Kachinas, the spirits that brought rain

Farmers of the Eastern Woodlands By about A.D corn had become the major field crop in the Eastern Woodlands and the core of society and economy Trade for raw materials for ceremonial use, burial goods, and personal adornment connected peoples as distant as Florida and the Missouri valley Constructed tens of thousands of large earthen mounds The Mississippian town of Cahokia

John White (c c.1593), who made the voyage to the Roanoke Island settlement off Virginia in 1585, was the first Englishman to paint Native Americans. In this painting, a tattooed Timucuan woman from northeastern Florida offers corn which demonstrates the importance of the crop and women’s role in producing it

In this painting Three Sisters, the artist Ernest Smith ( ) illustrates the central relationship between Iroquois women and the staple crops of the Iroquois economy: corn, beans, and squash

Great Serpent Mound, Adams County, Ohio This serpent effigy is1,254 feet long

Seaborne Strangers Before Europeans, Indian populations and activities had tended to focus on the great river and exchange systems in the heart of the continent Native traditions from throughout North American tell of ancient prophecies predicting the coming of Europeans