1. Topic: Comparing Native Americans and Europeans at the Time of the “Encounter”

2. Early Migrations to the Americas
35,000-10,000: the Ice Age
Land Bridge Theory (Bering Strait)
What conclusions can be drawn from the map?
Populations increased (35-50 million by 1492)

3. Early American Peoples
Meso-Americans:
Incas, Mayans, Aztecs (Central and South America)
Maize, arts, architecture
Science and math
Aztec human sacrifice, runners
Pueblos in Southwest US
Anasazis in New Mexico
Iroquois in Northeast (5 Nations League)
Aztec Pyramid Cholula

4. 1492: Columbus and “the Encounter”
State of Europe in 1400s
European “needs” in 1400s:
Spices and Sugar
Silks and Fabrics
New trade routes to Asia (India and China)
New technologies
Portuguese posts in Africa
The Spanish Reconquista (3 Gs)
Columbus in Bahamas 1492:
“West Indies”
Columbian Exchange (“Triangle Trade”)
Natives Exploited, “depopulated”

5. Conclusion: Compare and Contrast European Societies with Native American Societies (1492)