This chapter covers the first settlement of the Western Hemisphere by immigrants from Asia. Over the centuries these immigrants developed a variety of technologies, and communities adapted to their physical environments. Europeans coming to the Americas would find a populated continent of many villages, not an empty land. Native Americans had a great deal of diversity in culture, community organization, language, and technology. European colonists would profit from these technologies and regional adaptations.
After reading this chapter you should be able to:
- Illustrate how Cahokia is representative of the definition of the word community. (See the Preface of the textbook under the section Community and Diversity for the author's definition.)
- List the scientific, archaeological, and oral tradition evidence that supports the migration hypothesis and outline the basic details of the hypothesis.
- Describe the first American technology, the Clovis tradition, and indicate how it affected the development of the community.
- List the regional geographic areas of North America and illustrate how each one affected the development of the hunting, desert, and forest cultures.
- Describe the effect of farming on the development of North American Indian cultures.
- Describe what Europeans would find in North America in terms of the chapter title, A Continent of Villages, and explain how this would affect European colonization.
- Compare and summarize, from reading the entire chapter, various North American Indian attitudes in regard to community.
