Vocabulary 1
People who hunt for wild animals and gather plants for food.
Hunter-gatherer
To change.
Thousands of years ago, temperatures were much colder, resulting in water forming thick sheets of ice on land. How do experts think the first Americans may have migrated to North America?
Americans may have been hunters who tracked animals across the Beringia land bridge traveling from Asia to North America.
American Indians from the Great Plains lived on the grasslands that covered the middle part of North America and depended on what animal to meet their needs.
Bison, or Buffalo
The way of life of a group of people.
Culture
A set of beliefs and way of life that is special to a certain group.
Culture
Means to plant and raise your own crops.
Agriculture
The civilization that charted the movement of the sun, moon, and stars to create a highly accurate calendar.
Mayan
How did the Powhatans adapt to their environment?
Learned to build canoes using large trees.
People who moved during different seasons in search for food.
Nomads
A culture with a complex way of life.
Civilization
A system built for bringing water to dry fields.
Irrigation
The civilization that built systems for bringing water to dry fields and invented a system for growing crops on large reed mats.
Aztec
When an area has little rainfall or water available to the land, which technology would be used to help crops grow?
Irrigation
A relative who lived in the past.
Ancestor
System for making laws and decisions to help guide the group.
Government
The system by which a group makes, shares, and uses goods.
Economy
Which North American Cultures created huge earthen structures?
Mound Builders
American Indians changed the land by setting fires in forests or grasslands. What are three benefits of this action?
A council often follows a single leader known as a what?
Chief
A decision making body.
A group whose members share the same goals.
League
Which North American Culture were skillful builders who built settlements that could be described as large, apartment-style houses?
Puebloan
Which development allowed for American Indians to stay in one place for long periods of time allowing them to set up permanent types of homes.
Agriculture
Many American Indian groups had religious leaders known as what?
Shamans