Christopher Columbus (L.1451-1506) launched the European colonization of America when he landed in the West Indies in 1492, and encouraged the Dutch, French and British to 1534.
Before the arrival of Europeans, Native Americans lived as autonomous countries (also known as tribes) on the whole continent, from today's Alaska and Canada to 48 States in the United States. In order to study this era more easily, modern scholars divide it into several periods:
Ancient India-Clovis Culture-40,000 BC to14,000 BC
Dalton-Folsom culture is about 8500-7900 BC.
Ancient times-about 8000 BC-1000 years.
Woodland period-about 500 BC-A.D. 1 100.
Mississippi Culture-A.D. 1 100- 1540
It should be pointed out that although precise efforts were made in this era, various native American cultures in this region developed at different speeds and in different ways, and different scholars had different dates for these periods. Every culture in every place is not developed at the same time. Some countries continue to use this technology and adhere to the traditions related to the woodland period, while others develop in the form of Mississippi culture. In addition, this paper uses the name "Dalton-Folson culture" as the general term of a period, during which many different cultures were recognized because of their differences in projectile manufacturing. Every one of these cultures or countries, like Evans,
Countries and cultures in North America have developed a highly complicated social order, established huge urban centers and engaged in long-distance trade.
Some countries are nomadic or semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers, who have been building large-scale urban complexes and engaged in agricultural activities and trade for longer than others, but the latter should not be considered more "highly developed" than the former. People on the great plains continue to hunt and gather for longer than people on the east coast, because the terrain and games are more suitable for this area.
Countries and cultures in North America have developed a highly complex social order, established huge urban centers, engaged in long-distance trade and agriculture on a large scale, and invented irrigation systems that still exist in some parts of the United States today (such as the southwest, especially the area near Phoenix, Arizona). However, as more and more colonists came from Europe in the 17 and 18 centuries, Native Americans were steadily pushed to the reservation and lost the land where they had lived for thousands of years. These European immigrants finally regarded themselves as the legitimate owners of the indigenous land.
Ancient India-Clovis culture
Ancient Indians migrated from Asia to North America 40,000 or 65,438+04,000 years ago, depending on whether people represented by years or by years. According to the distribution and development of countries in North America, Central America and South America, an earlier date may be more accurate. Others think that people may migrate by boat and embrace the coast until they settle in modern California, Mexico and the south, while others may migrate by land. Scholar Ron Fisher commented:
Most archaeologists believe that immigrants from Asia lived in America about 30,000 years ago. At that time, most of the water in the world was frozen, and a 600-mile-wide land bridge connected Alaska and Siberia. People didn't realize they were moving when they crossed the Bering Continental Bridge. Centuries later, they followed the game, the weather and their own instinct, just like pollen floating in the breeze, and flourished on the mainland in front of them. ( 10)
The earliest established culture is Clovis culture, named after Clovis Point, which was first discovered in Clovis, New Mexico in 1929. The whole continent. Although it seems that there is indeed a culture earlier than Clovis, the name is used to identify a wide range of hunting and gathering cultures, which mainly make a living by hunting so-called giant animals, such as large bison, giant beavers, mastodons, mammoths, sabers and other large animals-toothed tigers.
It is believed that Clovis people have followed the migration pattern of large-scale games until they mainly lived in certain areas. At this point, they seem to have started trading with others. Fisher pointed out:
Since dots are usually found far away from the place where they were made, archaeologists know that people in different societies exchange them through trade or as gifts. Different sites also tell archaeologists to use their group types: a small site on the mountain may be a hunting camp for one person; A riverside venue with tools for making food and a woman's campsite. ( 1 1)
With the change of climate, more and more animals are hunted to extinction, large prey begin to disappear, and small prey survive. At this time, people began to prefer permanent or semi-permanent settlements based on lakes, streams and rivers, and they could harvest fish.
Dalton-Forson culture
This lifestyle change distinguishes the early Clovis culture from the later Dalton-Folsom culture, which, like Clovis, was named after projectiles mainly found in the southwest (Folsom) and the midwest (Dalton), but it has been confirmed in most areas. North America can be traced back to 8500-7900 BC. Scholar alan taylor commented on this development:
Climate change and the extinction of large animals have prompted nomadic people to adopt more diversified strategies and develop a wider range of food sources. Local people must know more about the local environment before harvesting shellfish, fish, birds, nuts, seeds, berries and tubers. Indians invented fishing nets, traps and bone hooks to get more food from fishing. Their hunting evolved into patience and long-term tracking of more elusive mammals, especially deer, forked sheep, moose, elk and reindeer. Since about 9000 years ago, Indians have adapted to their smaller and faster prey by developing atlatl (a spear thrower that provides greater thrust, speed and distance). (8-9)
The spear tip thrown by Atlat-a carved stick with a cup at one end to hold the projectile to be thrown-these Dalton-Folsom points are the names of culture. However, atlatl is only one of the tools developed in this period, because Dalton-Folson people are characterized by developing tools such as stone knives, scrapers and drills. After each hunting, the spear tip will be sharpened again with a grindstone. The blade is serrated and very sharp, which is used to cut the leather of meat and clothes. This culture also shows the first signs of religious belief and afterlife, based on tomb objects found in the sites of this period.
Antique period
The belief in higher divine power influenced ancient culture, and its main feature was the construction of large mounds, which gave them the nickname "mound builders". These mounds were originally built as sacred places for ceremonies, or they may be used as "homes for the gods", making priests higher than others in the community.
The earliest mounds can be traced back to the so-called medieval period around 5400 BC. They are mainly located in modern Louisiana (especially the Wa Hita mound in Watson Black, the oldest mound in North America), Mississippi and surrounding states, and sometimes seem to have become the religious or political centers of surrounding communities. At this time, permanent settlements were established and plants and some animals were domesticated. By this time, the dog has been domesticated. According to some scholars, it first came from Asia.
In the late ancient times, when the ruins such as poverty spots in modern Louisiana were established, the small communities in the early and middle ancient times developed into larger cities. The site of poynter is named after the nameless man who built it-poynter culture-both names come from the names Philip Gill gave to its plantation in the19th century. Guell didn't realize that the concentric semicircle "hill" was an artificial earthwork created by Native Americans during land reclamation. Until 1953, an aerial photo clearly showed the concentric earthwork facing the plateau, and no one realized it.
Woodland period
The mound building continued to develop during the woodland period (usually divided into three stages: early, middle and late). This term is usually associated with eastern and central North America, but it also applies to similar southwestern and great plains. The whole African continent has made progress. Pottery has become more exquisite, so have handicrafts, as evidenced by statues, tools and weapons. In the southwest, countries like the Hohokan people have built cities and designed efficient irrigation systems. In Alaska, the Inuit invented stone lamps, big hooks, better knives and harpoons. In the East, countries not only built mounds as holy places, but also used them for burial and living purposes. Each different group engages in long-distance and local trade.
One of the most important developments is in the religious field, which is proved by the cultural relics found in different places. Poverty obviously shows the high level of a religious activity in the early days, but religion is only one aspect of the place, because it is also a place of residence. Some sites in the woodland period, such as Pingsong mound in modern Tennessee, were built and used entirely for religious purposes. Pingsong site includes 17 mound, and the cultural relics found there clearly show that it was never a residence, but was used for sacred purposes.
Native Americans observe the religious belief of animism-believing that everything in nature is inspired by a spirit and everything is interrelated-so they realize that the invisible world is as real and powerful as the world they walk through in their daily lives. Taylor commented:
Locals believe that human beings live in natural and supernatural networks, not away from them. They think that their behavior towards all non-human beings is essentially social, and the creatures involved are more like themselves than themselves. Indeed, in their myths and dreams, people and aliens can be transformed into each other. Like all aspects of indigenous life, the basic principle of harvesting nature is to pursue reciprocity. People feel that it is meaningful to occupy a place in another life around them, but they feel obligated to pay the ceremony honor and minimize waste in return. ( 19)
This reciprocity takes the form of personal and public gestures, expressing gratitude for animal life or cutting down trees, but holy places like Pingsong Mountain are another way to express this feeling. It is generally believed that mound architecture is a response to the invisible world, because the forces of nature can be concentrated, and perhaps they can be controlled by concentrating them on a mound, which will elevate the celebrants to heaven, but keep them in close contact with the world. Earth. Because mounds are often held up by water, people think that the four elements of earth, wind, fire and water are all celebrations and thanks in the ceremony of mounds.
Mississippi culture
It is called Mississippi culture because people mainly live in the Mississippi River valley, but they have also established cities and villages in the Ohio River valley, Tennessee River valley and other places from the northeast to Louisiana and then to Indiana. The most famous communities of Mississippi culture are Adna culture (800 BC to 65438 +0 years) and Hehe culture (65438 BC+000 -500 years). They built many mounds and further developed trade, commerce, handicrafts and technology. Adena built a cone-shaped mound, while Hopewell is more complicated, usually in the shape of an animal, but both have religious functions.
Like poor areas, the mound of harmonious culture can only be fully understood and appreciated from above. How people create invisible works is unknown. Adena and Hopewell have impressive skills in ceramics, artworks and irrigation ditches, as well as talent and trading ability in agriculture. Yvonne Wakim Dennis, a scholar, commented on the view that Native Americans were regarded as "noble barbarians" wandering quietly in this land. He wrote:
Far from the passive sons of nature described in the colonial report ... Indians systematically implement extensive resource management. The people in the midwest are not simple nomads, but urbanized engineers, long-distance businessmen and large farmers. ( 135)
Another country, which is considered different from the two Adenauers, established the city of Cahokia (in today's Illinois), which was the largest urban center in North America before18th century, and C flourished here. 650 degrees celsius. AD 1350. Kahokia may have developed through the attraction of the clergy to neighboring communities, who participated in the construction of the city's huge ceremonial mound-today it is called the monk mound-and other 1 19 mounds for other purposes.
Cahokia is a magnificent city with a wide central square, shops, stadiums, solar calendars, houses of the lower classes and other elites, as well as long cornfields and other crops. Cahokan people grow corn, which is one aspect that distinguishes them from the early culture that did not master this crop. Their corn planting is very successful, which not only feeds the city people, but also is used for local and long-distance trade.
Another big city, today called Mondeville (located in Alabama), engaged in long-distance trade and attracted people in 1 100. The original names of Kahokia and Mondeville are unknown. Kahokia was named after the tribe that lived nearby when Europeans first noticed the site in the 9th century A.D./Kloc-0, while Mondeville's name was rather unimaginative because there were many mounds beside the Black Warrior River.
Mandeville people maintain a strict hierarchical social hierarchy, which is proved by urban architecture. The rich live in wooden houses on top of mounds, which face the central mounds in the square below, while the lower floors live in thatched huts on the other side of the square. At some point, the city seems to have become a religious center and pilgrimage site, because the population has increased and cultural relics show that religious ceremonies are more frequent.
conclusion
When Spanish conquistador hernando de Soto (154 1) arrived in this area, although Cahokia was abandoned (probably due to overpopulation), Mississippi culture still flourished. De Soto's small army came to look for the gold they had. They were told they could find a lot and killed many locals. They think they have hidden great wealth. De Soto's expedition also brought diseases that the local people were not immune to. Even after De Soto himself died and his men returned to the coast, the disease caused more deaths.
The Spanish continued to March to the south and southwest of North America, while the French established their own position in Canada and the whole Midwest of the United States until Louisiana. The French also brought diseases and killed a large number of local people, just like when the British first came.
The British first tried to colonize Anaquel colony in 1585 and 1587 respectively, but both failed, and finally 1607 succeeded in Jamestown colony in Virginia. Without the intervention and help of Anacker colony, it would have failed. Indigenous tribes of the powhatan League. 1607, the British also tried to colonize New England through the Popham colony, initially with the help of local people, until it failed. 1620, with the establishment of Plymouth colony, New England was successfully colonized by the British for the first time-thanks to the Native Americans, this time it was the tribe of the Wampanoag Confederacy-and then other New England colonies developed rapidly.
As more and more Europeans arrived in the "land of opportunity", they seized more and more native land and pushed the indigenous people deeper and deeper inland. Aborigines in 16 10- 1646 Anglo-powhatan War to Philip War (1675- 1678) and many others in18th century and19th century. They stole their land through unfulfilled treaties, then settled in new homes and named States, provinces, rivers and parks after their predecessors. Have everything.