*In Mesoamerica & the Andes, 2 great empires dominated: Aztecs & Incas because of dense population, productive agriculture.
*A’s capital city: Tenochtitlan (fertile valleys in Mexico), ruled by priests and warrior-nobles
*I’s capital city: Cuzco (Andes mountains), ruled by king, through bureaucracy of nobles
*Centralized empires: Aztecs & Incas
*Farming, hunting, fishing: Iroquois & Algonquians, hunter-gatherers: Micmacs & Shoshones
*Ice Age covered Europe & North America (lowered level of world’s ocean, created a broad bridge of land between Siberia and Alaska.
*Adena & Hopewell cultures moundbuilding & pottery
*Cahokia: center of new Mississippian culture, priesthood worship sun, declined rapidly due to environmental factors, abandoned by the time Europeans arrived there
*Apalachee Indians lived around mounds and fields of maize
*Iroquois Confederacy: around 1500, 5 nations b/w Hudson River & Lake Erie (Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas) banded together, Hiawatha
*Plains Indians – horseback skill, hunter-gatherers inhabited the Pacific coast
*Animist – believe that the natural world was suffused with spiritual power (native north americans), interpret dreams & visions, rituals
*Europe – kings owned land, nobles owned estates & peasant families
*Patriarchies – property & social identity descended in male family lines, when husband died, women got 1/3 of family’s land and goods
*Primogeniture – fathers give all land to their eldest son, younger children poor
*Peasant – farmworkers live in small villages surrounded by farm fields, farming rights given in exchange for labor in lord’s estate once freed, farmers produce surplus, create local market economies, died from malnourishment & disease
*Renaissance – arts & learning associated w/ cult transformation 1300-1450
* Christianity grew out of Jewish monotheism, wasn’t popular until AD 312 (conversion of Roman emperor Constantine), became Rome’s official religion, animist practices replaced with Christian ritual, priests taught natural world was flawed and fallen
*Crusade – military expeditions made by Europeans to recover Holy Land from Muslims, prompted persecution of Jews & expulsion from many European countries, introduced Western European merchants to trade routes (Constantinople – China: Silk road, Mediterranean Sea – Indian Ocean: Persian Gulf), encountered sugar first time
*The Reformation
*Martin Luther took up the cause of reform in the Catholic Church, 95 Theses condemned Church for corrupt practices, downplay clergy, Christians must look at Bible not church, translated bible into German.
*John Calvin stressed human weakness and God’s omnipotence (unlimited power), Institutes of Christian Religion (1536) God as absolute sovereign/ruler, preached predestination: God chooses certain people for salvation before they are born & condemns the rest to eternal damnation
*Luther’s criticism triggered a war b/w Holy Roman Empire and Germany, controversy b/w Roman Catholic Church & radical reformers (Luther, Calvin) throughout much of Western Europe (Protestant Reformation) triggered a Counter Reformation in catholic church, sought change from within & created Jesuits (1540, soldiers of Christ), Roman Catholic powers (Spain, Portugal, France) sought to win soul in the Americas, Protestant nations (England, Netherlands) viewed Catholic as corrupt
*West Africa – bulges into the Atlantic, 3 climatic zones (Sahel, savanna, tropical rainforest), 4 major watersheds (Senegal, Gambia, Volta, Niger) dominate West Africa
*Sudanic people (9000 BC, from eastern end of WA travelled westward) domesticated cattle, cultivated sorghum & millet, developed distinctive style of pottery, weaves cotton, work with copper and iron, ruled by kings & princes
*Ghana Empire (800 AD), Mali Empire (13th century), Songhai Empire (15th century)
*Trans-Saharan Trade – carried WA goods (gold, copper, salt, slaves) from south to north across Sahara, returned with
