Chapter 1

Lady of Cofitachequi: Cofitachequi was a paramount chiefdom encountered by the Hernando de Soto Expedition in South Carolina. They encountered the Chiefdom of Cofitachequi in April of 1540, at the Mulberry Site, a large platform mound at the junction of Pine Tree Creek and the Wateree River, near present-day Camden.
Paleo-Indians: First Americans. Nomadic hunters of game and gatherers of wild plants, they spread throughout North and South America, probably moving as bands composed of extended families.
The Mayas: Developed approximately two thousand years ago. On the Yucatan Peninsula, in today’s eastern Mexico, the Mayas built urban centers containing tall pyramids and temples. They studied astronomy and created and
Such a sexual division of labor was universal among hunting peoples, regardless of their location. So, too, among seacoast peoples women gathered shellfish along the shore while men fished from boats. Yet agricultural societies assigned work in divergent ways. The Pueblo peoples, who lived in sixty or seventy autonomous villages and spoke five different languages, defined agricultural labor as men’s work. In the east, large clusters of peoples speaking Algonquian, Iroquoian, and Muskogean languages by contrast allocated most agricultural chores to women, although men cleared the land. In all the farming societies, women gathered wild foods and prepared food for consumption or storage, whereas men were responsible for the hunting. Everywhere in North America, women cared for young children, while older youths learned adult skills from their same-sex parents
Upper Guinea: The northern region of West Africa, or Upper Guinea, was heavily influenced by the Islamic culture of the Mediterranean. As early as the eleventh century C.E., many of the region’s inhabitants had become Muslims. Trade via camel caravans between Upper Guinea and the Muslim Mediterranean was sub-Saharan Africa’s major connection to Europe and West Asia. In return for salt, dates, silk, and cotton cloth Africans exchanged ivory, gold, and slaves with northern merchants. Upper Guinea runs northeast-southwest from Cape to Cape Palmas. The people of its northernmost region, the so-called Rice Coast