WEEK 1:

INDIGENOUS
AMERICA:
“Discovery” and
Origin Myths
TODAY’S MUSIC BY Apsaalooke Hip-
Hop Artist, Supaman.
The Apsaalooke are from Southern
Montana.
 KEY TERMS
*Indigenous
*Origin Stories
*Three Sisters
*Transition to Agriculture
*Native American Slavery
*Puebloan People
*Chaco Canyon
*Kiva
*Cahokia
 Textbook and Reading
• Your Textbook is Free Online =
AmericanYawp.com
• For Sections this week, please
read “Native American Creation
Stories” in Chapter One, Primary
Sources.
• The Syllabus is up and Available
in Blackboard.
 Section Meetings
• Y25 (TH 830) Nathalia (HUMCB 503)
• Y26 (TH 830) Matt (ROTC 201)
• Y27 (TH 425) Nathalia (GAMB 129)
• Y28 (TH 425) Eliz (HUMCB 301)
• Y29 (TH 600) Eliz (GAMB 129)
• Y30 (TH 600) Nathalia (CLHIPP 335)
• Y31 (F 830) Matt (ROTC 201)
• Y32 (F 830) Dylan (HUMCB 503)
• Y33 (F 940) Dylan (COL 2006)
• Y34 (F940) Matt (PETIGR 212)
• Y35 (F 550) Eliz (HUMCB 401)
• Y36 (F 550) Dylan (PETIGR 213)
 COLUMBUS MYTHS
• Columbus Discovered America. How
can you discover something
inhabited by millions of people?
• Columbus landed in the present-day
United States. He landed first in the
Bahamas and made four trips to the
Caribbean and South America which
he thought were the East Indies.
• Columbus Proved the World was
Round. Educated people since, at
least, Aristotle understood the world
was round.
NATIVE AMERICANS BEFORE
EUROPEAN CONTACT
CITY
DWELLERS

•Chaco Canyon and Cahokia

•Chaco Canyon
• Present Day New Mexico
• 850-1250
• Pueblo and Hopi People
• Trade Center (food or turquois?)
• Agriculture (irrigation)
• Largest Native Buildings
•Cahokia
• Present Day Illinois near St. Louis,
MO.
• 1050-1350
• Earthworks
• Multiple Groups Over Time
• Trade Center
• 10 to 15k Residents (more than
London and Paris at same time)
• Agricultural Revolution
 AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION
• Native Agriculture Centered on the Three Sisters
• Corn
• Beans
• Squash
• Moving from Hunting and Gathering to Agriculture created new
positions in society, and led to more trading which may have led
to more warfare.
• Religious Leaders
• Skilled Soldiers
• Artists
• Sports Date to 1100. Most notable is Lacrosse (term coined
by the French in 1630s)
• Native Americans enslaved people captured from other
tribes.
 ORIGIN
STORIES
• Explains the Why and How of
Existence
• Establishes who the “Founders”
were
• Provide Guidance
• Explains the current time period
• Teaches Historians what people
saw as important and how they
viewed existence
 Iroquois Creation Myth
• Iroquois Legend tells of a great island floating in the
sky on which the Sky People lived long before the
world existed. Feelings of death and sadness were not
experienced amongst the Sky People. However, one
day the Sky Woman realized she was giving birth to
twins and her husband flew into a rage. Her husband
tore out a light-giving tree and as she peered through
the hole, her husband pushed her down, to the world
below. Two birds caught her and carried her to other
animals. These other animals created the land by
bringing mud from below the sea. The Sky Woman
stepped onto that land and created the moon, sun and
stars. She gave birth to twin sons, Sapling and Flint.
Sapling was the good son and Flint, the evil one.
Sapling created all that is good in the world while
Flint worked to destroy it. In the eventual battle
between good and evil, Sapling emerged victorious,
but did not kill Flint.
 MEMORIALIZATION ASSIGNMENT
• Take 4 Photos on Campus and on the grounds of the State Capital.
• 2 Photos from Campus and 2 Photos from the Capital.
• One Photo Must Memorialize Something Before 1865.
• Buildings are not memorials.
• You must tell us what the photo memorializes = War, Peace, Racism,
Equality. No People = NOT Donors or Soldiers or Richard Greener =
Generosity or Bravery or Desegregation.