First American Peoples
Before the arrival of Europeans, the American continent was inhabited by a heterogeneous population with different customs and ways of life.
America: first settlers
When the Genoese navigator Christopher Columbus arrived in America in 1492, he found a territory populated for millennia, the Europeans called the New World. Thinking he had reached the Indies, Columbus called the natives Indians, and it was with this name that they went to Western history.
The vast American continent was occupied by several people, who had developed different cultures. The Mayans and Aztecs lived in the territory of present-day Mexico and the Incas inhabited the region in what is now Peru. Such cultures are pre-Columbian call as existed before the arrival of Columbus.
Studies show that the Amerindian populations have developed from successive migratory waves coming from Asia and initiated between 40,000 and 50,000 years ago. Gradually, they spread throughout the Americas, differentiating into two major groups:
Hunters and gatherers
The groups of hunters and gatherers lived by hunting, fishing and gathering plants. Over time, some started to develop a rustic and extensive agriculture, farming products such as cassava, maize and potato. In extensive farming, planting takes place in large areas, using few instruments (they did not know the plow); when the earth was running out, the groups moved into a more fertile region. basic utensils such as knives and spears were made of stone and wood. Most unaware metals.
The sociopolitical point of view, were organized into tribes. Some examples of these people: Iroquois and dacotas (North America);Caribs (Central America); Arawak, Tupi-Guarani, Mapuche and Patagonian (South America).
farmers
People farmers, in turn, is characterized by the rigid social hierarchy, the concentration of people in large cities and the large equipment development, intensive agricultural production, it is that practiced with cultivation techniques, such as fertilization and treatment of land, allowing continuous land use.
The concept of private property did not exist, and the land of collective use. The government centralized the decisions relating to agriculture and construction works of common interest, such as dams, aqueducts, walls and temples.The main representatives of this type of society were the Mayans, Aztecs and Incas.
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Category: General history
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