Early american history Native americans- the awakening essays

Early american history Native americans- the awakening essays Social Structure Amidst the Native Americans No one is quite sure how the Native Americans first came to the Americas but there are two main theories. The first theory is that hunters crossed an Ice bridge that stretched across the Pacific Ocean from Asia to Alaska and discovered a land that could only be described as a hunters paradise. The second theory is that they came by boats and followed the shoreline south until they found a place they wanted to stay. Either way the reasons they stayed were pretty much the same- good land and plentiful food. These people spread over the Americas and started new lives there. While they all had similar origins they all also came up with and perfected customs in their own way. The most diverse groups were the Meso/South Americans and the North Americans. The North Americans had mostly organized themselves into small tribes/Chiefdoms. While some of the communities were democracies, most chose their leaders from the prominent families within the community. The bigger the community was the more likely it was that it would survive. While battles were semi-common wars were not. Fighting chiefdoms sought more to humiliate and take captives than to kill. In fact Chiefdoms could be at war for years and have no casualties. These chiefdoms spread all the way from Alaska to Florida with a total of what was thought to be almost 10 million people living in North America. The Mesoamericans on the other hand was ruled by a group of people known as the ruling class, which made up mostly of priest and wealthy merchants who claimed to have a special affiliation with a certain god. Unlike the North Americans, the Mesoamericans fought a lot, mostly over land and territory expansion. These communities were bigger than the North Americans and when they fought many died in battle. To support themselves the Mesoamericans whose culture focused on agriculture, began to farm and trade with large...