The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are diverse; some
Indigenous peoples were historically
hunter-gatherers, while others traditionally practice
agriculture and
aquaculture. In some regions, Indigenous peoples created pre-contact monumental architecture, large-scale organized cities,
city-states,
chiefdoms, states, kingdoms, republics, confederacies and empires. These societies had varying degrees of knowledge of engineering, architecture, mathematics, astronomy, writing, physics, medicine, planting and irrigation, geology, mining, metallurgy, sculpture and gold smithing. (Full article...)
Between AD 900 and 1150, Chaco Canyon was a major center of culture for the
Ancient Pueblo Peoples.Chacoans quarried sandstone blocks and hauled timber from great distances, assembling fifteen major complexes that remained the largest buildings in North America until the 19th century.Evidence of
archaeoastronomy at Chaco has been proposed, with the "Sun Dagger" petroglyph at
Fajada Butte a popular example. Many Chacoan buildings may have been aligned to capture the solar and lunar cycles,requiring generations of astronomical observations and centuries of skillfully coordinated construction Climate change is thought to have led to the emigration of Chacoans and the eventual abandonment of the canyon, beginning with a fifty-year drought commencing in 1130.
Comprising a
UNESCOWorld Heritage Site located in the arid and sparsely populated
Four Corners region, the Chacoan cultural sites are fragile – concerns of erosion caused by tourists have led to the closure of Fajada Butte to the public. The sites are considered sacred ancestral homelands by the
Hopi and
Pueblo people, who maintain oral accounts of their historical migration from Chaco and their spiritual relationship to the land. Though park preservation efforts can conflict with native religious beliefs, tribal representatives work closely with the National Park Service to share their knowledge and respect the heritage of the Chacoan culture.
Image 11A map showing the origin of the first wave of humans into the
Americas, including the Ancestral Northern Eurasian, which represent a distinct Paleolithic Siberian population, and the Northeast Asians, which are an East Asian-related group. The admixture happened somewhere in Northeast
Siberia. (from Indigenous peoples of the Americas)
Image 26The domesticated plant species that were cultivated by the Indigenous peoples have influenced the crops that were produced globally. (from Indigenous peoples of the Americas)
Image 28The tomato (jitomate, in central Mexico) was later cultivated by the pre-Hispanic civilizations of Mexico. (from Indigenous peoples of the Americas)
Pocahontas (born Matoaka, known as Amonute, and later known as Rebecca Rolfe,
c. 1595 – March 1617) was a
Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at
Jamestown, Virginia. Pocahontas was the daughter of
Powhatan, the
paramount chief of a network of tributary tribal nations in the
Tsenacommacah, encompassing the
Tidewater region of
Virginia. In a well-known historical anecdote, she is said to have saved the life of an Indian captive, Englishman
John Smith, in 1607 by placing her head upon his own when her father raised his war club to execute him.
Pocahontas was captured by the English during Anglo-Indian hostilities in 1613, and held for ransom. During her captivity, she converted to Christianity and took the name Rebecca. When the opportunity arose for her to return to her people, she chose to remain with the English. In April 1614, she married tobacco planter
John Rolfe, and in January 1615, bore him a son,
Thomas Rolfe. Pocahontas's marriage to Rolfe was the first recorded
interracial marriage in North American history.
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