Colonial America

Natives to 1492

Dr. Kane

mkane2@albany.edu Social Science 116 | MWF 12:35-1:30 PM

Office Hrs: M 10:20 - 11:20 & F 1:30 - 3:30 Social Science 60S

Friday, September 1

coming up

  • No class Monday Sept 4
  • Academic Honesty quiz Sept 11
  • Policy piece due Monday Sept 18 (BB)

recent discoveries

coastal migration
coastal migration

Taylor, Natives to 1492

  • How does "reading" material culture differ from reading documents? What do we get from material objects that we can't get from documents?
  • Why was maize agriculture initially slow to spread?
  • How did climate and agricultural change affect pre-contact settlement patterns?
  • How did European and Native cultural and religious beliefs affect their relationship to nature?

Acoma

Acoma
Acoma

Cahokia

Cahokia
Cahokia

Huronia

Huronia
Huronia

Iroquoia

Iroquoia
Iroquoia

Ganondagan

Ganondagan
Ganondagan

Ganondagan

Ganondagan
Ganondagan

landscape management

Terraces
Terraces

landscape management

forests
forests

Old Growth Forest

forests
forests

why didn't the Americas "develop"?

  • less resources pressure
  • fewer animals suited to domestication
  • less evangelical pressure
  • culture of balance vs. domination
  • culture of circulation vs. accumulation

Medival Warm Period and the Little Ice Age

  • Medival Warm Period: 950CE - 1250CE
  • Little Ice Age: 1250CE - 1800CE
  • climate change affects political change
  • widespread droughts, wildfires, flooding, and cool summers
  • global nadir circa 1600 - 1650