Bases of American Civilization essays

Bases of American Civilization essays What were the bases of Civilization in America? (Revised 10/9/01) Migration of the European and Asian Homo sapiens across the tundra land bridge, presently the Bering Strait between Alaska and Siberia, is said to be due from increasing population pressures(p. 198), and the pursuit of mammoths, mastodons and other large game. Civilization in America was separate from the classical world of Asia, North Africa and southern Europe, and progressed on its own, without the help of any previous civilization. The ancient huntersthe first evident humans around 9500 B.C.E.basis of social organization revolved around kinship, a basis commonly present in many future groups. The seclusion and isolation of these groups have some believing the people of America developed agriculture, domestication of some animals, weaving, ceramics, a number system, religious ideas, complex societies and urbanization. Environmental change, disappearance of large game and stabilization of the sea coast became a few underlying factors for the cultures; transition to agriculture and a sedentary way of life created dependency on agriculture, beginning a process resulting in 3 systems: complex social, political and economical. Sedentary populations who could produce surpluses attained the status of a complex society, forming a base for hierarchical societies. Chieftains or rulers, over large territories, indicated civilizations with highly developed religious and political systems and monumental architecture. (p.203) The Olmecs, the mother civilization of Mesoamerica (p.205), developed cultural tradition, urbanism, complex religion, the beginning of writing, and so much more, influencing many expanding societies. Teotihuacan, the first classic city, contained a large urban center, population of 200,000, residential districts, religious artifacts, and a political empire, which covered parts of Me...