HIST 1011 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Maya Calendar, Micron Technology, Antarctica
Document Summary
Antartica was not occupied: shows the value of ecological limits on human history, what possibilities are available to people and how they shape them, ability to harness nature. The largest world and most heavily inhabited, and most sophisticated societies outside eurasia was the americas (south america, north america, the caribbean) They had lots of food crops > corn and potatoes (2/4 basic staples developed in the americas - missing wheat and rice) We know that corn was grown by peoples across the americas. That suggests that there had been some form of communication through the land mass. The presumed answer: that corn was picked up by people and was moved and acquired and cultivated by neighbors > moves incrementally. The potato had not spread across the americas. Although there was clearly communication across the americas. The communication it was much more limited and constrained then it was in eurasia. North america: large indian communities (mound cultures)
