FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN ACTIVITY

(Chapter 3)

Indigenous America (Native Americans or First Nations)

• Arrival more than 12,000 years ago• 2-10 million (estimated) at time of European contact• Widely varying cultures• Impact of European settlement:

– Spread of diseases reduced numbers to 1 million by 1800– Pushed westward

• Status today– United States: one third on reservations, most others in

cities– Canada:

• Better relations than the U.S.• Creation of territory of Nunavut (1999)

European Settlement

• C. 60 million migrants to North America from Europe and Africa

• Early period (to 1815)– Most immigrants from northern and western

Europe– Most French in 1600s, totaling about 15,000– In 1790, two-thirds of American whites were

British, others mainly Dutch, German

European Immigration

• 1815–1914– Trend of increasing numbers– Shift from northern and western Europe to

southern and eastern Europe with spreading Industrial Revolution

• Post–World War I– Restricted immigration– Depression and World War II: reduced numbers

European Immigration (continued)

• Post–World War II– End of nationality quotas– Increased numbers– New controls after September 11, 2001, attacks– Issue of illegal immigration

• Destinations– More to the U.S. than to Canada– Major determinant: economic opportunity– Few try to duplicate conditions in home countries– Closeness to points of entry

Non-European Immigration (pre-1965)

• Africans– C. 20 million taken in slave trade, 50% died– Accounted for 20% of population in 1790, then

percentage declined with end of slave trade

• Asians– Chinese exclusion after 1881 – Restrictions on Japanese

Recent Immigration

• Asians and Latin Americans:– Mexico– Philippines– Vietnam– Dominican Republic– China– India

• Settlement near point of entry

British Isles

Germany,Scandinavia

Southern, Eastern Europe

Restrictions

Asia, Latin America

U.S. Immigration

Push Factors Pull Factors1840s: Irish Potato Famine Economic opportunity1850-1920: Overpopulation, wars Political/religious freedomRecent: Overpopulation, war, oppression Land availability

Settlement Expansion

• Small early Spanish settlements in Southwest• Other European settlement– Beginnings on East Coast– Reached Appalachians by 1750– Crossed continent by 1850– Canada: Barrier of Canadian Shield north of Lake

Superior

Spanish

North (New

England)

Middle (Pennsylvania)

South

Settlement and Diffusion from Culture Hearths

Spanish

(page 49)

Settlement of Canada

French culture hearth

Canadian Shield barrier

(page 50)

Canadian Population Density Today

(page 52)

Population Density Today: United States

(page 53)

Population Mobility

• Population growth as indicator of well-being• Periods of internal migration– East to west: farmland– Rural to urban areas: manufacturing jobs– Between metropolitan areas– Postindustrial: movement to areas formerly in

decline (e.g., South)

Population Change, 1990-2000

(page 12)

Urbanization, 2000

(page 56)

Cultures

• Culture: People’s assemblage of beliefs and learned behavior

• Conservative, but also changing

• Impact on landscape• Variations:

– Language– Sports– Buildings– Food

(page 58)

Food preferences

Predominant Religions

(page 60)