The Americas 400-1500 Chapter 11

1. The Americas 400-1500 Chapter 11

2. Humans migrate into the Americas from Asia

3. While civilizations were developing in Africa, Asia, and Europe, they were also emerging in the Americas. Human settlement in the Americas is relatively recent compared to that in other parts of the world. However, it followed a similar pattern. At first the ancient people of the Americas survived mainly by hunting. Over time, they developed farming methods that ensured a more reliable supply of food. This in turn led to the growth of the first civilizations in the AMERICAS.

4. The OLMEC CIVILIZATION • Mesoamerica’s first known civilization (around 1200 B.C.E.). The Olmec influenced neighboring groups, as well as the later civilizations of the region, they’re often called Mesoamerica’s “mother culture” • First major city – Teotihuacán “Place of the Gods”

5. Early people of Mesoamerica • Most were farmers who farmed along the muddy riverbanks in the area; The City was a busy trade center (tools, weapons, pottery, jewelry); Temples and palaces, all dominated by the pyramid of the sun • Olmec civilization collapsed (reasons are not fully understood), people believe that outside invaders caused their destruction around 400 B.C.E.

6. THE MAYAS • On the Yucatan Peninsula east of Teotihuacan, the highly sophisticated Mayan civilization flourished between 300 to 900 C.E. • Cities were built around a central pyramid topped with a temple to the gods.

7. MAYAN CIVILIZATION • Composed of city-states, each ruled by a hereditary ruling class • Ruling chief for each city, believed they were descended from the Gods • Captured nobles and war leaders were used for human sacrifice. • Other war captives were enslaved. • Like other ancient peoples in Central America, one way the Maya appeased the gods was through human sacrifice. • Human sacrifice was also performed on certain ceremonial occasions.

8. MAYAN SOCIETY • Rulers claimed to be descended from the gods. • Society included nobles, military leaders, public officials, scribes, townspeople, artisans and merchants • Most were farmers • Labor divided along traditional gender lines. A detail from a sacred Maya mural at San Bartolo — the earliest known Maya painting, depicting the birth of the cosmos and the divine right of a king

9. TIKAL • Urban centers such as Tikal may have had a 100,000 inhabitants.

10. DEADLY GAME (Pok-a-Tok-Read p. 354) • Nearby were temples, palaces, and a sacred ball court • The game had religious meaning because the court symbolized the world, and the ball represented the sun and the moon. • The defeated team or winning captain was sacrificed. MAYAN BALL COURT

13. Cenote

15. Chichén Itzá • The Toltec's built great palaces and pyramids, controlling the upper Yucatan Peninsula from Chichén Itzá • declined around 1200 C.E.

17. Mayan Contributions Highly skilled Mayan mathematicians and astronomers calculated the solar year at 365.2420 days • 365 day calendar • understood concept of #0 before the Europeans • giant stone heads • Astronomy • Pyramids • hieroglyphics: wrote on bark/ folded in accordion w/plaster cover

18. ITZAMNA • Itzamna was the supreme god of the Mayans, and some gods, like the jaguar god of the night were evil. • belief: all lifeis in the hands of divine powers was crucial to Mayan civilization.

19. HIEROGLYPHS • The Mayans created a writing system using hieroglyphs, or pictures. • Unfortunately, the Spaniards assumed the writings were evil because they were not Christian, and they destroyed many Mayan books, a pattern the Spanish would repeat throughout their conquest in the Americas. MAYAN STELLE

20. THE TOLTECS • Began in 900 C.E. • Center of empire – Tula (Present day Mexico City) • Were a fierce and warlike people who conquered the Mayan lands including Guatemala and Yucatan TOLTEC STAR PRINCESS

21. Toltec Religion • Polytheistic • Quetzalcóatl– god of Fertility and Wind • Xochipilli – god of love, music and song

22. THE AZTECS

23. THE AZTECS • Sometime during the 12th century CE, the Aztec began a long migration to the Valley of Mexico. • Capital – Tenochtitlan on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco, where Mexico City is today. Tenochtitlan

24. Aztec Legend • According to legend, the Aztec believedthat a sign would come from the god of war and of the sun, Huitzilopochtli, telling them where to settle. GOD OF SUN GOD OF WAR

25. LAKE TEXCOCO • In 1325 they were driven into the swamps and islands of Lake Texcoco, where they saw an eagle standing on a cactus growing out of a rock with a serpent in his beak, the sign that had been foretold.

26. TENOCHTITLAN • They built a magnificent city of temples, other public buildings, and roadways linking the islands and mainland. TENOCHTITLAN AT TIME OF CONQUEST

31. Aztec Government • government: single ruler and nobles served as officials, judges, and governors • The Aztec Kingdom was a collection of semi-independent territories governed by lords. • The Aztec ruler supported the lords in return for tribute—goods or money paid by conquered people to their conqueror. AZTEC WAR LORDS PAYING TRIBUTE TO THE KING

32. VALLEY OF MEXICO • By 1500 up to 4 million Aztecs lived in the Valley of Mexico • Power was in the hands of the god-king, who claimed descent from the gods. ANCIENT AZTEC RUINS—VALLEY OF MEXICO

33. AZTEC SOCIETY • The Aztec population consisted of commoners, indentured servants, and slaves, who were war captives and worked in the houses of the wealthy. diet of dried corn; • Children were taught courtesy, respect for their elders, truthfulness, and self-control. • Language: Nahuatl

34. GENDER DIVISION • Women were not equal to men, but could inherit property and enter into contracts, something not often allowed in other world cultures of the time. • They were also allowed to be priestesses.

35. Aztec Religion • Quetzalcóatl was the feathered serpent god. • According to Aztec tradition, he left his homeland and vowed to return in triumph. • This became part of a legendabout a prince whose return from exile would be preceded by a sign of an arrow through a sapling.

36. SPANISH CONQUISTADORS • When the Aztec saw the Spanish with a cross n their breastplates, they mistook the Spanish for Quetzalcoatl's representatives because the cross looked like the sign they had been waiting for.

37. AZTEC RELIGION Aztec religion was based on the belief in an unending struggle between the forces of good and evil, which led to the creation and destruction of a series of worlds. • Polytheistic: • Huitzilopochtli – God of the Sun and War who demanded human sacrifice (most important) • Tlaloc – God of rain, demanded sacrifice of infants • Xochiquetzal – god of Family • Chicomecoatl- goddess of Fertility • Xipe – God of spring • Tezcatlipoca (father-creator of all, spirit) and Coatlicue (mother earth) son, Huitzilopochtli (god of sun), sister Coyolxauqui (goddess of moon)

38. HUMAN SACRIFICE • Aztec religion practiced human sacrifice to postpone the day of destruction of their world, the 5th world. • A massive pyramid at the center of the capital was topped with shrines to the gods and an altar for human sacrifice.

39. In 1519, a Spanish force under the command of Hernán Cortéz marched to Tenochtitlán and conquered them two years later.

40. THE INCAS • Around 1400 C.E. • Equador to Chile • Cuzco, capital of the Incan empire in Peru

41. Government • God-king had complete control of everybody and everything • Emperor who was considered the son of the sun was also the religious leader • Gvt built an amazing system of roads to unify the empire (ordinary people forbidden on roads) -- Better than that of the Romans; Had bridges and tunnels through hills; 12,000 miles of roads

42. Society/Religion • Lives were strictly controlled by govt • Language: Quechua (All people had to speak the Incan) • Govt officials decided who had what job and even arranged marriages • Polytheistic – linked to the forces of nature • Festivals – dance to the young maize to the festival of the water • Farmers – gov’t stored grain for hard times

43. Contributions • The Incas constructed Hundreds of miles of roads • Ruins in Machu Picchu 7,000 feet above sea level (discovered in 1911); finest example of Incan architecture • Mesoamerica: name given to the areas of MX and Central America that were civilized before the Spaniards arrived • Francisco Pizarro conquers the Incas in 1531 and establishes new capital in Lima