The Americas on the Eve of Invasion

1. The Americas on the Eve of Invasion Chapter 11

2. Classical Era in the Americasapprox. 600-900 • Indigenous peoples built upon the past • Similar religion & architecture • Created thriving civilizations • Political organization • Advanced math, astronomy • Agricultural techniques • Population growth and urbanization • Social Stratification • Developed economies & trade • Major Classical Civilizations • Teotihuacán (teh-o-tee-Wah-kahn) • Maya

3. Teotihuacán • 30 miles northeast of modern-day Mexico City • Height of power in 600 • Largest city in Americas: 125,000-200,000 ppl • Urban population lived in apartment compounds • live in city & work on farms outside city • Government: • Most likely ruled by alliance of elite families & priests • Elites & priests distinguished themselves through diet, dress, residence • Religion: • Polytheistic: Quetzalcoatl most impt. God • Human sacrifice • Pyramid temples • Economy: • Agriculture and trade • Chinampas (floating gardens) • Military to protect trade • Collapse around 650 • Likely due to class struggles, mismanagement of resources, invasion

4. Maya • Tropical Climate, poor soil • Variety of ag. techniques depending on environment • Slash & burn (aka swidden agriculture) • Drain swamps for land • terracing • Government: • Series of rival kingdoms w/ hereditary rulers • Rulers serve both political & religious function

5. Maya Empirehttp://www.adishakti.org/images_foreign/mayamap_L.gif

6. Maya • Religion • 3 layer cosmos (underworld, human world, heavens) • Close tie b/t warfare and religion • Rituals & fasting before war • Use of war to gain captives • Many used for human sacrifice; others for labor • Bloodletting, tattooing, painting of skin • Elaborately decorated temples • Symbolic of the cosmos • aligned w/ sun & planets • Science/Technology • Sophisticated calendar-making • Hieroglyphic writing system • Concept of zero in mathematics http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/latinamerica/images/maya_hieroglyphs.gif

7. Maya • Collapse of the Maya • Cities abandoned between 800 and 900 • No clear explanation • Possible reasons • Disease • Decline in trade (likely associated with fall of Teotihuacán) • Environmental degradation • Decline in agricultural production • Internal warfare

8. Post-Classical Americasapprox. 900-1500 • Continuity: • Many characteristics of the classical period continue • Architecture, religion, social structure, urban organization • Change: • Compared to earlier periods, the Post-Classical period was characterized by • Increased agricultural production, population growth, increased warfare and conquest

9. Toltecs • Created military state in Mexico and Central America • Capital: Tula • Influential on later Mesoamerican empires • Warlike culture • Temples and art depicts scenes of war and human sacrifice • Dual Kingship • Led to weakness and division • Power struggle and decline around 1000 • 1156: Tula invaded and Toltec culture overrun by other groups

10. Toltec Warriorshttp://www.kidspast.com/images/toltecs.jpg

11. AztecMexica (Meh-she-ca) • Moved into Central Mexico after decline of Toltecs • Originally, clans who served other more powerful groups • Began to buildup powerbase near Lake Texoco • 1325: construction on Tenochtitlan & Tlateloco • Twin capitals- Foundation of Mexico City • Began to expand & take new territory • Buildup of an empire

12. Aztec http://www.plu.edu/~arnoldwp/img/aztec-empire.jpg

13. Aztec • Government: • Single ruler chosen by council of aristocrats • Did not have absolute power • Ruler chosen from royal family, but not based upon primogeniture • Military conquest to display their power • Tie between war and religion

14. Aztec • Social Structure: • Great degree of social & economic inequality • Power and land controlled by elites and warriors • Lower classes often worked as slaves or landless commoners on estates owned by elites • Little opportunity for social mobility • Highest positions in society were hereditary

15. Aztec • Economy: • Relied upon ag. to feed urban population • Irrigation, dikes, chinampas to increase ag. • Tribute system supplied other goods to city • Conquered peoples sent food, cloth, luxury items, military equipment, and sacrificial victims to city • Trade important • Barter system

16. Aztec • Religion: • Polytheistic • Most gods were both male and female • Temples dedicated to gods • Extensive use of human sacrifice • Thousands annually • Both religious and political function • Aztecs believed Huitzilopochtli required a steady supply of human hearts in order to bring the sun’s warmth to Earth • Public sacrifice helped deter rebellion and opposition

17. Northern Peoples • By 900, organized societies had emerged in the American Southwest and Mississippi River Valley regions. • Much like the societies of Mesoamerica, these northern peoples depended upon maize, beans, and squash to help feed their populations. • Major societies: • Southwest: Anasazi • Mississippi Mound Builders

18. Anasazi • “ancient ones” • Located in American Southwest • Large community in Chaco Canyon of NM • Influenced by Mesoamerica • Beans, maize, squash • Urban life centered in underground buildings (kivas) • Accomplished as basket-making, cloth-weaving, and pottery w/ geometric patterns

19. http://www.ancestral.com/images/maps/anasazi.gif http://www.desertusa.com/mag07/jan/images12_07/cro02.jpg

20. Mississippi Mound Builders • Initially hunter-gatherers who then adopt ag. • Population increase leads to growth of cities • Most settlements near rivers • Government: Chiefdom • Urban centers had a plaza surrounded by large earthen mounds • Height of culture at Cahokia • Mounds served as residence for chiefs, temples for religious ceremony, and burial sites for elites • Decline of Cahokia in 13th century, smaller settlements continue to thrive until the arrival of the Europeans

21. Andean Civilizations • In South America, a series of cultures grew in a most unlikely place • Harsh environment • Mountains (Andes) • Desert along west coast (Atacama) • Rainforest to the east • Andean civilizations typically followed the same plan for organization of society and the economy

22. Andean Civilizations • Society: • Territorial states ruled by hereditary aristocrats and kings • Clan-based societies • Clan known as Ayllu • Each Ayllu owned land communally • Households in the Ayllu tied together by system of reciprocal obligation to help each other

23. Andean Civilization • Economy: • On a larger scale, each state was organized in a system known as mitá • System required each ayllu to contribute workers to perform various forms of labor • Each person assigned a task (based largely upon gender) • To help promote efficiency, each community tended to specialize in a certain type of work based upon the environment • Ie. Coastal areas produced fish • Colonies were also sent out to exploit resources in the area • Societies used various ag. techniques to improve productivity in the harsh environment • Irrigation, terracing, growing frost-resistant crops, etc. • All goods produced in the mitá system were then brought together for exchange • Use of quipu to keep records • Series of knotted colored cords

24. http://www.orquidea.net/peru_travel_center/inca_empire.jpg

25. Inca • Among the Andean Civilizations, the Inca are the best known • The Inca began as a chiefdom that began to expand its power in the 1430’s • Developed an imperial state in the Andes Mountains of South America • By 1525, population of over 6 million • Capital: Cuzco (Peru)

26. http://www.anntravelcorp.com/fotos/p000001_cuzco%20anntravel.jpghttp://www.anntravelcorp.com/fotos/p000001_cuzco%20anntravel.jpg Machu Picchu City constructed at height of Inca Empire

27. Inca • Use of typical Andean social and economic organization • Mitá system • Buildup of military • Government: • Rulers began reign with military conquest to prove their power • Heirs of the rulers taken hostage to ensure cooperation

28. Inca • Achievements of the Inca: • Skilled at stone work • Stone buildings constructed w/o mortar • Cuzco constructed to look like a Mountain Lion • Palaces and temples in the center of the city • Temple of the Sun • Interior lined w/ gold • Temple used for ritual, ceremony, and occasional human sacrifice • Ruler used temple & ceremony to justify his rule • Quipu: record keeping system • Build upon earlier developments • Astronomical observation conducted by priests

29. Inca • Highly structured, government-regulated economy led to prosperity • Imperial system created inequality • Ie. Commoners could be executed for daring to look the ruler in the face • 1525: Stage is set for European conquest • Inca were weakened by internal division • Ruler died, triggering a power struggle between his two sons • Civil war weakens the Inca • Making them vulnerable to Europeans