The Americas on the Eve of
Invasion
Chapter 11
Classical Era in the Americas
approx. 600-900
• Indigenous peoples built upon the past
– Similar religion & architecture
• Created thriving civilizations
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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
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
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
Maya Empire
http://www.adishakti.org/images_foreign/mayamap_L.gif
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/latin
america/images/maya_hieroglyphs.gif
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
Post-Classical Americas
approx. 900-1500
• Continuity:
– Many characteristics of the classical period
continue
• Architecture, religion, social structure, urban
organization
• Change:
– Compared to earlier periods, the PostClassical period was characterized by
• Increased agricultural production, population
growth, increased warfare and conquest
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
Toltec Warriors
http://www.kidspast.com/images/toltecs.jpg
Aztec
Mexica (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
Aztec
http://www.plu.edu/~arnoldwp/img/aztec-empire.jpg
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
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
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
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
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
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
– More on Anasazi on p. 280
http://www.ancestral.com/images/maps/anasazi.gif
http://www.desertusa.com/mag07/jan/images12_
07/cro02.jpg
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
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
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
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
http://www.orquidea.net/peru_travel_center/inca_empire.jpg
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)
http://www.anntravelcorp.com/fotos/p000001_
cuzco%20anntravel.jpg
Machu Picchu
City constructed at height of Inca Empire
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
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
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