CHAPTER 11
The Americas on the eve of invasion
Objective

How did the environment influence the development
of societies in the Americas and how does that
compare with the empires we have discussed so far?





2500s BCE-400 BCE
300s-900s CE
900s-1200s CE
1100s-1500s CE
1300s- 1500s CE
Olmec
Mayas
Toltecs
Incas
Aztecs
Olmecs (800 BCE)





River-valley equivalent
Adopt agriculture and cultivate corn and potatoes
Lack system of writing
Create massive architecture
Domestication of dogs, turkeys and guinea pigs
Maya (400-700CE)



Polytheistic
Blood sacrifice
Intellectual Achievements
 astronomy,
calendric systems, hieroglyphic writing,
ceremonial architecture, and masonry without metal
tools
Toltecs (900-1150 CE)





Adoption of earlier
agricultural practices
Human sacrifice
Viewed as givers of
civilization by later tribes
(inaccurate)
Legend of Topiltzin &
Quetzalcoatl
Possible contact with SW
American Indians
Aztecs (1300s – mid 1521)





Aggressive & warlike people
Continue practice of human sacrifice
Creation of divine kingship
Region trade and tribute from conquered peoples
Unable to remove women from economic activity
Provided necessary labor for food production
 Due to lack of animal domestication or the wheel
 Women were treated better (finally)


Empire conquered by the Spanish conquistador Hernan
Cortes
Aztec Religion

Polytheistic religion
 128
gods
 Fertility,
agriculture, creation, war, sacrifice
 Still address the major theological questions of human
existence

Cult of Human Sacrifice
 Took
a tradition and changed it
 More and different
Aztec Agriculture

Chinampas, man-made floating islands


High yield farming


Video
Most of the 150,000 -200,000 people were not food producers
Maize, beans and crops
Aztec Social Structures

Calpulli:
 Kin
groups or clans
 Historically
 As
the Aztecs grew in power the Calpulli changed
 Became

7
residential groups
Social stratification
 Some
Calpulli were more important than others
 Within the Calpulli itself, some families were more
important than others

Social separation was very apparent and widened
as the empire grew
Tenochtitlan (Before and After)
Incas (1300’s – 1533)

Influenced by earlier Andean
cultures, but not by Olmecs/Toltecs
 Earlier
societies known as
intermediate horizon states
Incan Culture

Culture of war and conquest
 Cult
of the Ancestor
 split
inheritance
 Power given to one heir, wealth to remainder of male offspring
 Wealth used to support deceased in afterlife
 New
ruler compelled to acquire new wealth through
conquest to ensure his one care in afterlife

Gender-specific roles in the home and in society
 Emphasis
on cooperation
 Inheritance passed through gender
 Father
to son, Mother to daughter
How the Inca’s maintained control

Development of regional government and
state bureaucracy
 Land
and labor from conquered people,
rather than monetary tribute
 Considerate of local customs and traditions

Creation of complex system of roads
(2500 miles)
 More

complex system of trade than Aztecs
No written language
 Development
system
of Quipu: knotted counting
Inca agricultural

Development of agricultural terraces on
mountainsides
 Similar
to Aztec chinampas
Incan Downfall

Weakened by alliances and arranged royal
marriages
 Centralization

was not as strong
Empire conquered by Spanish conquistador
Francisco Pizzaro
 Kidnapped
 Killed
Him
the Inca
Comparing Incas and Aztecs






Both built on previous civilizations
Both represented success at imperial and military
organization
Both created by the conquest of sedentary
agricultural people and the extraction of tribute
and labor from them
Both older kinship-based institutions changed
with the rise in nobility
Both recognized local ethnic groups and powers
Aztec trade and markets more developed
Exit


How did the environment influence the development
of societies in the Americas and how does that
compare with the empires we have discussed so far?
Answer this please in your check for understanding
worksheet