PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICAS
c300 CE – c1500 CE
MESOAMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS
The Maya: c300 CE – c900 CE
 Modern-day Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize
 city-states
o
o led by
o religious centers/pyramids
o
 agriculture:
o
 hieroglyphs

Central Mexico
Teotihuacan: c100 BCE – c650 CE

o religious center w/temple complex
o gov’t center 
The Toltecs: c968 CE – c1150 CE
 regional kingdom
 centralized gov’t
o
 to the Aztecs, the Toltecs were considered “
The Aztecs: 1325-1521
 nomadic origins from Northern Mexico
o
 migrated to
o
o island cities:
o war w/surrounding tribes & city-states
 gained reputation as:
 dominant regional power by c1400 CE
 Aztec Society
o Aristocracy:

 political & head-priest duties


 lesser nobility


o Warriors:
 recruited from commoners

o Free people:



o Slaves:

 Imperial Expansion
o
 political, economic, & religious motivations
Sought:
 submission of city-states & allies
 tribute collection:


o war & terror used to build empire
 driven by Aztec religion
o

o

Aztec Religion
o
 Aztecs as “servants of the gods”
 Guided by Great Speaker & noble priests
o


 fueled imperial expansion
 “flowery wars”

 Tenochtitlan’s pyramid complexes


 Aztec Economy
o high population density
 c1500 CE: Tenochtitlan w/300,000
o


o
o
 corn
o
o
South America
THE INCA: 1438-1532


o Present-day: Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile
 ruled by
o
o
o
 capital =
o base for imperial expansion
o

Incan Religion


 state religion =
o the Inca =
o Inca conquests enforced the sun cult
 but,

o
o

Incan Imperialism

 Motivations for expansion?
o
o tribute


o



Managing an Empire
 divided into

 local rulers remained if:
o


 infrastructure built & maintained by central gov’t:
o
o
o
Incan Socialism


o
Agriculture



