Ch. 11 Summary (Americas)
•American societies during the post classical era
remained isolated
•American civs. were marked by elaborate cultural
systems, highly developed agriculture and large urban
and political units
•Columbus’s mistaken designation of the natives of
the Americas implies a nonexistent common identity
•The great diversity of cultures requires a
concentration on a few major civs.
•The great imperial states of Mesoamerica (central
Mexico) and the Andes, plus a few other
independently developing peoples
Compare the imperial civilizations of
the Andes and Mesoamerica
• Both were based on the long development of preceding civs.
• They represented the success of imperial and military organization and of
extensive agricultural systems controlled by the state
• Older kinship groups had been transformed into a hierarchical system
• The nobility became state personnel
• Both reorganized local ethnic groups and political leaders in return for
recognition of sovereignty
• Belief systems and cosmology were similar
• Each power had limited success against nomadic people of their frontiers
• Difference came from climate and geography
• Andes region was isolated
• Trade, markets and a merchant class was present in each , although they
were more developed among the Aztecs
• The Incas lacked a writing system but had greater metallurgical skills
• Aztecs made extensive use human sacrifices
Compare the civs. of the
Americas and Polynesia
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Both had a strong emphasis on clan-based societies
A division of resources according to clans
Lack of a writing system (at least among the Inca)
Had strong animistic religions
Emphasis on military (at least among the Maori)
Lack of tech sophistication
Absence of large mammals
Lack of pastoral nomadism
The practice of human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism
Polynesians lacked imperial systems and monumental architecture , which
were present in the Americas
• In the Americas the civs. were much larger and had a higher pop. density