Societies in the Americas
World Studies Summer School
2011
Early North American Cultures
• Native Cultures flourish throughout North
America
– Each Culture was very dependent upon location
– Coastal tribes of the Northwest developed great
fishing societies
– Tribes in Southwest became great builders and
farmers
• Anasazi build Pueblos in Southwest
– Apartment style cities made of dirt and clay brick built
under cliffs
– Abandoned around 1200 probably due to drought
Mesa Verde - Colorado
Southeastern Cultures
• Mound Builders
– Culture built great elaborate burial mounds for
tribal leaders filled with gifts, copper and
stone objects.
– Last mound builder culture the Mississippian,
lasted from 800 to 1500
– They built large villages based on farming
– Largest city was Cahokia with possibly as
many as 30,000 people.
– Evidence exist that they traded as far south as
the Aztecs and into the Northeast America
Maya
• Maya 200 BC – 900 AD
– Located in Southern Mexico on Yucatan
Peninsula and into central America
– Build great City states
• Largest Tikal
– Each City-State had its own God-King ruler
and center for religious ceremony
– Cities featured giant pyramids, temples,
palaces, and elaborate stone carvings
Maya Pyramids
Maya City States
• Independent but Linked
– Cities were linked through alliances and trade
• Cities exchanged their local products for others
– Farming provides the basis for life
• Squash, beans, maize
• Slash and burn farming
• Terraced and raised bed farming
– No uniform currency
• Beans and cacao at various times both served as
currency
• Therefore farming could make you wealthy
Religion and Maya
• Many Gods
– Corn, death, rain, war
– Gods could be good or evil
– Gods associated with 4 directions and colors
• Practices
– Worship was done many ways
• Prayed, offerings of food, flowers, incense
• Peirce bodies, and offered blood, believing it would
nourish the gods
• Some human sacrifice usually captured enemies
Maya Calendar
• Two Calendars
– 260 day Religious Calendar for identifying
wbhich god needed to be worshiped on each
day.
– 365 day solar calendar for best times to plant
crops, attack enemies and crown rulers
• Maya Calendar very accurate
– Math work and concept of zero made them
very accurate and helped to develop society.
Maya writing
• Most advanced Writing system in Americas
• 800 hieroglyphic symbols
– Some stood for words, others syllables
– Writing occurred in stone or on thin bark paper called
codex
– Only three codex books survive today
• Maya and Decline
– History ends in Mystery
• Suddenly abandon their cities
• Toltec’s from North move into cities and change culture
• No one really knows what happened
Assignment
• Questions:
–P.445 # 1-7
–P.449 # 1, 3-8
The Valley of Mexico
• Mesoamerican societies
– Teotihuacan 200 BC – 700 AD
– Toltec 900 AD – 1100 AD
– Aztec 1400 AD – 1521 AD
• Valley where Modern Mexico City is
located
• 7500 ft. above sea level
Teotihuacan
• First major civilization in Mexico valley
• Peak population of 150,000-200,000
• Center of trade network extending into
central America
– Most valuable item was obsidian
• No evidence they tried to make an Empire
• No evidence they were conquered
• City was virtually abandoned by 750
Pyramid of the Moon
Teotihuacan
Toltec
• Fierce warlike people who came to power in 900
• Capital at Tula
• Empire based on conquest
– Worships their War God who demanded blood and human
sacrifice
• Around 1000 ruler named Topiltzin tried to change Toltec
religion and move away from human sacrifice
• War God followers rebel and Topiltzin and his followers
leave Tula and move to Yucatan where they influence
late Mayan culture
• Topiltzin and his God, Quetzalcoatl, become legend in
Mexico valley
– Belief is the god left on a raft heading East and one day would
return to claim it rightful place bringing peace and prosperity
Aztec
• Mostly from Northern Mexico, they migrate south
to fill the void left from the decline of the Toltec
• According to legend their god told them to found
a great city of their own
– Tenochtitlan
• Tenochtitlan and other great cities of the area
form alliance to create Aztec empire.
• 80,000 square miles stretching from both coasts
of Mexico.
– 38 Provinces
– 5-15 million people
Aztec Religion
• Many Gods were worshiped
• Human Sacrifice
– Legend said Sun god would not have enough
strength to rise again the next day without
human sacrifice.
– Without regular offerings, the sun would not
rise
– Prisoners of war were preferred victims
• Criminals and people offered by tribute
Aztec Fall
• Emperor Montezuma II
– Empire so large it began to struggle with the daily requirements
for human sacrifice
– Some provinces rose up against the oppression and war-like
state
• Spanish Arrive 1500s
– Believing they were Quetzalcoatl coming back to take their
place, Montezuma welcomes Spanish and lavishes tributes of
gold on them.
– Spanish become obsessed with gold and want more
– They take Montezuma Captive and kill him
– Aztecs chase them from city and Cortes and Spanish leave
– They also left small pox which devastate the Aztec population
with disease
– When Spanish return 1 year later, Aztecs are easy to conquer
Assignment
• Questions
–P.458 # 1, 3-8
Inca
• Empire built on many different cultural
foundations
– Huari
– Tiahuanaco
• Inca started high in the plateau of the
Andes mountains of Peru
• Settle in the Valley of Cuzco
– By 1200 they have established their own
kingdom
Inca Expands
• 1438 – Pachacuti
– First great Incan Ruler
– Expands Incan land by conquering all of Peru
and moving into neighboring lands
– By 1500s Inca empire stretched 2500 miles
along the western coast of South America
• 1500s
– 80 Provinces
– 16 Million people
Incan Government
• Territory divided into manageable units
governed by central bureaucracy
• Build new buildings in conquered cities
with same architecture to project a uniform
empire
• Government exercises complete control of
trade and distribution of goods
• Enforce one Universal language in their
empire to be taught in all schools
• Never develop writing system
Advancements
• Roads
– With size of Empire they create and extensive
network of roads all leading to the capital of Cuzco
– Master Engineers and stone masons
– 14,000 miles of roads built
– Build shelters along the way for travelers to rest
• Postal service called chasquis carried messages
throughout the empire
• Oral traditions were passed down through
families
• Quipu – set of knotted string used for record
keeping
Social Structure
• Idea of community cooperation
– Ayllu – extended family group
• Took on tasks too big for individual familes
– Canals, irrigation, terraces, food storing
• Families divided into groups of 10, 100, 1000, and 10,000.
• Chief leads each group
• Chain stretches all the way to the capital of Cuzco
– Local Rulers allowed to keep local tribal traditions
– Families contributed Mita or Labor to the state
• Every family had to contribute a certain amount of work
during the year.
• Government made sure families did not starve during poor
harvests
Incan Religion
• Worshiped less gods than the Aztecs
– Focused on natural spirits
• Moon, starts, thunder, etc..
• Believed their was a balance in nature between
humans and the way they relate to each other
• Mamakuna
– “Virgins of the Sun”
– Women drafted for lifetime of religious service
• Worked full time for the state
• Created goods for the priests to distribute to the people
• Played roles in ceremonies
• Temple of Cuzco
– Most sacred of Incan shrines
– Decorated in gold
Incan Decline
• Reaches highpoint in early 1500s
– Huayan Capac great leader
– Receives gift in newly conquered city of Quito
– Opens gift and moths and butterflies fly out which
legend says is bad omen
– A few weeks later he dies, probably of smallpox
• Sons take over and split empire
– Eventually it leads to Civil War
• Spanish arrive 1534
– 600 Spanish are able to conquer Incas due to
smallpox wiping out 90% of population
Assignment
• Questions
–P.463 # 1, 3-8