pre-colombian civilizations in the americas

Chapter 6Chapter 6

Early Human Migrations

Major Pre-Colombian Civilizations

Early Civ in the Americas2 centers of early civ in the Americas (Olmec

and Inca) developed in total isolation from developments elsewhere in the world, so they lacked certain advantages that come from the ability to copy and react to other societies.

Lacked tech. like the wheel and iron working, but they were considerably ahead of Europe during the same time.

Demonstrate common tendency of humans to move from agriculture to est. civ.

The OlmecThe earliest American civilization (600-400

B.C.E.) developed along the Mexican Gulf Coast simultaneously w/ classical world, though in isolation.

Provided Central America w/ equivalent of river valley civ in Asia & Mid East. Cultivation of maize.

Olmecs did not build cities, but ceremonial centers made up of pyramid-shaped temples and other buildings (inspired Mayans).

Influence spread through trade.

Mysteries of the OlmecsOlmecs did not develop writing, so

archaeologists know very little else about the Olmecs. However, they know from the tombs and temple ruins that priests and aristocrats stood at the top of Olmec society.

The most famous remains of Olmec civilization are the giant carved stone heads at La Venta. No one knows how they moved these 40-ton stones from distant quarries without wheeled vehicles.

Olmecs disappeared w/o a trace around 400 B.C.E., but Maya successors soon evolved.

Colossal Olmec Heads

Lands of the Mayans

The Yucatan

Peninsula

The Yucatan

Peninsula

About the Mayans…300-900 A.D.Mayans lived in what is now southern Mexico and Guatemala. Yucatan Peninsula. Influenced by their predecessors, the Olmecs.Descendents of the Mayans still live today in Guatemala.

Mayan SocietyThe Mayan Empire was made up of city-states. Each had its own chief, or king. He was assisted by nobles who served as military chiefs, and officials who managed public works, collected taxes, and enforced laws. Rulers were usually men, but some women governed on behalf of their sons. Priests were very powerful b/c only they could conduct religious ceremonies needed to ensure good harvest and success in war. Used pyramid temples like this one:

Ms. Barton’s Brainchild: Chichen-Itza Pizza

The importance of pyramid temples

Priests climbed to the top of the temple to make sacrifices as people watched from below.Also served as burial places for nobles and priestsMayan pyramids at Tikal were tallest structures in the Americas until 1903 when Flatiron Building was built in NYC.

Religious Syncretism Today:

Mashimone: The divine intermediary whom the indigenous people of Antigua go through to ensure their prayers to God are answered. In exchange for answering your prayers you must give him money, cigarettes and shots of rum. The candles at his feet mean different things. Black magic.

Advances in LearningMayan priests needed to measure time accurately in order to hold ceremonies at the right time. Therefore, many priests became mathematicians and astronomers. Developed and accurate 365-day solar calendar.Invented numbering system and understood concept of zero.

Chichen-Itza Astronomical Observatory

Pakal: The Maya Astronaut

Quetzalcoatl:The God of Wisdom

& Learning

Mayan Glyphs

Advances in LearningMayans developed a hieroglyphic writing system.Mayan scribes kept sacred knowledge in books made of bark. Spanish conquerors later burned many of these books, but a few were taken to European museums.

Mayan Glyphs

Mayan Mathematics

sky king house child city sky king house child city

Chichen-Itza - Ball Court

Mayan Ball GamesSpectators watched as 2 teams competed to drive a rubber ball through a stone ring that hung from a wall. Opposing players moved the ball using their bodies, but not their hands and feet. Similar to soccer, which is modern Mexico’s most popular spectator sport.

Mayan Cultivation of

Maize

Chac, God of Rain Chac, God of Rain

Importance of Farming (Maize)Most Mayans were farmers. Mayan farmers cleared the rain forests and built fields that held and drained rainwater. With their advanced system of farming, Mayans cultivated maize (corn), beans, and squash to support the heavily populated cities. Farmers paid taxes in food: helped build temples.

Mayan Underground Granaries: Chultunes

Overview of Tikal (Guatemala)Temple of the

MasksTemple of the

Masks

My sister’s photos of Mayan ruins

Tikal Jungle View at Sunset

My sister zip-lining through that jungle

Tikal - Main Court

Tikal: Temple of the Masks

My sister<Laura

Tikal - Wall Mask of the Rain God

Modern Mayan artist

Mayan Drinking Cup for Chocolate

Mayans Today

A Mayan woman and child in Antigua, Guatemala. Photo complements of my sis.

Modern Mayans in traditional textiles

Toltecs

Maya civ collpased around the 8th c C.E. Nomads in n. Yucatan took advantage of

political vacuum to move into richer lands. Among them was the Toltecs. Toltec accomplishments often confused with Mayan and Aztecs.

Toltec Empire lasted until 1150 when Aztecs rose to power.

Lands of the Aztecs

Arrival of Aztecs in Valley of MexicoIn the late 1200s, nomads migrated into the

Valley of Mexico from the north. Would become known as the the Mexica or Tenocha people. Better known as Aztecs.

According to Aztec legend, the gods told them to search for an eagle perched on top of a cactus holding a snake in its beak. They found it on a swampy island in Lake Texcoco. It was here that they built the capital city of Tenochititlan (modern Mexico City), founded about 1325.

The Codex

Mendoza :The

Foundingof

Tenochtitla

n

Aztec View of Tenochtitlan

Ruins of the City Center, Tenochtitlan

Tenochtitlan: The Venice of the Americas

Spread of the Aztec Empire In the 1400s, the Aztecs expanded their empire

throughout most of Mexico. Their methods of conquest included fierce warfare, and shrewd alliance.

By 1500, there were 30 million people in the Aztec empire.

Their skillful warfare resulted in wealth and power. Tribute, or taxes forced on conquered peoples, helped the Aztecs turn Tenochtitlan into a magnificent city which rivaled its European counterparts.

Aztec Government and Society

Unlike Mayan city-states, each of which has its own king, the Aztecs had only one central ruler. The emperor was chosen by a council of nobles and priests. Emperor was seen as a representative of the gods on Earth.

Nobles served as officials, judges, and governors of conquered territories.

Next came the warriors who could rise to noble status by capturing or killing enemy soldiers.

The rest of society (the majority) was composed of commoners who farmed the land.

Slaves were at the bottom of society. They could own land and buy freedom.

ChinampasAs the population of Tenochtitlan grew, the

Aztecs discovered an ingenious way to create more farmland.

Built chinampas, or artificial floating islands made of dirt piled on top of reed mats that were anchored to the shallow lake bed.

They mimicked nature, as much of the land of Tenochtitlan itself was a chinampa in origin.

Raised maize (corn), squash, and beans on these.

Also built canals in the lake for transportation.

Aztec Chinampa or Floating Garden:

15ft. to 30ft. wide

Tenochtitlan - Chinampas

Fierce Aztec Warriors

Wall of Skulls, Tenochtitlan

Aztec Gold

Aztec Religious BeliefsAztec religion was a vast, uniting, and often oppressive force. Priests were of high rank in society, in their own class. Priests performed rituals they believed pleased the gods and prevented natural disasters. Practiced human sacrifice like Mayans and Olmecs, but on a larger scale. Used captured enemy soldiers as sacrificial victims. Alliances with the conquered peoples who were used as sacrificial victims would later form alliances with the conquistadors, and would help to bring down the Aztec Empire.

Aztecs Sacrifice Neighboring Tribes to the Sun God

Aztec gods Deities incl. gods of rain, fire, water, corn, the sky, and the

sun. Each deity had a male and female form, b/c basic duality was recognized in all things.

Huitzilopochtli, the sun god, was the chief Aztec god. Believed he battled the forces of darkness at night, and that there was no guarantee he would rise again the next day. They offered human sacrifices to him so he would have strength to rise each day.

Priests offered the hearts of thousands of victims to him and other Aztec gods.

Despite the brutality of human sacrifice, Aztecs were still concerned with spiritual questions about life after death and the meaning of life?

Aztec relig also involved a complex mythology.

Heart Sacrificeon an Aztec Temple

Pyramid

Sacrificial Statue, Tenochtitlan

Aztec Sun Motifs

Aztec LearningPriests were the keepers of knowledge. Recorded laws and historical events. Used knowledge of astronomy and math to foretell the future. The Aztecs, like the Mayans, had an accurate calendar.

Aztec Sun Stone -- Calendar

Aztec Math

Aztec Writing

Aztec Codex (15c Manuscript)

Fall of the Aztec EmpireIn 1519, the Spaniard Hernan Cortes and the conquistadors reached Tenochtitlan. They were amazed by the magnificent city.Was as large as contemporary Seville or Paris. Spanish compared its anals to Venice. Cortes and his men overpowered Montezuma (the king) and the Aztecs. The empire fell and became a Spanish colony. “Montezuma’s Revenge”

Colombian ExchangeThe term used to describe the widespread exchange of plants, animals, food, human populations (slaves, mestizos), communicable diseases, and ideas between the “Old World” and “New World.” Began with Christopher Columbus’ 1492 voyage. European diseases decimated native populations while American crops such as potatoes revolutionized farming in Europe.

Who do you think got the fuzzy end of the lollipop?

Lands of the Incas

Birth of the Incan EmpireThe Andean region (modern Peru, Chile, and Ecuador) was home to several civilizations before the Incan empire was established.Chavin, Mochica, and Nazca civilizations thrived here before the arrival of Pachacuti, the founder of the Incan Empire, in 1438. Pachacuti proclaimed himself Sapa Inca, or emperor, and set up a kingdom at Cuzco, high in the Andes Mountains. (Present Peru)

PachacutiPachacuti took over neighboring lands, and eventually expanded the Incan Empire from Ecuqdor in the north to Chile in the South. Exercised absolute power over empire. Claimed he was the divine son of the sun itself. Also the chief religious leader. He owned all lands and resources. His wife, Coya, governed in his absence.

Quipu and QuechuaSpecially trained officials kept records on a quipu, a collection of knotted, colored strings. Noted dates and statistics on population and crops. To unite the empire, the Incas imposed their language, Quechua, and their religion on conquered peoples.

The Quipu: An Incan Database

Incan Road SystemIncans developed an advanced system of roads. 12,000 miles through mountains and desert. Built ridges spanning deep gorges and rivers. Roads allowed armies to move rapidly across the empire. Relay runners carried messages and news swiftly between provinces and capital (Cuzco).

Incan Suspension Bridges

Incan Suspension Bridges

Cuzco: Ancient Capital of the Inca

(11,000 ft. above sea level)

CuzcoCapital of the Incan empire. Temple of the Sun stood at the heart of the city. Architecture and walls constructed from polished stone blocks. Amazingly, construction was accomplished without mortar.

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

FarmingFarmers carved out strips of land into the steep hillsides held in place by stone walls. Made farming possible where flat land was scarce. Also prevented rains from washing away the soil. Land was communal, and the government took harvests to divide among the people. They stored part of each harvest in case of famine.

Incan Terrace Farming

Over 100 Different Types of Potatoes

Cultivated by the Incans

Produce from a Typical Incan Market

Maize in Incan Pottery

& Gold Work

Incan Ceramic Jars

PeanutPeanut PotatoPotato SquashSquash

Cacao God

Cacao God

Cacao PodCacao Pod

Incan ReligionPolytheistic- worshiped gods linked to the forces of nature. Monthly festivals were held to honor the gods. People offered food, clothing, and drink to the gods. Inti, the sun god, was the chief god.

Inca Gold & Silver

The End of the Incan EmpireLike the Aztecs, the Incans eventually fell to Spanish invaders around 1525. It was relatively easy for the Spaniards to conquer the Incans. They arrived at a time of plague and civil war which weakened the empire at this crucial moment.

Ocmulgee Indian Mounds

In the Maconga

The Inuits of the ArcticThe Inuits are better known as Eskimos. Lived in the far north in a harsh climate.Lived by hunting and fishing. Made food, skins for clothing, bones for tools, and oil for cooking from seals and other sea mammals. Used dog sleds as transportation across ice and kayaks as transportation across water. Lived in igloos made from ice blocks.

Igloo & Aurora Borealis

Inuit in Kayak: Hunting for Seal

Indians of the Northwest CoastLived in what is now the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. and parts of Canada (British Columbia). Had an abundance of salmon, dear, wolves, and bears. People built permanent villages of wood (area also rich in timber).

PotlatchIn this “land of plenty” the Indians shared their wealth at potlatch ceremonies. At these ceremonies, which continue in Canada today, a person of wealth would distribute lavish gifts to many guests. By accepting the gifts, the guests acknowledge the hosts high status. Also carved totem poles to tell family histories.

Potlatch and Totem Poles

The IroquoisThe Iroquois people populated area between Atlantic Coast and the Great Lakes. Built villages in the forests. Rivaling Iroquois nations united in the 1500s to form the Iroquois League. Alliance of 5 nations who spoke the same language and practiced similar traditions. Iroquois League decline after the arrival of the British and French in North America.

Ellis, E.G., & Esler. (2005). A. World History: Connections to Today. Upper Saddle

River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. Thanks to Laura Barton for the great

photographs of the Mayan ruins!