Chapter 7 - The Americas Section 3: South America

Reading Focus

• How did early cultures of South America adapt to their environments?

• How was the Inca Empire organized?

Main Idea

Several early cultures in South America adapted to extreme environmental conditions. One of them, the Incas, built one of the biggest and most powerful empires in the Americas.

Section 3: South America

The western region of South America is one of environmental contrasts where early peoples learned to adapt and build civilizations.

• Lived in Peruvian highlands, 800 to 400 BC

• Chavin de Huantar

– Urban religious, trading center of culture

– Home to about 3,000 farmers, craftspeople

• Several different ecological zones represented in Andes

The Chavín

• Warmer valleys had irrigation systems, grew corn

• Cooler higher in mountains, grew potatoes

• High-altitude grasslands, raised llamas and alpacas

• Other Andean peoples later adopted these methods of farming

Chavín Crops

Early Cultures in South America

• Desert people, 200 BC to AD 600, best known for huge designs on desert floor

• Many theories, including having to do with location of water

• Built irrigation canals and relied on springs, flooding of streams to water crops

• Farming supported large population

The Nazca

• Lived in coastal desert of Peru in farming, fishing villages 400 BC to AD 600

• Built irrigation canals in desert, channeled flow of Andean streams to crops

• Best known for skilled metalwork in gold, silver, pottery

• Pottery depicted scenes of everyday life, including warfare

The Moche

Early Cultures in South America

Inca’s expansive empire • Brought entire South American

region into one empire

• Began as small Andean tribe

• Early 1500s, empire expanded along Pacific coast, Andes

Ruling a large empire• Incas needed strong government

• Emperor had most power

• Did not want conquered people to rebel

Government• Period of rapid expansion began

1400s from Cuzco

• Pachacuti used political alliances, military force

• Expanded by later leaders

Creating stability• Moved leaders of conquered areas

out

• Moved loyal new leaders in

• Military used to protect against rebellion, external attacks

The Inca Empire

Economy• Strictly controlled by government

• Common people required to pay labor tax, called the mita

• Government told each household what work to do to pay tax

Tracking goods• Inca used quipu, colored and knotted cords representing numbers, dates

• No written language, quipu used to record taxes, number livestock, census

• Road system improved communication, helped government control economy

Mita• Paid by weaving cloth, working on government farms, mines, building roads

• No merchants, goods distributed by government

• Extra food, goods stored in government warehouses for emergencies

The Inca Empire

The government also played a big role in Inca society. Each family was grouped with others into a cooperative community called an ayllu.

• Members shared activities like farming, building canals, rituals

• Each group of ten ayllus had chief

• Chain of command from emperor down to local level

Ayllu

• No slaves

• Most belonged to lower class– Farmers – Artisans– Servants

• Wore plain clothes

• Could not own more than needed

• Served upper class

Class Divisions

• King, government officials, priests

• Lived in capital, Cuzco

– Stone houses– Fine clothes– Did not pay tax– Attended school

to prepare to be officials

Upper Class

The Inca Empire

The Inca Empire

Religion a key element of Inca society

People allowed to worship local gods

– Sun god was most important of all

– Believed kings related to sun god

• Main temple located in Cuzco

– Mummies of dead kings worshipped

– Religious ceremonies often included sacrifices of llamas, cloth or food, rarely humans

In spite of the high level of achievement, the Inca Empire lasted only about 100 years. Arrival of Spanish in 1532 marked end of Empire.

The level of organization of Inca government and society led to significant achievements in the areas of engineering and the arts. The Incas were particularly talented builders of temples, forts and roads. Many Inca structures were built so well they still stand today.

• Especially skilled in metalwork

• Artisans made intricate ornaments of gold, silver

• Created a life-sized field of corn out of gold, silver in temple courtyard

Metalwork

The Inca Empire

• Weavers worked with wool, cotton• Divided cloth into three categories

oPlain for householdsoFiner for taxes and tradeoSpecial for royal and religiouspurposes

• Variety of patterns used

Weaving

The ChavinThe Chavín was the oldest culture in S.America – began around 1500 BC and died out around 200 BC

Chavin Warrior, c. 700 BC

The Inca

The Inca Empire arose in the Andes andincluded most of the west coast of S. America

The Inca

The Inca worshipped the sun and moon and Inca emperors held absolute power

Atahualpa, the 13th and last Inca emperor (c. 1502 – 1533)

The Inca

They built fortresses, irrigation systems, roads,and storehouses for surplus food

Major highways of the Inca Empire

Machu Picchu

The IncaAn educational system taught the Quechualanguage and Inca laws, religion, and history

The IncaThe Inca kept records using a quipu, a series ofknots on parallel strings

In 1533, Pizarro defeated the Incas and captured Atahualpa. The Inca gave 24 tons of gold and silver as a

ransom for Athualpa, but he was not released.  The Spanish tied him to a stake and strangled him.