Civilizations of the Andes

• Bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west and Andes Mountains to the east

• Desert terrain crossed by many rivers flowing down from the mountains

Civilizations of the Andes

• Coastal areas – Seabirds, seafood

• Lowland valleys – maize, cotton

• Highland plains– Potatoes, quinoa, pasture land

• Tropical– Cocoa, tropical fruit

Civilizations of the Andes

• No single civilization dominated the Andes until the Inca controlled the entire region in the 1400’s C.E.

• Chavin – a regional religious movement• Moche – coastal civilization• Wari & Tiwanaku – interior empires

Chavin

• 900 B.C.E. – 200 B.C.E.• Emerged as the focal

point of a religious movement

• Located on trade routes between the Pacific coast & rainforest

Chavin

• Clear class distinctions– Elite lived in stone homes, ordinary people in adobe homes

• Widely spread throughout Peru and beyond over the next few centuries– Architecture of temples– Sculpture– Pottery– Religious images– textiles

• Religious cult and trading network that enabled cultural and economic integration throughout the Andes

Chavin

• Chavin de Huantar was a pilgrimage site

• Elaborate temple complex• Deities were represented

by :– Jaguars– Crocadiles– Snakes

• Religious leaders likely used the hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus to communicate w/ spirits

Moche

• One of the regional civilizations that replaced Chavin

• 250 mile stretch of the northwestern Peruvian coastline

• 13 river valleys

Moche

• Complex irrigation system to direct mountain water to fields– Maize– Beans– Squash– Cotton

Moche

• Exquisite artisans– Metal workers– Potters– Weavers– Painters

Moche

• Governed by warrior-priests who performed rituals to bridge the gap between the people and the gods

• Ritual sacrifice of prisoners of war• Society based on war, ceremony, & diplomacy• Little is known about the ordinary members of

society as most artifacts reflect the lives of the elites• Fell victim to some combination of environmental

factors in the 500s C.E. and was gone by the 700s

Wari & Tiwanaku

• Provided greater cultural and political integration than coastal empires

• Thrived from 400 – 1,000 C.E.

• Wari – north• Tiwanaku - south

Wari & Tiwanaku

• Both had large urban capitals• Both had populations of tens of thousands• Both established colonies at lower elevations

to ensure access to resources– Seafood, maize, chili peppers, cocoa, obsidian,

exotic feathers, hallucinogens • Caravans of llamas linked distant parts of each

empire and allowed for the exchange of goods, culture, and religious symbols/images

Wari & Tiwanaku

Wari• Hillside terracing/irrigation

for agriculture• Construction used field

stone set in mud mortar• Cities built with a common

plan and linked to the capital by roads

• More tightly controlled

Tiwanaku• Raised field system of

agriculture• Walls and building were

constructed w/ fitted stone

Bantu Africa• Comprised of 400 distinct, but

closely related languages• Its spread through south and east

Africa brought massive cultural and economic change

• Not a conquest, invasion, nor conscious migration of people

• A slow movement of people, perhaps just a few families at a time

• Brought linguistic and cultural commonality to sub-equatorial Africa, marking it as a distinct region of the continent

Interaction of Cultures

• Agricultural bantu people displaced, absorbed, or eliminated hunter-gatherers almost everywhere due to several advantages– Larger population– More productive agricultural economy– Immunity to diseases– Iron for tools and weapons

• Batwa – forest specialists– Lived in the forests/jungles of central Africa– Traded their wares from the forest for Bantu agricultural products– Adopted Bantu languages but retained their own identity– Believed to be the true owners of the land and original civilizers of

the Earth by neighboring Bantu groups

Bantu Society & Religion

• Many Bantu societies were less patriarchal than larger urban based civilizations– Separate but Equal gender roles

• Female: child care, food prep, farming, making pots, baskets, etc.• Male: hunting, fishing, trapping, medicine, construction

• Focused on worshiping ancestors and native spirits rather than one creator god– The power of ancestors & spirits was accessed through rituals of

sacrifice– Continuous Revelation: the possibility of constantly receiving new

messages from the spirits– Geographically confined – communication with spirits was to explain,

predict, and control local affairs