Early Civilizations of

Middle America

Presentation created by Robert L. Martinez

Primary Content Source: Prentice Hall World History

Images as cited.

Approximately 30,000 years ago, small family groups of Paleolithic hunters and food

gatherers reached North America from Asia. This great migration took place during the last

ice age .

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At that time, so much water froze into thick ice sheets that the sea level

dropped, exposing a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska, in the area known as

the Bering Strait.

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Many historians believe that hunters

followed herds of bison and

mammoths across this land bridge. Other migrating people may have

paddled small boats and fished along the

coasts. gatesofvienna.blogspot.com

About 10,000 B.C.E., the Earth’s climate grew warmer. As the ice melted , water levels rose,

covering the land bridge under the Bering Strait.

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The global warming, or worldwide

temperature increase, along with the

hunting skills of the first Americans, may have killed off large

game animals like the mammoth.

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People adapted by hunting small animals, fishing, and gathering fruit, roots, and

shellfish. These nomadic hunter-gatherers slowly migrated eastward and southward

across the Americas.

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The Americas are made up of the two continents of North America and South America. Within these two geographic

regions is a cultural region called Middle America.

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Middle America includes Mexico and Central America and was home to

several early civilizations.

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Great mountain chains form a spiny backbone down the western Americas. In

North America, the Rocky Mountains split into the East and West Sierra Madre

of Mexico.

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The towering Andes run down the length

of South America. The continents are

drained by two of the world’s longest rivers, the Amazon of South

America and the Mississippi of North

America.

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The greatest adaption by early Americans was the cultivation of plants and domestication of

animals. It is believed that farming was partly a response to the disappearance of large

mammals.

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With fewer animals to hunt, people came to depend more on other food sources. Neolithic

people began cultivating a range of crops, from corn and beans to sweet potatoes, peppers,

tomatoes, and squash.

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Early American farmers domesticated animals. In South America, domesticated animals

include the llama valued for their wool. The lack of draft animals in the Americas, such as

oxen or horses, would limit development in some areas.

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In the Americas, like other continents, the Agricultural Revolution would lead to people settling in villages. Populations expanded.

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The earliest American civilization emerged in the tropical forests along the

Mexican Gulf Coast. The Olmec civilization lasted from about 1400 B.C.E.

to 500 B.C.E.

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Archeologists know very little about the Olmecs. However, rich tombs and temples

suggest that a powerful class of priests and aristocrats stood at the top of Olmec society.

The Olmecs did not build true cities.

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Rather, they built ceremonial centers made up of pyramid-shaped temples and other

buildings. People came from nearby farming villages to work on the temples or attend

religious ceremonies.

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The most dramatic

remains of the Olmec civilization are the giant

carved stone heads found in the ruins of a religious center at La

Venta. No one knows how the Olmecs moved these

colossal 40-ton stones from distant quarries

without wheeled vehicles

or draft animals.

The Olmecs invented a calendar and used carved inscriptions as a form of writing. But

their most important legacy may have been the tradition of priestly leadership and religious devotion that became a basic part of later

Middle American civilizations.

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Among the peoples influenced by the Olmecs were the Mayas. Between 300 and 900 C.E.

Mayan city-states flourished from the Yucatan in southern Mexico through much of Central

America.

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Scientists have determined how Mayan farming methods allowed them to thrive in the tropical

environment. Mayan farmers cleared the dense rain forests and then built raised fields that

caught and held rainwater.

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They also built channels that could be

opened to drain excess water. This complex system

produced enough native corn, called

maize, and other crops to support rapidly

growing cities.

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Towering pyramid temples dominated the largest Mayan city of Tikal, in present-day

Guatemala. Priests climbed steep temple stairs to perform sacrifices on high platforms, while

ordinary people watched from the plazas below.

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Some temples served as burial places for nobles and priests.

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Tikal boasted large palaces and huge stone pillars covered with elaborate carvings. The

carvings, which usually record events in Mayan history, preserve striking images of aristocrats, warriors in plumed headdresses, and captives

to be sacrificed to the gods.

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Much of the wealth of Tikal and the other Mayan cities came from trade. Along roads

made of parked earth, traders carried valuable cargoes of honey, cocoa, cotton cloth, and

feathers to exchange with other people across

Middle America.

Each Mayan city had its own ruling chief. He was surrounded by nobles who

served as military leaders and officials who managed public works, collected

taxes, and enforced laws.

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Priests held great power because only they could

conduct the elaborate

ceremonies needed to ensure

good harvests and success in war.

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Most Mayans were farmers. They grew corn, beans, and squash, the basic food crops of Middle America, as well as fruit trees, and cotton. Men usually cultivated the crops, while women turned them into

food.

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To support the cities, farmers paid taxes in food and helped

build the temples.

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The Mayas made impressive advances

in learning. They developed a

hieroglyphic writing system, which has only recently been deciphered. Mayan scribes kept their

sacred knowledge in

books made of bark.

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Mayan priests needed to measure time accurately in order to hold ceremonies at the

correct moment. As a result, many priests became expert mathematicians and

astronomers.

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They developed an accurate 365 day solar calendar, as well as a 260 day calendar based on the orbit of the planet Venus. Mayan priests

also invented a numbering system and understood the concept of zero.

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About 900 C.E., the Mayas

abandoned their cities,

leaving their great stone palaces and

temples to be swallowed up

the jungle. rutahsa.com

No one knows for sure why Mayan civilization declined. Possibly, frequent warfare forced the

Mayas to abandon their cities. Or overpopulation may have led to over-farming, which in turn exhausted the soil. Heavy taxes to finance wars and temple building may have

sparked rebellions.

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Still, remnants of Mayan culture have survived.

Today, millions of people in

Guatemala and southern Mexico

speak Mayan languages and are descended from the builders of

this early American

civilization.airlineamb.org

Long before Mayan cities rose to the south, the city of Teotihuacan had emerged in the Valley of Mexico. The Valley of Mexico is a huge oval

basin ringed by snowcapped volcanoes, located in the high plateau of central Mexico. From 100 t0 750 C.E., Teotihuacan dominated

this large area.

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The city of Teotihuacan was well planned, with wide roads, massive temples, and large

apartment buildings. Along the main avenue, the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the

Moon rose majestically toward the sky.

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Citizens of Teotihuacan worshiped a powerful nature goddess and rain god, whose images appear on public buildings and on everyday

objects. Teotihuacan eventually fell to invaders, but its culture influenced later

peoples, especially the Aztecs.

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In the late 200s, bands of nomadic people, the ancestors of the Aztecs, migrated into the

Valley of Mexico from the north. According to Aztec legend, the gods had told them to search

for an eagle perched atop a cactus hold a

snake in it beak.

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They finally saw the sign on a swampy island in Lake Texcoco. Once settled, the Aztecs

shifted from hunting to farming. Slowly, they built the city of Tenochtitlan on the site of

present-day Mexico City.

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In the 1400s, the Aztecs expanded their territory. Through a combination of conquests

and alliances, they spread their rule across most of Mexico, from the Gulf of Mexico on the east to the Pacific Ocean on the west. By 1500,

the Aztec empire numbered an estimated 30 million people.

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War brought immense wealth as well as power. Tribute, or payment from

conquered peoples, helped the Aztecs turn their capital into a magnificent city.

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From the temples and royal palaces to its zoos and floating gardens Tenochtitlan was a city of wonders. It was also the

center of a complex organized empire.

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Unlike the Mayan city-states, each of which had its own king, the Aztecs had a single ruler. The

emperor was chosen by a council of nobles and priests to lead in war. Below him, nobles served as officials, judges, and governors of

conquered provinces.

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These officials enjoyed privileges such as wearing luxurious feathered cloaks and gold

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

soldiers. The majority of people were

commoners who farmed the land.

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At the bottom of society were the slaves, mostly

criminals or prisoners of war. Despite their low

status, slaves’ rights were clearly spelled out by law.

For example, slaves could own land and buy their

freedom. clio.missouristate.edu

Protected by Aztec power, a class of long-distance traders ferried goods across the

empire. From the highlands, they took goods such as weapons, tools, and rope to barter for

tropical products such as jaguar skins and cocoa beans. They also served as spies, locating

new areas for trade and conquest.

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The priests were a class apart. They

performed rituals they believed pleased the gods and prevented

droughts or other disasters. The chief

Aztec god was Huitzilopochtli the sun

god. His pyramid-temple towered above

all.

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Huitzilopochtli, the Aztecs believed, battled the forces of darkness each night and was reborn

each morning. As the Legend of the Suns shows, there was no guarantee that the sun

would always win. To give the sun strength to rise each day, the Aztecs offered human

sacrifices.

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Priests offered the hearts of tens of thousands of victims to Huitzilopochtli

and other Aztec gods. Most of the victims were prisoners of war, but sometimes a

noble family gave up one of its own

members to appease the gods.

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Other cultures, such as the Olmecs and the Mayas, had practiced human

sacrifice, but not on the massive scale of the

Aztecs. The Aztecs carried on almost continuous

warfare, using the captured enemy soldiers

for a regular source of

sacrificial victims.

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Among the conquered peoples, discontent festered and rebellion often flared up. When the armies from Spain later arrived, they found allies among peoples who were ruled by the Aztec

empire.

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Priests were the keepers of Aztec knowledge. They recorded laws and historical events. Some ran schools for the sons of nobles.

Others used their knowledge of astronomy and mathematics to foretell the future. The Aztecs,

like the Mayas, had an accurate calendar.

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Like many other peoples, the Aztecs believed that illness was a punishment

from the gods. Still, Aztec priests used

herbs and other medicines to treat

fevers and wounds. Aztec physicians could set broken bones and treat

dental cavities. mexicolore.co.uk