The Americas on the Eve of Invasion

Chapter ElevenAP World History

Ms. Tully

Mesoamerica: Before the Aztecs

• Pre-Columbian• Teotihuacan – Classical

Era• The Maya • Toltec Empire – Post-

Classical Era• Collapsed by 1150 to

nomadic invaders

The Aztec Rise to Power

• Political power/ppl moved to shores of lakes in Mexico valley

• Aztecs (Mexica) migrated to Lake Texcoco ca. 1325

• Tenochtitlan est. 1325• 1434 – Aztecs dominate central valley and begin

to conquer other city-states • Establish a tribute empire • Independent kingdoms opposed Aztecs – Tlaxcala

Aztec Society• Subject peoples forced

to pay tribute• Stratified society under

supreme ruler • Clans (calpulli) dictated

social status • Social gaps widen

(nobility vs. commoners)

• Organized for war and motivated by religious zeal

Aztec Religion• Cyclical Worldview impending destruction• Animism – connection between spiritual and

natural world• Pay tribute to gods through festivals, ceremonies,

feasting, dancing, warfare, and sacrifice• Cult of Sacrifice Huitzilopochtli• Increase in Human Sacrifice• Flower Wars captives became sacrificial victims

Aztec Economy• Agrarian community• Chinampas: man-made floating islands that

yielded large amount of crops• Vibrant daily markets highly regulated by state• Tribute system also supported the economy

Aztec Gender and Technology

• Women’s primary domain: household, cooking, weaving

• Arranged marriage• Women could inherit

property• Technological

restraints

The Inca Empire (Twantinsuyu)

• Chimor Kingdom (900-1465)

• Quechua-speaking clans (ayllus) around Cuzco

• Expansion under Pachacuti (ruler, or Sapa Inca)

• Controlled 3000 miles of empire; between 9-13 million ppl

Techniques of Inca Imperial Rule

• Highly centralized bureaucracy

• Tribute empire based on labor & integration Mita

• Military: system of roads, way station (tambos), storehouses

• “Split Inheritance” necessitates conquest

Inca Society• Ayllus basic unit of

society• Women had property

rights; still subordinate

• Emphasis on reciprocity & hierarchy

• Privileged nobility; basis of bureaucracy

• No merchant class limited trade

Inca Culture• Polytheistic, animistic

Viracocha (creator/sun god) is highest

• Huacas holy shrines (mountains, stones, rivers, caves, tombs, temples)

• Many cultural achievementso Pottery & clotho Metallurgy (copper, bronze)o Quipu – knotted strings for

accountingo Complex irrigation

Aztecs vs. Incas• Similarities

o Build on earlier empires that preceded them (Toltecs, Chimor)o Excellent organizers (imperial, military)o Intensive agriculture under state controlo Clans transformed to hierarchyo Ethnic groups allowed to surviveo Animistic religion

• Differenceso Aztecs have sophisticated trade, markets; Inca have no

separate merchant classo Aztecs developed a system of writing, while the Inca did not

Peoples of the Americas

• Great variety; adapt to their region• Overall pop. Unknown; around 67 million ca. 1492• Long distance/regional trade• Caribbean Islands: hierarchical societies, divided

into chiefdoms• North America: Mixture of agriculturalists &

nomads• Two great imperial systems by 1500, but

Mesoamerica and Andes weakened by European contact

• Communities are technologically behind Europeans, Chinese, Arabs