Download CHAPTER 11 The Americas on the Eve of Invasion Postclassical

CHAPTER 11
The Americas on the Eve of Invasion
A.) Postclassical Mesoamerica 1000-1500 C.E.
1.) In central Mexico, nomadic peoples from the north took
advantage of the political vacuum to move into the richer
lands. Among these peoples were the Toltecs.
a.) Capital of Tula about 968 C.E.
b.) Sedentary peoples with strong military ethic
c.) Cult of sacrifice and war often portrayed in their
artwork.
d.) Aztecs considered them givers of their civilization
2.) The Toltec Heritage
a.) The Toltecs created an empire that extended over much
of central Mexico, and their influence spread from their
capital, Tula to areas as far away as Guatemala.
b.) About 1000C.E., Chiche’n Itza’ in Yucatan was
conquered by Toltec warriors, and it and several other
cities were ruled for a long time by central Mexican
Dynasties or by Maya rulers under Toltec influence.
c.) Toltec influence spread northward as well.
3.) The Aztec Rise to Power
a.) The Toltec Empire lasted until about 1150, when it was
apparently destroyed by nomadic invaders from the
north who, also seem to have sacked Tula about the same
time.
b.) Aztecs
i.)
Also known as Mexica
ii.) Once inhabited Central Valley
iii.) Were agricultural people
iv.) Claimed to have been in exile in a place called
Aztlan
v.) Came to power after the Toltecs
vi.)
Some sources say they were a nomadic people &
cashed in on the political anarchy.
vii.) Moved to shores of lake Texcoco
viii.) Spoke Nahuatl
ix.) Were intrusive & militant group
x.) Settled island city of Tenochtitlan in 1325
xi.) By 1428 Aztecs had emerged as an independent
power
4.) The Aztec Social Contract
a.) Subject peoples of the Aztecs were forced to pay tribute,
surrender land, and sometimes do military service for
the growing Aztec Empire.
b.) From a loose association of clans, the Mexica had
become a stratified society under the authority of a
supreme ruler.
c.) Warrior class were suppliers of war captives for the cult
of human sacrifices.
d.) They intentionally left territories unconquered so they
would have war captives. These were called “flower
wars.”
e.) They had a king that represented the state and civil
power and served as a representative of the gods on
earth.
5.) Religion and the Ideology of Conquest
a.) The traditional deities of Mesoamerica-the gods of rain,
fire, water, corn, the, sky, and ,the sun-128 major deities.
b.) Each deity had a female consort or feminine form
because a basic duality was recognized in all things.
c.) Each god had at least five aspects, each associated with
one of the cardinal directions and the center.
d.) Certain gods were thought to be the patrons of specific
cities, ethnic groups, or occupations.
e.) Gods were supported by yearly festivals & ceremonies
that involved feasting & dancing along with penance &
sacrifice.
f.) 3 major theme cults
i.)
Gods of fertility and agricultural cycle such as
Tlaloc the rain god.
ii.) Creator deities –central role in Aztec cosmology
iii.) Cult of warfare & sacrifice became cult of the
state; Huizilopochtli (sun God) the Aztec tribal
patron, became the central figure of this cult.
g.) The Mesoamerican calendar system was religious, and
many ceremonies coincided with particular points in the
calendar cycle.
i.
Believed in cyclical view of history
ii.
Believed world had been destroyed four times
before and would be again.
iii. Fatalistic view of life- & believed in
premonitions.
6.)Tenochtitlan: The Foundation of Heaven
a.) The Aztecs considered their capital city a sacred space,
or as they called it, the “foundation of heaven.”
b.) large market was the most important place of trade &
exchange.
c.) By 1519, the city covered about 5 square miles.
d.) It had a pop. Of 150,000, larger than contemporary
European cities such as Seville and Paris.
e.) Each city ward, controlled by a calpulli, or kin group,
maintained its neighborhood temples and civic buildings.
7.) Feeding the People: the Economy of the Empire
a.) Feed the great pop. Of Tenochtitlan and the Aztec
confederation in general depended on traditional forms of
agriculture and on innovations developed by the Aztecs.
b.) land of conquered peoples often were appropriated, and
food sometimes was demanded as tribute.
c.) Used ingenious systems of irrigated agriculture by
building chinampas for agriculture (beds of aquatic weeds,
mud, and earth).
i.)
The yield from chinampas for agriculture was
high (four corn crops per year).
d.) Production by the Aztec peasantry and tribute provided
the basic foods.
e.) Clan apportioned the clan.
f.) Nobles might have private estates which were worked by
servants or slaves from conquered peoples.
g.) Each people had periodic markets according to the
calendar markets.
h.) trade was a barter system & handled by a merchant
class or pochteca.
i.) Trade was highly regulated.
j.) As imported as trade was, it was not a market economy.
k.) Tribute was controlled by whether or not people
accepted Aztec rule. Lower amounts for those who
accepted it.
B.) Aztec Society in Transition
1.) Widening Social Gulf
a.) Originally the Aztecs were divided into seven calpulli or
clans but this expanded and adopted to their imperial
position.
i.)
Calpulli were no longer only kinship groups but
also residential groupings, which might include
neighbors, allies and dependents.
ii.)
local life depended on Calpulli who distributed
land to heads of households, organizing labor
gangs & military units in times of war and
maintain a temple and school.
iii.
Governed by councils of family heads, but not
all families were equal, nor were all Calpulli of
equal status.
b.) A nobility does emerge, based on certain privileged
families in the most distinguished Calpulli.
i.)
This group of nobles accumulated high offices,
private lands, and other advantages.
ii.) Those who had dominated leadership roles and
formed a kind of local nobility, eventually were
overshadowed
by
the
military
and
administrative nobility of the Aztec state.
iii.) Most nobles were born into the class.
iv.) Nobles controlled the priesthood and military
leadership.
c.) Military Order
i.)Military virtues were linked to the cult of sacrifices
and infused the whole society; they became the
justification for the nobility’s status.
ii.)The “flowery death” or death while taking
prisoners for the sacrificial knife, was the fitting end
to a noble life and ensured eternity in the highest
heaven-a reward also promised to women who died in
childbirth.
iii.)Military orders of warriors like the Jaguar and
Eagle “knights” wore distinctive uniforms and ritual
and fought together as a unit.
iv.)
They used banners, cloaks, and other insignia to
mark off the military ranks.
2.) As the empire grew the gulf widened between nobility and
commoners.
i.)Restrictions began in clothing, hairstyles,
uniforms and other symbols of rank.
ii.) A new class of workers almost like serfs was
created to serve as laborers on nobility land.
iii.) These workers worked at the will of the
nobility.
iv.)As low as their status was it was still above the
status of slaves, who might have been war captives,
criminals, or people who had sold themselves into
bondage to escape hunger.
e.)There were other social groups
i.)The scribes, artisans, and healers all were
part of an intermediate group that was
especially important in the larger cities.
ii.) The long distance merchants formed a sort
of Culuplli with their own patron gods,
privileges, and internal divisions.
iii.) They sometimes served as spies or agents
for the Aztec military.
2.) Overcoming Technological Constraints
a.) Women assumed a variety of roles
i.) Peasant women helped in the fields, but their
primary domain was the household, where
childrearing and cooking took up much time.
ii.) Weaving skill was much regarded
iii.) Training young girls fell to older women
iv Marriages were arranged between lineages.
v.)
vi.)
Virginity at marriages was highly regarded
Polygamy existed among the nobility, but
peasants were monogamous.
vii.) Aztec women could inherit property and pass it
to their heirs.
viii.) Rights of Aztec women were fully recognized,
but in political and social life their role, though
complementary to that of men, remained
subordinate.
b.)The technology of the Americas
development in a variety of ways.
limited
social
i.)Women spent 6 hrs. a day grinding corn by hand on
stone boards, or mutates, to prepare the household’s
food.
ii.) Without the wheel or suitable animals for power,
the Indian civilizations were unable to free women
from the 30 to 40 hrs. a wk that went into preparing
the basic food.
iii.)Pop. Density was high (anywhere from 1.5 million
to 25 million)
v.) This underlines the extraordinary ability of the
Aztec state to intimadate and control such vast
numbers of people.
3.) A Tribute Empire
a.)Each City-State was ruled by a speaker chosen from the
nobility.
b.) The Great Speaker, the ruler of Tenochtitlan, was first among
supposed equals.
i.) He was in effect the Emperor, with great
private wealth and public power, and was
increasingly considered a living god.
ii.) In theory he was elected, but his election was
really a choice between siblings of the same
royal family.
iii.)
iv.
The prime minister held a position of
tremendous power and usually was a close
relative of the ruler.
There was a governing council; in theory, the
rulers of the other cities in the alliances also had
a say in Gov., but in reality most power was in
the hands of the Aztec ruler and his chief
advisor.
c.)The empire was never integrated, and local rulers often
stayed in placed to act as tribute collectors for the Aztec
overlords.
d.) City-States were often left unchanged if they recognized
Aztec supremacy and met their obligations of labor and
tribute.
e.) Tribute payments served both economic and a political
function, concentrating power and wealth in the Aztec
capital.
f.) In general, the Aztec system was a success because it
aimed at exerting political domination and not
necessarily direct administrative or territorial control.
g.) In the long run; however, the increasing social stresses
created by the rise of the nobles and the system of terror
and tribute imposed on subject peoples were internal
weaknesses that contributed to the Aztec Empire’s
collapse.
CTwantinsuyu: World of the Incas
1.) Inca rise to Power
a. Quechua Speakers
b. Ayllus-clans
c. Legend says 10 related Ayllus near Cuzco defeated their
neighbors about 1438 C.E.
d. With their leader, inca, Pachacuti they controlled the whole area
fro Cuzco to the shores of lake Titicaca.
e. Pachacuti’s son Topac Yupanqui extended their territory & built
extensive irrigation system in what is now Equador.
f. By the 3rd ruler Huayna Capac died the Inca Empire stretched
from Columbia to Chile and was consolidated so that it was
efficient.
2.) Conquest and Religion
a.) The cult of the ancestors was extremely important in Inca
belief.
i.)Decreased rulers were mummified and then treated as
intermediaries with the gods, paraded in public during
festivals, offered food & gifts, and consulted on important
matters by special oracles.
b.) Incas adopted the practice of royal split inheritance, whereby
all the political power & titles of the ruler went to his successor
but all his palaces, wealth, land, & possessions remained in the
hands of his male descendants, who used them to support the
cult of the dead Inca’s mummy for eternity.
i.)To ensure his own cult & place for eternity, each new Inca
needed to secure land & wealth and these normally came as
part of new conquests.
ii.)This system created a self-perpetuating need for
expansion, tied directly to ancestor worship and the cult of
the royal mummies, as well as tensions between the various
royal lineages.
c.) Inca political and social life was infused with religious
meaning.
d.) Sun was the highest deity.
i. Inca was the sun’s representative on earth.
ii. The temple of the sun at Cuzco was the
center of the state religion.
iii. Inca mummies were kept at the Temple of
the Sun.
iv. They were animist that believed in huacas or
holy shrines.
3.) The Techniques of Inca Imperial Rule
a.) The Inca were able to control their vast Empire by using
techniques and practices that ensured cooperation or
subordination.
b.) Empire is ruled by the inca who is considered a god.
c.) Empire is divided into four provinces each under a governor
and then divided again.
d.) Had a stat bureaucracy in which almost all nobles played a
role.
e.) Local rulers, Curacas, were allowed to maintain their positions
and were given privileges by the Inca in return for their
loyalty.
i. Curacas were exempt
from tribute obligations
and usually received labor
or produce from those
under their control.
ii. For insurance, the sons of
conquered chieftains were
taken to Cuzco for their
education.
f.) Used Quecha language to integrate the Empire.
g.) Used colonist to integrate the Empire.
h.) Built complex system of roads, bridges, & causeways.
i.) The Inca extracted land and labor from subject pop.
j.) Inca conquered peoples into military.
k.) Demanded loyalty and tribute from conquered peoples.
l.) The state claimed all resources & redistributed them.
m.) Incas demanded labor and used it for building projects this
was the mita system.
n.) In theory, each community aimed at self-sufficiency and
depended on the state for goods it could not acquire easily.
o.) The Ayllus of each community controlled the land, and the vast
majority of the men were peasants and herders.
p.) Women worked in the fields, wove cloth, and cared for the
household.
i. Roles and obligations were
gender specific and theoretically
equal and interdependent.
ii. Andean
peoples
recognized
parallel descent.
iii. Women passed rights and
property to daughters, men to
sons.
q.) Certain gods were more favored by men than by women & vice
Versa.
i. Moon- Worshipped by women
ii. Sun- Worshipped by men
iii. Shows a gender hierarchy that
paralleled the dominance of the
Inca state over subject peoples.
r.) The integration of imperial policy with regional & ethic
diversity was a political achievement.
s.) Yanas-Removed from their Ayllus and served permanently as
servants, artisans, or workers for the Inca or nobility.
t.) Nobility-Privileged; those related to the inca held the highest
position
i. Drawn from the 10 original
Ayllus
ii. Residents of Cuzco given
position in order to serve in high
bureaucratic posts.
iii. Only they could wear large ear
spools.
u.) No distinct merchant class.
4.) Inca Cultural Achievements
a.) The Incas drew on the artistic traditions of their Andean
predaccessors and the skills of subjects peoples.
i. Beautiful pottery & cloth were
produced
in
specialized
workshops.
ii. Inca metalworking was among
the most advanced in the
Americas, and Inca artisans
worked gold and silver with
great skill.
iii. The Incas also used copper and
some bronze for weapons and
tools.
b.)Did not have practical use of the wheel.
c.) No writing system.
d.) Used Quipu-knotted strings for numerical record keeping and
perhaps other information.
e.) The Inca’s genius was best displayed in their land and water
management, extensive road system, statecraft, and architecture
and public buildings.
f.) They developed ingenious agricultural terraces on the steep
slopes of the Andes, using a complex technology of irrigation to
water their crops.
g.) The empire was linked together by almost 2500 miles of roads,
many of which included rope suspension bridges over mountain
gorges and rivers.
h.) Inca stonecutting was remarkably accurate.
5.) Comparing Incas and Aztecs
a.) The Inca & Aztec cultures were based on a long
development of civilization that proceded them.
b.) Both cultures represented the success of imperial
& military organization.
c.) Both empires were based on intensive agricultural
organized by a state that accumulated surplus
production and then controlled the circulation of
goods and their redistribution to groups or social
classes.
d.) In both states, older kinships,-based institutions,
the Ayllu and the Calpulli, were transformed by the
emergence of a social hierarchy in which the nobility
was increasingly predominant.
e.) In both areas, these nobles also were the personnel
of the state, so that the state organization was almost
an image of society.
f.) Both empires recognized local ethnic groups &
political leaders & allowed variations from one group
or region to another as long as Inca and Aztec
sovereignty was recognized and tribute paid.
g.) Both the Aztecs and the Incas, like the Spaniards
who followed them, found that their military power
was less effective against nomadic peoples who lived
on their frontiers.
h.) They had different climates, one had writing, one
didn’t, and they had different metallurgy.
D.) The Other Indians
1.) How Many Indians?
a.) New est. in 1492 is 67 million.
2.) Differing Cultural Patterns
a.)
The intermediate zone chieftainship
resembled the sedentary agriculture states.
i.)
Arawks- Farmers,
hierarchical society
b.)Woodland Indians
i.)
Combined
agriculture
with
hunting and fishing
ii.) Used slash & burn
techniques.
iii.) Without strong
class divisions, craft
specializations,
demographic density of
people who practiced
permanent,
agriculture.
intensive
iv. Lacked nomadic herders
v. Lived in small, mobile, kin-based
groups of hunter & gathers.
vi. Their material culture was
simple & their societies were
more egalitarian
c In North America there is great diversity with over 200
languages & a variety of cultures.
d.) Mississippian Mound-Builder Culture
i.)Most concentrated towns
ii.) Sedantary farmers
iii.)Maintained
social
hierarchy & religious ideas of
those earlier cultures.
e. Indians of the N.W. Coast
i.)Depended on the sea
f.) Although often subordinate, women in some societies
held important political & social roles & usually played a
central role in crop production.