Download The Americas on the Eve of Invasion

Review Questions
1. What two empires in Latin America were destroyed by the
Spanish?
2. What were the wars the Aztecs waged for sacrifice victims
known as?
3. What were the chinampas?
4. What was one of the methods the Inca used to unify their
empire?
5. What hallmark of civilization did the Aztec possess that the
Inca did not?
People and Places
 Moctezuma II
 Tenochtitlan
 Cuzco
Toltec Heritage
 Rose after the Mayans and
extended from Yucatan to
trade with the Southwest
 Strongly militaristic with
same religion as the Aztecs
 Perhaps contact between
Mississippian culture
 Mississippians based on
maize and bean agriculture
and built large earthen
pyramids
Aztec Rise
 When Toltec fell in 1150
power shifted north
 Aztecs were nomads who
migrated to Lake Texcoco
in 1325 and spoke Nahuatl
 Powerful fighting skills
made good them
mercenaries in the citystate competition
 Became their own power in
1428, triple alliance in 1434
Religion of Conquest
 Traditional deities of
nature, different
manifestations
 Three cults of gods
 Gods needed blood to
continue to fight
 Ritual cannibalism
 Cyclical view of history
 Great Speaker seen as
divine
Tribute Empire
 Great Speaker in
Tenochtitlan was the
emperor, prime minister
had extreme power as well
 City-states left alone if they
fulfilled their obligations
 A few territories left
unconquered for flower
wars
 Many revolts
Economy
 Food demanded as tribute supplemented high yield chinampas
 Each community had land set aside for temples and state, as
well as periodic markets
 The great market operated by pochteca, specializing in longdistance trade
 Not a market economy because the state regulated markets
and unfairly redistributed tribute
 Aztec art was a mix of religious and natural themes
Society
 Seven capulli went back to nomad times and were organizers of
the commoners lives
 Originally everyone was in a capulli but eventually a nobility
emerged from families in the most distinguished capulli
 Nobility controlled priesthood and military
 Also created a serf-like class to work their lands
 Military was highly ritualized, rank based on captives taken
 Fashion restrictions made social class apparent
 Other social groups had their own capulli
Aztec Women
 Women had political rights
but were expected to stay
in the house and grind corn
 Marriages arranged,
weaving skill highly
regarded
 Older women trained
young girls
 Militaristic Aztec empire
governed through religious
tactics of terror
Twantinsuyu: The Incan World
 The Inca were successors of
Tihuanaco and Huari
 Inca emerged in 1350 and
under Pachacuti began
conquest
 Conquered Chimor,
creating a large multiethnic empire
 Emperor or inca was divine
and the high priest was
usually a relative
Politics
 Empire divided into four provinces, each with a governor
 Local rulers(curacas) were given privileges in exchange for
loyalty, as well as their sons being taken to Cuzco
 Movement of Quechua-speakers and conquered populations
forced integration
 This was done on the amazing road system with tambos
 Being conquered had benefits for the peoples
 Tribute was mita and cloth, as well young women for state
purposes
Incan Religion and Society
 Split inheritance and cults of the mummies caused a constant
for expansion
 Cult of the sun official religion but others were tolerated
 Places in nature were often temples staffed by priests and
women
 Each community aimed at self-sufficiency, relying on the
government for other goods
 Nobility drawn from 10 royal ayllus, yanas removed from their
ayllus to serve them
 State-sponsored irrigation for maize
 Not much trade or merchant class
Unequal Society
 Women had property rights
and were called equal but
were still inferior
 The inca queen was the link
to the moon, like the inca
was for the sun
 Gender hierarchy shown by
the temple selections
Andean Achievements
 Advanced pottery,
metalworking, and cloth
 Kept records using quipu
 The Inca had a passion for
numerical order
 Amazing stonecutting and
terracing
 All of this was done without
the wheel
The Rest of the Americas
 A lot of variation, from
hunter-gatherers to
farmers
 Generally societies were
kin-based, with social
standing not based on
wealth
 Different outlook on the
environment than AfroEurasia
 Cahokia was a major
settlement
Though many will say that pre-Columbian Latin
America is just a footnote in world history, that
view depends on one’s definition of world
history. Should we define world history as the
history of global interactions, therefore ignoring
the isolated peoples of the world? Or should
world history be defined as the history of the
world’s peoples, which shapes their
interactions? Just throwing a little TOK in there.
Thanks for listening.