Download The Americas on the Eve of Invasion

The Americas on the Eve of
Invasion
“Shortly after the Olmec civilization vanished, a new civilization arose in the second century BC
in the valley of Mexico. This grand civilization would dominate the culture of the valley of
Mexico for almost a millenium and stands as the most significant cultural influence throughout
the history of Central American civilizations. This civilization was centered around the city of
Teotihuacán. At its peak, Teotihuacán was a city of over one hundred thousand people—not only
was it the largest city in America, it was one of the largest cities in the ancient world, period.”
Pyramid of the Sun
Pyramid of the Moon
”Teotihuacán was the religious center of Mesoamerica. Its skyline was dominated by two
enormous pyramids which the Aztecs called the "Pyramid of the Sun" and the "Pyramid of the
Moon," both linked by a broad avenue. It was a planned city of over two thousand structures.
While farmers primarily lived in wooden houses, other inhabitants lived in stone houses
decorated with paintings and murals and, in some cases, with elaborate drainage systems.”
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/CIVAMRCA/CIVAMRCA.HTM
Teotihuacan: The "Camino de los Muertos" from the Pyramid of the Sun
“It is a city shrouded in mystery. Who were these people? What was daily life like? What gods
did they worship? Just as mysterious was its sudden demise. Begining around 700 AD, people
simply stopped living in the city. Why they left is anyone's guess. Archaeologists have found
evidence that a great fire decimated just about every structure in the city in 700 AD and some
argue that the fire was caused by an invading people. Whatever the cause, the city never really
recovered from the disaster and all its magnificence came to an end.”
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/CIVAMRCA/CIVAMRCA.HTM
Postclassical Mesoamerica
• 1500s the Americas
were densely
populated. The people
were called Indians
(mistakenly) because
Columbus thought he
had landed in the
Indies beyond India.
The name just stuck.
• Rich in cultural
achievements
• Continuity of civilization
in the Americas in regions
• Impressive to Europeans
“Gazing on such wonderful
sights, we did not know
what to say, or whether
what appeared before us
was real”
Bernal Diaz del Castillo
Toltecs
• Teotihuacán was conquered by
northern tribes in 700 AD and began
to rapidly decline in its influence
over the Mexican peoples. For two
hundred years following the decline
of Teotihuacán, the region had no
centralized culture or political
control. Beginning around 950, a
culture based in northern Mexico at
Tula began to dominate Central
America. These people were known
as the Toltecs. They were a war-like
people and expanded rapidly
throughout Mexico, Guatemala, and
the Yucatán peninsula. At the top of
their society was a warrior
aristocracy which attained mythical
proportions in the eyes of Central
Americans long after the demise of
their power. Around 1200, their
dominance over the region faded.”
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/CIVAMRCA/CIVAMRCA.HTM
•
•
“The Toltecs expanded the cult of
Quetzalcoatl, the "Soveriegn Plumed
Serpent," and created a mythology
around the figure. In Toltec legend,
Quetzalcoatl was the creator of
humanity and a warrior-god that had
been driven from Tula, but would
return some day. The Toltecs also
originated the Central American ballgame, which was played on a large
stone court with a rubber ball. The
game was primarily a religious ritual
celebrating the victory of god-heroes
over the gods of death; as a religious
ritual, it involved the human sacrifice
of the loser.
The post-Classical Toltecs were a
conservative culture. For the most part
they preserved Teotihuacán traditions.
Toltecs conquered large areas
controlled by the Maya and settled in
these areas; they migrated as far south
as the Yucatán peninsula. The culture
borne out of this fusion is called the
Toltec-Maya, and its greatest center
was Chichén Itzá— on the very tip of
the Yucatan peninsula”
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/CIVA
MRCA/CIVAMRCA.HTM
Observatory in Chichén Itzá
Chichén Itzá: Chacmool
Historylink101.com
Mesoamerican Picture Gallery
http://historylink102.com/mesoamerican
/rf-ci-4-temple-warrior.htm
Aztecs/ Mexica (me-shee-ka)
• Migrated to Lake Texcoco
around 1325 (Mexico)
• Lake dominated by
several tribes and
organized into city-states
• They served as
mercenaries because of
their military powers.
They were disliked and
were feared.
• Their position as
mercenaries brought them
much wealth and many
allies.
• By 1428 the Aztecs took
regional power
• Aztecs began conquering
and created a large empire
• Conquered people had to
pay tribute, surrender
lands, or even perform
military services.
• It was said the Aztecs
were chosen to serve the
gods under their supreme
leader
• POWs became victims for
human sacrifice which
extended greatly. It was
controlled by the ruler and
nobles to create fear and
power.
Aztec Empire
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/CIVAMRCA/CIVAMRCA.HTM
Aztec Religion
• Incorporated Mesoamerican
beliefs: human sacrifice and
blood letting ceremonies
• 128 major deities, male and
female forms and different
manifestations
• Supported by yearly festivals
and ceremonies with
penance and sacrifice
• Fertility and agriculture:
(Tlaloc god of rain)
• Creator deities: great god
and goddess that brought the
universe into being
• Cult of warfare and sacrifice:
built on Mesoamerican
traditions (Toltec).
Huitzilopochtli-Aztec tribal
patron and old sun god
• Aztecs revered Tlaloc and
Quetzalcoatl (ancient god
of civilization), but
Huitzilopochtli was the
paramount god. Saw him
as the sun god and warrior
of the daytime. Because
the gods had sacrificed
themselves for humankind
the nourishment the god
needed most was that
which was most precious:
human life in the form of
hearts and blood.
• Continued older blood
letting ceremonies where
elite would draw blood
from lips, ears, and
• “We can successfully reconstruct Aztec human sacrifice with a high level of
accuracy. Some sacrifices were very minimal, involving the sacrifice of a slave
to a minor god, and some were very spectacular, involving hundreds or
thousands of captives. Aztec history claims that Ahuitzotl (1468-1502), who
preceded Mocteuzma II as king, sacrificed 20,000 people after a campaign in
Oaxaca ("O-a-sha-ka"). No matter what the size of the sacrifice, it was always
performed the same way. The victim was held down by four priests on an altar at
the top of a pyramid or raised temple while the officiant made an incision below
the rib cage and pulled out the living heart. The heart was then burned and the
corpse was pushed down the steep steps; a very brave or noble victim was
carried down the steps. The most brutal of human sacrifices were those
dedicated to the god Huehueteotl. Sacrificial victims were drugged and then
thrown into a fire at the top of the ceremonial platform. Before they were killed
by the fire, they were dragged out with hooks and their living hearts were pulled
out and thrown back into the fire.
• While human sacrifice was the most dramatic element of Aztec sacrifice, the
most common form of sacrifice was voluntary blood-letting which occurred at
every religious function. Such blood-letting was tied to rank: the higher one was
in social or priestly rank, the more blood one had to sacrifice.
• There was an urgency to all this sacrifice. The Aztec believed that the world was
controlled by divine forces that were in constant conflict and opposition to one
another. The universe was poised between conflicting forces of creation and
destruction; human beings could, in part, influence this balance through the
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/CIVAMRCA/CIVAMRCA.HTM
practice of sacrifice.”
The Wall of Skulls, Tenochtitlan
A tzompantli is illustrated to the right of a
depiction of an Aztec temple dedicated to
the deity Huitzilopochtli; from Juan de
Tovar's 1587 manuscript, also known as
the Ramírez Codex.
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/CIVAMRCA/CIVAMRCA.HTM
World Cycles
• The Aztecs like the Mayans had a cyclical view of history.
They believed that the world had been destroyed four times
and created five times. They were a part of the 5th creation
and the world was to be destroyed by earthquakes soon.
The Aztec calendars correlated to the ends of these cycles.
Every 52 years the world could possibly end. This was the
time the gods could decided to destroy the world and all its
people. So it was a time of important religious ceremonies:
the new fire ceremony where all religious alters were
destroyed, furniture and possessions burned, and alter fires
put out. If on the last day of the ceremony a certain
constellation appeared then the gods had decided to allow
the world to continue. The next day was a celebration that
included human sacrifice, blood letting, and feasting.
Tenochtitlan: Aztecs
www.sbceo.k12.ca.us/.../Aztecs/aztecs1.htm
Aztec Legend
“The Aztec were hunter-gatherers living on a small island in
northwestern Mexico, when their god, Huitzilopochtli (wee
tsee loh POCH tlee), told them to leave their homeland. He
said:”
www.sbceo.k12.ca.us/.../
Aztecs/aztecs1.htm
"Go where the cactus grows, on which the eagle sits happily…there we
shall wait, there we shall meet a number of tribes and with our arrow or
with our shield we shall conquer them."
”They journeyed through deserts and
over steep mountains.”
www.sbceo.k12.ca.us/.../Aztecs/aztecs1.htm
“There was no time to grow food, so they ate fly eggs and snakes to
survive. There was no time to weave cloth, so they wore animal skins for
clothing.
They journeyed through the lands of tribes that were larger and stronger.
These tribes looked down on the Aztec, calling them Dog People because
of their barbarian ways. They did not allow the Aztec to settle. Besides,
the Aztec still had not seen the sign.”
www.sbceo.k12.ca.us/.../Aztecs/aztecs1.htm
After 200 years of wandering, the Aztec came upon the promised sign. They
found the eagle eating the snake on a cactus on a small, swampy island in Lake
Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico. There they started to build a powerful empire.
They named their new home Tenochtitlan,(tay nawch tee TLAN) " Place of the
Prickly Pear Cactus." No one knows exactly why the Aztec came to the Valley
of Mexico. Perhaps they liked the valley's good soil, or the valley's mild
temperatures.
www.sbceo.k12.ca.us/.../Aztecs/aztecs1.htm
Slaves were the lowest of the
Aztec society. Many slaves were
captives of war.
Others were Aztec who had
committed crimes or who had not
repaid debts.
Because the Aztec lived by
farming, the two most
important gods in the Aztec
world were Tlaloc (tla
LOHK), the god of rain,
and Huitzilopochtli, the
god of the sun and of
war who could destroy
the world whenever he
wanted.
The Aztec held many religious
ceremonies throughout the year
where priests offered sacrifices
to the gods to make their crops
grow.
Human sacrifice was
common. When the Temple of the
Sun in Tenochtitlan was dedicated
to the sun and rain gods, the Aztec
sacrificed as many as 10,000 people
Aztec Economy
• Aztecs formed the city of Tenochtitlan and it was selfsufficient because the Aztecs continued to use a
Mesoamerican tradition, chinampas or floating gardens
which they build on Lake Texcoco. They were reeds that
had mud on top where seeds were planted. Water could
reach all the plants and they were very productive.
• As the empire grew so did the demand for agricultural
products. Soon the farming from Tenochtitlan couldn’t
support the Aztec people alone so much tribute was
collected from conquered peoples.
• Had periodic markers were goods were usually bartered
(cocao and gold dust sometimes currency). Pochteca
controlled luxury items: plumes of birds and cacao
• All tribute collected by the state was used as it saw fit.
Amount of tribute depended on if the people tried to fight.
If they did they paid more! Tribute was food, slaves, and
people for sacrifice!
Society
• Aztecs were divided among calpulli or kinship clans. Over time
the various calipulli groups had an economic factor where they
practiced a specific trade. Over time the calpulli became more
divided between commoners and nobles. Specific families
making up the nobility. The calpulli were also arranged then by
rank. Boys went to school.
• Pilli-nobility and macehualles-commoners
• Elite (kings), merchant class, serfs, and slaves
• Slaves: POWs, criminals, sold by parents, or even sell yourself
• Serfs worked on private lands of the nobility, but weren’t
slaves!
• Women-subordinate to men and be virtuous and moral. Not
permitted in government positions. Few were priestess at a few
temples. Believed if they died in childbirth that a women was
ensured eternity in the highest heaven like nobles who died
acquiring sacrifice victims (flowery death) Nobles practiced
polygamy whereas peasants did not. Women required 30-40 hr
of work a week to prepare maize. No wheel or mill to grind like
in the Mediterranean and Europe!
Laws
”Aztec laws were simple and harsh. Almost every crime, from adultery
to stealing, was punished by death and other offenses usually involved
severe corporal punishment or mutilation (the penalty for slander, for
instance, was the loss of one's lips). This was not a totalitarian state,
however; there was a strong sense of community among the Aztecs and
these laws, harsh as they seem, they were supported by the community
rather than an autocratic judiciary.”
Each city-state was ruled by a speaker chosen from the nobility. The
Great speaker ruled Tenochtitlan. He was an emperor. Over time he was
seen as a living god. One couldn’t look directly into his eyes and had to
throw dirt upon their heads as a sign of humility. He ruled with a prime
minister (usually related to him). They also had a governing council, but
it had little powers. As the Aztecs expanded the Great Speakers became
an absolute ruler. Local ruler kept their positions and collected tribute
and provided labor when necessary. Revolts were ruthlessly put down by
the Aztecs. (Why was Aztec government successful?)
Conclusion for Aztecs
• Increasing social stresses b/c the rise of the nobles,
collection of tribute, and system of terror
(sacrifices) imposed on subjects caused
weaknesses and rebellions. This problems
eventually led to the Aztec collapse. The Aztecs
continued Mesoamerican civilization from the
classical era into the postclassical era. What
Europeans discovered when they arrived was not
the culmination of Native civilization, but rather a
militarized afterglow.
PRE Inca
• Moche 600:dominated north coastal region of Peru. Didn’t
establish a formal empire. The Moche (mo-che) and Chimu
(chee-moo)(who followed) cultivated maize, quinoa,
beans, manioc, sweet potatoes with massive irrigation
works. Produced coca at high elevations and it was used in
ritual. Got water for irrigation sometime from 75 miles
away…established hydraulic works maintained by the
commoners. They were also herders and llamas were
important. Highly stratified culture to support the labor
demands for the irrigation systems. This social distinctions
can been seen in their burial practices. Decline because of
earthquakes, the changing of the Moche river, flooding,
drought.
• In the Andean highlands at the same time of the Moche
were the Tiwanaku and Wari. Had intensive agriculture
activities from lakes similar to chinampas of Mesoamerica.
Fell perhaps due to military conflict? Taken over by the
Inca
Inca: Twantinsuyu
• In the early 15th century the Incas were one
of many
competing military powers in the southern highlands, and
area of limited political significance after the collapse of
the Wari. The Incas were initially organized into
chiefdoms. Strong and resourceful leaders eventually
consolidated political authority
• They lived in Cuzco and had defeated their neighbors by
1438. Under their ruler (or inca) Pachacuti, they launched
a series of military alliances and campaigns that brought
the entire area from Cuzco to the shores of Lake Titicaca
under their control. Continued their expansion and even
conquered the northern coastal kingdom of Chimor! They
controlled land from Ecuador to Chili.
• 3000 miles long
Inca map
http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/map16-in.html
Machu Picchu
Conquest and Religion
• Cult of the ancestors: Deceased rulers were mummified
and then treated as intermediaries with the gods, they were
paraded in public during festivals, offered food and gifts,
and consulted by oracles on important matter.
• After the kingdom of Chimor was conquered by the Incas
they adopted the practice of split inheritance. Whereby all
political power and titles of the ruler went to the successor.
However, all the former rulers palaces, wealth, land, and
possession went to his male descendants to use to support
the cult of the dead inca’s mummy for eternity.
• To ensure their own cult, each new inca needed to secure
land and wealth which came typically with conquest.
Hence the need for conquering!
• Like the Aztecs, the Incas believed in many gods with the
sun god being the highest deity.
• Incas believed that the gods and their rulers shared the
obligations of the shepherd to his flock like “The Lord is
my Shepherd” because of their pastoral focus.
Human Sacrifice
• Capacocha: the Inca ceremony of human sacrifice. Little is
known of this secret ceremony, however it was a very important
ritual that involved sacrificing children. They were elaborately
buried in the mountains and then worshipped. This was the
ultimate sacrifice the Incas could make to the mountain gods.
Sacrifices were done because of an important event: epidemic,
disease, drought, earthquake, or death of the inca. The honor
brought much to the family and immortalized the child. The
sacrificial children had to be perfect and beautiful. After the
child was chosen then they would go to Cuzco to meet the
emperor and feast would be held. A platform was built on the
mountain summit while the celebration continued. Retaining
walls were built on the summit with burial artifacts left inside.
On the day of the sacrifice the child was fed corn alcohol to easy
their minds and help them through the process of death (cold
and high attitude). Most mummies have skull fractures which
many believed were done by the priests so that the children
wouldn’t have to suffer from exposure.
Inca girl
Inca boy
The children for sacrifice were chosen among the
chiefdoms children
Rule
• Created a great bureaucracy to govern the empire.
It was divided into 4 provinces with each province
under a governor. Then these provinces were
divided again. All nobles played an important part
in governing
• Also, after conquering a people they would
incorporate local rulers, curacas, into their
imperial system. They rewarded those that fought
with them and treated the conquered peoples well.
• Incas spread their language, Quechua to unify the
empire. They also built many roads and bridges. In
areas that were conquered new goods and
irrigation systems were put in by Incas something
the locals couldn’t have done without their help.
Social Structure
”The social structure of the Incas was extremely inflexible. At the top was the Inca who
exercised, theoretically, absolute power. Below the Inca was the royal family which consisted of
the Inca's immediate family, concubines, and all his children. This royal family was a ruling
aristocracy. Each tribe had tribal heads; each clan in each tribe had clan heads. At the very bottom
were the common people who were all grouped in squads of ten people each with a single "boss."
The social unit, then, was primarily based on cooperation and communality. This guaranteed that
there would always be enough for everyone; but the centralization of authority meant that there
was no chance of individual advancement (which was not valued). It also meant that the system
depended too much on the centralized authority; once the invading Spanish seized the Inca and
the ruling family, they were able to conquer the Inca territories with lightening speed. Conquered
people were required to pay a labor tax (mita ) to the state; with this labor tax, the Incas built an
astonishing network of roads and terraced farmlands throughout the Andes.
At its height, the Inca civilization crashed into the European expansion. In 1521, Herman Cortés
conquered the Aztecs; this conquest inspired Francisco Pizzarro to invade the Incas in 1531. He
only had two hundred soldiers, barely enough to walk the dog. However, he convinced the ruler
of the Incas, Atahualpa, to come to a conference at the city of Cajamarca. When Atahualpa
arrived, Pizzarro kidnapped him and killed several hundred of his family and followers.
Atahualpa tried to ransom himself, but Pizzarro tried to use him as a puppet ruler. When that
failed, Pizzarro simply executed him in 1533. Over the next thirty years the Spanish struggled
against various insurrections, but, with the help of native allies, they finally gained control of the
Inca empire in the 1560's.”
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/CIVAMRCA/CIVAMRCA.HTM
• In return for helping locals, the Inca demanded loyalty and
tribute
• Took land and labor from subject peoples as tribute
• They had to work for the state, mita (labor turns). Women
had to produce woven cloth for the nobles and religious
ceremonies
• Some women were taken as concubines for the inca.
Women could pass property to daughter.The empire had
the power to select the most beautiful young women to
serve the temples or to be given to the inca.
• Yanas-servants, artisans, and workers for the Inca nobility
• Members of the nobility were very privileged. They held
high positions and had different dress and customs. The
Spaniards called them orejones or big ears.
• A system of mulitple royal marriage created rival claims to
the position of inca and created the possibility of a civil
war. Which is where the Incas were when the Spanish first
arrived.
• “Of all the urbanized people of the Americas, the Incas were the
most brilliant engineers. The Huari-Tiahuanaco performed
amazing feats of fitting gigantic stones together, and the Nazca
designed mind-numbingly huge earth-drawings that still exist
today. But the Inca built massive forts with stone slabs so
perfectly cut that they didn't require mortar—and they're still
standing today in near-perfect condition. They built roads
through the mountains from Ecuador to Chile with tunnels and
bridges. They also built aqueducts to their cities as the Romans
had. And of all ancient peoples, they were the most advanced in
medicine and surgery.”
• Genius: land and water
management, road system,
statecraft, architecture,
public building, terrace farming,
metalworking, weaving, pottery,
quipu (knotted strings), bridges,
stonecutting
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/CIVAMRCA/CIVAMRCA.HTM
www.pbase.com/dalejohn49/image/74258371
Inca and Aztec
• Both built on former classical civilizations
• Both represented the success of an imperial and militaristic
organizations
• Both based on intensive agricultural organization with
surplus (tribute) being controlled by the state.
• Both empires the kinship-based institutions were transformed
into a social hierarchy with the nobility being the personnel
of the state. (ayllu and calpulli)
• As long as sovereignty recognized and tribute paid the local
maintained their ways
• See them as variations of similar patterns and process!!!
Sedentary agriculture is the most important. (farmers are
settled in once place)
Differences
• Climate and geographic differences
• Trade and markets much more developed in Aztecs
• Aztecs had a written language
Other Peoples
• There were many other natives that lived in the Americas
outside of the rule of the Aztecs or Incas. Think about all the
various tribes that called Canada and America home. The
population of the Americas used to be at about 8.4 million but
has changed as research get better. Most people think it was
actually about 67 million (a big difference). Check out the chart
on page 252
• Similar kinds of chieftainship based on sedentary agriculture
found in other areas too
• Combination of farming with hunting and fishing
• Slash and burn farming led to periodic village movement
• Strong class divisions
• Hunter and gathering groups, no nomadic herders though
• Rich religious and artistic life
• Limited technology
• Saw themselves a part of the ecological system and not in
control of it.
• Few large state systems, mostly kin-based societies
Cahokia in Illinois
www.sacred-destinations.com/usa/cahokia
Great Serpent Mound:
Adena effigy mound
In Ohio
www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/535791...
Conclusions
• By the end of the 15th century 2 major imperial
systems dominated civilizations in Mesoamerica
and the Andes
• Built on classical civilizations and focused on
military
• Fragile due to internal problems and limitation
with technology
• Broad range of societies from empires to hunting
and gathering groups
• Their isolation kept them from ironworking,
wheel, domestication of animals, world religions,
and immunity to Afro-Eurasian diseases
• 1492 forever changed the Americas…what would
have happened if the Americas remained isolated?