Download The Americas

Mesoamerican Mother Culture
Olmecs: The Mother Culture?
I.
The Discovery of the Big
Heads…Only Mayan? This discovery in
1862 shocked many,
but it was a later
discovery of a date
symbol on the back of
a traditional Olmec
artifact that really
threw the
archeologists for a
loop.
Significance?
These pictures
display the immense
size of the “big
heads.”
The Americas:
Mesoamerica and Andean
South America
Peoples and Civilizations
of the Americas 200-1500
Land Bridge, Island Hopping
Less water, more opportunities?
Maya
Aztec
Inca
Classic-Era Culture and Society
in Mesoamerica 200-900
“The City of the Gods”
The Great City of Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan
“The City of the Gods”
The Ceremonial City
of Teotihuacan
The City covered approx. 8 square miles
Avenue of the Dead
Pyramid of the Sun
Pyramid of the Moon
Feathered Serpent Pyramid
The Pyramid of the Feathered
Serpent is at the center of the
Ciudadela, which is the
geographic center of the city. It
could accommodate over 100,000
folks without much crowding. This
area may have been used for
religious rituals
Maya
Tikal
Chichen Itza, Mexico: Chichen Itza is a large preColumbian archaeological site built by the Maya
civilization located in the northern center of the Yucatán
Peninsula, present-day Mexico
The Post-classic Period in
Mesoamerica 900-1500
The Toltecs and Aztecs
Engineering an Empire to 3:27
Aztecs
I.
Early History
A.
B.
II.
The Aztecs were originally a northern people with a clanbased social organization.
They migrated to the Lake Texcoco area, established the
cities of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco around 1325, and
then developed a monarchical system of government
Social Stratification
A.
III.
From clan based to a more typical imperial hierarchical
system
Agriculturalists
A.
B.
The Aztecs increased agricultural production in the
capital area by undertaking land reclamation projects
and constructing irrigated fields and chinampas
Nonetheless, grain and other food tribute met nearly one
quarter of the capital’s food requirements
Aztecs
I.
Commerce
A.
Merchants who were distinct from and
subordinate to the political elite who controlled
long-distance trade
The technology of trade was simple:
B.
1.
2.
II.
no wheeled vehicles, draft animals, or money was
used
Goods were carried by human porters and exchanged
through barter
Religion
A.
Polytheistic
1.
2.
most important: Huitzilopochtli, the Sun god
Huitzilopochtli required a diet of human hearts that
were supplied by sacrificing thousands of people
every year
Huitzilopochtli
Sacrifice to Huitzilopochtli
Aztec Warriors
I.
II.
Eagle Warriors
Jaguar Warriors
Andean Civilizations
Moche, Tiwanaku, Wari and
the Inca
Andean People
I.
Environment
A.
The harsh environment of the high-altitude Andes, the dry coastal
plain, and the tropical headwaters of the Amazon forced the human
inhabitants of these areas to organize labor efficiently in order to
produce enough food to live.
B.
The Andean region is divided into four major ecological zones:
1.
the coast, mountain valleys, higher elevations, and the
Amazonian region.
C.
Each region produced different goods, and these goods were
exchanged between the various regions through a network of trade
routes.
II.
Social Structure
A.
Clans (ayllu):
1.
Clans held land collectively and clan members were obligated to
assist each other in production and to supply goods and labor to
the clan chief.
B.
mit'a required each ayllu to provide workers each year to
provide labor for religious establishments, the royal court, or the
aristocracy.
Inca
Inca
I.
II.
A.
B.
C.
III.
A.
B.
The Inca were a small chiefdom in Cuzco until their leaders
consolidated political authority and began a program of
military expansion in the 1430s. By 1525, the Inca had
constructed a huge empire
Military and Conquest
developed a strong professional military
At the central level, the Inca created an imperial
bureaucracy led by a king. Each king was required to
prove himself by conquering new territory.
The Inca used the mit’a labor system to man their armies,
to build their capital city, to maintain their religious
institutions, and to provide for the weak.
Cuzco
The capital city of Cuzco was laid out in the shape of a
puma and its buildings constructed of stone laid together
without mortar.
Cuzco’s palaces and richly decorated temples were the
scene of rituals, feasts, sacrifices of textiles, animals,
other tribute goods, and the occasional human.
Machu Picchu
Cuzco was shaped like a puma
To aid in the
creation of this
shape some
believe the
Incas used hot
air balloons.
Incan Frozen Mummies
Incan Suspension Bridges and
stone walls
Comparing the Aztecs and Incas
I.
Political and Economic Comparisons
A.
Aztec and Inca Empires similarities
1.
2.
3.
4.
B.
Distinctions between the two empires were in their
systems of distributing goods and in their
management of the empire.
1.
II.
powerful armies,
strong economies based on large workforces,
dependence on organized government
religious practices that connected secular rulers to the gods
The Aztec used local leaders, while the Inca created a strong
central government administered by trained bureaucrats.
Imperial Comparisons
A.
Both the Aztec and Inca were the last in a line of
successive indigenous populations organized into
strong empires from former collapsed civilizations.
III. Other?
A.
Inca had no writing system