Peoples and Civilizations of the Americas

Culture and Society in Mesoamerica

• Remarkable civilization created

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• Different language + politics, but unified by material culture, religious beliefs + practices, and social structure

Classic Period

• Classic period (built upon Olmec and other civilizations)
• Social classes with distinct roles
• Hereditary politics + religious elites controlled towns + villages

Teotihuacan:

• Powerful city-state in central Mexico (100 B. C. E. – 750 C. E. )

Religion

• Religion = worshipped many gods + lesser spirits, Sun + Moon
• Human sacrifice = viewed as sacred duty to the gods and essential to the well-being of society

Farming

• Chinampas = raised fields along lakeshores to increase agriculture Politics * No evidence for single ruler; alliances between elite families

The Maya

Location

• Maya = civilization concentrated in the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, and Honduras, but never unified
• Contributed mainly in math, astronomy, and the calendar
• High pyramids + palaces = meant to awe the masses that came

Decoration

• Maya = loved decoration

Infused warfare with religious meaning

Society = patrilineal Contributions

Devised elaborate calendar system, concept of 0, and writing

End of Classic Era

• Maya cities declined due to struggle for resources, which lead to class conflict and warfare
• Connection with the Mesoamerican societies due to learning about the Aztecs in grade 8
• Have visited Mayan cities in Mexico, and have seen temples in real life
• Question: didn’t the Arabs develop the concept

The Postclassic Period in Mesoamerica

No single explanation for fall of Teotihuacan and Mayan centers

The Toltecs:

• Powerful postclassic empire in central Mexico (900 – 1175 C. E. )

Origins

• Origins = unknown (either satellite or migrant populations)
• Used military conquest to create powerful empire|

Reason for decline

• Fell by internal power struggles and military threat from the north

The Aztecs

Altepetl = ethnic state in ancient Mesoamerica that was the common political building block of that region Society +

Politics

• Calpolli = group of up to hundred families that served as a building block of an altepetl (controlled land allocation + taxes + local religious life)
• Tenochtitlan = capital of Aztec Empire; in an island in lake Texcoco Mexico City created on ruins of Tenochtitlan

Aztecs = AKA Mexica, created empire (1325 – 1521 C. E. )

Aztecs forced defeated peoples to provide goods + labor as tax Aztec

Women

• Women = held lots of power; held in high esteem; held positions like teachers and priestesses; seen as founders of lineages, including the royal line
• Merchants become rich, but cannot become high nobility

Economic systems

• Tribute system = system in which defeated peoples were forced to pay tax in forms of goods and labor; help development of large ities
• Did not use money; used barter instead

Aztec religion = demanded increasing numbers of human sacrifice

Connection to Aztecs as I learned about them in grade 8

Noted the familiarities between the Mesoamerican societies, which also had distinct differences as well

Northern Peoples:

• Classic period ends around 900 C. E.
• Transfer of irrigation and corn agriculture -> stimulated development in Hohokam and Anasazi society

Southwestern Desert Cultures

• Anasazi = important culture in southwest US (700 – 1300 C. E. )
• Anasazi built multistory residences, and worshipped in subterranean buildings (called kivas)

Anasazi women

• Women = shared agricultural tasks, specialists in many crafts, responsible for food preparation and childcare

Anasazi region

Anasazi = concentrate in Four Corners region Mound Builders: The Hopewell and Mississippian Cultures:

Political structure

• Chiefdom = form of political organization; ruled by hereditary leader (Chiefdom) who had control over collection of villages + towns; based on gift giving and commercial links
• Political organization + trade + mound building continued by the Mississippian culture (largest city = Cahokia) Ansazi

Environmental changes caused destruction of Anasazi + Mississippian Mississippian cultures Decline Andean Civilizations, 200 – 1500

Environment = sucks for creating civilization

Amerindian peoples of Andean = produced some of the most socially complex + politically advanced societies in

Western Hemisphere Cultural Response to Environmental Challenge

• How they adapted
• Domestication of llamas and alpacas
• Farmed at different altitudes to reduce risks from frosts Social + political
• Ayllu = Andean lineage group or kin-based community groups
• Ayllu = foundation for Andean achievement; members = obligated to help fellow members (thought as brothers and sisters)
• Mit’a = Andean labor system based on shared obligations to help kinsmen and work on behalf of the ruler and religious organizations

Gender distinction

• Men = hunting, military service, government
• Women = textile production, agriculture, home Harsh climates of Andean civilizations = similar to harsh environment of North American settlers

Anasazi + Mississippian culture = one of few civilizations that did not fall due to outside pressures

Moche

• Moche = civilization of north coast of Peru (200 – 700 C. E. )
• Built extensive irrigation networks + impressive urban centers dominated by brick temples

Political + social

• Did not establish formal empire nor unified political structure structure
• Moche society = theocratic + stratified; priests + military leaders had concentrated wealth + power|

Decline of Moche

• Moche centers declined due to long-term climate changes
• Wari = new military power, culturally linked to Tiwanaku
• Wari contributed to the disappearance of the Moche

Tiwanaku and Wari:

• Tiwanaku = name of capital city and empire centered on the region near Lake Titicaca in modern Bolivia (375 – 1000 C. E. )
• Llamas = crucial for maintenance of long-distance trade relations
• High quality of stone masonry
• Stratified society ruled by a hereditary elite
• Used military to extend their power over large religions

The Inca

• Largest and most powerful Andean empire (Cuzco = capital)
• Initially a chiefdom -> turned in to military expansion in 1430s
• Inca prosperity depended on vast herds of llamas + alpacas
• Hereditary chiefs of ayllus included women
• Had hostage taking system for politics
• Each new ruler began his reign with conquest (legitimize authority)
• Khipus = system of knotted colored cords used by preliterate Andean peoples to transmit information
• Did not produce new technologies; increased economic output
• Civil war weakened the Inca on the eve of European arrival
• Noticed that primary gods for many societies were Sun gods and agricultural gods
• Pressures from inside took out the Inca society; similar to other societies
• Khipus = similar to the one that Aztecs used

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