Transcript America: Post-Classical

America: The Post-Classical Era
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1000-1500 B.C.
collapse of Teotihuacan
collapse of classical Mayan civilization
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NATIVE AMERICANS Pre Columbus
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PALEO INDIANS
The first arrived 40,000 years ago
traveling from Siberia, across the Bering
Straight.
migrations began during the Ice Age,
but later evidence suggests that there
have been other migrations as well.
They followed big game like mastodons,
mammoths and others.
8000 BC and 1500 BC what is called the
Archaic period
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the Native American populating grew and
experienced booms in agriculture and culture.
Developed social dynamics, hunting,
gathering.
Women gathered and cared for the children.
Developed specialized tools. Trade
developed. With trade came exchange of
religious ideas, marriages across groups,
spread of customs, traditions, laborers etc.
THE DEVELOPMENT of Agriculture
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booms when the needs of groups outstripped the
hunting.
Farmers in both south and North America learned to
cultivate peppers, bean, pumpkins, squash,
avocados, sweet and white potatoes, tomatoes, and
some groups in Mexico grew cotton. Corn and Bean
cultivation spread across the continent.
When farming improved, populations grew.
Permanent villages appeared.
Mesoamerican Natives
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Arctic and Subarctic were nomadic groups that
followed big game and fishing. Fashioned tools from
bones, clothing and hides from animal skins.
In densely populated North America groups like the
Kwakiutls and Chinooks, lived in large communal
houses. Had rivers to provide them with salmon and
other fish, and cultivated plant life.
Present Day California- hunter gatherers lived in
smaller villages ruled by chiefs.
Groups
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Mayans- (peeked AD 150-900) in the
southern Yucatan- created advanced writing
and calendar systems and developed the
concept of zero.
Toltec, warrier people dominated after the
demise of the Myans
Aztecs- Cultures of North America:
North America/ Carribian
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Ancestral Pueblosans- lived
in villages (new Mexico
Chaco Canyon) Hopis,
Zunis established trade with
planes or nomadic Indians.
Farmed corn, squash,
beans, and sunflowers.
Plains Indians- moved
frequently. Hunters.
Mandan, Pawnees
Mound Building culturesdeveloped as agriculture
spread. Cahokia dominated
the Mississippi river Valley.
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Great Lakes areas: Iroquois
and Huron— Iroquois had
five nations: Mohawks,
Oneidas, Onondagas,
Cayuga, and Seneca joined
to create the Great League
of Peace and Power around
1450.
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Caribbean Islanders- an
estimated 4 million people
lived in the Caribbean before
the arrival of Columbus.
Mexico
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appearance of new peoples in central
America
Toltecs
Aztecs
The Toltecs
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adopted sedentary agricultural practices
added a strong military and imperial
culture
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ritual wars
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conquest of neighboring peoples
war....capture...sacrifice
“givers of civilization”
Toltec empire
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central Mexico
expansion into former Mayan territories
northern Mexico
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trade with the American Southwest
Chaco Canyon ???
Contacts with North America
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Hopewell culture ??
Mississippi culture
maize, beans, squash
ritual sacrifices and executions???
Cahokia
Quetzalcoatl
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The Feathered Serpent
Topiltzin: a priest
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religious reformer
opposed to human and animal sacrifice
exiled to the east, with a promise to
return on a specific date
same year as Cortez and the
Conquistadors
The Aztecs
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collapse of the Toltecs: 1150 A.D.
influx of nomadic invaders form the
north
shift of power to central Mexico
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large lakes
fertile agricultural areas
contests for control
The Aztecs: Origins
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obscure background
claimed to have live in the area
originally
exiled to the north to Aztlan
actually, nomads from the North
took advantage of the Toltec collapse
wrote history to suit their purposes
Origins
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group who settled near Lake Texcoco
1325 A.D.
competed with other Chichimec
immigrants
small states
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claiming connections to the Toltecs
speaking Nahuatl
Lake Texcoco
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several tribes
small city-state
Azcapotzalco, Culhuacan
Culhuacan: control by diplomatic
marriage
complex alliances, constantly shifting
Aztecs
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new group
used as mercenaries and occasional
allies
constant movement around the lake
shore
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driven by stronger powers
reputation: good warriors and religious
fanatics
Aztec Settlement
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the legend: an eagle on a cactus,
holding a rattlesnake
an island in Lake Texcoco
Tenochtitlan
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1325 A.D.
Tlateloco: a second settlement
Aztec expansion
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more active role in regional politics
rebelled against Azcapotzalco
emerged as an independent power
political merge: 1434
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Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, Tlacopan
Aztecs dominated the alliance
Social and Political Change
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imperial expansion
subject peoples paid tribute, surrender
land, and do military service
stratified society
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under the authority of a supreme ruler
Tlacaelel: advised rulers and rewrote
histories
the Aztecs had been chosen to serve the
gods
Human sacrifice
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role of the military
role of expansion
flower wars
means of political terrorism
cult of sacrifice united with the political
state
Religion and Conquest
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little distinction between the natural and
supernatural
traditional gods and goddesses
128 major deities
Gods
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male/female dualism
different manifestations
five aspects
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four directions
the center
gods as patrons
complex ceremonial year
Gods, con’t
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gods of fertility and agriculture
gods of creation
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cosmology and philosophical thought
gods of warfare
Huitzilopochtli: their tribal deity
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identified with the Sun God
The Sun God and Sacrifice
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a warrior in the daytime sky
fighting to give life to the world
enemy of the forces of night
the sun needs strength
52 year cycle of the world
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required blood to avert destruction
The Sun God, con’t
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sacrifice for sacrifice
the gods need nourishment
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human blood and hearts
adoption of longstanding human
sacrifice
expansion to “industrial” proportions
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10,000 people on one occasion
The Empire: the Economy
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high population density
combination of tradition and innovation
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chinampas
20,000 acres
four crops a year
food as tribute
The Fall
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20 million people
large cities
appearance of the Spanish
disease and European military
technology
South America: the Incas
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Cuzco: original home
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1350 A.D.
expansion by 1438
Incan empire
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ruled 10-13 million people
Religion and expansion
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cult of ancestors
“split inheritance”
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position to successor
land and wealth to descendants to care for
the dead
new land necessary for each ruler
Religion
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animism
sun worship
The Empire
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four provinces
decimal organizations
Ouechua: the official language
colonists
The Empire con’t
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infrastructure: roads and bridges
communications by runners
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10,000
purpose: land and labor
little actual tribute
Inca “socialism”
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empire claimed all resources
redistributed them evenly to all peoples
local independence
access to new goods and services
Weakness
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top-heavy with royal and noble families
low level of technology
easy prey for the Spanish