CHAPTER 16 - People and Empires in the Americas (500-1500) - World History: Patterns of Interaction (Atlas by Rand McNally 2009)

CHAPTER 16.1: North American Societies 

• The North American groups created no great empires
  • They left few ruins as spectacular as those of ancient Mexico or Peru
• Regardless, the first North American peoples created complex societies that we're able to conduct long-distance trade and construct magnificent buildings
•  The Pacific Northwest (Oregon to Alaska) was rich in resources/supported a sizable population 
• To the Kwakiutl, Nootka, and Haida peoples, the most important resource was the sea
  • They hunted whales in canoes
• In addition to the many resources of the sea, the coastal forest provided plentiful food
• The Northwest Coast tribes developed societies in which differences in wealth created social classes
•  Families displayed their rank and prosperity in an elaborate ceremony called the potlatch
  • Potlach ceremonies provided food, drink, and gifts to the community
• The dry, desert lands of the Southwest were a much harsher environment than the temperate Pacific coastlands
• As early as 1500 BC, the peoples of the Southwest were beginning to farm the land 
• Among the most successful of these early farmers were the Hohokam of central Arizona
  •  They used irrigation to produce harvests of corn, beans, and squash
  • Their use of pottery rather than baskets, as well as certain religious rituals, showed contact with Mesoamerican peoples to the south
• People to the north: the Anasazi, also influenced the Hohokam
  • They lived in the Four Corners region, where the present-day states of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico meet
  • The Anasazi built cliff dwellings, such as the ones at Mesa Verde, Colorado 
• By the A.D. 900s, the Anasazi were living in pueblos, villages of large, apartment-style compounds made of stone and adobe, or sun-baked clay
• The Anasazi relied on human labor to quarry sandstone from the canyon walls/move it to the site
  • Skilled builders used a mudlike mortar to construct walls
  • Windows were small to keep out the sun
• A number of partly/underground ceremonial chambers called kivas were used for a variety of religious practices
• Many Anasazi pueblos were abandoned around 1200, possibly because of a prolonged drought
• Pueblo groups like the Hopi and Zuni used kivas for religious ceremonies
• They also created beautiful pottery and woven blankets/traded these w/ corn and other farm products w/ Plains Indians to the east, who supplied bison meat/hides
  • They eventually became known as the Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache
• Beginning around 700 BC., a culture known as the Adena began to build huge earthen mounds in which they buried their dead
  •  Mounds that held the bodies of tribal leaders often were filled with gifts, such as finely crafted copper and stone objects
• Some 500 years later, the Hopewell culture also began building burial mounds, which were more powerful and plentiful than the Adena's
  • Some of the Hopewell mounds may have been used for purposes other than burials
• The last Mound Builder culture, the Mississippian, lasted from around 800 AD until the arrival of Europeans in the 1500s
  • They created thriving villages based on farming/trade
• Between 1000-1200 as many as 30,000 people lived in Cahokia, the leading site of Mississippian culture
  • Cahokia was led by priest-rulers who regulated farming activities
• These Mississippian lands were located in a crossroads region between east and west/enjoyed transportation on the Mississippi/Ohio rivers
• Items found in burial mounds show that the Mississippians had traded with peoples in the West and, possibly, Mesoamerica
• Northeastern woodlands tribes developed a variety of cultures/often fought over land 
• In some areas, tribes formed political alliances to ensure the protection of tribal lands
• The Iroquois were a group of tribes speaking related languages living in the eastern Great Lakes region
• Late 1500s: 5 of these tribes in upper New York (the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca) formed the Iroquois League
  • Chief Hiawatha, according to legend, founded the league and wanted to promote joint defense/cooperation among the tribes
• The Iroquois alliance was a notable political link, but for the most part, connections b/t native North Americans were economic/cultural
  • They traded, had similar religious beliefs, and shared social patterns
• Trade was a major factor linking the peoples of North America
  • Along the Columbia River in Oregon, the Chinook people established a lively marketplace that brought together trade goods from all over the West
  • The Mississippian trade network stretched from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic coast/from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico 
• Nearly all native North Americans believed that the world around them was filled with nature spirits
  • Most Native Americans recognized a number of sacred spirits
• Some groups held up one supreme being, or Great Spirit, above all others
• North American peoples believed that the spirits gave them rituals and customs to guide them in their lives and to satisfy their basic needs and if they practiced their rituals they can leave in peace/harmony
• Native American religious beliefs also included great respect for the land as the source of life
  • They used the land, but tried to alter it as little as possible
• The land was sacred, not something that could be bought and sold
• Family was the basis for social organization for Native Americans
•  Generally, the family unit was the extended family, including parents, children, grandparents, and other close relatives
  • Some tribes further organized families into clans, groups of families descended from a common ancestor
  • In some tribes, clan members lived together in large houses or groups of houses   
• Totems: A natural object with which an individual, clan, or group identifies itself
  • Totems were common among Native American clans
  • The totem was used as a symbol of the unity of a group or clan/also helped define certain behaviors/the social relationships of a group
  • Northwestern peoples displayed totem symbols on masks, boats, and huge poles set in front of their houses
  • Others used totem symbols in rituals or dances associated with important group events such as marriages, the naming of children, or the planting or harvesting of crops
• Some societies were small and dealt with life in a limited region of the vast North American continent
• Other groups were much larger, and were linked by trade and culture to other groups in North America and Mesoamerica

CHAPTER 16.2: Maya Kings and Cities

• Maya homeland stretched from southern Mexico into northern Central America
  • The lowlands lie to the north and include the Yucatan Peninsula, southeastern Mexico, and northern Guatemala
• During this time, the Maya built spectacular cities such as Tikal, a major center in northern Guatemala
  • Other important sites included Copán, Palenque, Uxmal, and Chichén Itzá, which were each independent city-states ruled by a god-king/serving as a center for religious ceremonies/trade
• Maya cities featured giant pyramids, temples, palaces, and elaborate stone carvings dedicated to the gods and to important rulers
• Each Maya city featured a ball court
  • Mayans played a game that had religious and political significance
  •  The Maya believed the playing of this game would maintain the cycles of the sun and moon and bring life-giving rains 
• Although the Maya city-states were independent of each other, they were linked through alliances and trade
• Cities exchanged their local products such as salt, flint, feathers, shells, and honey
• They also traded craft goods like cotton textiles and jade ornaments
• Mayans didn't have a uniform currency, but cacao beans sometimes served as one 
• Agriculture (cultivation of especially maize, beans, and squash) served as the basis of Maya life
• For years, experts assumed that the Maya practiced slash-and-burn agriculture 
• The Maya also developed more sophisticated methods, including planting on raised beds above swamps/on hillside terraces
• The noble class (priests/leading warriors) were the top of Maya society
  • Below them came merchants/those with specialized knowledge (ex. skilled artisans)
  • The bottom was the peasant majority 
  • The Maya king sat at the top of this class structure
    • He was regarded as a holy figure/his position was hereditary
    • When he died, he passed the throne on to his eldest son; one of the other sons might expect to join the priesthood
• Religion influenced most aspects of Maya life
  • The Maya believed in many gods (gods of corn, death, rain, war)
  • Gods could be good, evil, or both
  • Gods also were associated with the four directions/different colors: white for north, black for west, yellow for south, red for east, and green in the center 
  • The Maya believed that each day was a living god whose behavior could be predicted with the help of a system of calendars 
• The Maya worshiped their gods in various ways:
  • They prayed and made offerings of food, flowers, and incense
  • They also pierce/cut their bodies and offered their blood, believing that this would nourish the gods
  • Sometimes the Maya even carried out human sacrifice, usually of captured enemies
• They threw captives into a deep sinkhole lake, called a cenote along with gold, jade, and other offerings
• Mayans believed that human sacrifice pleased the gods and kept the world in balance, but it never reached the extremes of some other Mesoamerican peoples
• Maya religious beliefs also led to the development of the calendar, mathematics, and astronomy 
  • Mayans believed that time was a burden carried on the back of a god
  • It was thus very important to have an accurate calendar to know which god was in charge of the day 
• The Maya developed a 260 day religious calendar, which consisted of 13 20-day months 
  • A 2nd 365-day solar calendar consisted of 18 20-day months w/ a separate period of 5 days at the end
  •  The 2 calendars were linked together like meshed gears so that any given day could be identified in both cycles 
  • The calendar helped identify the best times to plant crops, attack enemies, and crown new rulers
• The Maya based their calendar on careful observation of the planets, sun, and moon
• Highly skilled Maya astronomers/mathematicians calculated the solar year at 365.2420 days
•  The Maya astronomers were able to attain such great precision by using a math system that included the concept of zero
•  The Maya based their calendar on careful observations of the planets, sun, and moon
•  The Maya used a shell-symbol for zero, dots for the numbers 1-4
• They used the numerical system primarily for calendar and astronomical work
•  The Maya also developed the most advanced writing system in the ancient Americas
• Maya writing consisted of about 800 hieroglyphic symbols or glyphs
  • Some of these glyphs stood for whole words and others represented symbols 
• The Maya used their writing system to record important historical events, carving their glyphs in stone or recording them in bark paper (a codex)
• Maya peoples wrote down their history after the arrival of the Spanish
• The most famous of these books is the Popol Vuh, which recounted the Highland Maya's version of the story of creation 
• Late 800s: the Maya suddenly abandoned many of their cities
• Invaders from the north (the Toltec), moved into the lands occupied by the Maya, changing the culture
• High civilization of Maya cities disappeared 
• No one knows exactly why this happened, but there were several overlapping theories
  • By the 700s, warfare broke out among the Maya city-states
  • Increased warfare disrupted trade/produced economic hardship
  • Population growth/over-farming may have damaged the environment, which in turn led to food shortages, famine, and disease
  • By the time the Spanish came in the 1500s, the Maya were divided into small, weak, city-states that gave little hint of their former prosperity 
• As the Maya civilization faded, other peoples of Mesoamerica were growing in strength/sophistication
•  Like the Maya, these peoples would trace some of their ancestry to the Olmec

CHAPTER 16.3: The Aztecs Control Central Mexico 

• The first major civilization of central Mexico was Teotihuacán, a city-state whose ruins lie just outside Mexico City
• 1st cent. AD, villagers at this sit began to plan/construct a monumental city, even larger than Monte Alban, in Oaxaca 
• At the peak in the 6th century, Teotihuacan had a population of between 150,000-200,000, making it one of the largest cities in the world at the time 
• The heart of the city was a central avenue lined with more than 20 pyramids dedicated to various gods
  • The biggest of these was the giant Pyramid of the Sun 
• The people of Teotihuacán lived in apartment-block buildings in the area around the central avenue
• Teotihuacan became the center of a thriving trade network that extended far into Central America
• The city's most valuable trade item was obsidian, a green or black volcanic glass found in the Valley of Mexico/used to make razor sharp weapons 
• After centuries of growth, the city abruptly declined
  • Historians believe that this was due to either an invasion by outside forces or conflict among the city's ruling classes 
  • Regardless, the city was virtually abandoned by 750
• After the fall of Teotihuacán, no single culture dominated central Mexico for decades
• Around 900: the Toltecs rose to power
• For the next 3 decades, the Toltecs ruled over the heart of Mexico from their capital at Tula
  • They also built pyramids and temples 
  • They also carved tall pillars in the shape of armed warriors
• In fact, the Toltecs were an extremely warlike people whose empire was based on conquest
  • They worshipped a fierce war god who demanded blood/human sacrifice from his followers
• Sometime after 1000, a Toltec ruler named Topiltzin tried to change the Toltec religion 
  • He called on the Toltec people to end the practice of human sacrifice 
• He also encouraged them to worship a different god, Quetzalcoatl, or the Feathered Serpent
•  Followers of the war god rebelled, forcing Topiltzin and his followers into exile on the Yucatán Peninsula
  • They greatly influenced late-Mayan culture
• After Topiltzin’s exile, Toltec power began to decline
• By the early 1200s, their reign over the Valley of Mexico had ended
• In time, Topiltzin and Quetzalcoatl became one in the legends of the people of the Valley of Mexico
•  The Aztecs arrived in the Valley of Mexico around 1200 AD
• The valley contained a number of small city-states that had survived the collapse of Toltec rule
• The Aztecs, who were then called the Mexica, were a poor, nomadic people from the harsh deserts of northern Mexico
• They soon adapted to local ways, finding work as soldiers-for-hire to local rulers
• According to one of the Aztec legends, the god of the sun and warfare, Huitzilopochtli, told them to found a city of their own 
• They found such a place on a small island in Lake Texcoco, at the center of the valley 
  • 1325: they founded Tenochtitlan
• The Aztecs gradually increased in strength and number 
• 1428: they joined w/ 2 other city-states (Texcoco and Tlacopan to form the Triple Alliance 
  • The alliance became the leading power in the Valley of Mexico/soon gained control over neighboring regions 
• By the early 1500s: they controlled a vast empire that covered some 80,000 square miles stretching from central Mexico to the Atlantic/Pacific coasts and south into Oaxaca 
  • This empire was divided into 38 provinces/ had a population of b/t 5-15 million people
• The Aztecs based their power on military conquest/tribute they gained from their conquered subjects 
  • The demanded tribute in the form of gold, maize, cacao beans, cotton, jade, and other products
  • If local rulers failed to pay tribute or offer any other kind of resistance, the Aztecs brutally responded by destroying villages/capturing/slaughtering inhabitants 
• Military leaders held great power in Aztec society
  • Along with government officials and priests, these military leaders made up the noble class 
  • Many nobles owned vast estates, which ruled over like lords, living a life of great wealth/luxury
• There were 2 other broad classes in Aztec society:
  • Commoners, which included merchants, artisans, soldiers, and farmers who owned their own land
    • Merchants formed a special type of elite
    • They often traveled widely acting as spies for the emperor/gaining great wealth for themselves
  • The lowest class (enslaved) were captives who did many different jobs 
• The emperor was on top of the Aztec social pyramid with absolute power
• The emperor lived in a magnificent palace surrounded by servants/his wives
• By the early 1500s, Tenochtitlan had become an extraordinary urban center 
• Tenochtitlán remained on its original island site
• To connect the island to the mainland, Aztec engineers built 3 raised roads, called causeways, over the water/marshland
• Other smaller cities ringed the lake, creating a dense concentration of people in the Valley of Mexico
• Streets/broad avenues connected these the city center w/ outlying residential districts 
  • The canals that intersected w/ these roadways allowed canoes to bring people directly into the city center
• Canoes also brought goods from the farthest reaches of the empire to the economic heart of the city (Tlatelolco)
• Visitors to the market found a great deal of local agricultural produce on display (avocadoes, beans, chili peppers, corn, squash, tomatoes)
• Most of the fruits/vegetables sold were grown on chinampas, farm plots built on the marshy fringes of the lake 
  • They provide food needed for a huge urban population 
• At the center of the city was a massive, walled complex, filled with palaces, temples, and government buildings
• The main structure in the complex was the Great Temple
  • It's a giant pyramid w/ twin temples at the top, 1 dedicated to the sun god and the other to the rain god, served as the center of Aztec religious life 
• Religion played a major role in Aztec society, 
• Tenochtitlan contained hundreds of temples/religious structures dedicated to the approx. 1,000 gods that Aztecs worshipped 
• The Aztecs adopted many of these gods/religious practices related to them from Mesoamerican peoples
• They saw Quetzalcoatl as both the god of learning/books, wind, and a symbol of death/rebirth 
• Aztec religious practices centered on elaborate public ceremonies designed to communicate with the gods/win their favor
  • Priests made offerings to the gods and presented ritual dramas, songs, and dances featuring masked performers
  • The Aztec ceremonial calendar was full of religious festivals that varied according to the god being honored
• The most important rituals involved a sun god (Huitzilopochtli)
  • According to legend, Huitzilopochtli made the sun rise everyday and when the sun set, he had to battle the forces of evil to get to the next day
  • To make sure that he was strong enough for the ordeal, he needed human blood as nourishment
  • If he were too weak to fight, the sun would not rise and the world will be plunged into darkness
• Each year, thousands of victims were led to the altar on top of the Great Temple and priests carved out their hearts w/ obsidian knives
• Sacrificed victims included enslaved people, criminals, and people offered as tribute by conquered provinces 
• POW were the preferred victims
• Priests required a steady supply of war captives, which pushed Aztec military to carry out new conquests
  • This resulted in them often not going to conquer new land, but to capture prisoners for sacrifice, changing their tactics to ensure their opponents were alive 
• 1502: Montezuma II was crowned emperor 
• Under Montezuma, the Aztec Empire began to weaken
  • With the population of Tenochtitlán growing greater, Montezuma called for even more tribute and sacrifice 
• In response, a number of provinces rose up against Aztec oppression 
• . This began a period of unrest and rebellion, which the military struggled to put down
• Over time, Montezuma tried to lessen the pressure on the provinces 
  • He reduced the demand for tribute payment by cutting the number of officials in the Aztec government 
• Many Aztecs began to predict that terrible things were about to happen
• The arrival of the Spanish was the most worrying event
• For many Aztecs, the Spanish reminded them of the return of Quetzalcoatl
•  The Andean empire further south in the high mountain valleys of the Andes would eventually transcend the Aztec empire in land area, power, and wealth

CHAPTER 16.4: The Inca Create a Mountain Empire

• The Inca also built their empire on cultural foundations thousands of years old
• Ancient civilizations such as the Chavin, Moche, and Nazca had already established a tradition of high culture in Peru
  • They were followed by the Huari and Tiahuanaco cultures of southern Peru and Bolivia
• The Inca would create an even more powerful state extending their rule over the entire Andean region
•  The Inca originally lived in a high plateau of the Andes
• They finally settled on fertile lands in the Valley of Cuzco
• By the 1200s, they had established their own small kingdom in the valley 
• During this time, the Inca developed traditions/beliefs that helped launch/unify their empire:
  • One of these was the belief that the Incan ruler was descended from the sun god (Inti), who would bring prosperity/greatness to the Incan state
• Growth was slow, but in 1438 Pachacuti took the throne
  • Under his leadership, the Inca conquered all of Peru and then moved into neighboring lands
• By 1500, the Inca ruled an empire that stretched 2,500 miles along the western coast of South America
• The Incan empire included about 80 provinces/held roughly 16 million people
• Pachacuti and his successors accomplished this feat of conquest through a combination of diplomacy and military force
• The Inca had a powerful military and only used force when necessary/were clever diplomats
• Before attacking, they typically offered enemy states an honorable surrender
  • They would allow them to keep their own customs/ rulers in exchange for loyalty to the Incan state
• Many states gave up w/o resistance because of their treatment
• Even when force was used, the Inca took a similar approach in that they made efforts to gain loyalty of the conquered
• The rulers divided their territory/its people into manageable units governed by a central bureaucracy
• The Inca created an efficient economic system to support the empire/an extensive road system to tie it together
• They also imposed a single official language, Quechua, and founded schools to teach Incan ways
• Certain social groups were identified by officially dictated patterns on clothing
• The Inca built many cities in conquered areas to exercise control
• As in Rome, all roads led to the capital, Cuzco 
  • Cuzco was a splendid city that held temples, plazas, and palaces
• The Inca were also masterful engineers/stonemasons
• They carved/transported huge blocks of stone and fit them perfectly together w/o mortar even with no iron tools/wheels
• The Incan state exercised almost total control over economic and social life
  • It controlled most economic activity, regulating the production/distribution of goods 
  • The Inca allowed little private commerce/trade unlike the Aztecs
• The Incan social system was based on an age-old form of community cooperation: the ayllu
  • The ayullu, or extended family group, undertook tasks too big for a single family
  • These tasks included building irrigation canals or cutting agricultural terraces into steep hillsides
  • The ayllu also stored food and other supplies to distribute among members during hard times  
• The Inca incorporated the ayllu structure into a governing system based on the decimal system
  • They divided families into groups of 10, 100, 1,000, and 10,000
  • A chief led each group/was part of a chain of command, which stretched from the community/regional levelsall the way to Cuzco where the Incan ruler/his council of state held court
• In general, local administration was left in the hands of local rulers, and villages were allowed to continue their traditional ways
• If a community resisted Incan control, however, the Inca might relocate the whole group to a different territory
  • Resisters would be placed under the control of rulers appointed by the government in Cuzco 
• The main demand the Incan state placed on its subjects was for tribute, usually in the form of labor
• The labor tribute was known as mita
  • Mita required all able-bodied citizens to work for the state a certain number of days a year
  • Mita workers might labor on state farmlands, produce craft goods for state warehouses, or help with public work projects
• Citizens were expected to work for the state and were cared for in return 
  • The aged/disabled were often supported by the state and the state made sure that people didn't go hungry when there were bad harvests
• The Inca had an ambitious public works program
  • The most spectacular project was the Incan road system
  • The road symbolized the power of the Incan state and was 14,000 miles worth of roads and bridges that spanned the empire
  • Along the roads, the Inca built guesthouses to provide shelter for weary travelers
  • A system of runners, known as chasquis traveled these roads as a kind of postal service
  • The roads also allowed easy movement of troops to bring control to areas of the empire 
• The Inca never developed a writing system, history/literature were memorized as part of oral tradition
• For numerical information, the Inca created an accounting device known as the quipu, a set of knotted strings that could be used to record data
  • The knots/their position on the string indicated numbers
  • Additionally, the colors of the strings represented different categories of information important to the government
  • However, the meanings of the colors changed depending on the general purpose of the quipu 
• Some historians believe that the Inca also developed an elaborate calendar system w/ 2 types of calendars, one for night and one for day
  • They were used primarily for religious purposes
  • The calendars also provided information about gods whom the Inca believed ruled the day and time
• Religion was also important to the Inca and helped reinforce the power of the state
• The Inca worshiped fewer gods than the Aztecs, focusing on key nature spirits (moon, stars, and thunder)
• The Inca saw patterns for the way humans should relate to each other/to the earth
• The primary Incan god was a creator god called Viracocha, with the second one being the sun god (Inti)
• Because the Incan ruler was considered a descendant of Inti, sun worship amounted to worship of the king
• Incan priests led the sun-worship services, assisted by young women known as mamakuna, or “virgins of the sun.”  
  • The young women were trained in religious activities, as teachers, spinners, weavers, and beer makers and were unmarried
• Young men, known as yamacuna, also served as full-time workers for the state and in religious activities
• Sacrifice of llamas and exchange of goods were a part of the religious activities  
• The goods were distributed by the priests to the people as gifts from the gods
• The Temple of the Sun in Cuzco was the most sacred of all Incan shrines
  • According to some sources, the temple even had a garden with plants and animals crafted entirely from gold and silver-- it was heavily decorated in gold
• Gold was a common sight throughout Cuzco
• Although Cuzco was the religious capital of the Incan Empire, other Incan cities also may have served a ceremonial purpose 
  • Machu Picchu also had a sun temple, public buildings, and a central plaza
• The Incan Empire reached the height of its glory in the early 1500s during the reign of Huayna Capac
• After Huayna Capac's death, the empire was split between his sons, Atahualpa and Huascar
  • Atahualpa received Ecuador, about one-fifth of the empire
  • The rest went to Huascar
• . At first, this system of dual emperors worked, but soon Atahualpa laid claim to the whole empire with a bitter civil war following