1. People and Civilizations of the Americas

2. Mesoamerica Between 200 and 900 C.E. Influenced by the earlier Olmecs
Both south and central Mexico developed new forms of political organization, innovated in math and astronomy
Trade over wide distances
Cities were built around raised platforms with pyramids
Large full-time populations divided into classes, including religious and military elites
Who controlled the rural peasants

3. Teotihuacan 30 miles NE of present day Mexico City
C.E., height of power around 450
Population of 125,000 to 150,000 people
Enormous pyramids—one to the Sun, one to the Moon, one to Quetzalcoatl—the feathered serpent god, thought to originate agriculture and the arts
Practiced human sacrifice

4. Chinampas
Eventual 2/3 of farmers lived in the city and walked to their fields
Marginal, swampy lands drained and made agricultural lands out of artificial islands in the lakes—which made year round agriculture possible
Many wealthy families, but no one ruling family. Thought the powerful families ruled.
No walls, but evidence of a military, perhaps responsible for protecting long distance trade and controlling the peasants

5. The Maya Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and Southern Mexico
Difficult soils and climate
Never centralized
Rival kingdoms led by hereditary rulers—kind of like the city states of Greece
Drained swamps and built elevated fields
Evidence of irrigation and terraced hillsides
Managed forests

6. Ceremonial Cities Open plazas with high pyramids, decorated palaces
To awe visitors from surrounding smaller cities and the countryside
Highly decorated buildings, and rulers
Many rituals surrounding warfare
Cities abandoned between
Signs of violence in some, though some survived for centuries

7. Toltecs Not too different from the culture developed at Teotihuacan
Capital at Tula, north of present day Mexico City, and controlled territory throughout Central America
A culture that glorified its military and used the discoveries of their predecessors to create an elaborate calendar of rituals
Decline after 1150

8. Aztecs, aka Mexica
Teotihuacan, Tula, and now the Aztecs with their capital at Tenochtitlan and adjacent Tlatelolco—which are the foundations of present day Mexico City—the population of Tenochtitlan was around 150,000 at the time of the Spanish Conquest
The Spanish found this to be a lovely city built on a lake, which they drained
Another Military focused group, whose military success allowed them to extend control throughout Mesoamerica

9. Political Organization
The Aztecs introduced a monarch, chosen by a council of powerful aristocrats
The monarch was expected to demonstrate his awesomeness by beginning and successfully completing a military campaign
War was a powerful religious activity for the Aztecs and an important way for the aristocracy to gain prestige
And to seize lands and peasants to increase family wealth
Huge inequalities of wealth

10. Economy By barter—no money or credit
But compared to the sparse markets of still medieval Spain, the markets of Tenochtitlan were rich

11. Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc
Chief god was Huitzilopochtli, sweetly, southern hummingbird—the chief god of the Aztecs
Required a diet of human hearts to sutain him in his dialy struggle to bring the Sun’s warmth to the world
The Aztecs dramatically increased this feature of Mesoamerican societies
Conquest the basis of this empire and human sacrifice its ritual center

12. Northern Peoples
Important cultural centers in the SW desert regions of NA, and along the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys
In the Eastern River Valleys, hunting and agriculture fueled a large complex society with ritual architecture
In both the SW and the ERV, large scale irrigation suggests centralized political power
The two regions developed different political traditions

13. SW
Around 300 B.C.E. contacts with Mexico led to the introduction of agriculture based on irrigation, which allowed 2 crops a year
The Hohokam of the Salt and Gila River Valleys show the strongest Mexican influence—with ball courts and raised platform mounds, similar crafts
The Anasazi (Navajo for “ancient ones”) dispersed but related settlements in the 4 corners region of the SW, C.E.
Ritual life centered around the kiva—an underground room
Chaco Canyon—650 rooms, 15,000 people

14. Hopewell and Mississippian
Mound builders, Hopewell from 100 C.E.
Several thousand dwellers in their ceremonial centers
Mississippian influenced by these earlier people
Slow improvements are seen in the productivity of agriculture, with increases in population
Cahokia its high point, around 1200, a population of 20,000 and a big earth mound pyramid

15. Andean
An unlikely environment, although really, we shouldn’t be surprised when complex, organized societies develop in challenging environments
It gives a reason for centralization...
Chavin (Chapter 2) connected a region of coastal environments, irrigated maize fields and mountainous herding areas
They had to figure out the calendar, but they also figured out how to freeze dry food for storage
Chavins organized by clan or ayllu. Land held communally

16. After 1000 B.C.E.
Territorial states ruled by hereditary aristocracies and kings
Organized ayllu to do communal work, such as roads, bridges, large irrigation projects, temples and palaces
Ayllu sent members out to exploit resources in diverse ecological niches

17. Moche
About 200 C.E.-700 C.E.
4 centuries after the collapse of the Chavins, the Moche came to dominate the north cultural region of Peru
Massive irrigation allowed for the raising of maize, quinoa, manioc, beans and sweet potatoes
Massive public works, used herds of alpaca and llama to move goods
Highly stratified and theocratic—power in the hands of priests and military leaders
Thought to be brought down by major drought

18. Inca In 100 years developed a vast empire By 1525 6 million people
Strong resourceful leaders who outcompeted other groups of the area
Like earlier Andean people they used clans to supply resources from diverse ecological niches
Cuzco the capital, 30,000 people in 1520 (compared to Tenochtitlan’s 150,000)
13,000 miles of roads, that were not easy to build
Record keeping using khipus, or quipus
Ruled by a chiefdom, they were in a civil war when the Spanish arrive

19. Conclusion
The Aztecs and Incas represent the culmination of a long line of civilizations
Both depended on armies to hold together highly diverse empires that encompassed multiple ecological regions
Religious specialists, religious architecture
But different in that the Aztecs relied on extracting tribute, the Incans on reciprocal trade relationships organized by regional clans