1. Chapter 11: The Americas on the Eve of Invasion

2. Story Time p. 136 “The Americas”
Take Notes -

3. The First Americans
The first Americans migrated to North America from Asia during the Late Ice Age by crossing the Bering Land Bridge, over what is now the Bering Strait
When polar ice caps melted around 10,000 BC, the Bering Land Bridge was submerged, isolating the Americas from the rest of the world
This left the people there to develop their own cultures

4. The First Americans
Some of the first Americans traveled south along the west coast of North America by boat. When an ice-free corridor opened along the Rocky Mountains, they could also travel on foot south and migrate into South America

5. Central America
The Central Americans were primarily hunter-gatherers until they could support settled villages with domesticated crops
They mainly relied on native root plants for their agriculture, such as sweet potatoes, yams, and manioc
Later they obtained maize (corn) from Mexico which was a better, more reliable food able to help them sustain permanent settlements
A better food supply (including maize and other crops) allowed the Central Americans to form more complex civilizations such as villages, city-states, and eventually empires

6. Central America
The most advanced agriculture techniques developed in the Mayan region and Mexico
There was very fertile land which led to food surpluses, which then allowed a larger population, which resulted in more complex social structures
Different villages throughout Mexico and Central America traded goods and exchanged ideas with each other
The mixing of ideas and cultures formed the foundation for the rise of greater civilizations

7. Story Time p. 137 “Early Civilizations of Mexico”
Take Notes: -

8. The Americas on the Eve of Invasion
By the 1500s the Americas were densely populated
They had developed independently from other major centers of world history
The Americas had many different peoples and a huge variety of cultures and ways of life
The peoples of Central and South America (Mayans, Toltecs, Aztecs, Incas, etc.) were called Indians because of Christopher Columbus who was mistaken and thought he had sailed to the Indies
Native Americans are still sometimes referred to as Indians today

9. Story Time p. 138 “Mayan Civilization”
Take Notes: -

10. Story Time p.138 “The Toltecs”
Take Notes -

11. Post classic Mesoamerica (1000-1500 CE)
Toltec beginnings
Defeat of the Teotihuacan in lake Texcoco
A sedentary, agrarian, militaristic society
Large empire whose influence expands beyond central Mexico, as far as Guatemala
Legend of Topiltzin/Quetzalcoatl and influence in Yucatan
Heavily militaristic (sacrifice & war)
Capital in Tula in 968
Collapsed in 1150 probably caused by northern nomads

12. Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl

13. Story Time p. 139 “The Aztecs”
Take Notes -

14. The Aztec Rise to Power
After Toltecs, political power and people move to shores along lakes in Mexico valley
Lakes provide: fishing; farming; transportation
Early 13th c: Aztecs migrate to shores
Many vie for control of lakes: winners are Aztecs
Speak Nahuatl (Toltec language); lends legitimacy to rule
1325: Aztecs found Tenochtitlan, on island in center of Lake Texcoco
1434: Aztecs dominate central valley and begin to conquer other city-states
Central valley inhabited by mixture of people dominated by powerful tribes organized into city-states
Establish a tribute empire: prisoners used for human sacrifices

17. Aztec Culture
Collection of stratified clans united under one ruler (clans dictate social status)
Ruler Moctezuma II
Head of state/religion
Representative of the gods
Nobles
Peasants
Slaves (war captives)
Distinctive ideas about science, the earth, and the universe
Had laws, boundaries, a marketplace near the palace
City states politically and physically
Organized for war and motivated by religious zeal
Latoque- a council to elect the successor
Advanced agriculture and crafts- chinampas

19. Aztec Religion Spiritual and natural world seamless
Hundreds of deities (3 Groups: fertility, agriculture, water/rain)
Pay tribute to gods through festivals, ceremonies, feasting, dancing, warfare, and sacrifice
Sacrifices increased
Huitzilopochtli (deity of war, sun, and human sacrifice) needs strength
Patron of Tenochtitlan
Motivated by religious conviction? Or terror and political control?
Includes ritual cannibalism
War captives supply Aztecs with sacrificial victims

21. Economy Agrarian community
Chinampas: man made floating islands that yielded large amount of crops, constructed to provide additional farming land
Farming organized by clans; maize and beans
No use of wheel or laboring animals
Many slaves obtained from conquered lands
A special merchant class: pochteca
Taxes, cocoa beans and gold dust as money
Vibrant daily markets were highly regulated by the state

22. Aztec Society in Transition
Society became more hierarchical as the empire grew.
Social classes with different functions began to develop, with the original system of calpulli’s remained.
Suffered some problems in maintaining a large population with the limited technological knowledge they knew of the time.
Extra hours spent working in the fields and preparing food.
Transportation a struggle without the knowledge of the wheel.

23. Gender & Technology Aztec Women
Helped in fields, raised children and cooked, weaved silk, training young girls role of a women.
Unlike most women in other societies of that time, women could inherit property and pass to heirs.
However, little political and social rights
Arranged marriages
Elite use polygamy, commoners are monogamous
Technological difference in Mesoamerica than Mediterranean
No knowledge of wheel or animals.
30-40 hours more work preparing food
Grind corn by hand on stone boards

25. Story Time p. 139 “Early Peoples of Peru”
Take Notes -

26. Inca Expansion The Incas Chimor Kingdom (900-1465)
Control of north coast of Peru
Incas conquer Chimors by taking over irrigation system
Inca Empire (Twantinsuyu)
Quechua-speaking clans (ayllus) in southern Andes
By 1350, they live in and around Cuzco (capital)
Control regions by 1438, under Pachacuti (ruler, or inca)
Centered around Lake Titicaca
Aggressive expansion for 60 years by Pachacuti, his son, and grandson
Inca Expansion

27. Story Time p. 140 “The Incan Empire”
Take Notes: -

28. Techniques of Inca Imperial Rule
Highly centralized
Inca ruler; governors of four provinces; bureaucracy
Local rulers maintain their positions
Integrated various ethnic groups into an tribute empire (supply labor on government land)
Quechua is spread as language to unite empire
Military: System of roads, way stations (tambos), storehouses
Extensive irrigated agriculture; large building and irrigation projects
“Split inheritance” necessitates conquest
Power goes to eldest male; wealth and land to other sons

29. Inca Culture Viracocha (creator/sun god) is highest
Temple of the Sun at Cuzco, center of state religion
Local gods survive
Cult of ancestors, deceased rulers mummified
Animism (mountains, stones, rivers, caves); considered holy shrines (huacas)

30. Inca Cultural Achievements
They made really pretty pottery Incas Metal work was the most advanced in the Americas at the time
Gold, silver, copper, bronze
Monumental architecture (steep slopes)
Farming: potato; maize
Tools/weapons
No real ”Writing system” they knotted strings which was Quipu
Used to record census and financial info
The Incas smarts truly showed in these areas
land and water managements
extensive road system
architecture and public buildings

32. Comparing Incas and Aztecs
Similarities
Built on earlier empires that preceded them
Aztecs = Toltecs
Inca = Chimor
Both empires were based on intensive agriculture under state control
Animistic religion
Clans transformed to hierarchy
Ethic groups allowed to survive
However, Inca incorporate them into empire, while Aztecs rule them harshly
Nobles were the personnel of the state
Excellent organizers (imperial, military)
Recognized local ethnic groups and political leaders and allowed all those who worshipped anyone and what not
Differences
Aztecs have sophisticated trade, markets; Inca have no separate merchant class
Aztecs developed a system of writing, while the Inca did not

33. Major Linguistic Groups in North America
Peoples of the Americas
Major Linguistic Groups in North America
Great variety; adapt to their region
Some use irrigation
No states formed
Long distance/regional trade
Caribbean islands: hierarchical societies, divided into chiefdoms
Strongly resembled Polynesian societies
North America
1500: 200 languages
Agriculturalists; nomads
Two great imperial systems by 1500, but Mesoamerica and the Andes weakened by European contact
Communities are technologically behind Europeans, Chinese, Arabs

34. How Many People?
The estimation of Indians were grossly exaggerated by Europeans
The best estimate of the population in the America, however, is between million people in 1500
Most historians agree that Mesoamerica and the Andes has the largest populations
There was also a significant drop in population due to disease from Europeans and Spanish immigrants

35. Differing Cultural Patterns
Much variation with Indian Cultures
Most indian societies were strongly kin based
Exceptions of the state system of Mesoamerica and Andes
Ranking was not based on wealth
Woman were subordinate, but in some societies held important political and social roles
Indians view self as part of the ecological system
Different to many European and Asian civilizations

36. American Diversity in World Context
At the end of the 15th century, the Aztec and Inca empires dominate in centers of Mesoamerica and the Andes
Both built on achievements of predecessors, militaristic, and weakened by internal strains along with limited by technological inferiority
The first Europeans were shocked by the tribes people and their wealth
The Americas lacked many key technologies
The wheel, large domesticated animal, the plow, many metal tools, and written languages
The Americas isolation came to an end in 1492

37. The Americas and The World
Because the Americas were isolated from any global connections with other civilizations, they did not gain certain technologies such as the wheel, ironworking, or a variety in domesticated animals/livestock
They were also unaffected by any of the major world religions
Even without influence from outside cultures, the Native Americans made many of their own achievements including an accurate calendar and intricate wood and stone working
The Native Americans’ lack of connections with other world civilizations became a problem, though, when the Americas were forced into new global contact

38. Story Time p. 142 “North America”
Take Notes -

39. Let’s Practice
What form of government was the basis for the imperial structure of the Aztecs during their first settlement in the valley of Mexico?
Regional kingdoms
Hunting and gathering
Monarchy controlling a large territory
Chiefdoms based on shifting agriculture
City-states

40. Let’s Practice
What form of government was the basis for the imperial structure of the Aztecs during their first settlement in the valley of Mexico?
Regional kingdoms
Hunting and gathering
Monarchy controlling a large territory
Chiefdoms based on shifting agriculture
City-states

41. Let’s Practice
Which of the following views can be associated with the concept of “Inca socialism”?
The Inca Empire was based on a republican form of government that offered political rights to laborers
The Inca nobility was taxed by the imperial government to support the poorer members of Inca society
There was no central authority, and the Inca people all worked together to meet their economic needs
The Inca Empire was dominated by a strong merchant class that managed the economy for the mutual benefit of all classes
The Inca Empire was a carefully organized system in which every community collectively contributed to the whole and the state regulated the distribution of resources on the basis of need.

42. Let’s Practice
Which of the following views can be associated with the concept of “Inca socialism”?
The Inca Empire was based on a republican form of government that offered political rights to laborers
The Inca nobility was taxed by the imperial government to support the poorer members of Inca society
There was no central authority, and the Inca people all worked together to meet their economic needs
The Inca Empire was dominated by a strong merchant class that managed the economy for the mutual benefit of all classes
The Inca Empire was a carefully organized system in which every community collectively contributed to the whole and the state regulated the distribution of resources on the basis of need.