U. S.
History
Chapter 1) The Americas, Europe, and Africa Before 1492
Figure 1.1 The 1507 map by cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthais Ringmann is
credited as the first to incorporate the word "America." Little was known about the continent at
the time, as the land masses on the far left of the map reveal. But the New World offered
opportunity that the Old World would exploit. Globalization, the ever-increasing
interconnectedness of the world, is not a new phenomenon, but it accelerated
when western Europeans discovered the riches of the East. During the Crusades
(1095–1291), Europeans developed an appetite for spices, silk, porcelain, sugar,
and other luxury items from the East, for which they traded fur, timber, and
Slavic people they captured and sold. But when the Silk Road, the long overland
trading route from China to the Mediterranean, became costlier and more
dangerous to travel, Europeans searched for a more efficient and inexpensive
trade route over water, initiating the development of what we now call the
Atlantic World.
In pursuit of commerce in Asia, fifteenth-century traders unexpectedly
encountered a “New World” populated by millions and home to sophisticated and
numerous peoples. Mistakenly believing they had reached the East Indies, these
early explorers called its inhabitants “Indians.” West Africa, a diverse and
culturally rich area, soon entered the stage as other nations exploited its slave
trade and brought its peoples to the New World in chains. Although Europeans
would come to dominate the New World, they could not have done sowithout
Africans and Native peoples.
Figure 1.2
Most Native American origin stories assert that Native nations have always
called the Americas home; however, some scholars believe that between nine and
fifteen thousand years ago, a land bridge existed between Asia and North
America that we now call Beringia. The first inhabitants of what would the
Americas migrated across this bridge in search of food, when the glaciers
melted, water engulfed Beringia, and the Bering Strait was formed. Later
settlers came by boat across the narrow strait. Continually moving southward,
the settlers eventually populated both North and South America, creating unique
cultures that ranged from the highly complex and urban Aztec civilization in
what is now Mexico City to the woodland tribes of eastern North America.
Recent research along the west coast of South America suggests that migrant
populations may have traveled down this coast by water as well as by land.
It is believed that about ten thousand years ago, humans also began the
domestication of plants and animals, adding agriculture as a means of
sustenance to hunting and gathering techniques. With this agricultural
revolution, and the more abundant and reliable food supplies it brought,
populations grew and people were able to develop a more settled way of life,
building permanent settlements. Nowhere in the Americas was this more clear
than in Mesoamerica, the area extending approximately from central Mexico to
Honduras and Nicaragua in which diverse pre-Columbian civilizations flourished.
Figure 1.3 This map shows the extent of the major civilizations of the Western Hemisphere. In
South America, early civilizations developed along the coast because the high Andes and the
harsh Amazon Basin made the interior of the continent less favorable for settlement.
The Olmec
Although marked by great topographic, linguistic, and cultural diversity, this
region cradled a number of civilizations with similar characteristics.
Mesoamericans were polytheistic; their gods possessed both male and female
traits and demanded blood sacrifices of enemies taken in battle or ritual
bloodletting. Corn, domesticated by 5000 BCE, formed the basis of their diet.
They developed mathematical systems, built huge structures, and devised a
calendar that accurately predicted eclipses and solstices and that priest-
astronomers used to direct the planting and harvesting of crops. Most important
for our knowledge of these peoples, they created the only known written
language in the Western Hemisphere at the time; researchers have made much
progress in interpreting the inscriptions on their temples and pyramids. Though
the area had no overarching political structure, trade over long distances helped
spread cultures. Weapons made of obsidian, jewelry crafted from jade, feathers
woven into clothing and ornaments, and cacao beans that were whipped into a
chocolate drink formed the basis of commerce. The earliest known major
Mesoamerican civilization was the Olmec civilization.
Figure 1.4 The Olmec carved heads from giant boulders that ranged from four to eleven feet in
height and could weigh up to fifty tons. All these figures have flat noses, slightly crossed eyes,
and large lips. These physical features can be seen today in some of the peoples indigenous to
the area.
Flourishing along the hot Gulf Coast of Mexico from about 1200 to about 400
BCE, the Olmec produced major works of art, architecture, pottery, and
sculpture. Most recognizable are their giant head sculptures and the pyramid in
La Venta. The Olmec built aqueducts to transport water into their cities and
irrigate their fields. They grew corn, squash, beans, and tomatoes. They also
bred small domesticated dogs which, along with fish, provided their protein.
Although no one knows what happened to the Olmec after about 400 BCE, in
part because the jungle reclaimed many of their cities, their culture was the base
upon which the Maya and the Aztec built. It was the Olmec who worshipped a
rain god, a corn god, and the feathered serpent so important in the future
pantheons of the Aztecs (who called him Quetzalcoatl) and the Maya (to whom he
was Kukulkan). The Olmec also developed a system of trade throughout
Mesoamerica, giving rise to an elite class.
The Maya
After the decline of the Olmec, a city rose in the fertile central highlands of
Mesoamerica. One of the largest population centers in pre-Columbian America
and home to more than 100,000 people at its height in about 500 CE,
Teotihuacan was located about thirty miles northeast of modern Mexico City. The
ethnicity of this settlement’s inhabitants is debated; some scholars believe it was
a multiethnic city. Large-scale agriculture and the resultant abundance of food
allowed time for people to develop special trades and skills other than farming.
Builders constructed over twenty-two hundred apartment compounds for
multiple families, as well as more than a hundred temples. Among these were the
Pyramid of the Sun (which is two hundred feet high) and the Pyramid of the
Moon (one hundred and fifty feet high). Near the Temple of the Feathered
Serpent, graves have been uncovered that suggest humans were sacrificed for
religious purposes. The city was also the center for trade, which extended to
settlements on Mesoamerica’s Gulf Coast.
The Maya were one Mesoamerican culture that had strong ties to Teotihuacan.
The Maya’s architectural and mathematical contributions were significant.
Flourishing from roughly 2000 BCE to 900 CE in what is now Mexico, Belize,
Honduras, and Guatemala, the Maya perfected the calendar and written
language the Olmec had begun. They devised a written mathematical system to
record crop yields and the size of the population, and to assist in trade.
Surrounded by farms relying on primitive agriculture, they built the city-states of
Copan, Tikal, and Chichen Itza along their major trade routes, as well as
temples, statues of gods, pyramids, and astronomical observatories. However,
because of poor soil and a drought that lasted nearly two centuries, their
civilization declined by about 900 CE and they abandoned their large population
centers.
Figure 1.5 El Castillo, located at Chichen Itza in the eastern Yucatán peninsula, served as a
temple for the god Kukulkan. Each side contains ninety-one steps to the top. When counting the
top platform, the total number of stairs is three hundred and sixty-five, the number of days in a
year. (credit: Ken Thomas)
The Spanish found little organized resistance among the weakened Maya upon
their arrival in the 1520s. However, they did find Mayan history, in the form of
glyphs, or pictures representing words, recorded in folding books called codices
(the singular is codex). In 1562, Bishop Diego de Landa, who feared the
converted Native people had reverted to their traditional religious practices,
collected and burned every codex he could find. Today, only a few remain.
The Aztec
When the Spaniard Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico in the sixteenth century, at
what is now Veracruz, he soon heard of a wealthy city ruled by emperor
Moctezuma. The city had great riches, gold and took in tribute from surrounding
tribes. The city Cortés was Tenochtitlán, and it was unlike anything he and his
men had seen.
The legendary origin of the Aztec people (or the Mexica, as they called
themselves) has them migrating from a homeland called Aztlan to present-day
Mexico City. In 1325, they began construction of Tenochtitlán on an island in
Lake Texcoco. By 1519, when Cortés arrived, this settlement contained over
200,000 inhabitants and was the largest city in the Western Hemisphere at that
time and probably larger than any European city.
Figure 1.6 This rendering of the island city of Tenochtitlán depicts the causeways that
connected the central city to the surrounding land.
Tenochtitlán was clean, orderly and well-planned compared to the dirty cities of
Europe at the time, it had neighborhoods for certain occupations, a trash
collection system, markets, two aqueducts that brought in fresh water, public
buildings, and temples. The Aztec bathed daily, unlike the Spanish, and wealthy
homes might have even contained a steam bath.
Slaves from conquered neighboring tribes built the city, and the three causeways
that connected it to the mainland. To farm, the Aztec constructed barges, flat-
bottomed boats for carrying goods made of reeds and filled them with fertile soil.
Lake water constantly irrigated these artificial chinampas, or “floating gardens,”
which are still in use and can be seen today in Xochimilco, a district of Mexico
City.
The gods of the Aztec pantheon represented and ruled an aspect of the natural
world, such as the heavens, farming, fertility, sacrifice, combat, and corn. Ruling
warrior nobles and priests performed ritual human sacrifice daily to sustain the
sun on its long journey across the sky, to appease or feed the gods, and to
stimulate agricultural production. The sacrificial ceremony included cutting open
the chest of a criminal or captured warrior with an obsidian knife and removing
the still-beating heart.
Figure 1.7 In this illustration, an Aztec priest cuts out the beating heart of a sacrificial victim
before throwing the body down from the temple. Aztec belief centered on supplying the gods with
human blood, the ultimate sacrifice, to keep them strong and well.
The following is an excerpt from the sixteenth-century Florentine Codex, the
most reliable early colonial source of information about Mesoamerica which was
originally written in the Aztec language, Nahuatl.
Said Quzatli to the sovereign, “Oh mighty lord, if because I tell you the truth I am to
die, nevertheless I am here in your presence and you may do what you wish to me!” He
narrated that mounted men would come to this land in a great wooden house [ships]
this structure was to lodge many men, serving them as a home; within they would eat
and sleep. On the surface of this house they would cook their food, walk and play as if
they were on firm land. They were to be white, bearded men, dressed in different
colors and on their heads they would wear round coverings.
Ten years before the arrival of the Spanish, Moctezuma received several omens
which at the time he could not interpret. A fiery object appeared in the night sky,
a spontaneous fire broke out in a religious temple and could not be extinguished
with water, a water spout appeared in Lake Texcoco, and a woman could be
heard wailing, “O my children we are about to go forever.” Moctezuma also had
dreams and premonitions of impending disaster. These foretellings were
recorded after the Aztecs’ destruction. They do, however, give us insight into the
importance placed upon signs and omens in the pre-Columbian world.
The Inca
In South America, the most developed and complex society was that of the Inca,
meaning “lord” or “ruler” in the Andean language called Quechua. The Inca
Empire, located on the Pacific coast and on both sides of the Andes Mountains,
extended some twenty-five hundred miles. It stretched from modern-day
Colombia in the north to Chile in the south and included cities built at an altitude
of 14,000 feet above sea level. Its road system, kept free of debris and repaired
by workers, rivaled that of the Romans and efficiently connected the sprawling
empire.
Like all other pre-Columbian societies, the Inca did not use wheels for
transportation. They built stepped roads to ascend and descend the steep slopes
of the Andes; these would have been impractical for wheeled vehicles but worked
well for pedestrians. These roads enabled the rapid movement of the highly
trained Incan army. Similar to the Romans, the Inca were effective
administrators. Runners called chasquis traversed the roads in a continuous
relay system, ensuring quick communication over long distances. The Inca had
no written language or system, however. They communicated and kept records
using a system of colored strings and knots called the quipu.
Figure 1.8 Each of the knots and strings possessed a distinct meaning intelligible to those
educated in their significance.
The Inca worshiped their lord and the ruling class who had absolute authority
over every aspect of life. Much like Europe’s feudal lords, the ruling class lived
off the labor of the peasants, collecting vast wealth that accompanied them as
they went into the next life, mummified. The Inca farmed corn, beans, squash,
quinoa, and the indigenous potato on terraced land they gathered from the steep
mountains. Peasants only received one-third of the crops for themselves. The
ruler required a third, and a third was set aside in a kind of welfare system for
those unable to work. There were storehouses filled with food for times of need.
A requirement known as the mita had each peasant work for the Inca ruler a
number of days per month on public works projects. For example, peasants
constructed rope bridges made of grass to span the mountains above the fast-
flowing rivers. In return, the lord provided laws, protection, and relief in times of
famine.
The Inca worshipped the sun god Inti and called gold the “sweat” of the sun.
Unlike the Aztecs, they rarely practiced human sacrifice and usually offered the
gods food, clothing, and coca leaves. In times of dire emergency, such as in the
aftermath of earthquakes, volcanoes, or crop failure, they resorted to sacrificing
prisoners. The ultimate sacrifice was children, who were specially selected and
well fed. The Inca believed these children would immediately go to a much better
afterlife.
In 1911, American historian Hiram Bingham uncovered the lost Incan city of
Machu Picchu. Located about fifty miles northwest of Cusco, Peru, the city had
been built in 1450 and inexplicably abandoned roughly a hundred years later.
Scholars believe the city was used for religious ceremonial purposes and housed
the priesthood. Using only the strength of human labor and no machines, the
Inca constructed walls and buildings of polished stones, some weighing over fifty
tons, that were fitted together perfectly without the use of mortar. It was
designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1983.
Figure 1.9 Located in today’s Peru at an altitude of nearly 8,000 feet, Machu Picchu was a
ceremonial Incan city built about 1450 CE.
Native Americans
With few exceptions, the North American Native cultures were much more
scattered and dispersed than the pre-Columbian societies, and did not have their
population size or organized social structures. Although the farming of corn had
made its way north, many Native people still practiced hunting and gathering.
Horses, first introduced by the Spanish, allowed the Plains Natives to more easily
hunt the huge herds of bison. A few societies had evolved into relatively complex
forms, but they were already in decline at the time of Columbus’s arrival.
In the southwestern part of today’s United States dwelled several groups we
collectively call the Pueblo. The Spanish gave them this name, which means
“town” or “village,” because they lived in towns or villages of stone-and-mud
buildings with thatched roofs. These buildings had multiple stories, each with
multiple rooms. The three main groups of the Pueblo people were the Mogollon,
Hohokam, and Anasazi.
The Mogollon thrived in the Mimbres Valley (now New Mexico) from about 150
BCE to 1450 CE. They developed a distinctive artistic style for painting bowls
with finely drawn geometric figures and wildlife, especially birds, in black on a
white background. Beginning about 600 CE, the Hohokam built an extensive
irrigation system of canals to irrigate the desert and grow fields of corn, beans,
and squash. By 1300, their crop yields were supporting the most highly
populated settlements in the southwest. The Hohokam decorated pottery with a
red-on-buff design and made jewelry of turquoise. In the high desert of New
Mexico, the Anasazi, whose name means “ancient enemy” or “ancient ones,”
carved homes from steep cliffs accessed by ladders or ropes that could be pulled
in at night or in case of enemy attack.
