16.people and empires in the americas

Chapter 16

People and Empires in
the Americas, 500-1500

Chapter 16.1

North American Societies

Complex Societies in the West

 In many ways the early cultures in North
America were less developed than those of
South America and Mesoamerica.
 North American groups had no great empires
and few ruins as spectacular as those
ancient Mexico or Peru, but never the less
the first peoples of North America did created
complex societies.

Kwakiutl, Nootka, & Haida Peoples
 All three groups lived in the Pacific Northwest---
form Oregon to Alaska--- and relied on the sea to
support their sizable populations.
 They hunted whales in canoes: the canoes were
large enough to carry at least 15 people.
 In addition they relied on the coastal forest to
provide plentiful food.

Hohokam
 Civilizations also started to emerge in Southwest
America--- in the dry, desert lands of Central
Arizona--- where the Hohokum used irrigation to
produce harvest of corn, beans, and squash.

Anasazi
 They lived in the four corners region, where Utah,
Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico meet.
 They built impressive cliff dwelling society: These were
large houses built on flat hill tops or shallow caves in the
walls of deep canyons.
 These skilled builders used mud-like mortar to construct
walls up to 5 stories high and they built small window to
keep the burning sun out.

 They were large villages of apartment-
style compounds made stone and sun-
baked clay. These villages were called
pueblos.
 The largest Anasazi pueblo was
Pueblo Bonito meaning “beautiful
village”.
 Pueblo Bonito probably housed about
1,000 people and contained 600
rooms.

Mound Builders
The Mississippian
 Beyond the Great Plains in the woodlands, east
of the Mississippi River, other ancient mount
building people emerged.
 They would build huge earthen mounds in which
they buried their dead. These mounds held
bodies of tribal leaders and where often filled
with gifts and finely crafted copper and stone
objects.

 The last mound building culture was the
Mississippians that lasted form 800 AD until
1500 AD.
 They created a thriving village based on
farming and trade.
 Perhaps, at its height 30,000 people lived in
its capital Cahokia.
 It was located near the Mississippi and
Ohio Rivers which made transportation
easy and encouraged trade.
 Cahokia was led by a priest ruler that
regulated farming activities.

 Also common to Cahokia and North
American clans was the use of totems
 The totem was used as a symbol of the
unity of a group or clan.
 It also helped define certain behaviors
and social relationships of a group.
 They were usually placed in front of their
homes and clans would do rituals and
dances around them associated with
important group events such as
marriages, naming of children,
ocupation, religious services, planting
crops or gathering harvests.

Maya Kings & Cities
Chapter 16.2

Maya Created City-States
 The homeland of the Maya stretched from
southern Mexico into northern Central America.
 This area included a highland region in the South
and a lowland region to North.
 The Highlands: Are a range of cool cloud-weathered
mountains that stretch form southern Mexico to El
Salvador.
 The Lowlands: include the dry scrub forest of the
Yucatan Peninsula and the dense steamy jungles of
southeastern Mexico and northern Guatemala.
 While the Olmec were developing their civilization
along the Gulf Coast the Mayans were evolving.
They took on Olmec influences, and blended them
with local customs. By AD 250 Maya culture had
burst forth a flourishing civilization.

Classic Period
 AD 250 to 900 is known as the Classic Period of
Maya civilizations.
 During this period archaeologists have
discovered at least 50 major Mayan sites all with
monumental architecture. (TIKAL)
 Each of these were an independent city-state,
and was ruled by a god-king.
 Mayan cities featured giant pyramids, temples,
palaces and elaborate stone carvings dedicated to
the gods and important rulers.
 Mayan cities also featured a ball court in which they
played games that had religious and political
significance.
 The Mayans believed that the playing of games would
maintain the cycles of the sun and moon and bring
life-giving rains.

Trade and Agriculture
 Although the Maya city-states were independent of
each other, they were linked through alliances and
trade.
 They would exchange their local products such as salt,
flint, feathers, shells and honey.
 They also traded crafted goods like cotton textiles and
jade ornaments.
 And despite having no uniform currency, the cacao (chocolate)
beans served as a common currency.
 As with the rest of the Mesoamericans, agriculture---
particularly the growing of maize, beans, and
squash--- provided the basis for Mayan life.
 They practiced slash-and-burn farming and among other
farming techniques.

Mayan Society
 Successful farming methods led to the
accumulation of wealth and the development of
social classes.
 The Noble Class: priests, and leading
warriors.
 Middle Class: merchants, and those with
specialized knowledge, such as a skilled
artisan.
 Bottom Class: was the peasant majority.
 They Mayan King sat at the top of the class
structure and were regarded as a holy figure.

Mayan Religion
 The Mayans believed in many gods: There were
gods of corn, gods of death, of rain, and of war.
 Gods could be good or evil. Sometimes both.
 Mayans worshiped their gods in various ways: They
prayed, and made offerings of food, flowers and
incense. They also pierced and cut their bodies and
even offered their own blood, believing that this
would nourish the gods.
 Sometimes the Mayan gods even carried out
human sacrifices (usually of captured enemies).
 They believed that human sacrifice pleased the
gods and kept the world in balance.

 The Mayan religious beliefs also led to the
development of the calendar, mathematics and
astronomy.
 The Mayans believed that time was a burden carried on
the backs of the gods and thus a day would be lucky or
unlucky depending on the mood of the god.
 So it was very important to have an accurate calendar
to know which god was in charge of the day.
 So, they created a 260 day religious calendar to tell
which gods where in charge of what days and a 365
day solar calendar to determine the seasons.
 The 2 calendars were linked together so that they
could identify the best times to plant crops, attack
enemies, and crown new rulers.

Written Language
 The Mayans developed the most advanced
writing system in the ancient Americas.
 Their writing consisted of about 800
hieroglyphic symbols called glyphs which
stood for words and syllables.
 Their writing system also help them record
history on stone tables or bark paper know as
codex.

Fall of Maya
 In the late 800s the Mayans suddenly abandoned
many of their cities.
 They are a couple guesses on what the reason
for their departure:
1. Because warfare had broken out among
various city-states which disrupted trade and
resulted in economic hardship.
2. Because there was population growth and
over-farmed land lead to a food shortage,
famines and disease.

16.2 Maya Kings and
Cities
 Environment – Dry forest of the Yucatan, dense
jungles of the south eastern Mexico

 Urban Centers – City States Such as TIKAL, each
ruled by a god-king, comprised of giant pyramids,
temples and palaces

 Economy – based on trade and farming sophisticated
methods such as planting on raised platforms above
swaps and on hillside terraces

 Social Structure – three social classes; nobles
(priests and warriors), middle class (merchants and
artisans), lower class of peasants.

 Religion – polytheistic, offered human sacrifices
 Achievements – developed calendar, math
astronomy and writing system

The Aztecs control Central
Mexico

Geography of Americas: what is the character of the land?

THE CENTRAL
VALLEY OF MEXICO
WAS THE SITE OF
NUMEROUS
CIVILIZATIONS. WHY
THERE?

An Early City-State
 The first major civilization
of central Mexico was
Teotihuacán, a city-state
whose ruins lie just
outside Mexico City.
 In the first century A.D.,
villagers at this site began
to plan and construct a
monumental city, even Teotihuacán was the largest urban
larger than Monte Albán, in center in pre-Columbian America
Oaxaca (south central and, in the hey-day of its existence,
Mexico). one of the three largest cities in the
 This civilization predated world, rivaling Rome in Europe and
the Aztecs Beijing in Asia. Is city size a
reasonable way to measure the
complexity of a civilization?

An Early City-State
 At its peak in the sixth century,
Teotihuacán had a population
of between 150,000 and
200,000 people, 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.
 Two great pyramids (the
Sun and Moon) formed the
axis of the central avenue

 Teotihuacán became the center
of a thriving trade network that Teotihuacán
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 and used to
make razor-sharp weapons.
 There is no evidence that
Teotihuacán conquered its
neighbors or tried to create an
empire.
 However, evidence of art styles
and religious beliefs from
Teotihuacán have been found
throughout Mesoamerica.

“City of the Gods.”
 After centuries of growth, the city
abruptly declined.
 Historians believe this decline
was due either to an invasion by
outside forces or conflict among
the city’s ruling classes.
 Regardless of the causes, the
city was virtually abandoned by
750.
 The vast ruins astonished later
settlers in the area, who named the
site Teotihuacán, which means
“City of the Gods.”

Observation
exercise:
classifying
and detailing
1a.
Determine 2
categories of
facts (e.g., one
might be
clothing)
1b.
For each
category,
provide a
detailed list of
observations
about that
category

2a. What does this knife suggest about this early culture and their
technological and artistic skills?
2b. Look carefully at the construction of the knife. For what do you
think it was used? What evidence supports your hypothesis?

Toltecs Take Over
 After the fall of Teotihuacán, no single
culture dominated central Mexico for
centuries.
 Then, around 900, a new people, the
Toltecs, rose to power.
 For the next three centuries, the
Toltecs ruled over the heart of
Mexico from their capital at Tula.
 Like other Mesoamericans, they
built pyramids and temples.
 They also carved tall pillars as
shown on the next slide

Toltecs Take Over
 In fact, the Toltecs were an extremely warlike people
whose empire was based on conquest.
 They worshiped a fierce war god who demanded blood
and human sacrifice from his followers.

Toltecs Take Over
 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.

Toltecs Take Over
 Followers of the war god
rebelled, however, forcing
Topiltzin and his followers into
exile on the Yucatán Peninsula.

 There, 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.

The Aztecs

This is the flag of Mexico
The eagle represents an ancient Aztec symbol; it is perched
atop a cactus and is eating a snake. An Aztec myth told them to
settle where they found an eagle eating a snake.
Historians believe the Aztecs migrated from the deserts of
northern Mexico into the central valley, where they created their
empire

AZTEC GEOGRAPHY

What does
this map tell
us about
Aztec
geography?
Mayan lands
below and 
What was
their capital
and where
was it
located?

DIAGRAM OF TENOCHTITLAN

This is water

 This is an elevated roadway

 POWER AND AUTHORITY
 Through alliances and conquest, the Aztecs created a
powerful empire in Mexico.

The Aztec Empire
 The Aztecs arrived in the Valley
of Mexico around A.D. 1200.
 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.
 Fierce and ambitious, they soon
adapted to local ways, finding work
as soldiers-for-hire to local rulers.

Aztecs Grow Stronger
 Over the years, the Aztecs
gradually increased in
strength and number.
 In 1428, they joined with two
other city-states— Texcoco
and Tlacopan —to form the
Triple Alliance.

 This alliance became the
leading power in the
Valley of Mexico and soon
gained control over
neighboring regions.

Aztecs Grow Stronger
 By the early 1500s, the
alliance controlled a vast
empire that covered some
80,000 square miles
stretching from central
Mexico to the Atlantic and
Pacific coasts and south into
Oaxaca.
 This empire was divided
into 38 provinces.
 It had an estimated
population of between 5
and 15 million people.

Aztec Power
 The Aztecs based their power on military
conquest and the tribute they gained from
their conquered subjects.
 The Aztecs generally exercised loose control
over the empire, often letting local rulers
govern their own regions
 What other civilizations ruled this way?
 The Aztecs did demand tribute, however, in
the form of gold, maize, cacao beans,
cotton, jade, and other products.
 If local rulers failed to pay tribute, or offered
any other kind of resistance, the Aztecs
responded brutally.
 They destroyed the rebellious villages and
captured or slaughtered the inhabitants (recall
how the Romans also did this)

Aztec warriors: what do the costumes tell us
about them? Can you tell anything about their
weapons?

 Sacrifices for the Sun God
Religion
 The most important rituals
involved a sun god, Ruled
Huitzilopochtli.
Aztec Life
 According to Aztec belief,
Huitzilopochtli made the
sun rise every day.
 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 this
ordeal, he needed the
nourishment of human
blood.

Aztec priests used
sharp obsidian blades
to cut open victims.
Obsidian, a volcanic
rock, is like glass.
Most sacrifices were
captive warriors.
Why would they
especially want the
still-beating heart of
the victim?

Human sacrifice is an extreme and rather rare
occurrence historically, especially as it allegedly
developed on the scale the Aztecs practiced it.
Some scholars claim that Spanish observers
deliberately exaggerated human sacrifice
among the Aztecs as a means of justifying the
conquest of Mexico. But there is indeed
evidence that human ritual killing was an Aztec
trait.
Besides religion, what “purposes” might such
killing have had?

Problems in the Aztec Empire
 In 1502 Montezuma II was
crowned emperor.
 Under Montezuma, the Aztec
Empire began to weaken.
 For nearly a century, the Aztecs
had been demanding tribute and
sacrificial victims from provinces
under their control.
 Now, Montezuma called for even
more tribute and sacrifice.
 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. Montezuma’s
 For example, he reduced the demand Reign
for tribute payment by cutting the
number of officials in the Aztec
government.
 But resentment continued to grow.
 Many Aztecs began to predict that
terrible things were about to happen.
 They saw bad omens in every
unusual occurrence—lightning
striking a temple in Tenochtitlán, or a
partial eclipse of the sun, for
example.
 Where else have we seen such
developments and related
responses?

Montezuma’s Reign
 The most worrying event, however, was the arrival of
the Spanish.
 For many Aztecs, these fair-skinned, bearded strangers
from across the sea brought to mind the legend of the
return of Quetzalcoatl.

The Inca Create a
Mountain Empire
Chapter 16
section 4

Key Terms
 Pachacuti

 Ayllu

 Mita

 Quipu

Inca Beginning
• Lived in high plateaus in the
Andes
• Valley of Cuzco 1200’s
• Rulers were descended from the
sun god Inti
• Bring prosperity and greatness
• Men from one of eleven families
could serve
• Believed to be descendants of the
sun god

Pachacuti Builds an
Empire
• 1438 Pachacuti took
the throne
• Inca conquered all of
Peru
• 1500 Inca empire
stretched 2,500 miles
on western coast of
South America
• “Land of Four
Quarters” 80
provinces 16 million
people

Pachacuti Builds an
Empire
• Used diplomacy and conquest
• Before attacking offered an
honorable surrender
• Keep customs and rulers in
exchange for loyalty
• Many states gave up without
resistance
• Once defeated Inca tried to
gain loylaty

Incan Government
Creates Unity
• Extensive road system
• Rulers divided their
territory
• Quechau- official
language
• Founded schools to
tech the Incan ways
• Groups identified by
certain patterns of
clothing

Incan Cities Show
Government Presence
• Built many cities in
conquered areas
• Architecture was the
same throughout the
empire
• All roads led to the
capitol
• Cuzco-stone homes,
stones fit together
without mortar

Incan Government
 Total control over
economic and social
life
 Regulated production
and distribution of
goods
 Inca allowed little
private commerce
 Allyu- communinty
cooperation

Incan Government
• Ayllu-extended family,
undertook tasks not too big
for one family
– Irrigation canals
– Cutting agricultural
terraces
– Stored food to distribute
during hard times
• Families divided into groups
of 10, 100, 1000, 10,000

Incan Government
 A chief led each group
 Chain of command
stretched all the way
to Cuzco
 Inca ruler and council
of state held court
 If a group resisted
Inca control the were
relocated

Incan Government
• Main demand was for tribute
(usually labor)
• Mita- was the labor tribute

• Have to work for the state a
certain number of days
• Incan system more like
socialism or modern welfare
state

Incan Government
 Aged and disabled
taken care of by the
state
 State fed people
 Freeze-dried potatoes
(chunos)
 Stored in warehouse
for food shortages

Public Work Projects
 14,000 mile road program
 Paved to simple paths
 Built guest houses and
shelters along the road
 Chasquis- traveled the
road as a postal service
 Easy way to move troops

Government Record-
Keeping
 Inca never developed
a writing system
 History and literature
done through oral
tradition
 Quipa- series of knots
used as an accounting
system

Government Record
Keeping
 Position of knots and
colors meant different
things
 Res strings-
warriors
 Yellow strings-gold
 Inca had two different
calendars
 Gods ruled the day
and the time

Religion Supports the
State
 Worshipped fewer
gods
 Key nature spirits
 Moon
 Stars, thunder
 Viracocha- the creator
 Sun worship
amounted to
worshipping the king

Great Cities
 Temple of the sun , Cuzco most
sacred
 Decorated in gold

 Gardens of plants and animals
made out of gold and silver
 Walls of several buildings
covered in gold

Great Cities
 Hiram Bingham in
1912 found Machu
Picchu
 Isolated and
mysterious
 Religious center
 Retreat for rulers of
Pachacuti

Discord in the Empire
 1500’s Huayan
Cupac ruler
 Inca’s at their peak
 Received a gift in
Ecuador
 Filled with butterflies
and moths (bad
omen)
 Few weeks later died
of small pox

Discord in the Empire
 Empire split by his sons
 Atahualpa received
Ecuador
 Huascar received the rest
 Soon Atahulpa claimed
the whole empire
 Fought each other
 Tore empire apart

16.people and empires in the americas

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16.people and empires in the americas