Early societies in the Americas

1. Early societies in the Americas

2. While civilizations were developing in Africa, Asia, and Europe, they were also emerging in the Americas. Human settlement in the Americas is relatively recent compared to that in other parts of the world. However, it followed a similar pattern. At first the ancient people of the Americas survived mainly by hunting. Over time, they developed farming methods that ensured a more reliable supply of food. This in turn led to the growth of the first civilizations in the AMERICAS.

3. Essential Questions: Describe the major political, economic, social, and cultural developments of the Maya,Aztec, and Inca civilizations. Summarize the major ideas in astronomy, mathematics, and architectural engineering that developed in the Maya, Inca, and Aztec civilizations.

4. The OLMEC CIVILIZATION • Mesoamerica’s first known civilization (around 1200 B.C.E.). • Migration: traveled from Siberia to Alaska (13,000bce) • The Olmec influenced neighboring groups, as well as the later civilizations of the region, they’re often called Mesoamerica’s “mother culture”

5. Agrarian life: beans, squash, chile, avocados, *maize (corn); no domesticated animals; domesticated turkey; Most were farmers who farmed along the muddy riverbanks in the area; The City was a busy trade center (tools, weapons, pottery, jewelry); • Temples, palaces, ceremonial centers, ball courts -- all dominated by the pyramid of the sun

6. aka, “rubber people” – because of abundance of rubber trees • Traded jade and obsidian • Colossal human heads – possibly likeness of rulers • constructed drainage systems to avoid floods

7. Fall of Olmecs • Olmecs faced hard times between 400 – 100 bce; • civilization collapsed (reasons are not fully understood); maybe civil wars, they destroyed their ceremonial centers, burned their capital, legitimacy of rulers questionable; people believe that outside invaders caused their destruction around 100 B.C.E. • Influence of Olmec: maize, ceremonial centers, calendar, human sacrifice, ball game

8. THE MAYAS • Heirs of the Olmecs • On the Yucatan Peninsula east of Teotihuacan, the highly sophisticated Mayan civilization flourished between 300 to 900 C.E. • Cities were built around a central pyramid topped with a temple to the gods.

9. MAYAN GOV’T • Composed of city-states, each ruled by a hereditary ruling class • Ruling chief for each city, believed they were descended from the Gods • Captured nobles and war leaders were used for human sacrifice. • Other war captives were enslaved. • Like other ancient peoples in Central America, one way the Maya appeased the gods was through human sacrifice. • Human sacrifice was also performed on certain ceremonial occasions.

10. MAYAN SOCIETY • nobles, military leaders, public officials, scribes, townspeople, artisans and merchants • Most were farmers; maize, cotton, cacao beans • Labor divided along traditional gender lines. • Fall: declined in 800 ce, they deserted the city A detail from a sacred Maya mural at San Bartolo — the earliest known Maya painting, depicting the birth of the cosmos and the divine right of a king

11. TIKAL • Urban centers such as Tikal may have had a 100,000 inhabitants.

12. DEADLY GAME • Nearby were temples, palaces, and a sacred ball court • The game had religious meaning because the court symbolized the world, and the ball represented the sun and the moon. • The defeated team was sacrificed. MAYAN BALL COURT

15. Chichén Itzá • built great palaces and pyramids, controlling the upper Yucatan Peninsula from Chichén Itzá

16. Mayan ruins in Guatemala.

17. HIEROGLYPHS • The Mayans created a writing system using hieroglyphs, or pictures. • Unfortunately, the Spaniards assumed the writings were evil because they were not Christian, and they destroyed many Mayan books, a pattern the Spanish would repeat throughout their conquest in the Americas. MAYAN STELLE

18. ITZAMNA • Itzamna was the supreme god of the Mayans, and some gods, like the jaguar god of the night were evil. • belief: all lifeis in the hands of divine powers was crucial to Mayan civilization.

19. Mayan Contributions Highly skilled Mayan mathematicians and astronomers calculated the solar year at 365.2420 days • Astronomy; 365 day calendar • understood concept of #0 • giant stone heads • Pyramids - ChichénItzá • Tikal (political center) • Ball courts • hieroglyphics: wrote on bark/ folded in accordion w/plaster cover

20. THE LONG COUNT • The long count was based on the belief in cycles of creation and destruction. • The Maya believed our present world was created in 3114 BCE and would end on December 23, 2012 CE. • Many other hieroglyphs recorded important events in Mayan history, especially events in the lives of Mayan rulers. MAYA 260 DAY CALENDAR

21. THE CALENDAR • Priests used a sacred calendar of 260 days to foretell the future and know the omens associated with each day. • Only priests could read and use the calendar.

22. Chavín in South America • Complex society: 1000 bce • Modern day Peru/Bolivia • Main crops; beans, peanuts, sweet potatoes, cotton • Fishing • Produced pottery, built temples/pyramids

23. 900-300 bce; Complexity of society increases • Techniques of producing cotton textiles, fishing nets • Discovered gold, silver, copper – metallurgy • NO WRITING

24. States and empires in Mesoamerica and North America: The Toltec and the Mexica • Societies had limited or no contact with Africa, Asia, Europe • Brief presence of Scandinavians in Newfoundland, Canada • Some Asian contact with Australia • Mesoamerica in period of war and conquest, 8th century CE

25. AZTEC SOCIETY • population consisted of commoners, indentured servants, and slaves, who were war captives and worked in the houses of the wealthy • diet of dried corn; beans, squash, chile, avocados, *maize (corn); no domesticated animals, no beasts of burden • Children were taught courtesy, respect for their elders, truthfulness, and self-control. • Language: Nahuatl

26. Aztec Political structure • Chief of Men, both civil and religious leader; Priestly-class • Rigid class system, including slaves • Extracted tribute from conquered peoples • Militaristic: fought with a wooden sword studded with obsidian volcanic glass blades

27. AZTEC Economy • Originally nomads who conquered farming peoples as they moved south • Maize (main crop) • Trade network – not too extensive (geography) • metal work (gold & silver), jade objects, semiprecious stones, & textiles • Elaborate irrigation system (aqueducts)

28. Aztec Religion • Quetzalcóatl: the feathered serpent god. • According to Aztec tradition, he left his homeland and vowed to return in triumph. • This became part of a legendabout a prince whose return from exile would be preceded by a sign of an arrow through a sapling • Jaguar was seen as a god

29. Aztec religion was based on the belief in an unending struggle between the forces of good and evil, which led to the creation and destruction of a series of worlds. • Polytheistic: • Huitzilopochtli – God of the Sun and War who demanded human sacrifice (most important) • Tezcatlipoca (father-creator of all, spirit) and Coatlicue (mother earth) son, Huitzilopochtli (god of sun), sister Coyolxauqui (goddess of moon) • Tlaloc – God of rain, demanded sacrifice of infants • Xochiquetzal – god of Family • Chicomecoatl- goddess of Fertility • Xipe – God of spring

31. HUMAN SACRIFICE • Aztec religion practiced human sacrifice to postpone the day of destruction of their world, the 5th world. • A massive pyramid at the center of the capital was topped with shrines to the gods and an altar for human sacrifice.

32. THE INCAS • Around 1400 C.E. • Equador to Chile • Cuzco, capital of the Incan empire in Peru ** No writing, used system of cords and knots called quipu** *** Hillside terracing for farming**

33. Government • God-king had complete control of everybody and everything • Emperor who was considered the son of the sun was also the religious leader **** Gvt built an amazing system of roads to unify the empire (ordinary people forbidden on roads) -- Better than that of the Romans; Had bridges and tunnels through hills; 12,000 miles of roads • Suspension bridges

34. Society/Religion • Lives were strictly controlled by govt; Upward mobility difficult • Language: Quechua(All people had to speak the Incan) • No writing, used system of cords and knots called quipu • Govt officials decided who had what job and even arranged marriages • Polytheistic – linked to the forces of nature • Farmers – gov’t stored grain for hard times

35. INCA Contributions • The Incas constructed Hundreds of miles of roads • Ruins in Machu Picchu 7,000 feet above sea level (discovered in 1911); finest example of Incan architecture • Mesoamerica: name given to the areas of MX and Central America that were civilized before the Spaniards arrived • Francisco Pizarro conquers the Incas in 1531 and establishes new capital in Lima