Transcript Cultures of the New World

Cultures of the New World
American Geography
• The Great Plains
– Paved smooth by glaciers during the Ice Age
– Glaciers deposited rich soil
– Thick sod of grasslands makes it difficult to farm
without steel plows
Great Plains and Bison
The East Coast
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Heavily forested
Rich but stony soil
Full of edible plant life and small mammals
Diet can be supplemented by fishing
California and the Laramide Orogeny
• Orogenys are a collision of tectonic plates that
cause mountains
• Laramide Orogeny created Rocky Mountains
• Uplift of rich soil and rare metals
• Mountains concentrate rain on the sea-side,
creating year round growing season.
Badlands and the Chinook Desert
• Mountains block moisture from crossing
Rockies
• Create dry winds that sweep down from the
eastern side
• Among the driest desert in the world
Chinook Winds
Central America
• Divided between an arid Northern portion and
a rain heavy southern portion
• Northern areas similar to African Sahel
• Southern areas dominated by rainforests and
swamps
South America
• Mirror of North America with the Andes
Mountains acting in place of the Rockies
• Large plains dominate central S. America
• Forested east coast
• Largest River, the Amazon has numerous
tributaries creating large stretches of
rainforest and swampland
Paleo-Indian Migration
• Bering Strait: Early Paleo-Indians followed
large game animals into New World across a
land bridge between Alaska and Russia
• Tribes split following animals south
Pleistocene Animals: Wooly Mammoth
Smilodon: Sabertooth Tiger
Giants: Armadillo and Sloth
Animal Life and the Great Extinction
• Sometime in the late Pleistocine Period, most
of the large animals in the New World went
extinct
– Exceptions include the Bison and the
Llama/Alpaca.
– The reason for these extinctions remain a mystery
with two dominant theories put forward
Blitzkrieg Thesis
• Argues that humans hunted large animals to extinction
– (Do Not Write) 100 Paleo-Indians 12,000 years ago, moving
20 miles south per year, killing 12 large animals per person
per year. The population doubles every 20 years.
– (Do Not Write)Thus in only 300 years the Paleo-Indians
number 100,000, have spread 2,000 miles south and killed
over ninety million 1,000 pound animals
• Problem: Not a lot of archeological evidence to
support. Hundreds of smaller species also vanish. Not
logical that humans would kill hundreds of mammoths
without a way to store the meat.
Climate Change Thesis
• End of Ice Age resulted in a 13 degree
temperature change in a matter of decades
• Would have devastated ecosystem
• Better explains the widespread extinction
• Problems: Did not result in widespread plant
extinction, not all the animals that should
have died did
Early Paleo-Indian Communities
• Small tribes of multiple family groups
• Nomadic tribes hunting, gather and growing
snatch crops
– Crops that can be grown quickly in fields, and
recovered when the tribe moves
Settling Down
• Around 9,000 years ago, first settlers arrive in
Mexico
• Early crops included Maize (wild corn)
Settling Down
• Natives in the New World typically ate a
combination of what became known as the
Three Sisters
– Beans
– Squash
– Corn
• Important because: Eating these three gives
people a complete set of proteins and amino
acids
Settling Down
• Most of those who settled in the great plains
could not farm and thus relied on hunting
entirely for food
North American Indians
• The Inuits: Settled in Alaska and Canada after
crossing land bridge
• Developed a culture around fishing and
whaling
• Hunted seals for furs and clothing
• Developed to live on ice and tundra
The Mound Builders
• Little is known about these natives
– Except that they must have fought violent wars
with each other
– Built large earthwork forts to protect themselves
from war
– Built large pyramids and animal shapes for
religious purposes
Mound Builder Village
Mound builder village
Religious: Alligator Mound
People of the Southwest: Anasazi
• Built homes out of adobe
– Definition: mixture of sand, clay, water and grass.
Creates a concrete-like material that can be
shaped a variety of ways
Anasazi
• Communities included cities built into the
walls of cliffs and fortresses on high,
defensible bluffs
Fall of the Anasazi
• Archeological records suggest Anasazi society
fell quickly and violently
– Widespread deforestation in the region likely led
to drought, crop collapse
– Indications of cannibalism among populace
– Remains of Anasazi population survive in today’s
modern day Pueblo Indians
Empires of South America
• The Olmec
• First Empire rose in Mexico in the hot,
swampy area known as Veracruz
The Olmec
• First culture to build pyramids for worship
• Famous for building large stone heads of gods
and kings
Decline
• Earthquakes and volcanoes in the region likely
shifted the flow of rivers and irrigation,
making widespread farming impossible
The Maya
• Centered around the Yucatan Peninsula
Highly developed society
• Developed calendar to track holidays and
ceremonies
Mayans
• Built massive pyramids as part of their religion
• Largest Mayan city, Tikal had five
Mayans
• Mayan political structure was a theocracy
– Ruled by priest-kings
• Built roads networking out from the capital
city
Mayans
• Developed a hieroglyphic writing system
• Decline of civilization: Mayan civilization
exceeded the carrying capacity of the land
(it’s ability to support populace). Broke into a
series of small kingdoms around various cities.
The Toltec
• In direct competition with the Mayans
• Conquered the central-eastern portion of
Mexico
• Capital was the fortress-city of Chichen-Itza
The Aztecs
Aztecs
• Lived in Central Mexico near at modern
Mexico City
• Capital City of Tenochtitlan built in the center
of Lake Texcoco.
Meaning of the Name:
• True term is people of Aztlan (Aztecatl)
• Term literally means bird on the cactus.
– Refers to creation myth in which leader was told
to take south until he saw a bird and a serpent
– Arrived around Lake Texcoco and saw a bird on a
prickly pear cactus eating a snake.
Aztecs
• Tenochtitlan accessed by a series of long stone
causeways, made city very defensible.
Aztecs
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Aztecs created an empire through conquest
Conquered other tribes and demanded tribute
Tribute typically included human sacrifices
Sacrificial victims chosen by a game similar to
soccer
Aztec Religion
• Worshipped gods called Teotl
• Among the most important were Quetzcoatl
(the serpent God of the winds and the
morning star)
– Huitzilopochtli- God of war and the Sun
– Xipe Totec- Goddess of fertility and rain
• Many of these gods, especially the sun god
required human sacrifice to appease
Aztecs
• Aztecs ruled by an emperor chosen from
among the triple alliance
• Farms ruled by nobles farmed by peasants and
slaves
Fall of the Aztecs
• Arrival of the Spanish: The Spanish arrival
coincided with an Aztec myth about gods
returning from the east.
• Spanish mercenaries called “conquistadors”
hired by the King of Spain to conquer and
settle new lands
• Around 250 well armed men enter empire of
hundreds of thousands
Cortez and Malinche
• Hernan Cortez, leader of the Conquistadors
meets Malinche, a native women from a
conquered tribe that learned basic Spanish
from shipwreck survivors. Acts as a translator
for the Conquistadors
Cortez Meets Montezuma
• Aztec Emperor invites Spanish to Tenochtitlan
to decide if they really are the prophesized
gods.
• Spanish take Montezuma hostage and
demand a ransom in gold
• After a weeks long stand-off Montezuma is
killed and the Spanish flee for their lives ahead
of a massive Aztec army.
Final War and Small Pox
• Spanish gather reinforcements from Cuba, and
with Malinche’s help gain allegiance of
conquered tribes. Lead a combined army
against Tenochtitlan
• A slave brought over from Cuba spread small
pox to the population, wiping out Aztec army
before Spanish arrive.
Smallpox
South American Civilizations
• Built around capital city of Cuzco
• First united by Emperor Pachacuti
• Spread Empire through Trade
Growing the Inca Empire
• Those who joined had to learn to speak
Quechua (the Incan language)
– (Do Not Write) Incan Emperor paid for free
schools
• Divided empire into quarters each ruled by a
governor (DNW: so that the Empire wouldn’t
get too big to rule)
• All young men required to serve in the military
Inca
• The Inca built roads to all new areas for the
growth and spread of trade through llama
caravans
• Often built bridges made out of grass to get
through mountain passes
• Incan had no written number system, instead
used Quipo
– A series of knotted ropes that served as ledgers
and account books for Incan traders
Incans
• The Incans were extremely skilled architects
• Incan building style
– Used hand-carved, heavy stone with no mortar
Fall of the Inca
• Spanish attack on Inca was preceded by a
Smallpox outbreak
• Emperor died of smallpox leaving two sons.
• Led to civil war between Huascar and
Atahualpa.
– Spanish sided with Huascar, and murdered
Atahualpa, proved to be extremely unpopular,
Spanish, led by Pizarro driven out
Fall of the Inca
• Pizarro captured capital but strong structure
of Incan government meant the Empire did
not collapse for years to come.
• Nonetheless chief reason for Incan fall was
disease.