Transcript American History-Pre Columbian

American HistoryPre Columbian
Amerindians
First arrival migration of peoples across the
Bering St. 15,000-30,000 yrs ago
Group of hunter gathering nomads
Development of
Permanent Societies
 First development of farming approx. 8,000 yrs.
Ago
 Great societies develop in America without
contact from old world
 Myth of Amerindian:
 Great advanced societies in modern day
Mexico, Guatamala and along the Andes
 Also in N.America along Miss. River valley and
along Eastern seaboard
Olmecs and MesoAmerica
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Intensive agriculture with corn, beans ,
squash
Stone carvings and monuments
Widespread trading network and had
rudimentary written language
Will be ancestors and of course influence
Mayas and Aztecs
Mayas
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Centered on Yucatan Peninsula in modern
Guatamala
Height of Maya influence during first millenium
A.D. up to 3 million
Most are farmers but there are large urban areas
such as Tikal which has up toward 50,000 people
and was the size of Manhatten
Maya religion is polytheistic with several pyramids
for human sacrifice
Mayan interpretations
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Unknown people until 1800’s as they are not around when
Europeans arrive
First finds of huge stone temples and remains of urban areas
many assume must be from? “Great cultivation and
refinement”
Recognition that Maya were advanced….had great
astronomical knowledge and mathematical ability
Maya used to be viewed as peaceful, priestly group who
glorified knowledge and science and tragically their empire
ended for no apparent reason
Bloody warlike people a la the Aztecs with many sacrifices
Mayan Achievements
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Great urban areas
Central pyramids with temples, palaces and housing for thousands
Ball courts where loses are rewarded with sacrifice
Advanced writing system 1/5 in world but most are burned during
Spanish times
1945 as German libraries burn key book found and picked up by
Russian officer which has Maya hieroglyphs….eventually he and
his wife work to decipher Maya language
Calendar and astronomy…knowledge so precise scientists today at
a loss
Maya calendar has beginning point of world thousands of yrs ago
and an ending date
Empire lasts from about 200-900 A.D. but declines for unknown
reasons
Tenochtitlan
• Center of Aztec world on an island
connected by many bridges
• Consolidate control over region throughout
much of modern Mexico as they are noted
as great warriors
• Aztecs arrive in twelth century and
become dominant group by 1400’s
• Several million under sway with one god
Huitzilopochtli….still not centralized state
completely
• Huge population center with several
thousands and temples and pyramids and
canals and extensive trading networks
• Authoritarian state creates ill will amongst
the conquered according to Spanish
Tenochtitlan
• One of largest cities of world with over
200,000 inhabitants
• Most of lake eventually drained
• Pre columbian city interlaced with canals
and bridges……Great ex. Of city planning
• Fresh water with aquaducts
• Major roads in cities supposedly wide
enough for 10 horses
• Specialized markets
• Public buildings, temples and schools
• Many Spaniards mention city as greatest
most efficient they have ever seen
Aztec World
• Borrowed heavily from earlier
societies in region
• Farm extensively of three sisters of
crops
• Use obsidian to cut precisely
• Huge city and great wealth
described with awe by Spaniards
• Massive pyramid devoted to Sun God
where human sacrifices occur with
paintings and sculptures
Aztec Society
• Hereditary nobility sons schooled by the
state to become priests, military or govt.
• Divided into nobility, slaves, ind. Servants
and commoners
• Rigid stratification of classes
• Almost half of pop in Valley live in urban
areas so many work in stonecutting,
commerce or weaving
• Polytheistic society with lots of human
sacrifice to appease Gods….gruesome with
hearts ripped out for the Gods
S.America
 Older urban areas known of than in
MesoAmerica
 Difficult environment
 Several empires or peoples settle and
urbanize and develop before Incas perfect it
 Incas come in early 1000’s to control region
Farming and Society
 Dealing with elements
 Great stone foundations still stand today
 Huge bridges and terraced farming growing corn and beans and cocoa
plants and tomatoes and potatoes
 Society built for war as universal male conscription for huge well
trained army
 Kept records with Quipu by knotting strings of diff. colors and lengths
 Machu Picchu undiscovered Inca ruins for hundreds of years after
Spanish arrival
 Many buildings, a playing field, aqueducts, terraces
 All forced to marry, state controls land, mining and trade are
nationalized, huge warehouses of food for famine times
 Incas conquered in 1530’s by Spanish
North America
Longer period of hunter-gathering societies
Anasazi in West or cliff dwellers have large
groups of people in settled areas
Eastern Woodland Indians adopt permanent
villages along the rivers of East Coast….grow
corns and other crops and hunt and fish
No domesticated animals or written language or
iron tools but in Virginia as in other places in
Eastern Woodlands high level of advanced
governments develop
Powhatan Indians throughout our region
Powhatans
Government with 30 or so tribes
loosely linked together with one
overall chief
Tributes paid to leader who is in
contact via canoes and rivers
Polytheistic religion
Stone and bone tools
Gender roles defined
Mississippi Valley Indians
From first millenium A.D. up until
about 1200 Cahokia serves as
central spot of society for long while
Great farming ability
Administrative center with upwards
of 20,000 people
Contacts far and wide