Transcript APWH Ch 11 Notes Pre-Columbian America

Early Human Migrations
Major Pre-Columbian Civilizations
Lands of the Maya
Political Characteristics
Never form a unified
political system
Do create a unified
culture
Larger city-states
dominated smaller citystates
Large city-states built
elaborate commercial
and religious centers
Chichen-Itza
El Castillo at Chichen Itza
Maya Economy
• Cultivated maize, cotton, and cacao
– Increased agricultural production by draining
swamps, terraced fields, and irrigation ditches
– Led to environmental degradation
• Hereditary nobility controlled most of the land
• Maya merchants came from ruling class
– Traded primarily in luxury products
Maya Religion
• Polytheistic
• Cosmos consisted of three layers: the heavens,
the human world, and the underworld
– Priests could communicate with residents of both
supernatural worlds
• Mayan developments: calendar, writing
system, and mathematics
– Used to determine religious holidays
Maya sacrifice
• Had to please the gods via sacrifice
– Piercing of bodies with needle
– Human Sacrifice
• Sacrificed prisoners of war, slaves, and children
Mayan Bloodletting
Mayan Ball Game
Mayan Calendar
Maya Decline
• Maya city-states were abandoned or destroyed
between 800-900 CE
• Causes for decline include:
– The disruption of trade after the decline of
Teotihuacan in Central Mexico
– Environmental degradation caused by overpopulation
– Epidemic disease
Rise of the Aztecs
• Aztecs (Mexica) migrate
to Lake Texcoco in
central Mexico c. 1325
• Founded city of
Tenochtitlan in 1325
• Empire started in 1434
• Aztec kings represented
civil power and served
as a representative of
the gods on Earth
Aztec Government
• City-states ruled by a speaker chosen from
the nobility
• The Great Speaker, ruler of Tenochtitlan,
was in effect an emperor
– Increasingly considered a living god
• Conquered peoples maintained some
autonomy if they paid tribute
Human Sacrifice
• Human sacrifice was a
typical part of
Mesoamerican religion
– Aztec expand practice
into a cult where military
supplied war captives for
sacrifice
• Why?
– Political purposes
– Population control
– Cannibal kingdom
Human Sacrifice
Tenochtitlan “The Venice of the
Americas
Chinampas
Aztec Society
• Women’s primary role was the household
– Women spent six hours a day grinding corn;
restricted women’s rights
• Marriages were arranged
• Polygamy existed amongst the nobility
• Women could inherit property
The Inca
Inca Economy
• Unlike Aztecs, not a lot of trade
– Tried to be self-sufficient
• Primarily agricultural
– Terrace farming & complex irrigation
– Over 200 types of potatoes
• Inca Socialism
• Used forced labor for massive projects
Terrace Farming
Inca Technology
• Built a complex system of roads and bridges
– 2500 miles of roads
– Used a system of runners to carry messages
throughout the empire
• Beautiful pottery, cloth, and metalworking
• Quipu
• Masonry
Bridges and Roads
Quipu
Inca Metalworking