(WIP) WHAP Unit 1.4 Developments in the Americas 1200-1450

After the fall of the Olmec & Chavin, new civilizations rose in the same regions. Current knowledge of these civilizations combines archaeological evidence, oral traditions, & writings by Europeans who came to the Americas after 1492.

Mississippian Culture

-Dev. 700s~800s Mississippi River Valley built enormous earthen mounds, the largest being Cahokia in southern Illinois

• Hierarchy: Great Sun (chief), high class priests & nobles, low class merchants, farmers, hunters, artisans, slaves (often prisoners of war)

• Women farmed, men hunted

  • Matrilineal: male chief determined by woman’s side of family

-1450 Cahokia & 1600 others abandoned for unknown reason, possibly crop (corns, squash, beans) failure or European diseases

Chaco & Mesa Verde

-Dev. 700s~800s Cultures emerged in dry, Southwest Interior w/ scarce, small trees

• Efficient collection, transport, & storing of water

  • Chaco: Large stone & clay houses, some which included hundreds of rooms

  • Mesa Verde: Multi-story sandstone brick homes on the sides of cliffs

-Late 1200s Declined as climate became drier

The Mayans

-Peaked 250-900 Decentralized South Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Guatemala at 2 million ppl

• Hierarchy: Kings, who ruled city-states that fought e/o for tribute & captives for human sacrifice, claimed to be descended from gods

  • Bureaucracy of priests & scribes

  • Commoners paid taxes w/ crops, labor, & sometimes military service (no standing army)

• Culture: 0, learned to make rubber from liquid out of rubber plants, human sacrifices

  • Precise calendars & observatories: astronomy influenced priests’ decision to celebrate religious ceremonies or wage war

-Decline: Deforestation, drought, environmental degradation

Aztec Government

-1200-1521 Mexica hunter-gatherers from north est. capital Tenochtitlan in central Mexico, conquering the Gulf of Mexico-Pacific Ocean

• Decentralized Theocracy: Great Speaker received tribute, surrendered lands, & military service from conquered lands in exchange for protection

  • Tribal rulers kept power if they served as tribute collectors (indirect control)

  • Noble landlords led military who enforced Aztec control in each province

  • Scribes & Healers

  • Pochteca: luxury (feathers, beads, jewelry) merchants, traders & craftsmen

  • Peasants & soldiers

  • Slaves: indebted, criminals, sacrifices

-Late 1400s: Lack of innovation, Euro diseases/conquest, & overextended state from military & tribute victories = 1500s rebellions from conquered tribes

Aztec Culture & Innovations

-Religion: God’s sacrificed themselves to create universe= human sacrifice & blood letting to repay & atone for human sin

• Great Pyramid & other stone temples

• # of sacrifices might’ve been exaggerated to justify Spanish conquest

-Women: Noblewomen scribes were literate, majority worked at home to weave cloth for tribute, polygyny for men to pay enough tribute

-Infrastructure in Tenochtitlan, Lake Texcoco: Largest pop had aqueducts, chinampas (floating gardens) for CBS & tomatoes, & dug ditches to irrigate & drain lakes for more land

-Extensive trade

Incan Government

-1438-1533 Pachacuti & his descendants consolidated conquered tribes of Chile-Ecuador, splitting them into 4 provinces

• Provinces: had their governor & bureaucracy who were rewarded by demonstrating loyalty

  • Mit’a System: Men b/w 15-50 were subject to mandatory public service, not tribute

-1533: Spain conquers core after 1532 civil war from King Huayna Capac’s death

Incan Culture & Innovations

-Animism & Honoring the Sun God: Sapa (Rulers) & Temple of the Sun were Inti’s representative on earth & Huaca were physical objects that held supernatural power

• Priests: Determined illnesses, future battle outcomes, crimes, & sacrifices during famines, plagues by determining the god’s will

-Royal Ancestor Veneration: Dead rulers were mummified to continue their “rule” over servants & property, motivating rulers to conquer as they did not inherit anything upon assuming power

-Quipu: Knotted strings recorded numerical info & messages

• Waru Waru: Raised beds (corns, cotton, potatoes) w/ channels that captured & redirected rain to avoid erosion during floods and store during dry seasons

• Carpa Nan: ~Gov. & military roads built by captives & bridges on mts.

-Limited trade