Topic 1.4: State Building in the Americas

Overview of American State Systems

• State systems in the Americas demonstrated continuity, innovation, and diversity, while expanding in scope and reach (Key Concept KC-3.2.I.D.i).

• Major state systems and societies developed across North America, Mesoamerica, and South America: Maya city-states, Mexica (Aztecs), Inca, Chaco, Mesa Verde, and Cahokia (Mississippians).

• Timeline of key civilizations ($1200\text{--}1450\text{ CE}$ context):

  • Mayans: $1800\text{ BCE}$ to $250\text{ CE}$ (Preclassic to Classic origin period)

  • Mesa Verde Civilization: c. $650\text{--}1285\text{ CE}$

  • Chaco: $700\text{--}1100\text{s CE}$

  • Cahokia: $1050\text{--}1350\text{ CE}$

  • Aztecs (Mexica): $1300\text{--}1521\text{ CE}$

  • Incas: $1425\text{--}1532\text{ CE}$

North American Indigenous Civilizations

The Mississippians

• The first large-scale civilization in North America developed within the Mississippi River Valley.

• Constructed massive earthen mounds, some reaching over $100\text{ feet}$ in height and covering an area equivalent to $12$ football fields.

• Farming practices, artistic styles, and cultural elements suggest potential contact with the Maya, though direct historical connections remain unproven.

• Cahokia and Trade Networks:

  • The largest Mississippian urban center was Cahokia, located in present-day Illinois.

  • Around the year $1250\text{ CE}$, Cahokia achieved a population exceeding $40,000$ people, making it larger than London during the same era.

  • Maintained extensive regional trade networks spanning across North America, reaching the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Rocky Mountains.

  • Practiced animism as their central religious belief system.

• Social Hierarchy and Governance:

  • Organized under a rigid class structure:

  • Great Sun: The chief who ruled each large town.

  • The Elite: Priests and sub-chiefs holding administrative and religious authority.

  • Leaders: Heads of local clans and communities.

  • Commoners: Warriors, workers, and craftsmen.

  • Slaves: Positioned at the bottom of the social hierarchy.

  • Structured as a matrilineal society where social standing was inherited through the mother's family line. When a Great Sun died, the title passed to his sister's son rather than his own son.

  • The civilization began to decline around $1450\text{ CE}$ due to unconfirmed causes, such as severe flooding, climate change, or epidemic diseases.

Chaco

• A pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in Chaco Canyon in the San Juan Basin of the American Southwest from the $9\text{th}$ to the $12\text{th}$ century CE ($700\text{--}1100\text{s CE}$).

• Formed by Ancestral Puebloans, named for their ancestral connection to modern indigenous groups whose societies are organized around multi-story, apartment-style communal dwellings called pueblos.

• Built large public works and structures strategically positioned according to astronomical alignments.

• Maintained deep spiritual connections to the surrounding physical landscape.

Mesa Verde

• Ancestral Puebloan society that established stone villages in the Southwestern United States between c. $650$ and $1285\text{ CE}$.

• By the late $12\text{th}$ century, inhabitants began constructing elaborate cliff dwellings carved directly into cliff faces, for which the site is famous.

Mesoamerican Civilizations

The Maya Civilization

• Advanced Mesoamerican civilization that developed a written hieroglyphic language.

• Geographic domain extended across the Yucatán Peninsula, southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. Major cities included Uxmal, Chichén Itzá, Dzibilchaltún, Isla de Jaina, Cobá, Tulum, Mayapán, Edzná, Calakmul, Lamanai, Tikal, Nim Li Punit, Kaminaljuyú, Quiriguá, Copán, Palenque, Bonampak, Yaxchilán, and Piedras Negras.

• Agricultural Techniques and Urban Features:

  • Practiced slash-and-burn agriculture to clear forested lands.

  • Constructed hillside terraced fields to prevent soil erosion.

  • Built sophisticated irrigation systems to cultivate core crops: corn (maize), beans, and squash.

  • Maya cities contained stone palaces, open plazas, ceremonial ball courts, and stepped pyramids.

• Political and Religious Organization:

  • Decentralized government organized into independent city-states.

  • Each city-state was ruled by a king; women could ascend to rule if no male heir existed.

  • City-states frequently engaged in warfare with one another to secure tribute and captives.

  • Polytheistic faith centered around gods of the Sun, rain, and corn.

  • Priests held substantial political influence. At least one major deity was female, and women were permitted to serve as priests.

  • Religious festivals were governed by the complex Mayan calendar system.

  • Practiced human sacrifice, primarily using war captives.

• Science, Culture, and Decline:

  • Astronomical observation was integral to religious life and calendar design.

  • Constructed specialized observatories, such as El Caracol at Chichén Itzá.

  • Developed advanced mathematical concepts independently, including the concept of zero.

  • Decline of Maya urban centers resulted from a combination of severe population growth and overcrowding, environmental deforestation, continuous inter-city warfare, and severe drought.

  • Consequently, major Maya cities were abandoned as populations migrated to rural areas.

The Aztec Empire (Mexica)

• Established their empire in Central Mexico, spanning from $1300$ to $1521\text{ CE}$.

• Founded their capital city, Tenochtitlan, on an island in Lake Texcoco (the site of modern Mexico City).

• Strategically utilized island geography for defense and natural protection.

• Tenochtitlan expanded to a population of nearly $200,000$ people, making it one of the largest global cities of its era, centered around the Great Pyramid (Templo Mayor).

• Built artificial floating agricultural islands called chinampas to supplement maize and staple crops grown with traditional agricultural methods.

• Drained and filled large portions of Lake Texcoco for land creation, which contributes to modern Mexico City sinking today.

• Governance, Labor, and Imperial Control:

  • Lacked wheeled vehicles and draft pack animals, requiring all construction, agriculture, and transport to be completed by manual human labor.

  • Developed a Tribute System requiring conquered regions to submit food, luxury goods, and captives, ensuring short-term regional dominance.

  • Divided the empire into provinces, placing military forces and their families in each provincial capital to enforce compliance.

  • Political structure was a theocracy headed by an absolute emperor known as the Great Speaker (Tlatoani).

• Religious Beliefs and Legacy:

  • Polytheistic religion rooted in the belief that gods sacrificed themselves to create and preserve the world; human sacrifice was conducted to repay this divine sacrifice.

  • Historical understanding of Aztec sacrifice relies heavily on Spanish conquistador accounts, which may contain exaggerated estimates.

  • Adopted a $365\text{-day}$ solar calendar and expanded trade networks originally built by the Maya.

South American Civilizations

The Inca Empire

• Rose to prominence around $1438\text{ CE}$ and survived until $1532\text{ CE}$ in the Andean region of South America.

• Founded when the son of a local tribal ruler proclaimed himself Pachacuti (meaning "transformer of the earth") and transformed the Inca state into an expansive empire.

• Imperial domain expanded under sequential rulers:

  • Pachacuti: $1438\text{--}1463\text{ CE}$

  • Tupac Inca: $1463\text{--}1471\text{ CE}$ and $1471\text{--}1493\text{ CE}$

  • Huayna Capac: $1493\text{--}1525\text{ CE}$

  • Huáscar: $1525\text{--}1532\text{ CE}$

  • Atahualpa: $1532\text{--}1533\text{ CE}$

• Administration and Economic Organization:

  • Divided the empire into four distinct administrative provinces centered around the capital of Cuzco.

  • Conquered populations were not forced to pay traditional tribute, but were required to perform mita—mandatory public labor service for men aged $15$ to 50$.\n - Agricultural economy centered on the potato as the primary staple crop.\n - Subjects were required to turn over a portion of their harvest to local rulers, who stored surplus food in regional storehouses to alleviate famine during crop failures.\n\n- **Religion, Culture, and Ancestor Worship:**\n - Practiced royal ancestor worship: deceased rulers were mummified and considered to maintain ownership of their lands and property.\n - Because new emperors did not inherit the property or wealth of previous rulers, each new ruler was compelled to conquer new lands to secure his own empire and wealth.\n - The term "Inca" translates to "people of the sun".\n - Polytheistic society where religious priests were consulted prior to executing major political or military actions.\n - Performed ritual offerings of food and animals; human sacrifice occurred only on rare occasions.\n - Believed in animistic principles where physical natural features (mountains, rocks, rivers) possessed sacred supernatural powers called *huaca*.\n\n- **Innovations and Fall:**\n - Engineered extensive mountain terrace systems to create arable land and manage water runoff along steep Andean slopes.\n\n\n\n - Invented the *quipu*, a system of knotted cords used to record numerical records, population counts, and mathematical calculations.\n - Mathematical operations were tracked on *quipu* strings, such as addition problems:\n  \n132 + 417 + 3 = 552\n\n\n\n - Built a transportation system of over 25,000\text{ miles} of roads and bridges traversing mountain ranges.\n - The empire was undergoing a internal civil war (between Huáscar and Atahualpa) when Spanish forces arrived; civil instability and introduced European diseases enabled Francisco Pizarro to conquer the Inca Empire by 1532\text{--}1533\text{ CE}$$.