Mesoamerican civilizations

• note: Decentralized power (people they conquered were set up as tributary states)

• note: centralized power = a govt where power is concentrated in a single authority

• CONTEXT: Maya civilization (250-900 CE)

  • Built urban centers, had a good writing system, math (concept of zero)

  • State structure was a decentralized collection of city-states that were often at war with one another

  • Fought to create a network of tributary states among neighboring regions

  • Emphasized human sacrifice (believed the sun was a deity)

• Aztec Empire (1345-1528)

  • CONTEXT

    • Mexica people (semi-nomadic) who migrated South and built their military prowess

    • By 1428, they consolidated a lot of power in the region → alliance with two other Mesoamerican states → established the Aztec empire

    • To secure their legitimacy as rulers → Mexica claimed heritage from older, more renowned Mesoamerican people

    • Expansion: War provided human blood for the Sun (religious motivation) + Tributary system

  • Capital City: Tenochtitlan → held a vast population → Markets were established meaning their economy was commercialized to some degree + had palaces for rulers and pyramid temples

• Andean Civilizations

  • CONTEXT

    • the Wari (1000 CE) → included in a series of societies that were developed along the Indian mountains

  • Inca Empire (established around the 1400s)

    • Borrowed a lot from the Wari and older civilizations

    • Established the Mit’a System = required the labor of everyone for a period of time each year to work on state projects (mining or military service)

      • Made use of systems by earlier civilizations

• North American Civilizations

  • Mississippian culture (8th/9th century CE)

    • established in the Mississippi River Valley + represented the first large-scale civilization in North America

    • society was developed around agriculture + thoroughly hierarchical

    • Known for their extensive mound-building projects → acted as burial sites for important people + hosted religious ceremonies on the top of the mountains

      • had enough people to construct these + major urban areas were surrounded by these

      • Cahokia → largest urban center of the Mississippian culture

  • Chaco + Mesa Verde societies (after the rise of Mississippian culture)

    • dry as heck → made innovative ways to store water

    • weren’t many trees to provide timber for structures → Chaco carved Sandstone blocks out of massive quarries, imported Timber from other locations, and built massive structures (largest in NA)

      • Mesa Verde solution to this → built housing complex into the sides of cliffs using sandstone!