Chapter 11: Peoples and Civilizations of the Americas, 600-1500

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Chapter 11 Peoples and Civilizations of the
Americas, 600-1500

• AP World History

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I. Classic-Era Culture and Society in
Mesoamerica, 200-900

• A. Teotihuacan
• 1. Large Mesoamerican city with population of
  about 150,000.
• 2. Had pyramids and temples where human
  sacrifice was carried out.
• 3. Forced relocation of farm families and
  agricultural innovation such as irrigation and
  chinampas.
• 4. Apartmentlike stone buildings housed
  commoners and elites lived in separate
  residential compounds and controlled the
  bureaucracy, taxes, and commerce.
• 5. Ruled by alliances of wealthy families.
• 6. Collapsed around 650 C.E. probably by
  mismanagement of resources and conflict within
  the elite or invasion.

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• B. The Maya
• 1. Never formed a unified kingdom.
• 2. Increased agricultural productivity by
  draining swamps, building elevated fields,
  terraced fields, and managed forest resources.
• 3. Large city-states.
• 4. Believed cosmos consisted of three layers,
  the heavens, human world, and the underworld.
• 5. Rulers and elites communicated with the other
  worlds.
• 6. Fought for captives, not for territory.
  Elite captives were sacrificed and commoners were
  enslaved.
• 7. Mayan women held no political power but
  participated in the bloodletting rituals.
• 8. Technological developments included the Mayan
  calender, mathematics, and the Maya writing
  system.
• 9. Reasons for fall include disruption of trade,
  overpopulation and increased warfare around
  800-900 C.E.

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II. The Postclassic Period in Mesoamerica,
900-1500

• A. The Toltecs
• 1. Central Mexico and built civilization based
  on Teotihuacan.
• 2. Capital at Tula was ruled by dual kings but
  were destroyed by invaders around 1156 C.E.

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• B. The Aztecs
• 1. Migrated to lake Texcoco area and established
  the cities of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco.
• 2. Females maintained control of household and
  market.
• 3. Established irrigation and chinampas, but
  also received food from tribute.
• 4. Goods were exchanged through barter.
• 5. Worshipped a large number of gods, but the
  most important was Huitzilopochtli, the Sun god
  and he was appeased by sacrifice with human
  hearts.

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III. The Northern Peoples

• A. Southwestern Desert Cultures
• 1. The Hohokam established extensive irrigation
  systems in the Salt and Gila valleys around 1000
  c.e.
• 2. The Anasazi constructed Kivas in the American
  southwest.
• 3. The Chaco Canyon community engaged in trade,
  hunting and irrigated agriculture and exerted
  some political and religious dominance over the
  area but declined due to drought, overpopulation,
  and warfare.

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• B. Mound Builders The Mississippian Cultures
• 1. The Hopewell culture came out of the Adena
  culture and was based in the Ohio Valley.
• 2. The major Hopewell centers were ruled by
  chiefs and they served as priests and managed
  secular affairs such as long distance trade.
• 3. The Hopewell built large mounds both as
  burial sites and as platforms upon which temples
  and residences of chiefs were constructed.
• 4. The Hopewell sites were abandoned around 400
  C.E., but the mound building was continued by the
  Mississippian culture(700-1500 c.e.).
• 5. The Mississippian chiefdoms were made
  possible by increased agricultural productivity,
  the bow and arrow, and expanded trade networks.
• 6. The largest center was Cahokia but was
  abandoned around 1250 because of climate changes
  and population pressure.

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IV. Andean Civilizations 600-1500

• A. Cultural Response to Environmental Challenge
• 1. Andes, dry coastal plain, and Amazon forced
  inhabitants to organize labor effectively.
• 2. The clan (ayllu) held land collectively, and
  assisted each other in production and to supply
  goods and labor to the clan chief.
• 3. The mita was introduced around 1000 and
  required each ayllu to provide a set number of
  workers each year for religious establishments,
  royal court, or the aristocracy.
• 4. Work was divided along gender lines.
• 5. The Andean region is divided into four
  different ecological zones the coast, mountain
  valleys, higher elevations, and the Amazonian
  region.

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• B. Moche
• 1. North coastal region of Peru in about 200-700
  C.E.
• 2. Moche society was stratified and theocratic.
• 3. Commoners supplied mita labor to the elite
  while the elite military leaders and priests
  lived atop large platforms and decorated
  themselves in magnificent clothing.
• 4. Moche artisans were skilled in the production
  of textiles, portrait vases, and metallurgy.
• 5. Decline can be attributed to a series of
  natural disasters and pressure from the warlike
  Wari people.

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• C. Tiwanaku and Wari
• 1. Civilization of Tiwanku was located in
  Bolivia.
• 2. Urban construction consisted of large
  terraced pyramid, walled enclosures, and a
  reservoir.
• 3. Ruled by a hereditary elite.
• 4. The Wari had contact with Tiwanaku, but was a
  separate culture, was built without central
  planning, with different techniques, and on a
  much smaller scale than Tiwanaku.

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• D. The Inca
• 1. Inca empire grew out of the small chiefdom of
  Cuzco.
• 2. Key to wealth was its strong military and
  used it to expand the traditional exchange
  system that linked the Andes together.
• 3. Inca left local rulers in place and took
  their heirs to Cuzco. This created an imperial
  bureaucracy.
• 4. Cuzco laid out in the shape of a puma and its
  palaces were the scene of rituals, feasts, and
  sacrifices of textiles, animals, tribute goods,
  and the occasional human.
• 5. Did not introduce new technologies, but made
  more efficient use of existing technology to
  increase the profits gained by trade. Technology
  included astronomy, weaving, copper and bronze
  metallurgy, and gold and silver working.
• 6. When the elite fell into civil war in 1525,
  Inca control over its vast territories weakened.

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V. Comparative Perspectives

• A. Political and Economic Comparisons
• 1. The Aztec and Inca Empires shared
  similarities in the use of powerful armies,
  strong economies based on large workforces, and
  their dependence on organized government and
  religious practices that connected secular rulers
  to the gods.
• 2. Distinctions were in their systems of
  distributing goods and in their management of the
  empire.
• 3. Aztecs used local leaders, while the Inca
  created a strong central government administered
  by trained bureaucrats.

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• B. Imperial Comparisons
• 1. Both the Aztec and the Inca were the last in
  a line of successive indigenous populations
  organized into strong empires from former
  collapsed civilizations.
• 2. The arrival of Europeans ended the cycle of
  crises and adjustment in both regions.