Chapter 20 The Americas and Oceania

Pueblo and Navaho societies

• North American Peoples depended on hunting, fishing, and collecting plants; Arctic regions- Diets included mammals like whales, moose; People on coasts relied on fish, but interior regions relied on bison and deer • Throughout continent- Nuts, berries, roots, and grasses supplemented the meat provided by hunters and fishers; North America built small-scale societies, since food resources in the wild can't support dense populations • Pueblo and Navajo agriculture economy had large populations and they irrigated crops like maize; Cultivated beans, squashes, sunflowers, plants, and rabbit; Hot and dry environment brought drought and famine • 700 CE- Pueblo and Navajo constructed permanent stone and adobe buildings; We've discovered 125 agricultural communities

Trade

• People North of Mexica had no writing, information comes from discoveries; Burial sites reveal various social classes based grave goods of differing quality and quantities on their departed kin; Rivers like Mississippi and Ohio facilitated trade and travel by canoe; • Archeologists have found stones with sharp cutting edges by Rocky Mountains, copper from Great Lakes, seashells from Florida, minerals from Southern Appalachian Mountains; Cahokia had good location at the hub of North American trade networks; Likely center of trade and communication linking Eastern Woodlands of North America with lower Mississippi Valley and lands bordering the Gulf Of Mexico

Huitzilopochtli

• Ritual sacrifice was essential to world's survival; Mexica placed most emphasis compared to predecessors; Their enthusiasm came from their devotion to the God Huitzilopochtli; Patron deity since Early-14th century • Military Success persuaded Mexica warriors that God favored Mexica; Priests of Huitzilopochtli's cult demanded lots of sacrifices to appeased War God • Victims included Mexica criminals, but others came from neighboring peoples or ranks of warriors captured; All cases, Mexica viewed sacrifice as a necessity for continuation rather than gruesome entertainment • Blood of sacrifices sustained the sun and allowed moisture for Earth, thus ensuring that human communities would be able to cultivate crops

Mexica Gods

• Spoke Nahuatl language; Prominence since Toltec period; Adopted some cultural and religious traditions from Olmec; All had ball game, calendar • 2 Main Gods; Both since Teotihuacan but referred in many names; Tezcatlipoca- Powerful, Giver and taker of life; the patron deity of warriors • Quetzalcoatl had reputation for supporting crafts, arts and agriculture

cultural and religious traditions

• Aboriginal peoples paid close attention to the prominent geographic features of the lands around them. They related stories and myths about rocks, mountains, forests, mineral deposits, and bodies of water (Which were all crucial for their survival). • Often they conducted religious observances designed to ensure continuing supplies of animals, plant life, and water. Their cultural and religious traditions focused on local matters and did not appeal to peoples from other regions.

Inca roads

• An organized road system allowed the central government at Cuzco to control the Inca Empire. Two roads linked the Inca realm from north to south—one passing through the mountains, the other running along the coast. The combined length of the entire network of all Inca roads, including lesser thoroughfares as well as the major trunk routes, may have amounted to 40,000 kilometers (almost 25,000 miles). • Spanish conquerors marveled at the roads—paved with stone, shaded by trees, and wide enough to accommodate eight horsemen, during the early 16th century. Official runners carried messages along the roads so that news and information could travel between Cuzco and the most distant parts of the empire within a few days.

Inca Empire

• Around the mid 13th century the Incas settled in the region surrounding Lake Titicaca. In 1438 the Inca ruler Pachacuti (1438-1471) launched campaigns that largely expanded the rule of Inca authority. • Pachacuti was known as a fierce warrior. The campaigns of Pachacuti were long and brutal. He first extended Inca control over the southern and northern highlands and then turned his forces on the coastal kingdom of Chimu. Chimu was well defended, but had to submit to the Incas when Pachacuti gained control of the waters that supplied Chimu's irrigation system. • The Incas had built a huge empire stretching more than 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) from modern Quito to Santiago, by the late 15th century. It included almost all of modern Peru, most of Ecuador, much of Bolivia, and parts of Chile and Argentina as well. • The Inca empire easily ranked as the largest state ever built in South America, with a population of 11.5 million.

Merchants and Artisans

• Artisans that worked with gold, silver, textiles, feathers, and more was for the consumption by the elite; Elite has prestige • Merchants specializing in Long-Distance trade occupied important but weak position; Merchants supplied exotic items such as gems, skins, and fathers consumed by the elites; Provided political and military information on the lands they visited; Some fell under suspension as greedy profiteers and aristocratic warriors often obtained wealth and goods from merchants who lacked powerful patrons or protectors

trade

• As a result of their mobile and nomadic way of life, aboriginal Australians frequently met and interacted with peoples of neighboring societies. Australia is a continent of enormous climatic and ecological diversity, different peoples enjoyed access to food and other resources unknown to others they encountered during their seasonal migrations. • Small-scale exchange eventually enabled trade goods to spread throughout most of Australia. Individuals did not travel along all the trade routes. Instead, trade goods passed from one aboriginal community to another until they came to rest in distant regions. • Aboriginal peoples occasionally traded foodstuffs, but with the exception of some root vegetables, those items were generally too perishable for exchange. Australian spears and highly prized pearly shells went north in exchange for exotic items such as the striking flowers of the bird-of-paradise plant, stone clubs, decorative trinkets—and occasionally iron axes.

Tula

1. The city became an important city of many activities like weaving, pottery, and obsidian work. a. Residents imported large amounts of jade, turquoise, animal skins, exotic bird feathers, and other luxury goods from other places in meso-America. 2. The Toltecs also had close relations with the Maya of Yucatan, sharing many architectural designs and art motifs with the Maya city of Chichen Itza to the east. 3. Beginning of about 1125, the toltec empire faced difficulties with conflicts between different ethnicities living in Tula emerged. a. By the mid-12th century, large numbers of migrants, mostly nomadic people form northwestern Mexico had entered Tula. b. By 1175 the combination of civil conflict and nomadic incursion had destroyed the toltec state.

Tenochtitlan

1. By about the year 1345, the Mexica had settled on an island in the marshy region of the lake Texcoco and founded the city that would be their capital (as well as Mexico City later on from the Spanish). a. The site had many advantages, the Lake harbored plentiful supplies of fish, frogs, and waterfowl. b. The lake also helped Mexica develop the Chinampa system of agriculture. The Mexica dredged up rich and fertile soil from the lake's bottom and plowed it on small pieces of land known as Chinampa's. c. They managed to grow crops of maize, beans, squash, tomatoes, peppers, and chiles year round by tapping into water from the canals leading into their lake 2. The lake also served as a layer of defense: waters protected Tenochtitlan on all sides, and Mexica warriors patrolled the three causeways that eventually linked their capital to the surrounding mainland.

The Aztec Empire

1. By the 15th century, the Mexica had became powerful enough to begin to takeover their neighbors and obtain tribute. 2. After being prodded by the military elite that ruled Tenochtitlan, the Mexica launched ambitious campaigns of imperial expansion. a. Under the rule of "the Obsidian Serpent" Itzcoatl (1428-1440) and Motecuzoma I ((1440-1469), also known as Montezuma and Montezuma, they advanced against Oaxaca in southwestern Mexico b. After a brutal slaughtering, they populated Oaxaca with colonists and it became a bulwark for the emerging Mexica empire. 3. The Mexica turned their empire to the Gulf coast, who's tropical products made welcome tribute items in Tenochtitlan. a. After conquering all the cities between tenochtitlan and the Gulf coast, they joined forces with two neighboring cities, Texcoco and Tlacopan. This triple alliance guided the Aztec empire.

Mexica Women

1. In a society so ruled by military elites, women had no rule in the political affairs. a. They were subject to their husbands and fathers b. Main goal was to marry and bear warriors- dying from child birth was equivalent of dying in battle c. very prominent in certain aspects of trade and home making

Social Structure

1. Mexica was a rigidly hierarchical society with almost all public honors and rewards going out to the military elite. a. All men were looked at as potential warriors and individuals of common both could distinguish themselves on the battlefield.

Priests

1. Priestly class also ranked among Mexica elites a. Educated in calendrical and ritual lore b. presided over very crucial rituals which gave them influence towards ruling elite and in some cases took over: 1) ill-fated Motecuzoma II when spanish invaders appeared in 1519

The Mexica

1. Some of these migrants were a group of people known as the Mexica a. Originally from the northwestern regions, also known as the Aztecs because they dominated the alliance that built the Aztec empire in the 15th century. 2. The Mexica were arrived in central Mexico during the 13th century. a. They had a reputation of kidnapping women from near by cities and seizing land already cultivated by others. b. They were eventually kicked out and forced to roam central Mexico for almost a century.

Warriors

1. The Mexica showered wealth and horns the military elite. a. Accomplished warriors received extensive land grants as well as tributes from commoners. 2. Most successful warriors formed a council whose members selected the ruler, discussed public issues, and filled government positions. a. They ate Turkey, pheasant, deer, duck, boar, and rabbit. b. They were allowed to distinguish themselves by clothing in the law, and wore eagle feathers and were allowed to dress in brightly colored drapes while commoners wore coarse, buraplike garments and aristocrats wore cotton.

Toltecs

1. The Toltecs emerged in the 8th century, coming from the arid lands of northwestern Mexico and settling in Tula (50km northwest of modern Mexico City). a. Despite the unfortunate features of the valley of Mexico, the Toltecs were able to tap into the waters of the river Tula to irrigate crops for maize, beans, peppers, tomatoes, chillies and cotton. b. At its high point (950-1150 c.e), Tula supported a population of about 60,000 people and another 60,000 in the surrounding region. c. The Toltecs maintained a large army that regularly campaigned throughout central Mexico and built a compact regional empire with fortresses far to the northwest to protect the state form invasion by nomadic people. d. during the mid-10th to 12th century they extracted tribute from subject peoples and transformed their capital into a wealthy city. They had spacious houses made of stone, adobe, or mud.

Tribute and Trade

1. The main objective for the triple alliance was to extract tribute from subject peoples. a. At the time this was a very popular way for inferior lands to benefit from their subjects. These obligations were very oppressive for the subject peoples. -The annual tribute owed by the state of Tochtepe was 9600 cloaks, 1600 garments, 200 loads of cocoa, and 16000 rubber balls. b. These tribute were given to official merchants who then voyaged out to distant lands to trade them for local products like, translucent jade, emeralds, tortoise shells, jaguar skins, parrot feathers, sea shells and gaming animals. The tropical low lands also had supplies of cocoa and chocolate used for beverages. 2. Unlike the empires in the eastern hemisphere, the aztecs had no elaborate administration. a. They simply conquered and collected tribute. leaving local governance in the hands of the people. b. They didn't even keep a proper army stationed at their conquered lands for they were feared too much for their military prowess. 3. At the high point of the Aztec Empire in the early 16th century, they had 489 subject territories sending tribute into Tenochtitlan, an enormous Mexica capital with a population of 200,000 with separate market sections for gold, silver, slaves, henequen and cotton cloth, shoes, animal skins, turkeys, dogs, wild game, maize, beans, peppers, cacao and fruits.

Cultivators and Slaves

• Bulk of population included commoners; Lived in hamlets and cultivated chinampas and fields allocated to their family by community group (Calpulli) • Capulli were originally clans or groups of family claiming descent from common ancestors; As time went, ancestry became less important; Calpulli became more interested as they became group of families living together in communities, organized own affairs, and allocated property to individual families; Commoners worked on lands awarded to aristocrats or warriors and helped with construction of palaces, temples, roads, and irrigation systems; Tribute was given to state agents and gave them a portion of what they collected and stored the rest in a warehouse • Slaves worked as domestic servants, most weren't foreigners, but Mexica; Families sold young members into servitude out of financial distress, and others were forced into slavery due to criminal behavior

Cuzco

• Cuzco served as the administrative, religious, and ceremonial center of the Inca Empire. Pachacuti transformed cuzco into a magnificent capital that Incas considered "the navel of the universe." • Since Cuzco was primarily a capital and a ceremonial center, the city's permanent population was sizable but not enormous—perhaps forty thousand—but some two hundred thousand Inca subjects lived in the immediate vicinity. The most prominent permanent residents of Cuzco proper included the Inca rulers and high nobility, the high priests of the various religious cults, and the hostages of conquered peoples.

social classes

• Expanding populations prompted residents of many Pacific islands to develop increasingly complex social and political structures. workers became more specialized: some concentrated on cultivating certain crops, and others devoted their efforts to fishing, producing axes, or constructing large, seagoing canoes. Hawaiian society also recognized distinct classes of priests and skilled artisans, such as adze makers and canoe builders.

Polynesian religion

• High chiefs worked closely with priests, who served as intermediaries between human communities and the gods. Gods of war and agriculture were common throughout the Pacific islands, but individual islands and island groups recognized deities particular to their own regions and interests. The most distinctive architecture of early Pacific societies was the ceremonial precinct and temple structure known as marae, which often had several terraced floors with a rock or coral wall designating the boundaries of the sacred space.

Mound-Building People

• Impressive Structures of Woodlands were the large earthen mounds that dotted the countryside throughout Eastern North America; Mounds served as burial sites, ceremonies and rituals; Modern advancements destroyed most of these mounds, but surviving show that they reached large proportions

Quipo

• Inca bureaucrats and administrators used a mnemonic aid known as quipu to keep track of their responsibilities because of their lack of any script or system of writing. Quipu consisted of an array of small cords of various colors and lengths, all suspended from one large, thick cord. Experts tied a series of knots in the small cords, which sometimes numbered a hundred or more, to help them remember certain kinds of information. • Most quipu recorded statistical information having to do with population, state property, taxes, and labor services that communities owed to the central government. It also helped experts to remember historical information having to do with the establishment of the Inca empire.

trade

• Inca didn't generate a large class of merchants and skilled artisans, even though they had splendid roads. • On the local level the Incas and their subjects bartered surplus agricultural production and handcrafted goods among themselves. Administrators organized exchanges of agricultural products, textiles, pottery, jewelry, and craft goods, but the Inca state did not permit individuals to become independent merchants. • Many individuals produced pottery, textiles, and tools for local consumption, and a few produced especially fine goods for the ruling, priestly, and aristocratic classes.

population growth

• Islanders throughout the Pacific Ocean also built productive agricultural and fishing societies. They cultivated taro, yams, sweet potatoes, bananas, breadfruit, and coconuts, and they kept domesticated pigs and dogs. They also fed on abundant supplies of fish, which they caught by spear, net, and hook. Fishponds enabled Hawaiians to harvest large quantities of mature fish with relative ease and thus contributed to the islanders' food supplies. The establishment of agricultural and fishing societies led to rapid population growth in all the larger Pacific island groups—Samoa, Tonga, the Society Islands (including Tahiti), and Hawai`i. • Dense populations sometimes led to environmental degradation and social strife on small islands with limited resources. Easter Island in particular was the site of dramatic problems arising from overpopulation.

the Iroquois

• Large-Scale agricultural societies in woodlands east of Mississippi; Cultivated beans and maize; Lived in settled communities and had wooden fences • 1000- Owasco settled in New York and in 1400, Iroquois nations (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, Cayuga) emerged from Owasco society • Women were in charge of Iroquois villages and longhouses, where related families lived and supervised cultivation of fields around settlement; Men were in charge of affairs beyond their villages like hunting, war, and fishing

Cahokia

• Largest surviving Mound at Cahokia in St. Louise; 100 Feet by 1,000 Feet; Temple of Sun in Teotihuacan and Temple of Quetzalcoatl in Cholula are larger; Cahokia society was strong from 900-1200 CE, with high populations

Ritual Bloodletting

• Like predecessors, Mexica believed Gods had set world in motion through individual sacrifice; Their blood gave Earth moisture for crops like Maize • To propitiate and ensure the continuation of the World, they performed sacrifices; Priests pierced their earlobes or penises with cactus

Inti and Viracocha

• Members of the Inca ruling class venerated the sun as a god and as their major deity, whom they called Inti. They also recognized the moon, stars, planets, rain, and other natural forces as divine. Some Incas, including Pachacuti, also showed special favor to the god Viracocha, creator of the world, humankind, and all else in the universe. The cult of the sun, however, outshone all the others. Priests of Inti and those serving other cults honored their deities with sacrifices, which in Inca society usually took the form of agricultural produce or animals such as llamas and guinea pigs rather than humans. In addition to sacrifices and ritual ceremonies, Inca religion had a strong moral dimension.

the result of long distance voyaging

• Stretches of deep blue water made it much more complicated to travel between different island groups and societies. Nevertheless, mariners undertook lengthy voyages on an intermittent basis, sometimes with momentous results. • Polynesian mariners probably ventured to the western coast of South America, where they learned about the cultivation of sweet potatoes. Long-distance voyages were responsible for the dissemination of sweet potatoes to remote islands situated thousands of kilometers from the nearest inhabited lands. • Another case of long-distance voyaging prompted social changes in the Hawaiian Islands. For centuries after the voyages that brought the original settlers to the islands in the early centuries C.E., there was little travel or communication between Hawai`i and other Polynesian societies. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, however, a series of two-way voyages linked Hawai`i with Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands.

First impression of the Aztec Capital

• Tenochtitlan- Capital of Aztec Empire; 1519- Spanish army entered for search of gold and wealth; Solider, Bernal Diaz del Castillo descried capital as surrounded by a lake, similar to Venice, canals, apartments, weapons. Capital included eagles, hawks, parrots, jaguars, lions, wolves, and rattlesnakes were common; 2 impressive sites were market and temples • Principle market was Tlatelolco (District) and Bernal found jewelry, feathers, slaves, cotton, cacao, and more; Markets compared to Rome and Constantinople; Temples' principle was for human sacrifices; Priests and rooms had lots of blood according to Bernal; Lots of skulls and bones • Markets were peaceful and orderly exchange, but temples saw human sacrifice on a large scale; Both had a place for maintenance; Temples to please Gods so they will keep the world going and market/trade enabled complex society to function; Only few dealings between E, and W. Hemisphere; Increased after 1500s • Pacific Islands and Australia had irregular dealings with outside peoples (Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea); Didn't extend to distant Islands; Sailing allowed links; Some dealings with Asians and Americans; Like W. Hemisphere, islands built self-sufficient societies that tended their own needs; Limited natural resources; 13th century- Established well-organized agriculture societies and chiefly states throughout Pacific

Chucuito

• The kingdom of Chucuito dominated the highlands region around Lake Titicaca, which spans the border between modern Peru and Bolivia at about 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) of elevation, after the 12th century. • Chucuito depended on the cultivation of potatoes and the herding of llamas and alpaca, which were camels like beasts that were the only large domesticated animals anywhere in the Americas. Cultivators grew potatoes of different colors, sizes, and tastes. Like maize in Mesoamerica, potatoes served as the staple of the highlanders' diet, which revolved around a potato-based stew enlivened by maize, tomatoes, green vegetables, peppers, chiles, and meat from llamas, alpacas, or tender, domesticated guinea pigs. These beasts also provided for wool, hides, and dung, which was used as fuel. • The people of Chucuito exchanged potatoes and woolen textiles for maize and coca leaves.

Inca administration

• The large Inca region presented a lot of administrative challenge to its rulers. The Inca administrative system was the invention of Pachacuti himself. He entrusted military affairs to his son and settled in the highland village of Cuzco, where he designed a system of government to consolidate his conquests. He implemented taxes to support Inca rulers and administrators, and he organized a system of state-owned storehouses to stock agricultural surpluses and craft products such as textiles. He also began construction on an extensive network of roads that enabled Inca military forces and administrators to travel quickly.

social classes

• The main classes in Inca society were the rulers, the aristocrats, the priests, and the peasant cultivators of common birth. • The Incas considered their chief ruler a deity descended from the sun. The god-king owned all land, livestock, and property in the Inca realm, which he governed as an absolute and infallible ruler. • Like the ruling elites, Inca aristocrats and priests led privileged lives. Aristocrats consumed fine foods and dressed in embroidered clothes provided by common subjects. Priests often came from royal and aristocratic families. They led celibate and ascetic lives, but they deeply influenced Inca society because of their education and their responsibility for overseeing religious rituals. • The cultivators were mostly peasants of common birth who lived in communities known as ayllu, similar to the Mexicas' calpulli, which were the basic units of rural society. Ayllus consisted of several families who lived together, sharing land, tools, animals, crops, and work. Men provided the heavy labor required for the construction, maintenance, and repair of roads, buildings, and irrigation systems. Women delivered tribute in the form of textiles, pottery, and jewelry.