America: The Post-Classical Era

1. America: The Post-Classical Era • 1000-1500 B.C. • collapse of Teotihuacan • collapse of classical Mayan civilization

2. New Cultures • appearance of new peoples in central America • Toltecs • Aztecs

3. The Toltecs • adopted sedentary agricultural practices • added a strong military and imperial culture • conquest of neighboring peoples • ritual wars • war....capture...sacrifice • “givers of civilization”

4. Toltec empire • central Mexico • expansion into former Mayan territories • northern Mexico • trade with the American Southwest • Chaco Canyon ???

5. Contacts with North America • Hopewell culture ?? • Mississippi culture • maize, beans, squash • ritual sacrifices and executions??? • Cahokia

6. Quetzalcoatl • The Feathered Serpent • Topiltzin: a priest • religious reformer • opposed to human and animal sacrifice • exiled to the east, with a promise to return on a specific date • same year as Cortez and the Conquistadors

7. The Aztecs • collapse of the Toltecs: 1150 A.D. • influx of nomadic invaders form the north • shift of power to central Mexico • large lakes • fertile agricultural areas • contests for control

8. The Aztecs: Origins • obscure background • claimed to have live in the area originally • exiled to the north to Aztlan • actually, nomads from the North • took advantage of the Toltec collapse • wrote history to suit their purposes

9. Origins • group who settled near Lake Texcoco • 1325 A.D. • competed with other Chichimec immigrants • small states • claiming connections to the Toltecs • speaking Nahuatl

10. Lake Texcoco • several tribes • small city-state • Azcapotzalco, Culhuacan • Culhuacan: control by diplomatic marriage • complex alliances, constantly shifting

11. Aztecs • new group • used as mercenaries and occasional allies • constant movement around the lake shore • driven by stronger powers • reputation: good warriors and religious fanatics

12. Aztec Settlement • the legend: an eagle on a cactus, holding a rattlesnake • an island in Lake Texcoco • Tenochtitlan • 1325 A.D. • Tlateloco: a second settlement

13. Aztec expansion • more active role in regional politics • rebelled against Azcapotzalco • emerged as an independent power • political merge: 1434 • Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, Tlacopan • Aztecs dominated the alliance

14. Social and Political Change • imperial expansion • subject peoples paid tribute, surrender land, and do military service • stratified society • under the authority of a supreme ruler • Tlacaelel: advised rulers and rewrote histories • the Aztecs had been chosen to serve the gods • human sacrifice greatly expanded

15. Human sacrifice • role of the military • role of expansion • flower wars • means of political terrorism • cult of sacrifice united with the political state

16. Religion and Conquest • little distinction between the natural and supernatural • traditional gods and goddesses • 128 major deities

17. Gods • male/female dualism • different manifestations • five aspects • four directions • the center • gods as patrons • complex ceremonial year

18. Gods, con’t • gods of fertility and agriculture • gods of creation • cosmology and philosophical thought • gods of warfare • Huitzilopochtli: their tribal deity • identified with the Sun God

19. The Sun God and Sacrifice • a warrior in the daytime sky • fighting to give life to the world • enemy of the forces of night • the sun needs strength • 52 year cycle of the world • required blood to avert destruction

20. The Sun God, con’t • sacrifice for sacrifice • the gods need nourishment • human blood and hearts • adoption of longstanding human sacrifice • expansion to “industrial” proportions • 10,000 people on one occasion

21. The Empire: the Economy • high population density • combination of tradition and innovation • chinampas • 20,000 acres • four crops a year • food as tribute

22. The Fall • 20 million people • large cities • appearance of the Spanish • disease and European military technology

23. South America: the Incas • Cuzco: original home • 1350 A.D. • expansion by 1438 • Incan empire • ruled 10-13 million people

24. Religion and expansion • cult of ancestors • “split inheritance” • position to successor • land and wealth to descendants to care for the dead • new land necessary for each ruler

25. Religion • animism • sun worship

26. The Empire • four provinces • decimal organizations • Ouechua: the official language • colonists

27. The Empire con’t • infrastructure: roads and bridges • communications by runners • 10,000 • purpose: land and labor • little actual tribute

28. Inca “socialism” • empire claimed all resources • redistributed them evenly to all peoples • local independence • access to new goods and services

29. Weakness • top-heavy with royal and noble families • low level of technology • easy prey for the Spanish