The Americas PDF

The Americas The Maya The Maya inhabited the highlands of Guatemala and the Yucatan peninsula in present-day Mexico and Belize. The Archaic period, prior to 2000 BC, saw the first developments in agriculture and the earliest villages. The...

The Americas The Maya The Maya inhabited the highlands of Guatemala and the Yucatan peninsula in present-day Mexico and Belize. The Archaic period, prior to 2000 BC, saw the first developments in agriculture and the earliest villages. The Preclassic period (c. 2000 BC to 250 AD) saw the establishment of the first complex societies in the Maya region, and the cultivation of the staple crops of the Maya diet, including maize, beans, squashes, and chili peppers. The first Maya cities developed around 750 BC, and by 500 BC these cities possessed monumental architecture, including large temples with elaborate stucco façades. Yucatan Peninsula Limestone formations created deep natural wells called cenotes, which became critical sources of water in an often-arid environment. Cenotes were essential to farming and also became important religious and spiritual sites.  Maize and other food- stuffs The staple crop of the Maya was maize, often raised in small remote plots called milpas in combination with other food-stuffs, including beans, squash, chili peppers, some root crops, and fruit trees. They farmed on raised narrow rectangular plots that they built above the seasonally flooded low-lying land bordering rivers.  POLL What is a Cenote and why is it important for the Maya civilization? A. It was one of the Kings of the Mayas, important for his many military victories B. It was a god of the Mayas, he told the Mayas where to found their colonies C. It was a god of the Incas that was also adopted by the Mayas D. It is a natural well, it is a critical source of water in an often-arid environment E. It was a town near Granada where the Mayas defeated the Aztecs  Maya City States The entire Maya region may have had as many as 14 million inhabitants. Sites like Uxmal, Uaxactun, Copan, Piedras Negras, Tikal, Palenque, and Chichen Itza emerged as independent city- states, each ruled by a hereditary king. These cities produced polychrome pottery and featured altars, engraved pillars, masonry temples, palaces for nobles, pyramids where nobles  The largest site, Tikal, may have had forty thousand people and served as a religious and ceremonial center. A hereditary nobility owned land, waged war, traded, exercised political power, and directed religious rituals.  POLL The Maya civilization was organized in: A. City-States B. Khanates C. Major Provinces D. Emirates and Caliphates E. North American States of Colorado and Texas. Examples of Mayan culture: the Maya ball game  In the sixteenth century Spanish religious authorities viewed Maya books as demonic and ordered them to be destroyed. Only a handful survived, offering a window into religious rituals and practices, as well as Maya astronomy.  The Decline of the Mayan Society Between the eighth and tenth centuries the Maya abandoned their cultural and ceremonial centers. Archeologists attribute their decline to a combination of agricultural failures due to drought, land exhaustion, overpopulation, disease, and constant wars fought for economic and political gain. These wars brought widespread destruction, which aggravated agricultural problems. Royalty also suffered from the decline in Maya civilization: just as in good times kings attributed moral authority and prosperity to themselves, so in bad times, their subjects saw the kings as the cause and turned against them.  Maya new farming communities Decline did not mean disappearance. The Maya ceased building monumental architecture around 900 C.E., which likely marked the end of the era or rule by powerful kings who could mobilize the labor required to build it. The Maya persisted in farming communities, a pattern of settlement that helped preserve their The Vanishing strategy of the Maya, used against the invasion of the Aztec army and later with the Spanish conquistadores. Between 1300 and 1345 a group of Nahuatl-speaking people, the Mexica, migrated southward from what is now northern Mexico, settling on the shores and islands of Lake Texcoco in the central valley of Mexico.  They formed a vast and rapidly expanding empire centered around the twin cities of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco, which by 1500 were probably larger than any city in Europe except Istanbul. This was the Aztec Empire, a network of alliances and tributary states with the Mexica at its core. The Mexica and the Tepanecs At the moment of the Mexica arrival, control over much of the valley lay in the hands of the Tepanec Alliance. The Mexica negotiated the right to settle on a swampy island on Lake Texcoco in exchange for military service to the Tepanecs. The Mexica adopted the customs of their new region, organizing clan- based communities called calpolli, incorporating the deities of their new neighbors, and serving the Tepanecs. From the True History by Bernal Diaz del Castillo “When we saw all those cities and villages built in the water, and other great towns on dry land, and that straight and level causeway leading to Mexico, we were astounded. These great towns and cues (temples) and buildings rising from the water, all made of stone, seemed like an enchanted vision….Indeed, some of our soldiers asked whether it was not all a dream.”  POLL What are the calpolli: A. The people who worship the god Huitzilpochtli B. Clan-based communities organized by the Mexica C. A group of elite warriors in the Aztec army D. A group of elite warriors in the Maya army E. A new agricultural system invented by the Aztecs  Defeat of the Tepanec In 1428, the Mexica formed a coalition with other cities in the Valley of Mexico, besieged the Tepanec capital for nearly three months, and then defeated it. A powerful new coalition had emerged: the Triple Alliance, with the Mexica as its most powerful partner. The Aztec Empire was born. To consolidate the new political order, Tlatoani Itzcoatl, guided by his nephew Tlacaelel, burned his predecessors’ books and drafted a new history. The new history placed the warrior cult and its religious pantheon at the center of Mexica history, making the god of war, Huitzilpochtli, the patron deity of the empire. Huitzilopoc htli Huitzilopochtli, “The Hummingbird of the South,” was a god unique to the Mexica who, according to the new official origin stories of the Mexica people, had ordered them to march south until they found an island where he gave them the sign of an eagle eating a serpent, which appeared to them in Tenochtitlan.  The new Imperial Order Under the new imperial order, government offices combined military, religious, and political functions. Eventually, tlatoanis formalized these functions into distinct noble and common classes. This gave soldiers opportunities for social advancement. After securing five sacrificial victims in battle, a commoner soldier entered the lower nobility, which freed him from paying tribute. He could show his new status by publicly wearing feathers and flowers. The Mexica sustained themselves through military conquest, imposing their rule over a vast part of modern  An Aztec commoner soldier could enter the lower nobility if: A. He swore allegiance to the god Huitzilpochtli POLL B. He participated in the military expedition against Spain C. He abstained from drinking beer for at least six months D. He could secure at least five sacrificial victims in battle E. He participated in the many wars against the north-American Redskins  Warriors and Sacrifices The need for sacrifice, as well as the glorification of the warriors who provided it through battle, was a powerful rationale for the expansion of the Aztec empire. The Aztecs elevated the warrior cult as the central observance. They believed that they were the chosen people, who faced a bleak struggle to save the Earth from the apocalypse. The Mexica believed the Earth had been destroyed and re- created four times. The end of creation loomed after their age, the fifth sun. Since the apocalypse might be forestalled through divine intervention, their sacrifice could show that humans  The End of the Aztec Empire Between 1519 and 1521 the Aztec Empire, headed by Moctezuma II, fell to the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes. Cortes and his men managed the encounter skillfully and succeeded in taking Moctezuma prisoner. When the residents of Tenochtitlan rose up to expel the Spaniards, Moctezuma was killed, either at the ends of the Spaniards or by his own subjects, depending on the account. Though the Spaniards were cast out of the city, they left an unwelcome guest, smallpox. The first epidemic of the disease swept through the city in 1520, killing