Andrew Yang PERSIAN Chart Period 7 AP World History

POLITICAL Leaders, Elites

State Structure War

Diplomacy, Treaties Courts, Laws

Chapter 11: The Americas on the Eve of Expansion The Mesoamerican Postclassical civilizations start from where the Mayans abandoned their city centers in the 8th Century CE. The Toltec sweep in to fill the power vacuum (Teotihuacan falls). Focus of political power shifts to the central valley region and lakes of Mexico. 968CE = Toltec capital of Tula est. Empire extends over much of Central Mexico, with an influence extending into Mayan lands. c.1000CE = conquering of Chichen Itza Turning Point: 1150CE is the sacking of Tula and downfall of the Toltec For another 180 years many city states and tribes vie for control of the region; I. The Aztecs The Aztecs unexpectedly seep into the region and consolidate a hold by founding Tenochtitlan in the middle of Lake Texcoco around 1325CE. By 1428 CE = the Aztecs dominate the political situation 1434 CE = Triple Alliance between Texcoco, Tenochtitlan, and Tlacopan (Aztecs get the lions share of the benefits and territory) Tenochtitlan grows along with other Aztec cities, eventually having a population of about 150,000 people and occupying 5 sq miles of land by the time of Cortes invasion in 1519CE; population estimates of the whole empire are suggested at 20 million people at the peak of empire Internal strife was common and served as a major factor for Aztec weakness against the Spanish conquistadors. The empire was not really a very unified state but more based on tribute payments (inversely related to the degree of rebellion in the conquered territory) intended to intimidate and coerce into political submission; rebellions are harshly put down II. The Inca From the Andean cultural hearth, after the breakup of many large states such as the Huari and Tiahuanaco c.550 1000CE, there is also a power vacuum in which various regional kingdoms and chiefdoms vie for economic and political power (Moche valley kingdoms and the civilizations in and around Lake Titicaca); the state of Chimor with capital of Chan Chan emerges from the power struggle as the strongest political power in the region(900-1465CE) From the southern Andean highlands, Quechuan speaking clans (ayllus, much like a calpulli) living near Cuzco supposedly from legend come out of caves and come out to settle Cuzco by 1350CE 1438CE = Inca Pachacuti (1438 1471CE) begins a series of military campaigns that conquer Chimor and consolidate control over Lake Titicaca and the regions surrounding Cuzco. Thus, his successors continue on an endless set of campaigns to conquer territories to continue the practice of split inheritance, where the heir got the power but the king kept his land and wealth to himself.(Very unlike the Aztec drive for conquest that was centered on getting sacrificial victims) By 1527CE, his successors Topac Yupanqui, and Huayana Capac consolidate a large empire stretching from Ecuador to southern Chile; internal strife rock the empire apart and opens the way for Pizarro to conquer Inca Empire is highly structured with a noble bureaucracy and a series of local rulers pledging allegiance, as well as governors of the 4 provinces of the empire that were handpicked by the king himself (a mix of centralized and decentralized government that is similar to the tribute system of the Aztecs)

ECONOMIC Type of System

Technology, Industry Trade, Commerce Capital/Money Types of Businesses

Depended upon traditional forms of agriculture; the land was appropriated and food was demanded as tribute payment from conquered peoples; as a result, great surpluses of maize, corn, cotton, etc were brought into the capital city Tenochtitlan The chinampas system of irrigation, in which artificial islands of reeds were created to grow plants on and allow water to seep into faster, enables 4 harvesting seasons a year; dikes kept the freshwater separate from the brackish water of the southern portion of the lake. Tenochtitlan is at the center of a huge trade route that indicates contact with the Anasazi through the Turquoise trade route and even possibly an influence on the Hopewell of the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys through the arrival of huge pyramid mound structures in present day Illinois. Food was produced by the peasant farmers; local clans apportioned lands; the state controlled the distribution and accumulation of resources (a primitive form of socialism). Same situation with the Inca, in which the state controlled the distribution and flow of resources, except that the Inca were very self sufficient people and did not rely so much on trade Religion was a vast, unifying, sometimes oppressive force with a n emphasis on the fusion of earth and the religious realm At least 128 major deities, each with a female partner are venerated, and each god has many manifestations; certain gods become patron gods of city states; religious festivals and feasts each year are held to honor the gods Three Cults of Gods: 1. Fertility and Agriculture Deities Tlaloc, the god of rain, and other gods and goddesses of maize, water, and fertility 2. Creator Deities (gods of The Sun, an energetic driving force powered by human sacrificial blood , such as Tonatiuh, god of the Sun and Tezcatlipoca, god of night 3. Warfare and Human Sacrifice = Huitzilopochtli, the supreme deity in the eyes of the Aztec, and Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent/creator god/second most important deity The nourishment of the gods is the precious water of human blood; the world is powered by the gods and without blood for offerings, the world will collapse on itself and be destroyed (special Temple at Tenochtitlan) Incan religion is much the same, with human sacrifice also an important part of the religion and the sun god worshipped more A supreme ruler with wide powers emerges from a loose association of clans (social stratification) Tlacaelel is the central figure behind the change (1427-1480CE), rewriting the histories of the Aztecs and expanding the rite of human sacrifice to an enormous cult pushed by military conquests and flower wars; the king represents the civil and religious power(a bridge to the gods) There are originally 7 clan groups each called calpullis that were organized into residential districts and had their own functioning units that controlled recruitment of soldiers and maintenance of temples; much of the local life is based upon the calpulli; the family heads of each calpulli from governing councils , and the noble class emerges from the leaders of the calpulli, inheriting high office and controlling almost everything in terms of religious, political , and economic power with their estates. The class lower than the nobles are the rare merchant and artisan classes who can also spy for the Great Speaker, or emperor, and below them are the peasants, serfs, and slaves from conquered areas.

RELIGIOUS Holy Books

Beliefs, Teaching Conversion Sin/Salvation Deities

SOCIAL

Family Gender Relations Social Classes Inequalities Life Styles

Although women are restricted to household duties, they can pass on and even inherit land, an anomaly not seen in the rest of the world; marriages were arranged. The Incas possess much the same process of social stratification as territory was consolidated. Much time was consumed by lower classes concerning the grinding of maize and preparation of it for eating; NO wheel = NO sophisticated technology as in machines = NO real social development among the lower class; however, there is an abundance of art portraying the gods and human sacrifices, as well as ornately built temples and pyramids dedicated to gods Much religious and philosophical though is put into contemplating the importance of the gods in the creation of the universe and lifes questions about the existence of man Religious calendar reflects the cyclical nature of history and the destruction of the Earth (as in the great extinctions that occurred over the slow course of Earth history) A continuation of Mesoamerican art and intellectual information (star charts, religion, the calendar, etc) The Incas are well known for their advanced irrigation system involving terraces on the Andean Highlands; there was a huge extensive system of roads made of twisted rope fibers spanning gorges and mountain passes, some of which are still functional to this day. Incan buildings possess great workmanship and display great labor, because there was a lack of masonry in the Andean highlands (the walls have so few cracks that one cannot even chip at the wall with a knife and create a hole), especially in the ruins of Machu Picchu. Impressive system of supply centers and rest stops set up along the empires more than 3000 mile long territory called tambos. Incan counting system , or quipu, consists of a system of rods and dots that resembled an abacus type system The Americas are geographically isolated from the hotbeds of cultural contact and borrowing between Arabs, Crusaders, and African traders in the Postclassical era. Considering this, it is quite an accomplishment for the Aztecs and Incas to establish great empires with no help from anyone but their predecessor civilizations and with a lack of the resources such as the wheel and a scarcity of pack animals that were found so commonly in Eurasia and Africa.

INTELLECTUAL, ARTS Art, Music

Writing, Literature Philosophy Math & Science Education

NEAR: GEOGRAPHY Location

Physical Movement Human/Environme Region

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NOTES: The other Indians compromised of a diverse bunch of hunter gathering and agriculture based societies that developed some political and social hierarchies. But their role in shaping civilization in the Americas was minimal compared to the two great empires of the Aztec and Inca; both empires built upon the success of their ancestor civilizations, modifying their histories to glorify their people. They left behind