America before Columbus
This presentation contains some highlights of life in the Americas
Most of the information is from the book “1491: New Revelations of the America’s before
Columbus.” by Charles Mass
More than just isolated bands of people wandering the country or small, isolated villages with minimal populationGreat civilizations are rising and falling, just like the rest of the world
Rome, Egypt, Babylon, Greece, etc
The last ice-age
Origins of People in America
• Crossed over a Bering Straits land bridge around 11,000 BC, travelling between two glaciers
• Theory emerged in the 1960’s
Traditional
theory
• People may have arrived here thousands of years earlier
• Did they arrive by boat rather than walking across a land bridge?
• Artifacts in Chile may be over 30,000 years old
• Earliest settlements may 50,000 years old
Emerging theory
Neolithic (new stone age) Revolution
Middle East• Farming invented about 9,000 BC• Wheel, metal tools follow• Sumeria invents writing about 3,000 BC
• World’s first great civilization
America• Farming invented about 8,000• Around 1,800 BC the Olmec (in central
America) become America’s first great civilization• Religion, economics, science, writing,
trade, astronomy, 365 day calendar, recorded histories
• Maya will add the “0” by 357 AD
Pre-Columbian Civilizations;Five Examples
• Andes Mountains of South AmericaInca
• Yucatan Peninsula in Central AmericaMaya
• Capitol city is under Mexico CityAztec
• Eastern United StatesThree Mound Building cultures
• New York areaIroquois League
IncaMachu Pichu
What does it take to build this?
IncaBy 1491 it was the world’s largest empireCovered 32 degrees of latitude and every type of terrain
Forest, coastal, desert, alpine, steppe, etc
Terrain limited their contact with the outside except for immediate neighbors
IncaInca absorb/conquer many different languages and beliefs. For record keeping they use a system of knotted ropes (khipu or quipu)
Can be used in an empire with diverse languages
People were forced to donate service to the state
Could be far from home for many months Farmers, builders, soldiers
No money, no markets All food and goods were
supplied by the stateStill being studied – first string may be ones, second string tens, etc.Or may be unique form of writing like a binary code
Incan ConquestsWhen the Inca expanded and a foreign people were conquered, Inca settlers from far away would be brought in and slowly absorb the foreign culture into the Inca.
China does this todayConquered people allowed to keep old customs, clothes, etc, but they had to speak the language of the Inca
Incan TechnologySail boat with cotton sails, could sail 300 miles from shoreMetallurgy focused on ornamentationMonumental architectureWoven fibers as tools
Suspension bridges with cables 1’ thick
Incan WeaponsMulti-layered cotton body armor
Comparable to European plate?Club, mace, bows, javelins, 5’ sling, later bola’s
Sling stones heated in a fire, dipped in pitch and quickly thrown; would burst in to flame in mid-flight
Incan command structure did not allow for individual creativity on battlefield
Slow to develop new tactics Problem when Spanish arrive
MayaMaya and Aztec maps overlaid
Their empires existed at different times
MayaA collection of city-states and surrounding towns, each run by a king
From 526-682 AD the cities of Calakmul (or Kaan) and Tikal (or Mutal) fight for dominance
Tikal will eventually win
Mayan CivilizationArchitecture
Step pyramidsWriting, most complete pre-ColumbianMathematics, and zero
Chichen Itza
Mayan WritingEach picture is a syllableThe most advanced written language in the America’s prior to Columbus
Fall of the Maya (maybe)
Population probably exceeded the carrying capacity of the landCut down much of the regions forests for fuel and agriculture
Loss of tree cover leads to large scale erosion and floodingAs population grows farmers using less productive landSystem is barely hanging one when a long dry spell (about 800-900 AD) hits the areaSociety disintegrates
Civil War?Mayan cities fail in 800’sCivilization collapsed by 900
Aztec or MexicaPart of a triple alliance
Tula, Teotihuacan, Tenochtitlan (dominant)By 1519 Tenochtitlan had a population of 200,000
Easily larger than any city in Europe at that time City reached by boat or walking across one of three causeways
Aztec WritingConsists of pictures to interpret, not as advanced as Mayan writing
Almost all Aztec records are destroyed by the Spanish
Aztec ArchitectureAlso build step pyramids
Much of Tenochtitlan will be destroyed by the Spanish
Aztec ReligionThe Aztec/Mexica are the keepers of the cosmic orderAt the top of celestial harmony is Ometeotl (the Lord of the Close Vicinity) who sustains the cosmosOmeteotl has four sons
Huitzilopochtli is a martial god, Aztec patron dietyThe four sons compete for supremacy
History is a record of their struggleOne will eventually wrestle himself to the top and the other three create a balance below
Aztec Religion, cont.
The one in domination links himself to the sun, upon which all life dependsWhen the balance comes apart the brothers resume their struggle, winner reignites the sunAt the time of the Spanish arrival the Aztec were living under the 5th sunEvery day the sun battles across the sky against the moonSome day the sun will loose, but the sun can be fortified by a life force requiring blood/human sacrifices
Cortes estimated 3,000 to 4,000 per year
Sacrificial knives
Mound BuildersCollective term for three successive civilizations
Adena, 1000 – 200 BC Hopewell, 200 BC – 500 AD Mississippians, 800 – 1500 BC
Notice the size of their influence
How did they travel?
HopewellBuilt thousands of mounds from southern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, Great Plains to the Atlantic coast
Especially dense in Ohio valley Mounds had been built by earlier cultures Most mounds destroyed by westward expansion
Hopewell influence lasts from a few centuries BC to about 400 ADEarthwork walled cities
Most also destroyed
CahokiaCivilization rises after the HopewellAbout 15,000 people lived in CahokiaMonks Mound in Cahokia, around 950-1250 AD
4 stories high 1,000 feet long across the top Base is larger than the Great
Pyramid at Giza Surrounded by about 120 other
mounds Largest building project in
Ancient America
Fall of CahokiaBuild a palisade of 20,000 trees around the central monuments
Increases flooding which ruins harvestsBurn thousands of acres to create farmlandFlooding an ongoing problem, then an earthquake
Destroys the city and part of Monks Mound Will try, unsuccessfully, to repair the mound
Earthquake causes flooding (tsunami) and fires Area descends into Civil War, by 1350 Cahokia is
almost empty
The Great Law of Peace:Iroquois League
Five tribes (later six) involved Seneca, Cayuga, Onandaga, Oneida,
Mohawk, later TuscaroraIncrease in agriculture = bigger populations = fighting between tribesTwo men work to bring peace to these tribes
Deganawidah, the peacemaker, has speech impediment
Ayenwatha (or Hiawatha)They convince the five tribes to form an alliance
Use a visual to break one arrow by hand, then hold five arrows and try to break Example of strength and unity
This Iroquois League may have been formed as early as 1142
Governing within the Five TribesClan heads
Are all female Select the sachems Can replace the sachem if they act poorly
Sachems Are all male Sachems then represent the tribe and the will of the people 50 sachems to represent the five tribes Sachems represent the will of their people, if they act poorly they
can be replaced by the Clan Heads Male sachems act as war chiefs Sachems can only discuss topics approved by the women All decisions by the council of sachems must be unanimous
(consensus) Clan heads (women) could vote down, or veto, any decisions
made by the SachemsInternal affairs are handled within each tribePotential influence on the United States’ Constitution?