Civilizations of Mesoamerica

Peopling the Americas

• 12,000 years ago

• Bering Strait becomes

a land bridge

• Hunters-gatherers

follow the herds from

Siberia to Alaska

• Head south and east

across North, Central,

and South America

New Environments

• Rockies, Sierra Madre, Andes, desert, rainforest, plains

• Neolithic Revolution 8500-2000 BC; domestication of plants and animals; maize, beans, squash

• Settled village life and farming

The Olmecs

• 1500-400 BC; Mother

Culture; tropical

forests along the Gulf

Coast of Mexico

• San Lorenzo; La

Venta

• Carved stone; Olmec

heads; calendar,

hieroglyphics; trade

The Maya

• Yucatan and Central America

• Slash and burn; raised fields along rivers

• City-states that trade and make war with one another

• Each had a king; priests, nobles, merchants, farmers Jade Funeral Mask of

Lord Pakal

Cultural Life

• Polytheistic

• Temples and palaces

• Stela; gods and rulers

• Hieroglyphics

• 365 day solar

calendar; 260 day

ritual calendar

• In 900 AD they

abandon their cities

The Aztec

• 1200 AD settle the

Valley of Mexico

• Tenochtitlan

• Chinampas

• 1400s begin a course

of conquest

• By 1517 it’s estimated

they number between

5 and 6 million people

Aztec Society

• War and tribute brings wealth to the empire

• Unlike Aztec, one capital, one ruler

• Emperor is elected by warriors, priests, nobles

• Middle class is made up of merchants

• Farmers

• Slaves, debtors Tenochtitlan

Cultures of South America

• 900 BC the Chavin; huge temple complex

• 100-700 AD the Moche in north Peru

• 200 BC-600 AD the Nazca in southern Peru

• Giant geoglyphs; giant birds, whales, other animals

The Inca

• 1100-1500 AD; capital was Cuzco

• Emperor

• Empire stretched 2500 miles

• Quipu

• Roads, bridges, steps, tunnels

• Terraces

• Surgery

Quipu

Cuzco Today

Bridges Today

Peoples of North America

• 1500 AD to the arrival of the Europeans

• Ten culture areas; people adapted to geographic conditions

• Hohokam farm in the desert; Anasazi are cliff dwellers; Mound Builders; Inuit; Iroquois form a League