World of the Incas and the North American Indians. Willow LeTard and Kevin Nguyen

Transcription

1 World of the Incas and the North American Indians Willow LeTard and Kevin Nguyen

2 World of the Twantinsuyu 1300 c.e. in the Andean highlands Notable advances in metallurgy and architecture The Incas had a revolutionary state organization with bureaucratic control over people of different ethnicities, cultures, and languages, achieving a level of integration and domination never before seen in the americas

3 Inca Rise to Power Quechua-speaking clans, or ayllus, living near Cuzco, an area under the influence of the Huari gathered in Cuzco under the Inca leader Pachacuti Pachacuti s son, Topac Yupanqui, conquered the northern coastal kingdom of Chimor, spreading territory in the southern edge of modern day Ecuador The next ruler, Huayna Capac stretched the Twantinsuyu from modern day Columbia to modern day Chile, from Bolivia to Argentina

4 Religion and Conquest Inca conquest and expansion was driven by various beliefs, the belief of the cult of Inca ancestors was extremely important among the Inca beliefs. Deceased rulers were mummified and treated as intermediaries with the gods. Incas adopted the practice of split inheritance, whereby all political power and titles of the ruler went to his successor, but all his palaces, wealth, land, and possessions remained in the hands of his male successors. To ensure the ruler's own cult and place for eternity, each new inca needed to secure land and wealth which came in the form of new conquests. The cult of the sun spread throughout the empire, but the empire did not prohibit worship of local gods Other deities were worshipped as a part of the state religion. Viracocha was a popular creator god. Mountains, stones, rivers, caves, tombs, and temples were called huacas or holy shrines. Like the Aztecs, Incas held the sun to be the highest deity and considered themselves to be the sun s representatives. The Temple of the Sun Cuzco was the center of the state religion and held the mummies of past rulers.

5 The Techniques of Imperial Rule Ruler was the Inca, a person considered almost to be a god, who ruled from his court at Cuzco Major temple was also in Cuzco. The High Priest was usually a relative of the Inca Twantinsuyu was divided into four great provinces, each under a different governor, and then split again. Local rulers of conquered areas, called curacas, were allowed to maintain position under the governor's but as tribute they sent their sons to Cuzco to get educated Sent out Quechua-speaking colonists to integrate the empire into a whole by setting an example in newly conquered territory The Incas did not take much tribute except to have communities take turn s working on state or church land or building projects and mining. These labor turns were called mita

6 Inca Cultural Achievements The Incas artistic traditions were drawn from their Andean predecessors. Pottery, cloth, and metal were produced in specialized workshops. Metalworking was among the most advanced in the Americas and Incas worked with silver and gold with great skill. The Incas had no system of writing but instead a system of knotted strings, or quipu to record numerical information and perhaps other information. The Incas took censuses and recorded financial records. The Incas were renowned for their land and water management, extensive road system, state craft, and architecture. Ingenious agricultural terraces were made on the steep slopes of the Andes using a complex system of irrigation. The empire was linked by approximately 2500 miles of road which mostly included rope suspension bridges over rivers or gorges. Ancient Terraces built by the Incas (15th Century)

7 Comparing Incas and Aztecs Both empires were based on a long development of the civilizations before them They represented the success of imperial and military organization They were based on intensive agriculture They both transformed older kinship-based groups with the emergence of a social hierarchy vs They both showed nobles as the personnel of the state They both allowed variation from one region to another There were many differences in metallurgy, writing systems, and social definition of hierarchy The Aztec developed trade and markets much further than the Incas There were variations in system of belief, cosmology, and social structure

8 The Other Peoples of the Americas The civilizations of the Mesoamerica, Andes, and other imperial states continued to live in different ways. This ranged from highly complex sedentary agricultural empires to simple kin-based bands of hunters or gatherers. Groups such as the Incas had many things in common with tribal peoples of the Amazon Basin. The division of villages or communities into two major groupings called clans were one of the similarities between the two. The Amazon Basin

9 How Many People? The Americas Population c was approximately 57 to 72 million Population Estimation for the Western Hemisphere, 1942 Area Population (Millions) The current world population was about 389 to 614 million In 1492, the average reported population of Native Americans 8.5 million Different scholars believed there could be up to 112 million at the time but the general consensus was 67.3 million (see chart) North America 4.4 Mexico 21.4 Central America 5.65 Caribbean 5.85 Andes 11.5 Lowland South America 18.5 Total 67.3

10 Differing Cultural Patterns Northern, South, and parts of Central America was an intermediate area that shared many features with the Andes and parts of Mesoamerica. They could have served as point of cultural and material exchange between the two regions With the exception of architecture, the two chieftainships resembled the sedentary agricultural states in many ways. There is strong evidence of large chieftainships elsewhere in the Americas and along the Amazon, where the rich aquatic environment supported complex and hierarchical societies. Agriculture was spread widely throughout the Americas by Some people along the eastern North American woodlands and the coast of Brazil combined agriculture with hunting and fishing. Techniques such as slash and burn farming led to the periodic movement of villages when production declined. Social Organization in these societies often remained without strong class divisions, craft-specializations, or the demographic density of people who practiced permanent, intensive agriculture. Slash and Burn Agriculture Although often subordinate, women in some societies played an important political and social role, and usually played a central role in crop production.

11 American Diversity in World Context The Americas held a huge range of societies from empires like the Inca and Aztec, to small bands of hunters Religion played a dominant role in the relationship between people and their environment, as well as the individual and their society European observers were shocked at how the isolated cultures had grown The primitiveness of the tribespeople and hunting society Astounding wealth such as gold from the civilizations like the Aztecs and Inca

12 Bibliography World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-Clio Solutions, n.d. Web. 16 Nov < Stearns, Peter N., Michael Adas, Stuart B. Schwartz, and Marc J. Gilbert. World Civilizations The Global Experience. 5th ed. N.p.: n.p., n.d Print. Britannica ImageQuest. Britannica Digital Learning, n.d. Web. 17 Nov < Britannica School High. Britannica Digital Learning, n.d. Web. 20 Nov <