and hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome back to another episode of ap world history modern readings where today we are reading chapter 1.4 developments in the americas quote i love the song of the mockingbird bird of 400 voices i love the color of jade and the intoxicating scent of flowers but more than all i love my brother man end quote nezuhua kayode 1402-1472 aztec poet essential question what states developed in the americas and how did they change over time following the decline of the olmecs in mesoamerica and the chavin in the andes new civilizations such as the mayans the aztecs and the incas arose in the same regions in addition the first large-scale civilization in north america developed as in afro-eurasia several of the civilianizations developed strong states large urban centers and complex belief systems current knowledge about these civilizations combines archaeological evidence world traditions and writings by europeans who came to the americans after 1492 one poem recorded by the spanish was the one above from an aztec writer the mississippian culture the first large-scale civilization in north america emerged in the 700s or 1800s and what is now the eastern united states since it started in the mississippi river valley it is known as the mississippian culture while other cultures built monumental buildings mississippians built enormous earthen mountains some of which were as tall as 100 feet and covered in area the size of 12 football fields the largest of these mounds is kehokia located in southern illinois government and society the mississippian society had a rigid class structure a chief called the great sun ruled each large town below the great sun was an upper class of priests and nobles in a lower class of farmers hunters merchants and artisans at the bottom were slaves who usually were prisoners of war in general women farmed and men hunted the mississippians had a meteorol society which means that social standing was determined by the women's side of the family for example when the great sun died the title passed not to his own son but to a sister's son the decline of the mississippian civilization people abandoned chejokiya around 1450 and other large mississippian cities by 1600 historians disagree on why the mississippi people moved one theory poses that flooding or other natural extreme weathers caused dura crop failure and the collapse of the agricultural economy needed to sustain the population of the large cities another theory suggests that diseases introduced by the europeans decimated the population choco and mesa verde soon after the rise of the mississippian civilization various cultures emerged in what is now the southwestern united states living in a drier region people develop ways to collect transport and store water efficiently in addition because of the climate trees were small and scarce so people had little wood to use to build homes two cultures became well known for their innovations the chaco built large housing structures using stones and clay some of which included hundreds of rooms the people of mesa verde built multi-story homes into the sides of cliffs using bricks made of sandstone both groups declined in the late 13th century as the climate became drier the maya city-states mayan civilizations reached its height between 250 and 600 ce mayans wretched over the southern part of mexico and much of what is now belize ein joined us and guatemala most lived in or near one of the approximately 40 cities that ranged in size from five thousand to fifty thousand people at its peak as many as two million mayans populated the region mayan government the main form of mayan government was the city-states each ruled by a king and consisting of a city and its surrounding territory most rulers were men however when no male heir was available or old enough to govern mayan women ruled wars between city-states were common at times city-states were overthrown however mayans rarely fought to control territory more often they fought to gain tributes payments from the conquered to the conqueror and the captives to be used as human sacrifices during religious ceremonies each mayan king claimed to be descended from a god the mayans believed that when the king died he would become one with his ancestral god the king decree and directed the activists these of the elite scribes and the priests who administered the affairs of the states royal rule usually passed from fathered son but kings who lost the support of the people were sometimes overthrown the common people were required to pay taxes usually in form of crops and to provide labor to the government city-states had no standing armies so when war erupted governments required citizens to provide military service no central government ruled all mayan lands although often one city state was the strongest in the region and would dominate its neighbors mayan religion science and technology the mayans were innovative thinkers and inventors for example they incorporated the concept of xero into their number system developed a complex writing system and learned to make rubber out of liquid collected from rubber plants mayan science and religion were linked through astronomy based on the calendar priests decided when to celebrate religious ceremonies and whether to go to war as a result keeping an accurate calendar was very important although the mayans had no telescopes they made very precise observatories atop pyramids such as the one at chichen itza their observations enabled priests to design a calendar more accurate than any used in europe at the time one task of priest who could be either male or female was to conduct ceremonies honoring many deities among the most important deities were those of the sun rain and corn mayans made offerings to the gods so prayers might be answered war captives were sometimes killed as offerings and as you can see here with the image the source is think stock which also the caption underneath states mayan pyramid with steps going up the side were similar to the mesopotamian ziggurats similarly shaped architecture can be found from spain in algeria to china and indonesia the aztecs the aztecs also known as the mexicans were originally hunter-gatherers who migrated to central mexico from the north in the 1200s in 1325 they founded their capital tenno di long on the site of what is now mexico city over the next hundred years they conquered the surrounding peoples and created an army that stretched from the gulf of mexico to the pacific ocean capital city the aztecs located ten oak teach long on an island in the middle of a swampy lake in order to protect it from attacks techno tikkalang grew to almost 2 000 200 000 people making it one of the largest cities in the world to provide water for the city they built a network of aqueducts at the city center of the city the aztecs built a pyramid that rose 150 feet into the air this great pyramid in other pyramids temples and palaces were made of stone unlike texas cocoa the aztecs built floating gardens called shinabas to increase the amount of space for food production the essex doug ditches to use lake water to irrigate their field and to drain parts of the lake for more land government economy and society as the aztecs conquered much of mesoamerica they developed a tribute system that ensured their dominance [Music] conquered people were are forced to pay tribute surrender lands and perform military service contribute include practical goods such as food cloth and firewood as well as luxury items such as feathers beads and jewelry the aztecs allowed local rulers to stay in their positions to serve as tribute collectors this allowed aztec political dominance without direct administrative control in exchange the conquered people were extended aztec protection to administer the empire the aztecs grouped city-states and provinces they moved warriors and their families to each province's capital to make sure the province remained under aztec control in addition an aztec official was stationed in each capital to collect tribute from local rulers aztec government was a bureaucracy which is a rule by religious leaders at the top was the emperor known as the great speaker who was the political ruler as well as a divine representative of the gods next in the social hierarchy were land owning nobles who also formed the majority of aztec military leadership next in line were scribes and healers followed by craftspeople and traders a special merchant class called poxtia goods below the traders where the peasants and soldiers aztec people could be enslaved as well unusually because they did not pay their debts or were being punished for crimes besides being used for labor enslaved people were also offered up as sacrifices in religious ceremonies however one thing i did not touch on is the source at the top of the page of 36. this being from d e q g decker galoret granger nyc is the source with the caption the construction of chinapas and mesoamerica was one way people expanded the land on which to grow crops with as you can see here about i want to say six people here in the image a with a literal guard floating garden all right religion the intricate and complex religion of the aztecs was central to their society they worshipped an ever-evolving pantheon of hundreds of deities many of whom were considered to have both male and female aspects worship among the aztecs involved a great many rituals and feast days as well as human sacrifices the aztecs believed that the gods had sacrificed themselves in order to create the world thus human sacrifices and blood but letting was a sort of repayment and atonement for human sin human sacrifice probably had a political component in the sense that it demonstrated the great might of the aztec empire in dramatic fashion the number of human sacrifices may never be known much of the information about the aztec society comes from spanish invaders who may have exaggerated the extent of human sacrifice in order to make the aztec scene more deserving of conquest role of women women played an important role in the aztec tribute system since they wove the valuable cloth that local rulers demanded as part of the regular tribute as the demand for cloth tribute increased an aztec husband might obtain more than one wife in order to be able to pay the tribute while most aztec women worked in their homes some became priestesses midwives healers or merchants a few noble women worked as scribes to female members of royal families therefore at least a few women knew how to read and write the decline of the aztecs by the late 15th century the aztec empire was in decline the aztecs comparatively low technology such as the lack of wheeled vehicles and packed animals meant the agricultural was artists and inefficient the aztecs commitment to military victory was the and constant desire for more human sacrifices induced the leadership to expand the empire beyond what it could reasonably govern finally the extraction from conquered people of tribute and sacrifice victims inspired more resentment than loyalty because of this resentment many tribes ruled by the aztecs were ready to rebel if they thought they had an opportunity to succeed this government this opportunity would come later when spaniards arrived in 1519 the inca in 1438 a tribal leader who called himself pacho cutie which means transformer or shaker of the earth began conquering the tribes living near what is now cusco peru his military victories followed by those of his son combined the small tribes into a full-fledged state the incan empire it extended from present-day ecuador in the north to chile in the south by 1493 pakis grandson kyani kapok ruled this empire he focused on consolidating and managing the many lands conquered by his predecessors government economy and society in order to rule the extensive territory efficiently the incan empire was split into four provinces each with its own governor and bureaucracy conquered leaders who demonstrated its loyalty to the empire were rewarded in contrast to the people living under the aztecs conquered people under the inca did not have to pay tribute rather they were subject to the meeta system mandatory public service men between the ages of 15 and 50 provided agricultural and other forms of labor including the construction of roads religion the name inca means people of the sun and in t the sun god was the most important of the incan gods inca rulers were considered to be nt's representative on the earth at the great descent at the center of two critical elements in incan religion honoring the of the son and royal ancestor veneration the temple of the sun and cusco formed the core of incan religion royal ancestor venerean was a practice intended to extend the rule of a leader dead rulers were mummified and continued to rule as if they had in life or thought to retain ownership of their servants possessions and property thus incan rulers could not expect to inherit land or property upon assuming power this practice was a partial motivator for the constant expansion of the empire priests were consulted before important actions to the inca the gods controlled all things and priests could determine the god's will by studying the arrangement of cocoa leaves in a dish or by watching the in movement of a spider priest diagnosed illnesses predict the outcome of battles solved crimes and determined what sacrifices should be made to what which god serious events such as famines plagues and defeat and war called for human sacrifices although scholars do not believe that human sacrifice was practiced with the same frequency as it probably was with the aztecs inca religion included some animism the belief that elements of the physical world could have supernatural powers called huaka they could be large geographical features such as a river or mountain peak or they could be very small objects such as a stone a plant or a built object such as a bridge achievements in mathematics the inca developed the kuipu a system of knotted string used to record numerical information for trade and engineering and for recording messages to be carried throughout the empire in agriculture the inca developed the sophisticated terror systems for the cultivation of crops such as potatoes and maize also known as corn the terraces utilized a technique called waruwaru raised beds with channels that captured and redirected rain to avoid erosion during floods and that stored water to be used during dry periods the inca were especially good builders of bridges and roads using captive labor and they instructed a massive roadway system called the carpa non with some 25 000 miles of road used mainly by the government and military in a mountainous region bridges were particularly important decline upon the arrival of the spanish conquistador francisco pizarro in 1532 the incan empire was in the midst of a civil war of succession after the death of emperor hiwana capac some scholars believe that the civil war weakened the incan army make it easier for pizarro's forces to prevail others believe that other factors such as diseases produced by the europeans led to the decline in 1533 the spanish conquered the core of the empire although outposts held until 1572 today the inca ruins at machu picchu are one of the most visited sites in the world continuities and diversity historians have debated how closely mesoamerican cultures are related to one another many argue that most are based on the almag civilization since many later cultures adopted some of its features for example the almex featured snake god became fundamental in both the mayan and aztec religion the subjects depicted in almighty pottery have been found in pottery and other civilizations the almex ritual sacrifices pyramids and ball courts were also continued in other cultures other historians argue that different cultures developed complex civilizations more or less independently and then as you can see here we have a chart with comparing three american civilizations of the maya the aztec and inca and as we can see here we have the maya of 400 to 1517 the aztec 1200 to 1521 and the incan in which are 1200 to 1533 the maya are located in the region mexico central america aztec central america mexico inca andes in south america the maya crops were corn beans and squash aztec crops include corn beans squash and tomatoes incan crops include corn cotton and potatoes maya trade was moderate while aztecs had extensive trade but the inca were very limited in terms of their trade meanwhile it seems like all of them were polytheistic while also all having human sacrifices the mayan government was organized with steady states each with a king with wars for tribute aztecs had a powerful king wars for captives and a system of tributes meanwhile once again inca had the inca people and their government had a powerful king wars for conquest and the mita system which will be very important the mayan technology and thought include writing step pyramids accurate calendar while the aztec technology and thoughts include step pyramids chanapas inaccurate calendars as well meanwhile the incan technology and thoughts is and masonry meanwhile the reason for decline for the mayans are giraffes and deforestation unlike the aztecs which had problems with decline due to european diseases subjects rebelled and spanish attacks i mean all of the incas resilient for decline was european diseases civil war and spanish attacks as well key terms by theme culture north america mississippian mar marill society technology mound building okay hokia culture mayan city-states government aztec mexico theocracy religion aztec human sacrifice government inca pachacuti incan empire meta system technology inca karpanan religion inca temple of the sun anonymism and and gentlemen that does it for today's chapter on the chapter one on readings and also i really hope you enjoyed the reading part of me did as well where one thing i think we're definitely gonna be seeing is that we're not gonna be seeing much with the lions at all wait no or was it the incans i think it's the mayans we're not going to be really seeing when it comes to anything involving ap world and the future because it seems here that inca were definitely a lot more referred to and talked about in this passage at least from 1200 on as well as the aztecs and with the aztecs it can certainly be said that there had a massive demand for human sacrifice as explained in some of my later readings which you guys can check out as well on my channel and also that they did kind of have some prompting to have a cooper coup d'etat to help overthrow them with the assistance of the spanish if none of you know what a coup d'etat is they could the term is derived from the french which is also explained during one of the revolutions which also resulted in a massive amount of beheadings which you guys can check out that in a different video i believe it was chapter seven i talked about that in which again you guys can talk about that and or see that in one of my other videos now please ladies and gentlemen i hope you all enjoyed the video and if you did please hit the like button and then hit the subscribe button if you if you would like you can always unsubscribe if it's an inconvenience and then hit the notification bell to stay up to date and when i post more content however i am also gonna have to say to you guys i hope you all have some developments with your knowledge of ap world and i hope all of you are ready to stay tuned for chapter 1.5 meanwhile i hope you all stay safe stay happy and remember ladies and gentlemen stay entertained