Olmec
* 1200 BCE- 400 CE
* One of the oldest mesoamerican civilizations
* Created large stone heads to honor their leaders and even created some pyramids
* Olmec means “rubber people“by the Aztec because of the rubber they used for their ball game
* Collapsed due to environmental factors
Maya
* 2000 BC - 900 AD
* Collection of City State
* War between them
* Large cities - 120,000
Ball game
* Ball is hard
* Sport
* Sometimes religious
Mayan hieroglyphics
* Only translated languages
Mayan astronomy
* Maya developed the most accurate pre-telescopic astronomy in the world
* Mayan tropical solar day calculation was more accurate than the spanish
* Tracked the planets and equinoxes for harvesting and religious events
Popol vuh
* Mayan creation story
* Written in 1519 but first translated 200 years latter by Friar Francisco Xamiez
* polytheistic society that believed that blood was the most was the most sacred form of water
Aztec Empire- The Mexica
* 1345-1521
* Larde empire that controlled large portions of modern day mexico
* Advanced agriculture and had developed trade networks
* Warriors culture that conquered it’s neighbors and required them to pay tribute
Aztec science and achievements
* Built aqueducts and floating gardens to harvest
* Mandatory education for all people of all social class
* Had advanced medical knowledge and grew certain herbs as medicine to treat burns, infection and even mental illness
Aztec Mythology
* Huitzilopochtli god the sun and war chief good the aztec
* Coyolxanhuqui goddess of the moon
* Polytheistic
* Main god was Huitzilopochtli
Human sacrifice and tribute
* Sacrifice was an important part of the Aztec religion sacred water
* War prisoners were sacrificed
* Sacrifices were given to stranthing them with the gods power
* This made them famous
* Mayans also did this
Inca empire
* Largest empire in pre columbian America,
* Goes through Peru and south America
* Founded in 1438, Capital is Cuzco
* High altitude and surrounded by the Andes mountains
* Led by The Sappa Inca or the emperor
Incan Road network
* 25,000 Miles long
* Good communication + travel
* Advance
* Had retaining wall
* Water draining system
* Most roads still used today
Daily life and science
* Sappa = Representative
* Sun god, inti
* Complex government
* States + government
* Used bronze + copper
* Fortress to protect
Science
* Coca plant used for anesthesia - surgery
* Surgery = 90% survival rate
* Terraces made for Agriculture
Quipu and Quechua
* Inca never developed a written language
* Kept census and tax records communication and even star maps
* Most were destroyed in the spanish invasion and the Incan civil war but some survive and it is even used today in the andes
Anasazi - Ancestral pueblo
* 150 bce in modern day New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Arizona
* Name of this people is unknown, called the Anasazi by the Navajo meaning “ancient enemy”
Cliff Dwellings
* Anasazi Build dwellings into cliffs - defensive
* Included homes, gain storged, and kivas used for ceremonial purposes
* Made of wood and mud bricks
Disappearance and Pueblo peoples
* Anasazi did not keep written records, most of their history is unknowns
* 1250 AD they left their cities and “vanished“
* Many Native American tribes trace their ancestry back to the Anasazi including the Hopi
Haudenosaunee = 5 nations - iroquois Confederacy
* Confederacy
* Is a government of nations that banded together for the common defense
* Formed in 1430 AD
* Formed by 5 tribes during a solar eclipse
* Founded Deganawidah the peacemaker
* Created the Great Law of Peace - a constitution of the Confederacy
* Grab council made up of 50 chiefs
Daily life war and religion
* polytheistic , the great spirit being the most important
* Fought wars to obtain captive and land
* Matriarchy: women held the highest of power and status
* Trancked the seasons using
* Astronomy for times to plant food and harvest
Agriculture (companion crops) : Three sister
* Corn
* Used to help the beans
* Climbing beans
* Fertile soil
* Squash
* Takes up space make it hard for weeds to grow
1st voyage of columbus
* 1492
* 3 ships called : Nina, pinta, Santa Maria
* After months of travel, landed in the Caribbean
* Returned home with captives and others proof of his discovery
* Spanish would finance another 2 voyages
Conquistadors
* 16th century
* Spanish and portuguese began building an empire
* Conquistadors were leaders, explorers, and colonizers
* They are looking for
* Gold - wealthy
* Land
* Souls - converting them to catholicism
Hernan cortes
* 16th century Conquistador
* Studied law and eventually became a colonist in the new world in cuba
* Rose to a high position of power and was ordered by the governor of cuba to gather an army to help colonize the interior of mexico
* Argument led to the governor Replacing Cortes, but he went anyway
Conquest of the Aztec
* Won early victories against the native people
* Captured a native women Called “la Malinche “ on his way to tenochtitlan
* Was peacefully allowed into tenochtitlan by the emperor Moctezuma II
* Took the Emperor Hostage and he was killed*
* Spanish fought their way out of the city
* Fought a war for 1 year and conquered tenochtitlan and the Aztec Empire
* Renamed tenochtitlan the governor of Mexico
Francisco Pizarro
* 16th century Conquistador
* Born into a poor family in spain, went to the new world to seek out fortune
* Became the Mayor of Panama city
* Got permission from the Spanish King and Queen to conquer Peru
Conquest of the inca Empire
* 1532
* Had a small army but the Inca were in a civil war
* Pizarro captured the Sapa Inca Atahualpa and demanded that he pay tribute
* He refused, Spanish attacked the Inca Army and won
* Promised 1 room Filled with gold and 2 with silver and gave it to the Spanish, Spanish executed him after
Columbian Exchange
* New goods, and animals being brought to the americas and europe
* Also brought disease which would wipe 90% of Native Americans,55 million people
New spain
* Spanish became an empire after the conquest of The inca and Aztec
* Most powerful in Europe
* Established as a viceroyalty in 1535
* Governor rules in the name of the King and Queen
Mission System
* Established by Franciscaans, Dominicans, and jesuits throughout the 1500s
* Goal: Convert the Native Americans to Catholicism and adopt Spanish Culture
* Conversion was not Voluntary
* To do this, possible about the Native Culture
Mission San Jose
* Founded on june 11, 1797
* Franiscans
* Was the 14 founded by the spanish
* Fermín Francisco de Lasuén
Life in the Mission
* Missions were built across South America, Mexico, and the Western US
* Highly structured days for the Native Americans
* Meals
* Work
* Prayer+Mass
* Taught Masonry, Carpentry, and Blacksmithing
* Childrenoften separated from their parents-assimilate into society
Encomienda SYSTEM
* Hacienda- land granted to conquistadors, explorers, or settlers in the new world
* Encomendero - In charge of the Hacienda and its laborers
* Encomendero - Supplied the labor
* Native Americans mostly
* Encomendero would pay, protected and educate and convert them and they could live off the land
* System was almost immediately abused by the Encomenderos
* Native worked long hours
* Hard work such as agriculture, mining
* Often unpaid and were beaten
* Functionally it was slavery in all but the name
England
* 1585 first attempt
* Colony Roanoke
* Some people go to get stuff come back and everyone Disappeared
Jamestown 1607
* 80% Die of no food
* 20 % live
* 1st successful English colony
Founding of Quebec and the French Empire
* Established in 1608 by the french
* Became known as New France
* Colonial Trading post
* Mostly traded fur back to Europe which were valuable