This document provides an overview of early civilizations in the Americas from around 1500 BCE to 1500 CE. It discusses the Olmec civilization as the first in Mesoamerica, followed by the rise of the Maya, Teotihuacan, Toltec, and Aztec empires. It also summarizes the civilizations of the American Southwest including the Hohokam, Anasazi, and Mogollon. In eastern North America, it outlines the Mississippian culture and Cahokia mound builders. In South America, it discusses the Chavin, Moche, Wari, Tiwanaku, and the rise of the Inca Empire under Pachacuti.

2. Plan for Today:
• Chapter 11
• Migration Patterns
• Major People Groups and
Civilizations
• Next Time
• Chapter 13
• East Asia 800 CE – 1500 CE

3. Migration to the Americas

4. Olmecs
• C. 1500 BCE – 300 CE
• First cities in Mesoamerica
• Used a 365 day solar calendar
• Probably also used a 260
day lunar calendar
• The use of Calendar
rounds would pass on to
other Mesoamerican
civilizations
• Had a unique religion where
there were distinct gods and
human deities
• Characterized by mixed
human/animal figures, the
most well-known is a
were-jaguar
• Their deities and type of
religion would also
transmit to other cultures

5. Olmecs and other Peoples

6. The Mayans
• As the influence of the Olmecs declined in Mesoamerica, a number
of important city-states arose
• This is during the Classical Period of Mesoamerica (300 – 900 CE)
• The most widespread group were the Maya
• Mayan culture extended from the Yucatan in present day Mexico into
central America
• They built massive stone step pyramids (such as at Chichen Itza) at the
center of independent city-states
• Inherited much from the Olmecs, such as many deities and even sports
• Conducted long distance trade with the Toltecs and the Zapotecs
• Were obsessed with calculating time (as we will see in the video later)
• Developed math on base 20 system, and used the number zero
• After 900 CE, fragmented into even smaller states, the last of which survives
until 1697.

9. The Teotihuacanos, Toltecs, and Zapotecs
• A large city-state called Teotihuacan arose in what we call the Valley
of Mexico
• Teotihuacan was the largest city-state between 300-600 CE, with as many as
250,000 inhabitants
• Traded extensively with the Mayan city-states to the southeast, and with the
Zapotec and Mixtec to the south
• Shared many deities with the Mayans, the two most important of which were
Tlaloc (god of rain) and Quetzalcoatl (the feathered serpent god)
• As the city was in decline (600-900 CE) the Toltecs a group within the Valley of
Mexico, took over as the dominant force, surviving until 1174 CE
• The Zapotecs
• Established a city to the west of the Mayan city-states (now called Monte
Alban), where they exercised influence over other smaller groups in the
region, such as the Mixtecs

11. The Aztecs
• When the Toltecs began to decline the Valley of Mexico region
devolved into warring groups, seeking to fill the power vacuum
• A Nahuatl speaking people called the Mexicas began consolidating
power in the early 1300s in an area controlled by the Tepanec (a
successor to the Toltec)
• Their main capital (they had two) was on an island in Lake Texoco, not far
from the old major city of Teotihuacan
• It was called Tenochtitlan and is where present day Mexico City is
• Using this central location as a base they supplanted their Tepanec leaders in
1427, allying themselves with other Tepanec vassal groups to form the Aztec
Empire
• The Mexica led this syndicate empire as it expanded to control more groups
and larger territories
• When a group was conquered all the warriors were marched back to Tenochtitlan and
sacrificed
• Quetzalcoatl remained the most important god through this period

13. North American Peoples (Southwest)
• By the late Olmec period there is evidence of trade with cultures in
the present day American Southwest and Northern Mexico
• Hohokam, Anasazi, and Mogollon
• Hohokam centered around the present day Phoenix, AZ area
• Anasazi were further north, around the four corners area
• Both used unique irrigation techniques to farm relatively arid land
• The Anasazi were particularly skilled at building cliff dwellings
• Mesa Verde, the largest Anasazi town, held 2500 people
• Mogollon have been identified as a third civilization, distinct from the others
• In Northern Mexico, but little is known about them still
• Roads connected these civilizations and trade between them was extensive
• As well as with other smaller groups, such as the Yuma, and early Pueblo and Hopi
• Drought is thought to have led to their decline

14. North American Peoples (Southwest)

15. North American Peoples (Eastern)
• As early as 5500 BCE cultures in the Mississippi River valley and
further east began building mounds
• The Hopewell culture (near Hopewell, OH) flourished around 200 BCE– 600 CE
• Cahokia (near the merging of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, in present
day Illinois is the largest mound complex discovered in America
• 5.5 square miles, built between 1050 CE and 1250 CE
• Houses, plazas, burial mounds were all centered around a 1000 foot long, four stage
mound that probably had a temple or palace atop it
• These fall under the Mississippian Culture heading, because they developed
along the Mississippi River and its tributaries
• These mounds and other earthworks, such as canals point to a trade network
that extended down to the Caribbean
• Maize cultivation had made its way into Mississippi culture
• Flooding and a massive earthquake around 1150 CE hastened the decline

16. Cahokia Mounds

17. Andean Peoples
• Settlement in the Andes mountains of South America can be divided
into periods:
• Early Horizon Period (1200-200 BCE)
• Centered on the Chavin people in the foothills of the Andes inland from present day Lima
• Herders and weavers, used weaving to record information
• The Moche Period (100-800 CE)
• City-states developed around agriculture and irrigation on Perus northern coast
• Began to decline in 500 CE due to periods of flooding and drought
• Middle Horizon Period (500-1000 CE)
• City-states of Wari (Coastal Peru) and Tiwanaku (centered south of Lake Titicaca,
encompassing southern Peru, western Bolivia, and Northern Chile) in southern
Peru/Western Bolivia expand their influence. More flooding and droughts caused their
decline as well. What phenomenon contributed to this?
• Late Horizon Period (1400-1533 CE)

18. The Incas
• From 1000-the early 1400s CE there were no central powers in the
Andes
• In the 1420s the Inca family, centered in Cuzco, began to consolidate
power under Viracocha Inca (he took the name of the main god at the
time as his first name)
• In 1438 the Incas were attacked by rivals, and Viracocha and his heir
fled the city
• Another of his sons, Pachacuti, remained and defeated the invaders,
establishing himself as the leader of the Incas
• He then set about expanding the Incan domain
• Started with the northern coast of Peru, the land of another people, the
Chimu

19. Incan Inheritance and Expansion
• When an Incan ruler died, his land remains his possession
• He would be mummified and left in a sacred chamber
• His descendants would govern his land, as if he was still the ruler
• His chosen successor as emperor was responsible for adding their own
territory to the empire to establish their right to rule
• This encouraged constant expansion
• It also encouraged infrastructure connecting the empire

21. Scientific Knowledge in Early American
Civilizations
• Video:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCBDUDwaeCA
• Time and Record Keeping

22. Final Thoughts
• Take out a sheet of paper.
• How did the structure of the Aztec empire (a syndicate led by the
Mexica) and the nature of Incan succession (heirs needing to
expand territory or risk being delegitimized) make them vulnerable
to Spanish explorers?
• For next time – Start Chapter 13
• See you on Tuesday!