Ancient Americas:  Pre-European Exploration

TERMS:
Mesoamerica
ballgame
Andean
maize
Olmec
stone heads
were-jaguar
calendar
Teotihuacan
Pyramid of the Sun
Avenue of the Dead
Pyramid of the Moon
Maya
Popol Vuh
Hero Twins
Chichen Itza
Long Count
Toltecs
Aztecs
Mexica
Tenochtitlan
flowery wars
Quetzalcoatl
tribute
human sacrifice
Inca
 
DATES:
5000-2500 BCE villages in Mesoamerica
1500-400 BCE-Olmec
300 BCE-c. 900 CE-Maya
1428-1519 CE-Aztec
1475-1532 CE-Inca
 
TOPICS:
1. Mesoamerica and the Andean region of South America were long settled and "civilized" by the time Europeans arrive in the fifteenth century.  The many civilizations of Mesoamerica must all be understood to be distinct from one another, yet you must also recognize how similar these cultures were, and how many things they had in common. Therefore, although several civilizations ruled parts of Mesoamerica at different times, it is possible to study them as a group.  The same could be said of the Andes region,  where the successive civilizations were very similar to one another.  Although there are also many similarities between Mesoamerica and South American civilizations, there will also be significant differences, so it is important to keep the two regions separate.

2.  Mesoamerican civilization begins with the mysterious Olmec culture, once viewed as the "mother culture" of all Mesoamerican cultures. It does seem that later cultures borrowed heavily from the Olmecs, although some may have developed similar characteristics independently.  Olmec culture offers these characteristics which will be common to Mesoamerica in general:  pyramid (devoted to the sun and / or moon), cities, elite class of ruler-priests, lower class of peasants, use of jaguar symbols / mythology, obsidian artifacts and trade.  Later Mesoamerican civilizations, such as Valley of Oaxaco and Maya, adds writing (pictographic, hieroglyphs but very different from those used in Egypt), the calendar (the Maya will use two calendars), and the ballgame.  Also characteristics (esp. the later Toltecs and Aztecs) is the use of human sacrifice in religious and political rituals.  Also the appearance of a warrior elite class in these later cultures.

3.  Inca and other South American civilizations differ in that they never develop a written language.  Both Meso- and South America seem to have been prone to regional warfare. Both become known for their use of gold in ceremonial objects (leading directly to European devastation in the regions).  Both the Aztec and the Inca, the last indigenous civilizations in Mesoamerica and South America, were at their peak when encountered and then destroyed by the Europeans.