Ch. 11 Summary (Americas)

1
Ch. 11 Summary (Americas)

• American societies during the post classical era
  remained isolated
• American civs. were marked by elaborate cultural
  systems, highly developed agriculture and large
  urban and political units
• Columbuss mistaken designation of the natives of
  the Americas implies a nonexistent common
  identity
• The great diversity of cultures requires a
  concentration on a few major civs.
• The great imperial states of Mesoamerica (central
  Mexico) and the Andes, plus a few other
  independently developing peoples

2
Compare the imperial civilizations of the Andes
and Mesoamerica

• Both were based on the long development of
  preceding civs.
• They represented the success of imperial and
  military organization and of extensive
  agricultural systems controlled by the state
• Older kinship groups had been transformed into a
  hierarchical system
• The nobility became state personnel
• Both reorganized local ethnic groups and
  political leaders in return for recognition of
  sovereignty
• Belief systems and cosmology were similar
• Each power had limited success against nomadic
  people of their frontiers
• Difference came from climate and geography
• Andes region was isolated
• Trade, markets and a merchant class was present
  in each , although they were more developed among
  the Aztecs
• The Incas lacked a writing system but had greater
  metallurgical skills
• Aztecs made extensive use human sacrifices

3
Compare the civs. of the Americas and Polynesia

• Both had a strong emphasis on clan-based
  societies
• A division of resources according to clans
• Lack of a writing system (at least among the
  Inca)
• Had strong animistic religions
• Emphasis on military (at least among the Maori)
• Lack of tech sophistication
• Absence of large mammals
• Lack of pastoral nomadism
• The practice of human sacrifice and ritual
  cannibalism
• Polynesians lacked imperial systems and
  monumental architecture , which were present in
  the Americas
• In the Americas the civs. were much larger and
  had a higher pop. density