Published in 2011 by Britannica Educational Publishing (a trademark of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.) in association with Rosen Educational Services, LLC 29 East 21st Street, New York, NY 10010. Copyright © 2011 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, and the Thistle logo are registered trademarks of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Rosen Educational Services materials copyright © 2011 Rosen Educational Services, LLC. All rights reserved. Distributed exclusively by Rosen Educational Services. For a listing of additional Britannica Educational Publishing titles, call toll free (800) 237-9932. First Edition Britannica Educational Publishing Michael I. Levy: Executive Editor J.E. Luebering: Senior Manager Marilyn L. Barton: Senior Coordinator, Production Control Steven Bosco: Director, Editorial Technologies Lisa S. Braucher: Senior Producer and Data Editor Yvette Charboneau: Senior Copy Editor Kathy Nakamura: Manager, Media Acquisition Kathleen Kuiper: Manager, Arts and Culture Rosen Educational Services Jeanne Nagle: Senior Editor Nelson Sá: Art Director Cindy Reiman: Photography Manager Matthew Cauli: Designer, Cover Design Introduction by Janey Levy Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kuiper, Kathleen. Pre-Columbian America : empires of the New World / Kathleen Kuiper. p. cm. -- (The Britannica guide to ancient civilizations) “In association with Britannica Educational Publishing, Rosen Educational Services.” Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-61530-211-6 (eBook) 1. America—Civilization. 2. Indians—History. 3. Indians—Social life and customs. I. Title. E58.K85 2010 970—dc22 2010013770 On the cover: Templo las Inscripciones (“Temple of the Inscriptions”), a famous Mayan burial monument in Palenque, Mexico. Peter Adams/Photographer’s Choice/Getty Images On pages 15, 37, 72, 107, 142: A woven mat from the pre-Columbian archeological site Chavín de Huántar, in Peru's Andean highlands. Herman du Plessis/Gallo Images/ Getty Images 18 CONTENTS Introduction 8 Chapter 1: Mesoamerican Civilizations 15 Early Hunters (to 6500 bc) 17 Incipient Agriculture (6500–1500 bc) 19 Early Formative Period (1500–900 bc) 20 Teosinte 21 Early Village Life 21 Early Religious Life 22 The Rise of Olmec Civilization 23 The Olmec Colossal Heads 25 Middle Formative Period (900–300 bc) 26 30 Olmec Civilization at La Venta 26 Olmec Colonization in the Middle Formative 27 Early Monte Albán 28 The Valley of Mexico in the Middle Formative 29 The Maya in the Middle Formative 29 Late Formative Period (300 bc–ad 100) 31 Valley of Mexico 32 Valley of Oaxaca 32 Veracruz and Chiapas 32 Izapan Civilization 33 The Earliest Maya Civilization of the Lowlands 35 World Tree 36 Chapter 2: The Maya: Classic Period 37 Early Classic Period (ad 100–600) 37 Teotihuacán 38 Quetzalco´atl 41 Cholula 42 Classic Central Veracruz 42 53 Southern Veracruz 43 Classic Monte Albán 44 The Maya Highlands and Pacific Coast 45 Classic Civilization in the Maya Lowlands: Tzakol Phase 47 Late Classic Mesoamerica (600–900) 49 Late Classic Lowland Maya Settlement Pattern 50 Major Sites 52 Maya Art of the Late Classic 55 Tikal 56 Mayan Hieroglyphic Writing 57 85 The Maya Calendar 60 The Maya Codices 61 Classic Maya Religion 62 Creation 64 Popol Vuh 65 Cosmology 65 The Gods 65 Death 67 Eschatology 67 Sacrifice 67 Cenote 68 The Priesthood 68 Rites 68 103 Sorcery 69 Society and Political Life 69 The Collapse of Classic Maya Civilization 70 Chapter 3: The Toltec and the Aztec, Post-Classic Period (900–1519) 72 Society, Culture, and Technology 73 Knowledge and Belief 77 The Historical Annals 77 The Rise of the Aztec 78 The Question of the Toltec 79 Archaeological Remains of Post-Classic Civilization 80 Tula 80 Chichén Itzá 81 Archaeological Unity of the Post-Classic 83 Aztec Culture to the Time of the Spanish Conquest 84 Accounts Written by the Conquistadores 84 Postconquest Histories 86 105 The Codices 86 Nahuatl Language 88 Official Ecclesiastical and Government Records 88 Agriculture 89 Obsidian 90 Social and Political Organization 91 The Aztec Capital: Tenochtitlán 96 Aztec Religion 97 Ball Court 98 Nagual 104 Aztec Ritual Calendar 106 112 Chapter 4: Andean Civilization 107 The Nature of Andean Civilization 108 Agricultural Adaptation 110 The Cold as a Resource 112 Quechuan Languages 113 The Highlands and the Low Countries 114 The Pre-Inca Periods 115 The Late Preceramic 115 The Initial Period 118 The Early Horizon 120 Chav´ın 124 The Early Intermediate Period 125 The Three Main Arts of South America 126 163 The Middle Horizon 131 Machu Picchu 132 The Late Intermediate Period 135 Arts of Tiwanaku 136 Chapter 5: The Inca 142 The Origins and Expansion of the Inca State 143 The Nature of the Sources 143 Quipu 145 Settlement in the Cuzco Valley 145 The Beginnings of External Expansion 146 Quechua 148 Internal Division and External Expansion 149 Administration of the Empire 151 Topa Inca Yupanqui 153 Huayna Capac 154 Civil War on the Eve of the Spanish Conquest 155 The Spanish Conquest 157 167 Inca Culture at the Time of the Conquest 158 Social and Political Structure 158 Inca Technology and Intellectual Life 160 Inca Religion 162 The Art of Ancient Ecuador 164 Conclusion 168 Appendix: Selected Gods of the New World 170 Glossary 180 Bibliography 182 Index 185 N O I T C u D O r T N I Introduction | 9 Because educational curricula in the referring to the great civilizations of West typically emphasize European Mexico, Central America, and the Andes. civilization and cultural traditions, pre- The Maya, Aztec, and Inca are the best Columbian civilizations are, at best, a known of these. Maya and Aztec civiliza- peripheral concept for many people tions flourished in the area known as today. Perhaps the best-known features of Mesoamerica, which includes about half pre-Columbian civilizations are architec- of Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, tural, namely the Mayan and Aztec and parts of Honduras and El Salvador. pyramids and the Inca ruins at Machu The Inca realm in the South American Picchu, and ritualistic, such as a penchant Andes covered parts of the modern for human sacrifice. Yet these isolated nations of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, elements provide only a fragmented, and and Argentina. thus distorted, picture of the cultures to Scholars once believed that the which they belonged. These elements Americas were sparsely populated at alone cannot convey the size, richness, the time of European arrival—a vast wil- and complex history of pre-Columbian derness paradise ripe for the taking, civilizations. abundant with animals, natural resources, Details found in this book mark an and perhaps gold beyond one’s wildest attempt to rectify that situation. Readers imaginings. While the continents’ natu- will come to a deep understanding of the ral riches have never been questioned, cultures, traditions, accomplishments, and the notion of an almost-uninhabited land belief systems of the Mesoamerican is no longer viewed as accurate. Some and Andean peoples. scholars have estimated that the popula- The term “pre-Columbian” refers to a tion of the Americas could have been as time in the Americas before European high as 112 million when Columbus explorers and settlers arrived. It derives arrived. In contrast, Europe’s population from one of Western history’s most famil- at the time has been estimated at 70 iar explorers, Christopher Columbus, million to 88 million. It has also been esti- and owes its invention to Columbus’s tra- mated that more than 25 million of the ditional albeit somewhat inaccurate Americas’ inhabitants lived in central designation as the discoverer of this Mexico. That figure is more than two and “New World.” While pre-Columbian can a half times the combined population of apply to life in both North and South Spain and Portugal in Columbus’s day. America, when scholars speak of Supporting the thesis of burgeoning pre-Columbian civilizations, they are populations are archeological finds such Symbols and characters from an Aztec syllabary, which provides a key to the Aztec written lan- guage. Hulton Archive/Getty Images