APWH Chapter 6

Mesoamerica

Andean South America

Oceania

Mesoamerica Andean S. America

P •Olmecs – mother culture•Maya – decentralized city-states•Teotihuacan -

Mochica – Andean state; unified individual valleys; relied on arms to introduce orderTiahuanaco – Over 10,000 people

E •Agricultural base – maize staple•Cacao beans as money

•Organized under Mochica – reach region contributed its products to larger economy (potatoes, llama meat, alpaca wool, maize)

R •Bloodletting rituals – fertility•Sacrifice to pantheon of gods

Chavin Cult – large temples, works of art

S •O: Authoritarian elites, common subjects cultivated, priest class•M: Priests, Merchants, Professionals, artisans, peasants, slaves

•Complex society•Specialized labor

I •Mayan writing – history, poetry, myth•Astronomy – 365.242 day calendar•Mathematics – concept of zero

•Gold, silver and bronze metallurgy•Mochica – no written language

A •O: Jaguars figurines, colossal heads•M: Pyramids, observatories, murals

•Paintings on pottery vessels; portraits, dieties, demons, everyday life

N •No river valleys – heavy rain•Isolated, N-S Axis makes diffusion dif.

•Relatively isolated from Mesoamerica•Difficult geographic barriers

The Olmecs Coast of Gulf of

Mexico Name unknown Cities –

complexes of temples, altars, pyramids, tombs, stone sculptures

San Lorenzo

La Venta

Tres Zapotes

Obsidian and jade

The Maya Yucatan

peninsula Used terrace

farming Maize, cotton,

cocao More than 80

large ceremonial sites

City-states Unknown

decline

Tikal

Chichen Itza

Mayan writing

Calendars and Mathematics

Murals

Popul Vuh

Creation story

Gods wanted intelligent beings to praise them

Humans made of maize and water

Teotihuacan High point – 400 –

600 CE 200,000 people Records perished

when city declined Theocracy “City of the Gods” Artisans – obsidian

and orange pottery

Relied less on military might

Chavin Cult Did not organize

politically Dry coast and

highlands of Andean South America

Promoted fertility and abundant harvest

Features of human

Mochica Regional state

in South America

Based along Moche River

Produced many ceramics

Did not make use of writing

Tihuanaco

Societies in Oceania Humans entered Australia and New

Guinea at least 60,000 years BP – lower sea levels

5,000 years ago, seafaring people from Southeast Asia went to trade

Early inhabitants lived on hunting and gathering

Australia

Maintained hunter-gatherer lifestyle until arrival of Europeans in 19th century

Aboriginal Australians lived in small mobile communities

Consumed over 140 species of plants

Austronesian Peoples

In New Guinea, human communities turned to agriculture around 3000 BCE

Root crops – yams and taro Pigs and chickens Cause of change – contact with

seafaring people

Pacific Islands Settlements in Bismark;

Solomon Islands Used outrigger canoes

and sails Austronesian migrants

spread agriculture Eventually reach Fiji,

Tahiti, Hawai’I, Easter Island and New Zealand

Populated Philippines, Madagascar, Micronesia

Lapita Peoples

Summary

Very little writing survives Impossible to fully understand social

developments in the Americas and Oceania

Human migrations spread population throughout world

Early inhabitants build productive and vibrant societies

Many developments paralleled eastern hemisphere