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The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and
prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European
influences on the American continents. While technically referring to the era
before Christopher Columbus, in practice the term usually includes the history
of American indigenous cultures as they continued to develop beyond the first
Columbian landing in 1492, until they were conquered or significantly influenced
by the Europeans' presence, even if this happened decades or even centuries
after the initial landing.
Pre-Columbian is used especially often in the context of the great indigenous
civilizations of the Americas, such as those of Mesoamerica (the Aztec and Maya)
and the Andes (Inca, Moche, Chibcha, Ca?aris).
Pre-Columbian civilizations independently established during this long era
characteristics and hallmarks which included permanent or urban settlements,
agriculture, civic and monumental architecture, and complex societal
hierarchies. Many of these civilizations had long ceased to function by the time
of the first permanent European arrivals (c. late 15th - early 16th centuries),
and are known only through archaeological investigations. Others were
contemporary with this period, and are also known from historical accounts of
the time. A few (such as the Maya) had their own written records. However, most
Europeans of the time largely viewed such text as heretical and few survived
Christian pyres. Only a few hidden documents remain today, leaving modern
historians with glimpses of ancient culture and knowledge.
From both indigenous American and European accounts and documents, American
civilizations at the time of European encounter possessed many impressive feats
such as the most populous city in the world as well as modern theory of
astronomy and mathematics.
Where they persist, the societies and cultures which are descended from these
civilizations may now be substantively different in form from that of the
original. However, many of these peoples and their descendants still uphold
various traditions and practices which relate back to these earlier times, even
if combined with those more recently-adopted.
Origins
Asiatic migration
Models of migration to the New World
The Americas are thought to have been first inhabited by Asian nomads who
crossed the Bering Land Bridge, now the Bering Strait. Over the course of
millennia, people spread to all parts of the continent. Exactly when the first
group of people migrated into the Americas is subject to much debate. One view
is that the earliest people were of the Clovis culture, with sites dating from
some 13,500 years ago. However, older sites dating back to 20,000 years ago have
been discovered, and genetic studies estimate the colonization of the Americas
dates from between 40,000 to 13,000 years ago. Also, multiple waves of
immigration have been suggested.
In any case, artifacts have been found in both North and South America which
have been dated to about 10,000 BCE, and humans are thought to have reached Cape
Horn at the southern tip of South America by this time. All theories agree that
the Inuit and related peoples arrived separately and at a much later date,
probably around the 6th century, moving across the ice from Siberia into Alaska.
Prehistory
After the migration or migrations, it was several thousand years before the
first complex civilizations arose, at the earliest emerging 5000 BCE. The
inhabitants of the Americas were hunter-gatherers, and even after the emergence
of advanced civilizations, such societies covered most of the continents' area
until the 18th century. Numerous archaeological cultures can be identified with
some of the classifications including Early Paleo-Indian Period, Late
Paleo-Indian Period, Archaic Period, Early Woodland Period, Middle Woodland
Period and Late Woodland Period.
Agricultural development
Early inhabitants of the Americas developed agriculture, breeding maize (corn)
from ears 2-5 cm in length to perhaps 10-15 cm in length. Potatoes, tomatos,
pumpkins and avocados were among other plants grown by natives. They did not
develop extensive livestock because there were few suitable species; however the
guinea pig was raised for meat in the Andes. By the 15th century, maize had been
transmitted from Mexico and was being farmed in the Mississippi embayment, but
further developments were cut short by the arrival of Europeans. Potatoes were
utilized by the Inca, and chocolate was used by the Aztec.
North America
When the Europeans arrived, many natives of North America were semi-nomadic
tribes of hunter-gatherers; others were sedentary and agricultural
civilizations. Many formed new tribes or confederations in response to European
colonization. Well-known groups included the Huron, Apache, Cherokee, Sioux,
Mohegan, Algonquin, Iroquois (which included Mohawk, Oneida, Seneca, Cayuga,
Onondaga and later the Tuscarora tribe), and Inuit. Although not as
technologically advanced or politically complex as the Mesoamerican
civilizations further south, there were extensive pre-Columbian sedentary
societies in what is now the United States of America (need references).
Mississippian Culture
Mississippian Culture
Pre-columbian effigy pipe unearthed by archaeologists at Nacoochee Mound in the
State of Georgia.The Mississippian culture dominated much of the area along the
Mississippi River in Pre-Columbian history. One of the distinguishing features
of this culture was the construction of large earthen mounds, leading to the
nickname the Moundbuilders. They grew maize and other crops intensively,
participated in an extensive trade network, and had a complex stratified
society. The Mississippians first appeared around 1000 CE, following and
developing out of the less agriculturally intensive and less centralized
Woodland period. The culture reached its peak in c. 1200-1400, and in most
places it seems to have been in decline before the arrival of the Europeans.
The largest site of this people, Cahokia — located near modern East St. Louis,
Illinois — may have reached a population of over 20,000. At its peak, between
the 12th and 13th centuries, Cahokia was the most populous city in North
America, although far larger cities were constructed in Mesoamerica and South
America. Monk's Mound, the major ceremonial center of Cahokia, remains the
largest earthen construction of the prehistoric New World.
Mesoamerica
An image of one of the pyramids in the upper level of Yaxchilán
Atlantes at Tula, HidalgoMesoamerica is the region extending from central Mexico
south to the northwestern border of Costa Rica that gave rise to a group of
stratified, culturally related agrarian civilizations spanning an approximately
3,000-year period before the European discovery of the New World by Christopher
Columbus. Mesoamerican is the adjective generally used to refer to that group of
pre-Columbian cultures. This refers to an environmental area occupied by an
assortment of ancient cultures that shared religious beliefs, art, architecture,
and technology in the Americas for more than three thousand years.
Between 1800 and 300 BCE, complex cultures began to form in Mesoamerica. Some
matured into advanced pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations such as the:
Olmec, Teotihuacan, Maya, Zapotec, Mixtec, Huastec, Purepecha, Toltec and Mexica
(Aztecs), which flourished for nearly 4,000 years before first contact with
Europeans.
These indigenous civilizations are credited with many inventions in: building
pyramid-temples, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, writing, highly accurate
calendars, fine arts, intensive agriculture, engineering, an abacus calculator,
a complex theology, and the wheel. However, without any draft animals, the wheel
was used only as a toy. They also used native copper and gold for metalworking.
Archaic inscriptions on rocks and rock walls all over northern Mexico
(especially in the state of Nuevo León) demonstrate an early propensity for
counting in Mexico. The counting system was one of the most complex in the
world, with a base 20 number system. These very early and ancient count-markings
were associated with astronomical events and underscore the influence that
astronomical activities had upon Mexican natives before the arrival of
Europeans. In fact, many of the later Mexican based civilizations carefully
built their cities and ceremonial centers according to specific astronomical
events.
The biggest Mesoamerican cities such as Teotihuacan, Tenochtitlan, and Cholula
were among the largest in the world. These cities grew as centers of commerce,
ideas, ceremonies, and theology, and they radiated influence outwards onto
neighboring cultures in central Mexico.
While many city-states, kingdoms, and empires competed with one another for
power and prestige, Mesoamerica can be said to have had five major
civilizations: The Olmec, Teotihuacan, the Toltec, the Mexica and the Maya.
These civilizations (with the exception of the politically fragmented Maya)
extended their reach across Mexico — and beyond — like no others. They
consolidated power and distributed influence in matters of trade, art, politics,
technology, and theology. Other regional power players made economic and
political alliances with these four civilizations over the span of 4,000 years.
Many made war with them, but almost all peoples found themselves within these
five spheres of influence.
Olmec civilization
Olmec
The earliest known civilization is the Olmec. This civilization established the
cultural blueprint by which all succeeding indigenous civilizations would follow
in Mexico. Olmec civilization began with the production of pottery in abundance,
around 2300 BCE. Between 1800 and 1500 BCE, the Olmec consolidated power into
chiefdoms which established their capital at a site today known as San Lorenzo
Tenochtitlán, near the coast in southeast Veracruz. The Olmec influence extended
across Mexico, into Central America, and along the Gulf of Mexico. They
transformed many peoples' thinking toward a new way of government,
pyramid-temples, writing, astronomy, art, mathematics, economics, and religion.
Their achievements paved the way for the later greatness of the Maya
civilization in the east and the civilizations to the west in central Mexico.
Teotihuacan civilization
Teotihuacan
The decline of the Olmec resulted in a power vacuum in Mexico. Emerging from
that vacuum was Teotihuacan, first settled in 300 BCE. By 150 CE, Teotihuacan
had risen to become the first true metropolis of what is now called North
America. Teotihuacan established a new economic and political order never before
seen in Mexico. Its influence stretched across Mexico into Central America,
founding new dynasties in the Maya cities of Tikal, Copan, and Kaminaljuyú.
Teotihuacan's influence over the Maya civilization cannot be understated: it
transformed political power, artistic depictions, and the nature of economics.
Within the city of Teotihuacan was a diverse and cosmopolitan population. Most
of the regional ethnicities of Mexico were represented in the city, such as
Zapotecs from the Oaxaca region. They lived in apartment communities where they
worked their trades and contributed to the city's economic and cultural prowess.
By 500 CE, Teotihuacan had become the largest city in the world. Teotihuacan's
economic pull impacted areas in northern Mexico as well. It was a city whose
monumental architecture reflected a monumental new era in Mexican civilization,
declining in political power about 650 CE—but lasting in cultural influence for
the better part of a millennium, to around 950 CE.
Maya architecture at Uxmal
Maya civilization
Maya civilization
Contemporary with Teotihuacan's greatness was the greatness of the Maya
civilization. The period between 250 CE and 650 CE was a time of intense
flourishing of Maya civilized accomplishments. While the many Maya city-states
never achieved political unity on the order of the central Mexican
civilizations, they exerted a tremendous intellectual influence upon Mexico and
Central America. The Maya built some of the most elaborate cities on the
continent, and made innovations in mathematics, astronomy, and calendrics. The
Mayans also evolved the only true written system native to the Americas using
pictographs and syllabic elements in the form of texts and codices inscripted on
stone, pottery, wood, or highly perishable books made from bark paper.
Aztec/Mexica civilization
Aztec
With the decline of the Toltec civilization came political fragmentation in the
Valley of Mexico. Into this new political game of contenders to the Toltec
throne stepped outsiders: the Mexica. They were also a proud desert people, one
of seven groups who formerly called themselves "Azteca", in memory of Aztlán,
but they changed their name after years of migrating. Since they were not from
the Valley of Mexico, they were initially seen as crude and unrefined in the
ways of Nahua civilization. Through cunning political maneuvers and ferocious
fighting skills, they managed to become the rulers of Mexico as the head of the
'Triple Alliance' (which included two other "Aztec" cities, Texcoco and
Tlacopan).
Latecomers to Mexico's central plateau, the Mexica thought of themselves as
heirs of the civilizations that had preceded them. For them, highly-civilized
arts, sculpture, architecture, engraving, feather-mosiac work, and the invention
of the calendar were because of the former inhabitants of Tula, the Toltecs.
The Mexica-Aztecs were the rulers of much of central Mexico by about 1400 (while
Yaquis, Coras and Apaches commanded sizable regions of northern desert), having
subjugated most of the other regional states by the 1470s. At their peak,
300,000 Mexica presided over a wealthy tribute-empire comprising about 10
million people (almost half of Mexico's 24 million people). The modern name
"Mexico" comes from their name.
Their capital, Tenochtitlan, is the site of modern-day Mexico City. At its peak,
it was one of the largest cities in the world with population estimates of
300,000. The market established there was the largest ever seen by the
conquistadors when they arrived.
South America
Poporo QuimbayaBy the first millennium, South America’s vast rainforests,
mountains, plains and coasts were the home of tens of millions of people. Some
groups formed permanent settlements. Among those groups were the Chibchas (or
"Muiscas" or "Muyscas"), Valdivia and the Tairona. The Chibchas of Colombia,
Valdivia of Ecuador, the Quechuas of Peru and the Aymaras of Bolivia were the 4
most important sedentary Ameridian groups in South America. In the last two
thousand years, there may have been contact with Polynesians across the South
Pacific Ocean, as shown by the spread of the sweet potato through some areas of
the Pacific, but there is no genetic legacy of human contact.
Ca?aris
Ca?aris
The Ca?aris were the indigenious natives of todays Ecuadorian provice of Ca?ar,
and Azuay. They were an elaborate civilization with advanced architecture, and
religious belief. Most of their remains were burned, and destroyed by attacks
from the Inca. Their old city was replaced twice,first by the Incan city of
Tomipamba, and later by the Colonial city of Cuenca. The city was also believed
to be the site of El Dorado, the city of gold from the mythology of Colombia.
(see Cuenca) The Ca?aris were most notable to have repelled the Incan invasion
with fierce resistance for many years until they fell to Tupac Yupanqui. Many of
their descendents are still present in Ca?ar with the majority not having mixed,
and reserved from becoming Mestizos.
Chavín
Chavín culture
The Chavín, a South American preliterate civilization, established a trade
network and developed agriculture by 900 BCE, according to some estimates and
archeological finds. Artifacts were found at a site called Chavín in modern Peru
at an elevation of 3,177 meters. The Chavín civilization spanned from 900 to 300
BCE.
Chibchas
Chibcha
The Chibcha linguistic communities were the most numerous, the most
territorially extended and the most socio-economically developed of the
pre-Hispanic Colombians. By the 3rd century, the Chibchas had established their
civilization in the northern Andes. At one point, the Chibchas occupied part of
what is now Panama, and the high plains of the Eastern Sierra of Colombia. The
areas that they occupied were the Departments of Santander (North and South),
Boyacá and Cundinamarca, which were also the areas where the first farms and
first industries were developed, and where the independence movement originated.
They are currently the richest areas in Colombia. They represented the most
populous zone between the Mayan and Inca empires. Next to the Quechua of Peru
and the Aymara in Bolivia, the Chibchas of the eastern and north-eastern
Highlands of Colombia were the most striking of the sedentary indigenous peoples
in South America. In the Oriental Andes, the Chibchas were composed of several
tribes who spoke the same language (Chibchan). Among them: Muiscas, Guanes,
Laches, Cofan and Chitareros.
Inca
Inca Empire
Holding their capital at the great cougar-shaped city of Cusco, the Inca
civilization dominated the Andes region from 1438 to 1533. Known as Tawantin
suyu, or "the land of the four regions," in Quechua, the Inca civilization was
highly distinct and developed. Inca rule extended to nearly a hundred linguistic
or ethnic communities, some 9 to 14 million people connected by a 25,000
kilometer road system. Cities were built with precise, unmatched stonework,
constructed over many levels of mountain terrain. Terrace farming was a useful
form of agriculture. There is evidence of excellent metalwork and even
successful brain surgery in Inca civilization.
Larco Museum houses the largest private collection of pre-Columbian art. Lima,
Peru.
Moche
Moche
The Moche thrived on the north coast of Peru 1,500–2,000 years ago. The heritage
of the Moche comes down to us through their elaborate burials, recently
excavated by UCLA's Christopher Donnan in association with the National
Geographic Society.
As skilled artisans, the Moche were a technologically advanced people who traded
with faraway peoples, like the Maya. Almost everything we know about the Moche
comes from their ceramic pottery with carvings of their daily lives. The Larco
Museum of Lima, Peru has an extensive collection of these ceramics. We know from
these records that they practiced human sacrifice, had blood-drinking rituals,
and that their religion incorporated non-procreative sexual practices (such as
fellatio).
Norte Chico
Norte Chico
On the northern coast of present-day Peru, Norte Chico was a cluster of
large-scale urban settlements with emerged around 3000 BCE (contemporary with
urbanism's rise in Mesopotamia) and declined around 1800 BCE. Caral, in the Supe
valley, is one of the largest and best studied sites.
Valdivia
Valdivia Culture
The Valdivia culture was concentrated of the coast of Ecuador. Their existence
was recently discovered by Archeological findings. Their culture is the oldest
in the Americas, spanning from 3500 and 1800 BCE. The Valdivia lived in a
community that built its houses in a circle or oval around a central plaza, and
were sedentary people that lived off farming and fishing, though occasionally
they went hunting for deer. From the remains that have been found, it has been
determined that Valdivians cultivated maize, kidney beans, squash, cassava, hot
peppers and cotton plants, the latter of which was used to make clothing.
Valdivian pottery initially was rough and practical, but it became splendid,
delicate and large over time. They generally used red and gray colors; and the
polished dark red pottery is characteristic of the Valdivia period. In their
ceramics and stone works, the Valdivia culture shows a progression from the most
simple to much more complicated works.
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