Section 2

Working together using this wiki

 

Chapter 11: Early Americas

 

Tenochtitlan -

Calupulli -

 

Chinampas -Shampa Panda

     Chinapas refers to a specific type of agriculture used predominantly in Mesoamerica from 1150 to 1350 CE. This type of agriculture used small, floatable beds of land on shallow lakes to grow food. They have been found in Lakes Xochimilco and Chalco, and contributed the enlargement of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán. Maize, beans, squash, amaranth, tomatoes, and chile made up one-half to two-thirds of the food grown in chinapas.

 

This picture shows how chinapas fed the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán, which was sorrounded by a giant lake.

 

http://www.su.edu/faculty/steabo/twolford555/images/pictures/chinampa.gif

http://geography.berkeley.edu/programcourses/coursepagesfa2004/geog148/Term%20Papers/Sanaz%20Memarsadeghi/whatis.htm 

 

Pochteca - D. SanMartin

 

 

The text inside the image reads: They transported plants and taken from the codex Laud

Pochteca:  (Professional Merchants)

☼       Distant traders of commoner or noble status

☼       Vital in the Aztec economic and political establishment

☼       Like the rest of the Mexica classes they had their own rituals usual large feasts (parties)

☼       Festival of Panquetzaliztli wealthy Pochteca buy slaves and sacrifice them

☼       They gained respect due to their wealth and goodwill in which wealthy Pochteca would give away vast quantaties of item and food at annual rituals

☼       Secret society, spiritually, economically, politically powerful

☼       Had  there own guild to govern themselves

☼       Could come from lowest of classes and rise to noble or elite status

☼       Becoming a “father” was a rank among many

☼       Faced traveling route hardships due to the conditions in which they had to travel the Aztec did not build many roads to far cities in the empire.

☼       The would have to be able to take all their goods on their backs so they did not bother to collect things of minimal value.

☼       Two kinds:

☼       Deals with commoners, monopoly

☼       Deals with Nobles luxuries goods, also deals with state affairs

 

The Pochteca, Pacific Lutheran University. "The Secret Aztec Society." The Pochteca. Pacific Lutheran University. 31 Oct 2008 http://www.plu.edu/~parsonsm/home.html.

 

Incan Socialism – Rishi Simha: 

The Incan Empire spread all across the Andes Mountains.  Some areas were more fertile than others, and one of the initial problems that Incans faced was lack of food for people living in these infertile areas.  Thus, system of socialism was developed.  Wherever there was a surplus of food, this extra food would be re-distributed to other areas.  If any other food remained, it would be stored for use by military and labor crews.  This system, called reciprocity, allowed everybody to be fed, but there was little motivation and incentive to perform above and beyond and produce excessive amounts of crops.

Another Incan economic policy that may be viewed as socialism is their taxing system.  Instead of formally collecting taxes, every male was called to serve the state in a public works project, like constructing roads.  This is also called the mita, named because it means people taking turns, which is exactly what happened. 

Caption:  This is a picture of an Incan Road.  Until the creation of the United States’ road system, the Incans had the greatest road system in the world.  The roads were created long ago, in part by the mita, a labor tax in which all citizens were called upon by the government to participate in a public works project.  An Incan participating in his mita might have created this road.  

Sources:

"PRE-COLUMBIAN ANDEAN CIVILIZATION." PRE-COLUMBIAN ANDEAN CIVILIZATION. Emayzine. 30 Oct 2008 <http://www.emayzine.com/lectures/andean~1.htm>.

 

"The Inca Culture." THE BIG MYTH - the myths. 2002. Distant Train. 30 Oct 2008 <http://www.mythicjourneys.org/bigmyth/myths/english/eng_inca_culture.htm>.

 

"Inca Mita : Best Pubilc Service System." Inca Mita : Best Pubilc Service System. Peru Travel Diary. 30 Oct 2008 <http://www.machupicchu-inca.com/images/Mita-labourconstructions.jpg>.

 

 

Split Inheritance - Lauren Sink

• all the political power, rights, and titles of the ruler went to his successor
• all his palaces, wealth, land, and possessions remained in the hands of his sons
• the male decendants used the inheritence to support the cult od the dead Inca's mummy for eternity
• supreme effort made by rulers to secure as much land as possible to ensure wealth for decendants and cult and secure place for eternity
• Inca belief of afterlife dependent on proliferative measures taken during time on earth

 This is land of the Inca's which was inherited bby decendants.

 

Temple of the Sun- Matt Myers

·         It was located in Cusco, Peru, which was the political and religious capital of the Incan Empire.

·         The temple was built during the reign of the Incan ruler Wiracocha, around the year 1200 C.E., and was later embellished or decorated with the Incan Pachacutec.

o    It was the centerpiece of a huge astronomical observatory and device for keeping the date.

o    This temple was dedicated chiefly to Viracocha, the creator god, and Inti, the Sun god.

§  However, this temple had shrines to various other deities.

·         The temple is called the greatest work of Incan architecture, and was breathtakingly beautiful.

·         The temple was also adorned with immense wealth, and contained many treasures of much intrinsic value.

o    However, the Incas took most of the treasure to pay for the release of the Incan Atahuallpa, who was captured by the Spaniards

·         When the Spanish, under Pizzaro, finally conquered to Incan Empire, they stole and melted down what was left of the temple, and then built the church of Santo Domingo on foundations of the old temple.

·         The church of Santo Domingo was consecrated in 1654.

 

  This is a picture of the Temple of the Sun. (Now called the church of Santo Domingo) It has been called the "greatest work of Incan architecture" by many historians. 

Sources:

Gray, Martin. "Church of Santo Domingo and Coricancha temple." Places of Peace and Power 30 Oct 2008 <http://www.sacredsites.com/americas/peru/santo_domingo.html>.

Antrop, Arminda. "Temple of the Sun or Koricancha." Cusco 30 Oct 2008 <http://www.cusco.net/articulos/qoricancha.htm>.

"Koricancha Temple and Santo Domingo, Cusco." Sacred Destinations 30 Oct 2008 <http://www.sacred-destinations.com/peru/cusco-koricancha.htm>.

 

 

 

Tambos -Leya Wood

• Incan structure for storage
• mainly used as an inn for important people
• Had Accounting records
• Scattered throughout places like Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Columbia
• About 1 mile between each one
• Along the system of road

 

Example of an Incan Tambo Ruin

http://www.infoarica.cl/altiplano/chungara2.jpg

 

Source:  "Tambo(Incan Structure)." Wikipedia. 2008. 9 Nov 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tambos>.

 

Quipu "writing" system - Mindy Xiong

 

Peruvian Quipu

 

here is an image, to help you get an idea of how the "Quipu" looks like & how it works.

Just by looking at it, you can see how complex it is for us to even try to consider understanding

what the story behind these strings are.

 

-only known and aknowleged precolumbian writing system in South Americaus

-quipus = information transmittal system

-A quipu is essentially a group of wool and cotton strings tied together.

-strings dyed in many different colors

-joined together in many different manners

-have wide variety and number of knots tied in them

-type of wool, colors, knots and joins; influenced informationonce was readable by many South American societies.

- tool used by the Inca Empire to communicate some kinds of information

-Today, only roughly 300 quipus which were preserved or have been discovered since

-not yet broken down (but - there has been educated guesses)

-used for administrative tracking of tributes

-could've been used to recall memory of ancient legends; or representation of maps

-us being able to decode stories are small chances

 

Kris, Hirst. "Quipu (Khipu, Quipo)." about.com . 2008. The New York Times Company. 30 Oct 2008 <http://archaeology.about.com/od/qterms/qt/quipu.htm>.

 

 

 

Machu Picchu and Cuzco-Crystal Tsang

 

Machu Picchu

 

 

^Machu Picchu in Peru with the 150 building and the ancient civilization in daylight.

http://www.sacredsites.com/americas/peru/machu_picchu.html