PRE-COLUMBIAN ANDES

I. Introduction

A. Questions for this week:

How did the Incas and Mexica conquer and govern other native peoples?

What were similarities and differences between Incas and Mexica?

II. The Americas prior to 1492

A. Jared Diamond's theory of Guns, Germs and Steel [see web links below]

1. Development of cereal crops
2. Domestication of Animals
3. Resistance to Disease
4. Geographical spread of crops and animals

B. Diversity

1. Over Space: 5000 years of settled societies and rise and fall of empires
2. Over Space: adaptations to different environments (including the Amazon)

C. Sources

*Pre-colonial writing (Andes: quipus, Mesoamerica: writing: books)
* Art (ceramics, textiles)
*objects, architecture, archeology
*ancestors stories
*European writings (narrative chronicles, administrative documents)
*Missionary writings
*Indigenous records/chronicles after conquest

III. Characteristics of Andean Society

A. Geography and agriculture: “vertical archipelagos”
B . Social organization: kinship and community (ayllu): mitmaq colonists
C . Reciprocity (exchange of resources, labor) and complementarity (gender)
D . Authority/hierarchy: kuraka

III. Imperial States: Tihuanaco (c. 400-1100 C.E.)

IV. Incas (Tawantinsuyu) [Finished in next class]

A. Governance

1. Military
2. Administrative/rules of succession
3. Marriage/Kinship
4. Tribute: labor

B. Religion: huaca, reciprocity

C. Civil War; wars of succession common

I.D. Terms

ayllu
mitmaq
kuraka
huaca
reciprocity
Cuzco
Quito
Huayna Capac (d. 1527)
Huascar
Atahualpa

Websites on Jared Diamond's Geographical and Biological Theories of Disease and Technology:

PBS showing of Guns, Germs, and Steel: http://www.pbs.org/gunsgermssteel/

Text of a lecture by Diamond: http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/diamond/diamond_p1.html

Site maintained by Sarah Chambers and Todd Rowlatt.

Last updated October 1 , 2009
© University of Minnesota 2003
The University of Minnesota is an Equal Opportunity Employer.