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Social Science 3
North – American Civilization

1. Olmecs (“Rubber People”)

 First sign of complex society in Mesoamerica
 Lived in the tropical lowlands of south – central Mexico (now are modern
states Veracruz and Tabasco)
 Flourished during Mesoamerica’s Formative Period (1500 BCE – 400 BCE)
 Most common artworks are colossal heads, rectangular altars,
 Innovations
o Ritual Bloodletting and Sacrifice Speculations
o Mesoamerican Ballgame
o Writing
o Long – count calendar and Zero
 Olmec Heartland – area in Gulf lowlands considered as the birthplace of
Olmec Civlization; snappy, low hills, ridges and volcanoes
 First appeared in San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan
o This place has a well – watered alluvial soil which encouraged
population to condense in this place
 Luxury Artifacts:
o Jade, Obsidian, Magnetit, Clay, Basalt
 San Lorenzo – first olmec center; abandoned during 900 BCE
 Laventa – replaced San Lorenzo as it fell (950 BCE)
 Great Pyramid – largest Mesoamerican structure of this time
 Religion:
o Rulers, Full – time Priests and Shamans
 Reason for Decline:
o Sudden population decline due to serious environmental changes

2. Mayans
 Originated in Yucatan around 2600 BCE; rose to prominence around 250
BCE in present Mexico, Guatemala, western Honduras, El Salvador and
north Belize
 Skilled farmers & Nomadic Hunter Gatherers
 Kukulkan – miraculous priest and teacher, founder of Mayan Civilization
 Had fully, well – developed written language, astronomy, calendrical systems
and hieroglyphic writing
 Base 20 and Base 5 number system
 Maya writing system: logographic or logosyllabic (syllabic signs play a
significant role), used animal hairs and quills
 Maya Art considered as the Classical era
 Government: A small hierarchical state headed by Ajaw (ruler)
 Religion
o They believed in a cyclical nature of time
o Rituals and ceremonies
o Practiced Human Sacrifice
o Gods: Sun and Itzamna
 Advances
o Writing
o Epigraphy
o Calendar
 Reasons for Decline:
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o Overpopulation
o Foreign invasion
o Peasant Revolt
o Exceeded the environment carrying capacity

3. Aztecs (“People from Aztlan”)

 Name given to the group of allied but ethnically different city states who
lived in central Mexico and controlled much of Central America from 12 th
century AD until the Spanish invasion of the 15th century
 Pre – Columbian Mesoamerican people of the central Mexico who called
themselves Mexica
 Aztlan – where they came from (legendary), meaning Place of Herons
 Adapted a farming system called Chinampas
 Triple Alliance – main political alliance creating the Aztec empire
 Tenochtitlan – Tlatlelco – Mexico City – capital of Aztec empire (along Lake
Texcoco)
 Nhuatl – state language
 Valley of Mexico – heart of Aztec civilization in the 13th century
 Acamapichtli – a political genious, became their emperor around 1376
 Practiced Human Sacrifice
 Huitzilopochtli – God of the Aztecs
 Vigesimal counting system
 Polytheistic, shamanism and animism
 Social classes: Slaves, commoner, nobility
 Political Sector
o Nobles and Kings
 Arts
o Songs and poetry
 Food
o Principal food: tlaxcalli (cornmeal pancake, tortilla)
o Discovery of chocolate

4. Incas (Inka/Tiwantinsuya)
 Began as a tribe in Cuzco area
 Civilization is short – lived, lasted for only 100 years
 Civilization began with Manco Capac – first legendary Sapa Inca who always
carried a golden staff called ‘tapac – yauri’; under Manco Capac, they formed
the small city of Cuzco
 Historic records through pottery and stone
 Gave their empire the name “Land of the Four Quarters” or the
“Tahuantinsuyu” Empire
 Sapa Inca – ruler of Kingdom of Cusco, emperor of the Inca Empire
 Pachacutec – founded Inca empire; began its rapid expansion; “the greatest
man the aboriginal race of America has produced”
 Empire was split to decide who would be Inca Hanan or who would be Inca
Hurin (Hanan – higher families, Hurin – lower families)
 Used by quipu – knotted bundled strings for accounting and census
purposes; music was part of their society
 Government
o Inca empire separated into four sections known as ‘Ttahuantin –
suyu” or “land of the four quarters”
o Ruled by ‘Apu – cuna’
 Religion
o Inti – Sun God
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o Sapa Inca – believed as the descendants of Inti
o Theocratic
o Inti Raymi – festival of Sun God

5. Toltecs (800 – 1000 CE)

 Sacked and burned the great city of Teotihuacan and when the city declined,
they inhabited it
 War – like people that expanded rapidly throughout Mexico, Guatemala and
Yucatan Peninsula
 Nahuatl – speaking people who held sway over what is now central mexico
from 10th to 12th century AD
 Dominated a state centered centered in Tula, Hidalgo
 Intellectual and cultural predecessors of Aztec culture
 “Toltec” means “reed person”, derived from their urban center “Tollan”; In
Nahuatl language, their name means “craftsmen”
 Invented art of medicine; they were considered as “men and women” of
knowledge for many centuries
 Religion
o Quetzalcoatl, the “Sovereign Plumed Serpent” – diety of learning,
culture, philosophy, fertility and holiness
o Tezcatlipoca, the “Smoked Mirror” – diety of warlike nature and
tyranny
 Ce Acatl Topiltzin – greatest ruler of all time
 Builders and craftsmen credited with creation of fine metalwork,
monumental porticoes, serpent columns, gigantic statues, etc.
 Sported the American Ball game