1.2: Civilizations of the American Continent up to 1492

Before the arrival of Europeans, the continent that we now call America had one of the most diverse human mosaics in the world, comprising numerous racial, linguistic, and cultural groups. From the Eskimos in the North Pole to the Mapuches in Patagonia, there were more than 1,700 languages. The variety of human types is evident when comparing, for example, the tall stature of the North American Sioux (1.80m = 6 feet) with that of the Colombian and Venezuelan Motilones (Caribs), who barely reach 1.40m (4 feet 7 inches). The indigenous cultures that have received the most attention in the West are those of the Mayans, the Aztecs, and the Incas, because these three civilizations were imperial, urban, and had some form of writing or historical record. In this sense, they had similarities with the European civilizations that invaded the continent starting in 1492. In addition, all three have had particular significance in the construction of national identities in several Latin American countries, especially Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, and Ecuador.

Mesoamerican Civilizations

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Mesoamerica. Image: © Sémhur, Wikicommons

The civilization that the Mexica called Olmec, one of the oldest in America, developed on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, approximately between 1200 and 400 BC, and extended to the Central Valley of Mexico, as well as Guatemala and El Salvador. The astronomy, architecture, and art of this ancient culture had a profound influence on both the Mayans and the Nahuas. The Olmecs are renowned for their monumental stone head sculptures, small stone carvings, and bluish jade artifacts, as well as their hieroglyphic writing and extensive irrigation systems that spanned multiple cities and supported agricultural production. The game of ball and the cult of the jaguar-boy were two of the symbolic characteristics of this ancient civilization. Later, between 200 BC and 500 AD, a culture developed in the Central Valley, with its main city being Teotihuacán. It preserves its pyramids of the Sun and the Moon, as well as the famous temple to Quetzalcoatl (the feathered serpent, known as Kukulkán or Gukumatz among the Mayans), an important and heroic figure and embodiment of the divine for Mesoamerican cultures.

The Mayans

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Mayan region. Image: Simon Burchell, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Mayan culture had two periods of expansion. Initially, between the 4th and 9th centuries, they inhabited areas of what is now Honduras and Guatemala, and merged with the Quiché culture, which resided in the mountains of Guatemala. In its second era, between the 9th and 14th centuries, the Mayan epicenter was in the Yucatan Peninsula, south of what is now Mexico. When the Spanish arrived in the early 16th century, the Mayan cities were already abandoned, and most of the population lived in rural areas. The Mayan calendar is famous for being one of the most precise calendars of its time, divided into 18 periods of 20 days and an additional period of 5 days of bad luck called Uayeb (“nameless”): 18 × 20 = 360 + 5 = 365 days. There was also a sacred calendar (Tzolkin) of 260 days that included the exact calculation of the solar year, eclipses, and planetary and stellar cycles. The mathematical system was also very complex, based on 20 symbols (just as the Western system has ten numbers) that included zero. In addition to advanced astronomy and mathematics, Mayan architecture produced the most perfect pyramids in the Americas. The squares, formed by square or round columns, were sculpted in bas-relief. The ruins of the religious centers of Chichén-Itzá and Palenque (Mexico), Tikal (Guatemala) and Copán (Honduras) are eloquent testimonies of this admirable monumental architecture. The writing was hieroglyphic and has been collected in codices, although it also appeared in elaborate murals. Two famous texts were compiled during the Spanish colony in Mesoamerica, with valuable data on the Mayan vision of the world and history: the Popol Vuh (“book of the community” in the Quiché language), a sacred text that narrates the origin of the human being, made of corn; and the Chilam Balam, a book about mythology, prophecies and outstanding events.

The Nahuas

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Mexican Empire. mage: Yavidaxiu, CC BY-SA 3.0

In the Central Valley of Mexico, around Lake Texcoco, a group of cultures that spoke different variants of the Nahuatl language arrived around the 13th century, and for this reason, they can be generically referred to as the Nahuas. According to their legends, they came from the Toltec culture (which means artist or craftsman) and, in the middle of the 12th century, the Chichimecas (a word that connoted “barbarian” or “savage”) invaded from the north, without imposing their own beliefs. In effect, the Mexica (often called Aztecs) came from a legendary northern region called Aztlán (in what is now part of the United States). They founded their capital in the center of a lake because, according to legend, they found the sign indicated by the gods: an eagle and a snake fighting over a nopal cactus. The city, founded around 1325, was called Tenochtitlán. By 1428, this formed a triple alliance with two other cities — Texcoco and Tlacopán — consolidating what is now known as the Great Aztec Empire. By 1519, when the Spanish arrived, Tenochtitlán was one of the most impressive cities in the world, with a population of nearly 250,000 inhabitants. Strategically located on an island in Lake Texcoco, the capital was connected to the mainland by means of a series of bridges, which allowed for more efficient defense and control for an empire that had frequent wars. Among young Mesoamerican nobles, the ball game (olllama), which also had a ritual character, was common. It was played with a ball the size of a soccer ball, made of rubber (rubber). The field was in the shape of a double T or an H, which demarcated the territories for the two teams by means of a central line. The game consisted of propelling the ball and passing it through a hoop in the opposite field without it touching the ground of the field itself, but you couldn't use your hands or feet. That's why players wore skin protectors on the most vulnerable parts of their bodies, such as the genitals, hips, knees, and head. Among the Aztecs, the field was called the tlachtli. Several of its codices and poems are preserved from Aztec culture, as well as numerous words that are now part of the Spanish language (such as chocolate and tomato, among many others). The basis of their diet was corn, and they domesticated animals such as dogs and turkey (guajolote). As agriculture was a central activity, an owner lost his right to the land if he stopped cultivating it for two consecutive years.

The Inca Empire

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The Inca civilization developed approximately in the 15th century, based on the heritage of several previous cultures. There is evidence that a great urban civilization, with immense constructions, existed on the coast of what is now Peru almost three thousand years before the birth of Christ. This civilization then moved to the Andes, and from it, later, other important cultures were derived: Chavín de Huántar, Mochica, Nazca, Chimú, Huari, and Tiahuanacu. By 1470, the Incas had conquered vast territory and annexed many neighboring cultures. The empire was called Tahuantinsuya (which means the four regions of the earth), and it occupied everything from what is now southern Colombia to northern Chile, with about ten million inhabitants. The imperial capital was Cuzco, which means “the navel of the world”. The official language was Runasimi, which means “general language,” also known as Quechua. The basis of the social structure was a group of families that worked together as a community, known as the Ayllu. A third of the harvest was reserved for the king (the Inca), another portion was allocated for religious purposes, and the remaining part was distributed among the families of each Ayllu according to their needs. One of the foundations of Inca imperial success was the efficient construction of nearly 18,000 miles of roads and bridges that linked the capital to the various areas. The chasquis were messengers whose mission was to carry orders from the Inca and news to all regions of the empire. They ran long distances and had a relay system in which the quipus were passed, which were instruments composed of knots of different colors and shapes to keep track of the accounts and preserve the memory of the news. The amauta (wise man) had the mission of preserving and presenting the historical tradition of the empire on special days. The two important divinities were Inti or Viracocha (the sun), who fertilized his wife Pacha Mama (the earth) with her rays. A daily greeting from the Incas, which reveals their ethical code, was: “Ama sua, ama lluclla, ama quella”, which means “don't steal, don't lie, don't be lazy”. A few years before the Europeans arrived in 1532, the last emperor, named Huayna Cápac, had died without appointing a successor. For this reason, his two sons, Huáscar and Atahualpa, each governed half of the empire and were at war to unify the Tahuantinsuyo once again. Finally, Atahualpa had defeated his brother and was preparing to proclaim himself sole monarch when Pizarro and his Spanish soldiers arrived.

Inca Empire. Image: Norki156, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikicommons

The Mayans, Aztecs and Incas were not only influential pre-Columbian empires, but they are also part of the symbolic construction of many Spanish-American nations. In food, too, they left an outstanding legacy for all Western culture: what would European or American cuisine be without Mesoamerican tomatoes and chocolate or without potatoes or Andean potatoes? In addition, their contemporary descendants still comprise a significant portion of the Mexican, Guatemalan, Ecuadorian, Peruvian, and Bolivian populations. Quechua, with fourteen million speakers, is the fourth most spoken language in the Americas. The agricultural, artisanal, artistic, and literary production of these peoples constitutes a fundamental element of the economic and cultural heritage of their respective countries.

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Other Civilizations

As mentioned earlier, the number of cultures that originated in what is now known as the American continent (or Western Hemisphere) exceeds the scope of this brief history. However, here are some facets of different groups to give a general idea of their great diversity.

Taínos and Caribs

Columbus's expedition first landed in the country of the Taínos, which today includes the Bahamas, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Cuba (an island shared with the Siboneyes). Although with different linguistic characteristics and customs, Taínos and Siboneyes were peaceful fishing villages that were transported in canoes of various sizes, usually carved in one piece. Some had a capacity for forty rowers. The families lived in palm or cane houses that they called caneyes when they were on the ground, or barbecues when they were built on a platform of stakes, in the marshy lands. Barbecues were mainly used to store food, such as cassava, and prevent it from deteriorating. Often several families lived in a caney, and the houses were organized around a central square. Festivals and rituals were often held there, in which people danced, theatrical performances were performed with a poetic and historical character, and tobacco was burned as incense or ritually smoked in long wooden pipes. The political leaders were called caciques. Most of the members of these peaceful groups disappeared a few decades after the arrival of Europeans, besieged by slavery, violence and diseases for which they were not physiologically prepared, such as influenza and syphilis. Today, however, there are a growing number of activists seeking to recover Taino roots. Much more belligerent were the Caribs, who lived in the Lesser Antilles and on the Atlantic coast of South America, and offered tenacious resistance to European domination. The inhabitants of Lake Maracaibo lived in houses built on stakes over the water (barbecues) and circulated in canoes. Because of its similarity to the Venetian canals, the conquistadores gave this region the name of Venezuela. Because the Caribs fought tenaciously with the Spanish and had a civilization based on war, they became famous as anthropophagous, and from their name comes the term “cannibals”.

Music or Chibchas

Belonging to the extensive Chibcha language family, the Muiscas lived in the mountainous area of what is now Colombia. Their economic and social organization was based on agricultural activities, for which they developed sophisticated cultivation techniques in the mountains and in swampy areas, planting corn, tomato, numerous potato varieties and other crops. All of these elements are still part of the contemporary Colombian diet. They had two types of chiefs, depending on the size of the regional community: the Zaques led the smaller communities, and the Zipa was the leader of the central community, which lived in the Bacatá savannah (today Bogotá). Their priests were men before the arrival of the Spanish; the invasion necessitated the reorganization of their society, and it was then that women began to exercise spiritual leadership, holding an important position in the town. Their gold and silver crafts were distinguished by the sophistication of the details and miniatures. One of the Chibcha legends that most fascinated the conquistadores was that of El Dorado, a mythological place said to be full of gold. As a symbol of its power, the Zipa covered its body with powdered gold, radiating like the sacred sun or Sua, and bathed in the waters of Lake Guatavita. The houses also had various gold and silver decorations depending on the social class of the families.

Tupíes and Guaranies

Inhabitants of the central part of South America, almost all of what is now Brazil and parts of Paraguay, these two groups belong to a common linguistic family. The Tupí lived in coastal areas close to the Pacific Ocean, and the Guarani lived in the plateaus and jungle areas of the interior. They were semi-nomadic cultures that founded temporary villages called Tabas. They stayed there for a few months, until they had exhausted the resources of hunting, fishing, and fruit gathering; then they moved to another region. They cultivated yuca or cassava, the basis of their diet, and used yerba mate for medicinal, ritual and stimulating purposes. They also benefited from rubber, which they used for footwear and clothing. Although their entire environment had sacred and divine value, they worshiped a higher power called Tupá, which means “Who are you?” and to whom the priest-doctors, known as Pagés, were consecrated. Guarani culture has a significant presence in Paraguay, where the Jesuit priests' missions were highly influential during the colonial period. Today, Guaraní is one of the country's official languages.

Mapuches (or Araucans)

The civilization of the Mapuches (whom the Spanish called “Araucans”) still survives today in regions of Chile and Argentina, thanks to their skills in war and their defensive strategies. The name Mapuche is made up of two parts: “mapu”, which means land, and “che”, which means town (people). The value of freedom constitutes one of their cultural centers, which they knew how to protect against both the Incas and the Spaniards. For them, every culture is vital to the survival of the planet, which dies a little when a civilization disappears. Therefore, it is their responsibility to keep the Mapuche tradition alive for the well-being of the entire planet. Although their priests were men before the arrival of the Spanish, the invasion necessitated the reorganization of their society, and it was then that women began to exercise spiritual leadership, holding the title of machis. Traditionally lovers of partying, which includes the abundant consumption of an alcoholic beverage called molle, their music includes instruments such as the cultrún (type of drum), cascahuillas (bells tied to the fingers), the trutruce (a kind of cane flute), the pifilca (similar to a whistle) and the trumpet, which uses the throat and mouth as a soundboard. Their language is Mapudungun, which is made up of “mapu” (land) and “dungun” (speech). The Mapuche presence, particularly in poetry, traditional medicine, and politics, has gained greater respect and recognition in Chile in the 21st century.

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Some Native Languages

Some indigenous languages have many speakers, although many are in danger of disappearing because of the pressure to learn the country's dominant language. Two have traditionally been official, along with Spanish: Quechua in Peru and Guarani in Paraguay. Many have also been included as national languages in constitutional reforms of the 1990s and the 21st century. The following table presents some of the most spoken languages, although these numbers include speakers of the different dialectal variations of these languages and correspond approximately to the 1990s (Kaufman, Terrence). “The native languages of Meso-America,” and “The native languages of South America.” In Christopher Moseley and R.E. Asher (eds.), Atlas of the World's Languages. London: Routledge, 1994. 34-76):

 

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To Review and Think

1. What are some of the reasons why Mayan, Aztec, and Inca cultures have received more attention in the West than other indigenous civilizations in America?
2. What modes of writing and/or recording memory did these three cultures have? Cite a few examples.
3. What are some of its most famous intellectual, aesthetic, religious and social manifestations?
4. What aspects of other, less famous cultures do you find interesting?
5. Explain each of the following words, and indicate what culture they belong to:

amauta - Nahuatl - Popol Vuh - Tahuantinsuyo - runasimi - chasquis -Tenochtitlán
codices - Cusco - Quetzalcoatl - Ayllu - Mapudungún - zipa - Tupá - cacique