We decided to make a website for our final project. below is a hyperlink to show the website.
http://editor.wix.com/html/editor/web/renderer/edit/2618cacf-3e0f-4560-9d5b-5e63cb799b7d?metaSiteId=bef788fd-ab8a-4fc7-8e42-197363d4a6ac&editorSessionId=8AA760F8-B7BE-4ED5-A579-AE467D7B65F8
Logan Tueller
History 100
Dr. Madsen-Brooks
10 April 2016
Incan and Aztec Civilizations and Their Demise
In Central and Southern America, two unique civilization prospered and grew to be some of the most mathematically and astronomically inclined cultures ever seen in the world at that time. With massive temples and cities erected so perfectly in the middle of the jungle, both the Incas and Aztecs lived in massive areas and supported populations in the millions.
At its peak, the Incan Empire stretched over current day Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Ecuador and had anywhere from 4 to 37 million inhabitants, this number has such a wide range is because the Spanish Conquistadors destroyed hundreds of years of Incan census records which had information on every citizen that belong to the empire (1). The Incas had the largest pre-Columbian Empire in the Americas, with their capital was located in Cuzco, Peru which is where their well-organized imperial government was based along with their strong central administration, intricate political system and military powers. All was going well for the Incas until Francisco Pizarro arrived from Spain conquered Cuzco with less than 200 conquistadors in 1533. Once the capital was captured, Pizarro’s men surrounded the 13th and final Incan Emperor, Atahuallpa, and Francisco Pizarro strangled him to death (2). The Incan Empire lasted right around 200 years, until it came to a swift end due to the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors and their European disease which wiped out almost 95% of their population. Similarly, the Aztecs were also wiped out from being conquered by the Spanish and then further destroyed by small pox, measles, typhus, influenza and diphtheria. Although they came to the same demise, The Aztec Empire had many key features that differentiated it from the Incan Empire.
The Aztec empire was located in present day Mexico and had a triple alliance between the three city-states of Tenochtitlan, Texcoc and Tlacopan, which differs from the Incan Empire which had an imperial government ran out of one capital. The Aztecs controlled vast parts of Mesoamerica between the 14th and 16th centuries and based their government off a type of feudalism where the outlying villages paid tribute, gave supplies, and offered warriors to the capital cities. This system set up an imperial center with a political reach that extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and as far south as Guatemala. In 1519, Corte reached the Mesoamerica and allied with the Nahautl, who were enemies of the Aztecs (3). In order to dismantle the Aztec Empire, Cortez’s men and the Nahautl warriors attacked the Aztecs and conquered Tenochtitlan for Spain. At that time, one of the Spanish soldiers had contracted smallpox and spread it throughout the empire, which killed more than 3 million Aztecs. Once the city had fallen, Cortez began building Mexico City on the ruins which quickly became a pre-eminent city in the Spanish colonies and King Charles I of Spain appointed Cortez as governor of New Spain. Although they were both wiped out from European diseases that they had never encountered before, the Incas and Aztecs had grown to be economic super powers in the Americas. Although the Aztec Empire was smaller than the Inca Empire in population, 5 million to 37 million respectively, they both developed their own governmental systems that were capable of supporting massive populations, creating large public work projects, developing calendars based off astronomy that were accurate for thousands of years, and even building massive temples made with precisely cut stones in the middle of the jungle or high up at the top of the Andes Mountians.
Works Cited
1) Seaman, Rebecca M. 2013. Conflict in the early Americas: an encyclopedia of the Spanish Empire’s Aztec, Incan, and Mayan conquests. http://ebooks.abc-clio.com/?isbn=9781598847772. (188-189)
2) History.com Staff, Pizarro Executes Last Inca Emperor. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pizarro-executes-last-inca-emperor.
3) Sandine, Al. 2015. Deadly Baggage What Cortes Brought to Mexico and How It Destroyed the Aztec Civilization. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. http://public.eblib.com/choice/PublicFullRecord.aspx?p=213008
attached is my pictorial essay. I apologize for the late submission, i have been struggling with a wisdom teeth surgery and have had a whole lot of catching up to do. I figured i might as well submit it to at least try to get some credit pictorial essay
pictures should be in the attached version
Thanks,
Logan Tueller
Ancient American Irrigation Techniques and Their Influence on Modern American Agriculture
Water is the reason we have life on this planet. Water has several main properties which help sustain our planet and life including: cohesion, high heat capacity, universal solvent, polarity. As organisms evolved into more complex, land mobile creatures, access to water was a matter of survival or extinction. Homo sapiens developed the ability to control their access to water by recycling, redirecting and storing water in many innovating ways which allowed them to travel further and explore new places to call home. As Humans crossed over the ice bridge to North America, they settled next to coasts, rivers and lakes so they could have easy access to water. As thousands of years passed, Native Americans settled in what is now the Pacific Northwest and Southwest. I believe that I can prove that ancient human’s ability to develop technology to control water resources in America was so revolutionary that the systems used helped influence most of our modern day irrigation techniques.
Although it is probable that American Indians grew several native plants such as gourds, the first evidence of corn based agriculture in the Southwest dates as far back as 2100 BCE. Primitive corn cobs have been found all around New Mexico and Arizona from the Tucson basin in the Arizona desert. This suggests that the primitive corn they grew was adapted to being grown in hot, dry and short-season climates (Merrill). Corn reached the Southwest via an unknown route from Mexico. One theory is that the corn cultivation was carried northward from central Mexico by migrating farmers. The first cultivation of corn in the Southwest came during a climatic period when precipitation was relatively high. As corn cultivation became a more feasible means of food, communities became larger and moved away from nomadic hunter-gatherers. As these groups grew in size and moved towards a more agricultural based economy, the need to grow larger amounts of crops lead to some innovative ways to control water resources. The image to the left shows an ancient man-made water basin used to capture rainwater runoff and directed it to their small fields, thus enabling them to grow larger crops in areas of dry desert. From these rainwater collection techniques, modern Americans have derived self-sustaining houses with rain collecting systems that have the ability to supply a full house with water for showers, laundry, cooking and even enough water support a small garden. People have converted the community style water basin towards a more household friendly approach that helps make homes in more rural locations self-sufficient when it comes to water resources. As you can see, these ancient Americans had great skill in managing water resources in dry arid conditions. From rain water collection to massive canal systems spreading miles, Native Americans overcame the struggles of accessing water in the deserts in a way that is advanced even by today’s standards.
The Las Capas, near Tucson, is one of the oldest irrigation systems in North America, dating to 1200 BC. The network of canals and small fields, covers more than 100 acres which shows that a sizable community of people with advanced enough organization to complete community wide public works project (archaeology.org). The Las Capas people are considered the forerunners of the Hohokam people who were the most accomplished farmers of the Southwest. The Hohokam lived in the Gila and Salt river valleys of Arizona between the 100 AD and 1450 AD. Their society bloomed about 750 AD most likely stemming from their agricultural success. The Hohokam constructed a vast system of canals to irrigate thousands of acres of cropland from river valleys for as far as 30 km away (Doolittle). At the peak of their culture in the 14th century, the Hohokam may have numbered 40,000 people which shows how effective their irrigation systems were at passively delivering water to fields. In a very similar fashion, modern farmers rely on simple passive watering systems derived and built with similar techniques that the Las Capas people used hundreds of years ago. The arid South-West poses great issues with agriculture but with the use of the Las Capas’ techniques to build and maintain canals, the Arizona Canal system was started in May 1883, only 400 years after the Hohokam. The Arizona Canal is a massive canal system that gave water access to many communities and farmers. The Canals are 7 times larger (around 211 km) than those from the 15th century but covered similar areas and were built to support thousands of people.
From the map above, the prehistoric canals can be seen in the light blue and more modern canals are in white. The location of the canals then versus now seems to be transposed into very similar locations, some even built new canals over top of the old structures left behind from more primitive canals. The ingenuity behind both canal systems shows how the control of water resources was a mandatory need for populations to grow and survive in the drier desert conditions. As you can see, the resemblance between ancient Americans ability to control water and the more current take on how to control water stem from the same common ground dating back as far as 1200 BC. I believe that I have proved that ancient human’s ability to develop technology to control water resources in America was so revolutionary that the systems used helped influence most of our modern day irrigation techniques.
Works Cited
Doolittle, William E. “Agriculture in North America on the Eve of Contact: A Reassessment” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 82(3), 1992, p. 389
Fish, Suzanne K. “Hohokam Impacts on Sonoran Desert Environment” in Imperfect Balance: Landscape Transformations in the PreColumbian Americas ed. by David L. Lentz, New York: Columbia U Press, 2000, p.264
Merrill, William L. et al, “The Diffusion of Maize to the Southwestern United States and its Impact.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Vol. 106, No. 50 (December 15, 2009), pp. 21019-21020
Showalter, Pamela Sands. 2013. “A Thematic Mapper Analysis of the Prehistoric Hohokam Canal System, Phoenix, Arizona”. Journal of Field Archaeology. 20 (1): 77-90
“Top 10 Discoveries of 2009 – Early Irrigators – Tucson, Arizona.” http://www.archaeology.org/1001/topten/arizona.html, accessed 1 April 2016