Americas & Oceania: HIS 111 200V FA23 - World Civilizations Pre-1500 CE

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• he west coast of the Gulf of Mexico near the Mexican city of Vera Cruz

• The peasants, who made up the masses of the people, worked mostly on agriculture, public buildings, and filled the ranks of the military.

• By the middle of the 15th century, the Aztecs (the name we will now use to refer to the Mexica) were strong enough to exercise their authority over most of the people of Mesoamerica

• They built terraces that captured the silt carried by the many rivers flowing through their land.  Hence they were able to make their land much more rich which led to extremely abundant harvests.

• Oceania refers to Australia and the thousands of islands in the central and south Pacific Ocean.

• Smaller island chains that are included in Oceania are Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia

• Have you ever wondered how they eventually came to the Americas since the American continents are separated by vast oceans?  Near the end of Last Ice Age or around 13,000 BCE, the first large wave of people came from Asia (around Siberia) and crossed over a land bridge into Alaska.

• All of Greenland and most of Canada were completely covered by ice, but the area of what is today Alaska was not frozen

• All the ice resulted in lower sea levels and revealed the land bridge between Asia and North America

• Although there is evidence that some humans came as early as 14,000 BCE, the more significant numbers came closer to 13,000 BCE.

• by 9500 BCE.

• Why did they spread out so much?  It was mainly because they relied on hunting-gathering and as temperature warmed, the large animals were becoming extinct.

• Eventually they turned to fishing and agriculture for survival

• About the same time of the Agricultural Revolution in Mesopotamia, people from modern day countries of Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador were experiencing  agriculture

• Among their earliest crops were squash, beans, chili peppers, avocados, and gourds

• By 4000 BCE, maize or corn was being grown and became one of the main foods.  Tomatoes soon followed

• Unlike the agricultural societies of the Middle East and North Africa, there were no large domesticated animals in Mesoamerica at this time

• They had domesticated turkeys and small barkless dogs

• plus they did not have the wheel yet

• The first complex society to develop in Mesoamerica were the Olmecs.  Our knowledge of them is limited.