Origin of pre-Columbian cultures and characteristics

From the first human waves that arrived until the arrival of the Spaniards in the American continent, groups were formed that achieved great and amazing developments. Here we will know how far the advancement of the pre-Columbian cultures.

PRE-COLUMBIAN CULTURES

Pre-Columbian Cultures

When speaking of Pre-Columbian cultures, reference is made to the peoples who occupied the territory that we know today as the generic Americas, literally until the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the fifteenth century. In practice, however, "pre-Columbian" encompasses the entire history of Native American cultures until those cultures became extinct, diminished, or spread under European influence, even if this occurred many years, even centuries, after the arrival of Columbus. ; in Latin America, the usual term is pre-Hispanic.

Population of America

For a long time there has been a scientific debate about how and when the peopling of America began. One of the most accepted theories says that the first inhabitants of America belonged to a wave of nomadic peoples from Asia who entered the continent through the Bering Land Bridge, now the Bering Strait, through several centuries, analysis of mitochondrial DNA inherited by Amerindian progenitors supports evidence that several genetic populations originate from Asia.

However it has been noted that there is a large difference in indigenous groups in South America suggesting that their origin could be earlier Melanesian or Australian.

The fact that the dates most accepted by the scientific community, that of the Clovis in North America dated between the year 12900 and the year 13500 AP (before the present) and the civilization of Monte Verde in Chile dated in the year 14800 AP puts in doubt a settlement only with a north-south direction.

Cultures of America

Throughout the American continent there were countless pre-Columbian cultures and many civilizations. The so-called pre-Columbian high cultures by specialists flourished in Mesoamerica and the Andes. These cultures are characterized by having achieved a complex political and social organization system and notable religious and artistic representations. Other human groups on the continent did not reach the cultural level of the high pre-Columbian cultures, mainly due to their low population density and their semi-nomadic lifestyle.

PRE-COLUMBIAN CULTURES

The pre-Columbian cultures of America created and made important discoveries and advances such as their amazing calendars, their agricultural advances such as the improvement in the creation of new varieties of corn and potatoes, great architectural advances, irrigation systems, advanced writing and mathematics, complex political and social organizations.

Pre-Columbian cultures of North America

The climate of North America was quite unstable during the archaic period, stabilizing approximately ten thousand years ago. This climate caused the first paleoindians to migrate in small groups that spread throughout the Americas, migrating from one place to another as resources were consumed. Thousands of years later, during the Middle Archaic era, some forms of complex organization began to emerge.

The first earthen mounds made for religious purposes at the Monte Sano site in the Lower Mississippi Valley date back to 6500 BC, many of these mounds were found in the present US states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.

Mississippian culture

The Mississippian culture was one of the largest pre-Columbian cultures that existed in the southeastern United States between the 1539th and XNUMXth centuries. This culture was characterized by the construction of burial mounds. It originated in the Mississippi River Valley. It probably influenced the cultures of the Tennessee River Valley. Nearly all dated archaeological finds from the Mississippian culture date back to XNUMX, when Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto explored the area. All the peoples of the Mississippian culture had most of the following in common:

The construction of burial mounds-pyramids with truncated tops, on top of these mounds, other buildings were erected: residential buildings, temples, burials, etc. Maize-based agriculture is in some cases large-scale. Introduction and use of river molluscs, sometimes marine, as an additive to ceramic clay. Extensive trading networks stretching west to the Rocky Mountains, north to the Great Lakes, south to the Gulf of Mexico, and east to the Atlantic Ocean.

PRE-COLUMBIAN CULTURES

The development of the institution of chiefdom or a multi-level hierarchy of chiefs. Development and consolidation of social inequality. Centralization of combined political and religious power in the hands of a few people or just one. The Mississippian culture had no writing or stone architecture. They could process metals, but they did not melt them.

historical tribes

At the arrival of the Europeans, the pre-Columbian cultures of North America had a large number of ways of life, there were sedentary agrarian communities and also semi-nomadic groups of hunters and gatherers. Among the sedentary groups, the Pueblo Indians, the Mandan, the Hidatsa and others stand out. In some cases they built settlements of moderate proportions and even cities like Cahokia, in the place that today occupies the modern city of Illinois.

Pre-Columbian cultures Mesoamerica

The region that starts from the center of Mexico goes south to the northwest of Costa Rica is known as Mesoamerica. In this region, a group of pre-Columbian cultures related to each other culturally developed for a period of approximately three thousand years. These pre-Columbian cultures achieved great advances such as the construction of pyramids and great temples, sophisticated knowledge in mathematics, astronomy and medicine. They developed writing, high-precision calendars; they excelled in fine arts and intensive agriculture.

In Mesoamerica there were many empires, kingdoms and city-states that compete with each other, however the main pre-Columbian cultures of the region were: the Olmec, the Teotihuacan, the Toltec, the Mexica and the Mayan.

Olmec civilization

The Olmec civilization is the oldest of the known Mesoamerican civilizations. The cultural model established by the Olmecs served as an example for the indigenous cultures that succeeded it. Approximately in the year two thousand three hundred before Christ in the delta of the Grijalva River, the first Olmecs began the manufacture of ceramics. The Olmecs extended their influence to all of present-day Mexico with their form of government, their temples and pyramids, their writing, their astronomy, their art, their mathematics, their economy, and their religion.

PRE-COLUMBIAN CULTURES

Teotihuacan civilization

The city of Teotihuacán, which in the Nahuatl language means "city of the gods", dates back to the end of the pre-classic era, approximately one hundred years after Christ. It is unknown exactly who its founders were, but it is assumed that the Otomi were very involved in its development. After having gained control of the region, Teotihuacán developed successfully and became the largest city not only in Mesoamerica, but in the entire world.

The city depended entirely on agriculture, primarily the cultivation of corn, beans, and squash. However, the political and economic component was based on imported goods: ceramics, produced in the Valley of Puebla-Tlaxcala, and the natural resources of the Sierra de Hidalgo. Both products were highly prized throughout Mesoamerica and were traded as luxury items in distant New Mexico and Guatemala. Thanks to this, Teotihuacán became the main axis of the Mesoamerican commercial network.

Tarascan-Purepecha civilization

In its beginnings, several independent communities inhabited the territory of what would become the Tarascan empire, then the leader of the Purépecha people, called Tariacuri, decided to unite the communities that lived on the banks of the Pátzcuaro into a single strong state, which became one of the most advanced pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica.

In addition to its capital, Tzintzuntzan, the empire had control over ninety cities. The Tarascan empire was distinguished by its knowledge in metallurgy and used copper, silver and gold for the manufacture of tools, decorative items, weapons and armor.

Mayan civilization

The Mayans were the creators of the most developed and famous Mesoamerican culture. Many aspects of Mayan culture are similar to the practices of other surrounding peoples, including the use of two calendars, the decimal number system, the cultivation of maize, certain myths such as the five suns, the cult of the Feathered Serpent, and the Mayan god of rain, called Chak in the Mayan language.

PRE-COLUMBIAN CULTURES

The Mayans never formed a single empire, but were united in small groups, constantly at war with each other.

The elite controlled agriculture and, as in all of Mesoamerica, imposed taxes on the lower classes, allowing them to gather enough resources to build public monuments that legitimized their power and social hierarchy. During the Early Classic era, around 370, the Maya elite maintained strong ties with Teotihuacán, and perhaps Tikal, one of the largest Maya cities of this period, was an important ally of Teotihuacán, controlling trade on the Gulf Coast and in the highlands.

Aztec Civilization          

Of all the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica, the Aztec Empire is one of the most famous for its wealth and military power, achieved through the exploitation of other peoples. The Aztecs came from the north or west of Mesoamerica. The inhabitants of the Mexican state of Nayarit believed that the mythical Aztlán was located on the island of Mexcaltitán.

Regardless of the place of origin, the cultural traditions of the Aztecs were not very different from those of classical Mesoamerica. In fact, they had similar characteristics with the peoples of central Mesoamerica. The Aztecs spoke the Nahuatl language, which was also used by the Toltecs and Chichimecas who came before.

Pre-Columbian cultures South America

According to estimates, during the first millennium in the jungles, mountains, plains and coasts of South America there were between fifty and one hundred million inhabitants. Groups of these inhabitants organized themselves into sedentary communities, of which the most important were the Muisca of Colombia, the Valdivia of Ecuador, the Quechua and the Aymara of Peru and Bolivia.

North Chico Civilization

It is a pre-Columbian civilization of the Norte Chico or Caral region, on the north-central coast of Peru. It is the oldest known pre-Columbian state in America, it flourished between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries before Christ in the so-called pre-ceramic period (simultaneously with the rise of the civilizations of Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley).

An alternative name comes from the name of the Caral area in the Supe Valley north of Lima, where a large archaeological site of this culture was discovered. Caral was first discovered by Peruvian archaeologist Ruth Martha Shady Solís in 1997.

According to the archaeological nomenclature, Norte Chico is a pre-pottery culture of the late archaic period; there is no sample of ceramics, the number of works of art found is very small. The most impressive achievement of the Norte Chico culture is its architecture of monuments, with rolling platforms and circular plazas. Archaeological evidence suggests that this culture possessed some technology for making textiles.

Inca empire

The Inca Empire is the largest in India in South America in terms of area and population. It occupied an area from present-day Pasto in Colombia to the Maule River in Chile. The empire included the entire territory of what is now Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador (with the exception of part of the flat regions to the east, covered with impassable jungle), part of Chile, Argentina, and Colombia.

Archaeological investigations show that a large number of achievements were inherited by the Incas from previous civilizations, as well as from neighboring peoples subservient to them.

By the time of the appearance on the historical scene of the Incas in South America, there were a series of civilizations: the Moche (known for its colored pottery and irrigation systems), Huari (this state was the prototype of the Inca Empire, although the population has said it, apparently in a different language, Aymara), Chimú (ceramics and characteristic architecture)

Other civilizations were: Nazca (known for creating the so-called Nazca lines, as well as their underground water supply systems, ceramics), Pukina (the civilization of the city of Tiahuanaco with a population of approximately 40 thousand inhabitants, located east of the Lake Titicaca), Chachapoyas ("Warriors of the Clouds", known for its formidable fortress Kuelap, also called "Machu Picchu del Norte").

Chavín culture

The Chavín culture is a pre-Columbian civilization that existed in the northern highlands of the Andes in the territory of modern Peru from 900 to 200 BC. The Chavín culture was located in the Mosna Valley, where the Mosna and Huachecsa rivers meet. The valley is located at an altitude of 3150 meters above sea level, it is currently inhabited by the Quechua, Hulka and Puna peoples.

The most famous archaeological site of the Chavín culture is the Chavín de Huántar ruins, high in the Andean mountains north of Lima. The city is believed to have been built around 900 BC. C. and was the religious center of the Chavín civilization. Currently, the city has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. There are other important monuments of this culture, for example, the Kuntur Wasi fortress, the Garagay temple with polychrome reliefs, and others.

Here are some links of interest:


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