1492: An Ongoing Voyage
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WHAT
CAME TO BE CALLED "AMERICA"
By 1492 people had lived in the Western Hemisphere
for tens of thousands of years. For much of this time it is believed that
they experienced virtually no recorded, sustained contact with other parts
of the world -- Europe, Africa, or Asia.
Millions of people lived in an area some five
times the size of Europe. In strikingly diverse habitats and climates
they developed possibly the most varied and productive agriculture in
the world. Their lifestyles and belief systems differed widely and they
spoke hundreds of distinct languages.
Throughout the hemisphere, states and
centers of high civilization had risen and fallen. The dynamic Mexica
(Aztec) and Inca empires were still expanding at this time and internal
migration and warfare were common. The peoples did not see themselves
as part of an entity. Only later would this area be given a unifying
name - America - and the people labeled "Indians" by Europe.
We have focused on five geographical
areas of the region to represent the variety and complexity of peoples
and cultures before 1492: the Caribbean, Middle America, the Andean
region, the South Atlantic, and North America. In order to understand
what came to be called America we are often dependent on European observations.
THE CARIBBEAN -- ISLAND SOCIETY
The largest group of people living in
the islands of the Caribbean were the Taínos. Their villages were governed
by chieftains, or caciques, who enjoyed some distinctions of
rank but received tribute in times of crisis only. Related families
lived together in large houses built of poles, mats, and thatch.
The Taínos were known for their
fine wood carving and hammocks woven from cotton. Not a particularly
warlike people, they played ceremonial ball games, possibly as a substitute
for warfare and as an outlet for competition between villages and chiefdoms.
The other major group living in the
Caribbean were the more mobile and aggressive Caribs, who took to the
sea in huge dugout canoes. By the late 15th century, the Caribs had
expanded into the smaller islands of the eastern Caribbean from the
mainland, displacing or intermingling with the Taínos.
Hammock
In Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés,
La Historia general y natural de las Indias... (Seville, 1535).
Rare Book and Special Collections
Division
Oviedo came to America in 1514, where
for over thirty years he compiled detailed ethnographic descriptions
of the goods, products, peoples and customs of the Caribbean and Central
America. He introduced Europe to a wide variety of previously unheard
of New World "exotica" such as the pineapple, the canoe, the smoking
of tobacco, and the hammock.
The indians sleep in a bed they call an 'hamaca' which
looks like a piece of cloth with both an open and tight weave, like
a net ... made of cotton ... about 2.5 or 3 yards long, with many henequen
twine strings at either end which can be hung at any height. They are
good beds, and clean ... and since the weather is warm they require
no covers at all ... and they are portable so a child can carry it over
the arm.
The hammock was perfected in the Caribbean
and Brazil and was first introduced to Europeans during Columbus' first
voyage of 1492.
MIDDLE ATLANTIC CULTURES
Before 1492, modern-day Mexico, most
of Central America, and the southwestern United States comprised an
area now known as Meso or Middle America. Meso American peoples shared
many elements of culture: pictographic and hieroglyphic forms of writing;
monumental architecture; a diet primarily of corn, beans, squash and
chiles; the weaving of cotton cloth; and extensive trade networks. While
most people lived by working the land, many societies also included
nobles and priests, warriors, craftsmen, and merchants.
The Mexica (Aztec) had formed a powerful
state in the central valley of Mexico and conquered many neighboring
states by the late 15th century. The bustling island capital, Tenochtitlan,
with a population of perhaps 200,000, was located in the middle of Lake
Texcoco. Groups like the Tarascans in the west and Zapotecs to the south,
however, remained relatively independent. Even states that had been
absorbed by the Mexica retained their rulers as well as their religion,
language, and lands.
Mexican Calendar
In Mariano Fernández de Echeverria y Veytia,
Historia del orígen de las gentes que poblaron la America septentrional
[early 19th century manuscript facsimile]
as Calendar wheel no. 7.
Peter Force Collection,
Manuscript Division
This highly accurate calendar was developed
by the people of Mexico prior to 1492. The tonalpohualli, or
sacred calendar, ruled the life of each Mexica and was consulted on
all important occasions. It was made up of 260 days, or 20 months of
13 days.
Professions
of the Tarascan People, Mexico
Occupational Groups. Ink and wash drawing.
In Relacíon de las ceremonias y ritos y población y
gobierno de los indios de la provincia de Mechoacán
compiled by Fray Jeronimo de Alcala (?).
[19th century manuscript facsimile of the ca. 1540original].
Peter Force Collection,
Manuscript Division
The Tarascans inhabited Michoacán,
an area west of Tenochtitlán (present-day Mexico City) and south
of Guadalajara. This illustration depicts schematically various occupational
groups existing before the coming of the Spanish. Groups of figures
sit, each with an object or symbol such as a net, a loom, a bow and
arrow, a writing instrument, feathers, etc., that identifies the occupation
of a specific group. A couple of figures in the upper part of the illustration
sit alone and are identified as being the Cazonci and su gobernador
(their governor).
This well-illustrated manuscript from
Mexico chronicles the history and customs of the Tarascan people before
as well as during the Conquest in the area of Michoacán. Although
written by a Franciscan friar, it is largely based on the accounts of
informants among the Tarascan nobility and priests, thus essentially
expressing an indigenous point of view. The text and numerous illustrations
describe the government, customs, and elaborate society of the Tarascan
people.
Oztoticpac,
Mexico, ca. 1540
In The Oztoticpac Lands Map. [Mexico, ] ca. 1540.
Manuscript on amatl paper.
Geography and Map Division
The Oztoticpac (Mexico) Lands Map is
a central Mexican pictorial document with Spanish and Nahuatl writing
showing litigation surrounding the Oztoticpac estate within the city
of Texcoco, ca. 1540. Its glyph, a symbolic figure, corresponds to the
name "above the caves" (oztotl,cave; icpac, above), a
hill stylized in the shape of a woman. The document on pre-European
amatl paper involves the land and property ownership of the ruler
of Texcoco who was executed during the early days of the Spanish Conquest
in the Central Valley of Mexico. The execution left in its wake litigation
involving ownership of properties claimed by various sons of Nezahualpilli,
the lords of Texcoco.
Most of the drawings on the map are
plans of fields with indigenous measurements and place glyphs. Near
the upper left is the plan of several houses within a precinct. On the
upper right is a map showing about seventy-five plots of land. Additional
fields are drawn at the lower right. Nahuatl and Spanish descriptions
as well as three long Nahuatl texts include mention of Tollancingo,
Oztoticpac, Tezcuco, Don Carlos, and Don Hernando.
In the lower left of the map are depictions
of tree grafts showing European fruit tree branches grafted to indigenous
tree trunks, uniquely displayed among all known Mexican Indian pictorial
documents. Twenty trees, identified as pomegranates, quinces, apples,
pears, etc., are shown. Also, as far as it is known, this is the earliest
recorded lawsuit or conflict in horticultural literature anywhere in
the world.
THE ANDES -- LIFE IN THE HIGHLANDS
Organized states and advanced cultures
had long flourished in the Andean mountain region. The semi-arid highlands
were the center of the far-flung Inca empire, Tahuantinsuyu,
that extended from today's Chile to Colombia. Cuzco, the capital, was
located at 10,000 feet above sea level.
Impressive adaptations to this unique
environment allowed civilizations to thrive at higher altitudes than
anywhere else in the world. The Andean peoples had learned to freeze-dry
foods by taking advantage of the daily extremes of temperature at high
altitudes. They kept herds of llamas and alpacas in the altiplano,
weaving textiles from the wool. Using irrigation and terracing, they
developed varieties of potatoes at high altitudes; grew corn and coca
at lower levels; and raised cotton in the lowlands. They were knowledgeable
miners, fine metalworkers, and great builders.
A rotating system of labor for public
works that was traditional among Andean peoples was used to construct
thousands of miles of roads. These roads greatly facilitated the movement
of troops, peoples, and goods.
Sacsahuaman,
Peru
Photoreproduction from original photograph.
Prints and Photographs Division
The huge fortifications surrounding
the Incan capital of Cuzco, built to protect and to solidify Incan control,
are outstanding examples of the advanced engineering techniques of Andean
peoples. Stones of several tons in weight were precisely cut and placed
in jigsaw-like fashion, without the aid of mortar, to form massive walls.
These stone structures have withstood numerous earthquakes during the
intervening centuries.
Ruins at Machu Picchu, Peru
Photoreproduction from original photograph.
Prints and Photographs Division
This magnificent center of Incan culture,
high in the Andes, is testimony to the extraordinary construction capability
of Andean peoples (i.e., intricate stone construction without the aid
of mortar) before the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century.
SOUTH ATLANTIC PEOPLES
The coastal areas of eastern South America
and the interior of the Amazon basin were home to several million people
at the end of the 15th century. This enormous area, bordering the Andes
mountains on the west and the Atlantic Ocean on the east, extends from
present-day Argentina to the Guianas.
Socio-political structures were usually
not highly developed in this area. The Tupí-speaking groups lived
in villages in which related families resided together in large houses.
They practiced slash-and-burn agriculture, and hunted and fished using
blow guns and poison-tipped arrows. Manioc, a tuber, was their staple
crop. They engaged in warfare and some groups practiced ritual cannibalism.
Tupí groups eventually overcame the Tapuyas, mobile hunters and
gatherers.
NORTH AMERICA -- DIVERSE SOCIETIES
In the 16th century, North America --
occupied today by Canada and most of the United States -- was home to
hundreds of groups speaking a striking variety of languages and dialects.
They lived in diverse settings, from the Algonquian of the eastern woodlands,
to the Caddo and Wichita of the grassy Midwestern plains, and the Taos
of the arid southwest.
Some North American tribes, like the
Iroquois, were organized into large political confederations. Extensive
trade networks - sometimes operating over long distances - allowed for
the exchange of products such as animal skins, copper, shells, pigments,
pottery, and foodstuffs. Housing styles varied from covered wood to
multilevel dwellings constructed of stone and mud, and transportable
shelters made of poles and animal hides. Many tribes played games such
as lacrosse and stickball. Religion was an integral part of daily life,
tying them to the land, to other living things, and to the spirits that
animated their world and provided order to social relations.
Secotan Village Showing Space Utilization
In Theodor de Bry,
Americae pars decima
Openheim, 1619, as Indian village of Secotan.
Rare Book and Special Collections
Division
The people of Secotan lived in permanent
villages near today's North Carolina Outer Banks. Like the northern
Algonquians, they farmed collectively in the growing season and dispersed
into family units to hunt during the colder months.
The engraving, based on a drawing made
by John White in the 1580s, shows careful management and use of the
land. Crops include tobacco and pumpkins, corn in three stages of growth,
and sunflowers, while domesticated deer graze in the adjoining woods.
The buildings include family units and storehouses for the surplus corn.
The Secotan traded with other groups
like the powerful Mandoag of the Piedmont area of North Carolina, who
acted as middlemen in the copper trade.
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