The cultural achievements of the pre-Columbian civilizations of America in brief. Civilization of pre-columbian america

When the first Europeans came to the American continent, they encountered a civilization that was very different from anything they had seen before. Local residents had no idea about many concepts that had long and firmly rooted in the Old World. The peoples of pre-Columbian America did not use the wheel, did not make iron tools, and did not ride horses.

All the more surprising is the fact that the Indians, as the immigrants from Europe called, managed to build several fairly advanced civilizations. They had cities, states, long paved roads between settlements, writing, astronomy, and unique artistic artifacts.

The civilizations of pre-Columbian America arose independently of each other in two geographic regions - Mesoamerica and the Andes. Until the Spanish conquest, these areas were the centers of the continent's intellectual and cultural life.

Mesoamerica

This geographical area covers the territories of central and southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The first people appeared here in the 12th millennium BC. Cities and states emerged in the third millennium BC. From then until the beginning of Spanish colonization, several advanced cultures arose in Mesoamerica.

The earliest was the Olmec civilization, who lived on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. They had a huge impact on the traditions of all subsequent peoples who inhabited this region.

Olmec culture

The most ancient art of pre-Columbian America is represented by very unusual and mysterious artifacts. The most famous monument of the Olmec civilization are giant heads made from basalt boulders. Their sizes vary from one and a half meters to 3.4 meters, and they weigh from 25 to 55 tons. Since the Olmecs did not have a written language, the purpose of these heads is unknown. Most scholars are inclined to believe that these are most likely portraits of ancient rulers. This is indicated by the details of the hats, as well as the fact that the faces of the sculptures are not alike.

Another trend of Olmec art is jade masks. They were executed with great skill. Already after the disappearance of the Olmec civilization, these masks were discovered by the Aztecs, who collected and stored them as valuable artifacts. In general, the culture of pre-Columbian America was formed under the strong influence of this ancient people. Drawings, figurines and sculptures of the Olmecs are found hundreds of kilometers from the territories they once inhabited.

Mayan civilization

The next great culture of Mesoamerica emerged around 2000 BC and lasted until the era of European colonialism. This was the Mayan civilization, which left behind a huge number of works of art and architectural monuments. The highest rise of Mayan culture fell on the period from 200 to 900 AD. During this pre-Columbian era, America experienced a flourishing urban development.

Maya frescoes, bas-reliefs and sculptures are executed with great grace. They fairly accurately convey the proportions of the human body. The Maya had a written language and a calendar, they also created a detailed map of the starry sky and were able to predict the trajectory of the planets.

Mayan art

Color images do not survive well in humid climates. Therefore, not so many Mayan wall paintings have survived to this day. Nevertheless, fragments of such images are found everywhere in the ancient cities of this people. The surviving fragments indicate that the art of pre-Columbian America was not inferior to the best works of the classical civilizations of the Old World.

The Maya achieved great skill in the manufacture of ceramics, including painted ones. From clay, they sculpted not only dishes, but also figurines depicting gods, rulers, as well as scenes from everyday life. The Maya made jewelry from precious stones and were engaged in wood carving.

Many sculptures and bas-reliefs have survived, reflecting the history of pre-Columbian America of that period. Maya artists often left important events of public life imprinted in stones. Many images contain inscriptions, which greatly helps historians in interpreting the plots presented on them.

Mayan architecture

The culture of America during the Maya was experiencing its heyday, which could not but be reflected in the architecture. In the cities, in addition to residential buildings, there were many specialized buildings. Passionate astronomers, the Maya built observatories to observe celestial objects. They also had ball courts. They can be considered the forerunners of modern football fields. The balls themselves were made from the sap of a rubber tree.

The Maya erected temples in the form of a sanctuary at the top. Special platforms were also built, reaching four meters in height and intended for holding public ceremonies and religious rites.

Teotihuacan

On the territory of modern Mexico there is an abandoned city of ancient Indians with perfectly preserved buildings. Nowhere did the architecture of pre-Columbian America reach such heights (literally and figuratively) as in Teotihuacan. Here is the Pyramid of the Sun - a gigantic structure 64 meters high and with a base of more than 200 meters. There used to be a wooden temple on top of it.

Nearby is the Pyramid of the Moon. This is the second largest building in Teotihuacan. It was built after and was dedicated to the great goddess of earth and fertility. In addition to the two large ones, there are several smaller four-tiered stepped structures in the city.

Images in Teotihuacan

Almost all buildings in the city have frescoes. The background is usually red. Other colors are used to represent characters and other details in the drawing. The plots of the frescoes are mostly symbolic and religious, illustrating the myths of pre-Columbian America, but there are also scenes of everyday life. There are also images of rulers and warriors fighting. There are many sculptures in Teotihuacan, including those that are elements of the architecture of buildings.

Toltec culture

Little is known today about what pre-Columbian America was like between the end of the Mayan civilization and the rise of the Aztecs. It is believed that the Toltecs lived in Mesoamerica at this time. Modern scientists draw information about them mainly from Aztec legends, in which real facts are often intertwined with fiction. But archaeological finds still provide some reliable information.

The capital of the Toltecs was the city of Tula, located on the territory of present-day Mexico. In its place are the remains of two pyramids, one of which was dedicated to the god Quetzalcoatl (Feathered Serpent). At its top there are four massive figures depicting Toltec warriors.

Aztec culture

When the Spaniards sailed to Central America, they met a powerful empire there. It was the state of the Aztecs. We can judge about the culture of this people not only by architectural monuments. Thanks to the Spanish chroniclers who described the civilization they saw, information about the poetic, musical and theatrical art of the Aztecs has been preserved.

Poetry of the Aztecs

The poetic art of pre-Columbian America appears to have had a long tradition. In any case, by the time the Spaniards appeared, the Aztecs already had poetry competitions held with a large crowd of people. In poems, as a rule, metaphors, words and phrases with double meanings were present. There were several literary genres: lyric poetry, war ballads, mythological legends, etc.

Fine arts and architecture of the Aztecs

The capital of the Aztec empire was Tenochtitlan. Its development was dominated by architectural forms that were invented by the preceding civilizations of pre-Columbian America. In particular, a 50-meter pyramid towered over the city, reminiscent of similar Mayan structures.

Aztec drawings and bas-reliefs depict scenes from everyday life as well as a variety of historical and cult events. There are also pictures of human sacrifices on them, which were carried out during religious festivals.

One of the most unusual and mysterious artifacts of the Aztecs is the Stone of the Sun - a large round sculpture with a diameter of almost 12 meters. In its center is depicted the sun god, surrounded by symbols of four past eras. A calendar is inscribed around the deity. It is believed to have served as a sacrificial altar. In this artifact, the culture of pre-Columbian America reveals several of its facets at once - astronomical knowledge, cruel rituals, artistic skill merge into a single whole.

Inca culture

The peoples of pre-Columbian America reached a high level of development not only in the central part of the continent. In the south, in the Andes, the unique Inca civilization flourished. This people was geographically cut off from Mesoamerican cultures and developed apart.

The Incas achieved great skill in many arts. Of great interest are their patterns on fabrics, called tokapu. Their purpose was not only to make clothes more elegant. Each of the elements of the pattern was also a symbol for a word. Arranged in a certain sequence, they formed phrases and sentences.

Inca music

The musical art of pre-Columbian America is partly preserved in the Andes, where the descendants of the Incas live, to this day. There are also literary sources from the times of colonization. From these we know that the Incas used a variety of wind and percussion instruments. Music accompanied religious rites, many songs were associated with a cycle of fieldwork.

Machu Picchu

The Incas also became famous for the unique city built high in the mountains. It was discovered in 1911 already abandoned, so its real name is not known. Machu Picchu in the language of the local Indians means "old peak". The buildings in the city are built of stone. The blocks are so precisely matched to each other that the skill of the ancient builders surprises even modern specialists.

North American culture

The Indians who lived north of what is now Mexico did not build stone structures such as the Pyramid of the Sun or Machu Picchu. But the artistic achievements of the peoples of pre-Columbian America, who lived in Raune and Missouri, are also quite interesting. Many ancient burial mounds have survived in this region.

In addition to simple mounds in the form of a hill, in the Mississippi River valley there are stepped platforms, as well as mounds, in the outlines of which the figures of various animals, in particular a snake and a crocodile, are guessed.

The impact of pre-Columbian American art on modernity

The Indians are a thing of the past. But America's culture today bears the imprint of ancient pre-colonial traditions. Thus, the national costumes of the indigenous peoples of Chile and Peru are very similar to the clothes of the Incas. In the paintings of Mexican artists, stylistic devices characteristic of the Mayan fine arts are often found. And in the books of Colombian writers, fantastic events are bizarrely intertwined with a realistic plot with ease familiar to Aztec poetry.

The civilizations of Pre-Columbian America have given a lot to modern civilization. American Indians were the first to grow corn, potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, sunflowers, beans. They opened the world to cocoa, tobacco and rubber.

The tribes of the American Indians were almost completely isolated from the rest of the world for several millennia. In this regard, the culture of these peoples developed much more slowly from the civilizations of the rest of the world, which overtook the American Indians in development. The discovery of America by Europeans practically led to the destruction of the civilizations of local cultures.

In modern science, it is generally accepted that the ancestors of the American Indians came to America 25-30 thousand years ago from Asia through the Bering Strait, but this is not known for certain. Be that as it may, already in the 6th century AD, the Indians inhabited most of the territories of North and South America.

Among the civilizations of pre-Columbian America, the most famous are the civilizations of the Olmecs, Aztecs, Incas and Mayans.

The Olmec civilization is one of the most ancient American civilizations, and at the same time one of the most mysterious (there are pseudo-scientific theories linking the Olmecs with aliens). The Olmecs became famous for their art of monumental sculpture, represented by giant stone heads of people, steles and altars. The Olmecs also wrote the oldest written dates in America (they designated them with dashes and dots). The writing of the Olmecs has not yet been deciphered. The Olmec civilization arose at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. and lasted until the 6th century BC. The center of civilization was on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in central Mexico. The Olmecs were the first to build large cities - ritual centers and are rightfully considered the creators of the first empire in America.

Another ancient civilization of the Indians, which the first conquiskadors managed to find, was founded by the Maya tribes. The Maya civilization is one of the most famous civilizations of pre-Columbian America for the development of its writing, art and architecture. The Mayans built whole stone cities and ritual pyramids in the jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula (modern Mexico and Belize), they developed their own calendar, and possessed significant knowledge of astronomy. The dawn of the Mayan civilization falls on 250-900 AD, although this civilization began to form much earlier (in 1-2 thousand BC).

On the territory of modern Mexico (in its central part), another famous civilization of pre-Columbian America was formed - the civilization of the Aztecs. It existed in the 14-16th century A.D. e. and was destroyed by the Europeans. The capital of the Aztecs, the city of Tenochtitlan, is the place where the city of Mexico City later arose.

In South America, the most famous pre-Columbian civilization is the Inca civilization. Incas in the 11-16th century AD e. created the largest empire in America in terms of area and population. It covered the territories of modern Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, as well as partly Chile, Argentina and Colombia. The civilization of the Incas was, like the civilization of the Aztecs, destroyed by the Europeans.

Inca civilization of pre-Columbian America

Introduction

Scientists are deeply engaged in the study of three, the most striking, civilizations, the history of which goes back hundreds of years - these are the ancient civilizations of the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans.

Each of these civilizations left for us a lot of evidence of its existence, by which we can judge the era of their heyday and about the sudden decline or partial disappearance in general.

Each culture carries a studied and still studied huge cultural layer, expressed in the creations of architecture, writing, in the remains of handicraft art, as well as in the language that has come down to us.

But the fate of these cultures is just a preface to a huge book, all the pages of which, it would seem, have long been torn out and lost. What happened before the great ancient American states, ruthlessly conquered by the Spaniards? What peoples inhabited America before the same Incas or Aztecs?

Facing each time with the ancient culture of Latin America and not rarely with the modern one, we find a lot of interesting things in it and even more unsolved and surrounded by a halo of mysticism. What is one myth about the fairyland "El dorado" worth? Many fragments of the distant era of the existence of the civilizations of the Incas, Aztecs and Mayans, unfortunately, are forever lost, but much remains with which we directly come into contact, but it also gives us ways to unravel many, sometimes inexplicable, to us, modern people, regarding art in general. those distant worlds.

Until recently, the problem of studying these ancient cultures was that Lat itself was "closed to the eyes and minds of scientists around the world." America. With great obstacles and intervals, during the breaks, work was and is being carried out related to excavations and searches for architectural treasures. Only recently, with the exception of literary information, has expanded access to territories and places associated with the inhabiting of ancient tribes and peoples.

Among the ancient civilizations of America, the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas can be distinguished. The roots of these great civilizations are lost in the mists of time. Much remains unknown about them, but it is known that they have reached a high level of development. The Maya, Aztecs, and Incas all had tremendous advances in astronomy, medicine, mathematics, architecture, and road construction.

History of the Inca civilization

The Incas (more correctly, the Inca) are the creators of one of the most ancient civilizations in South America. Originally an Indian tribe of the Quechua language family, who lived in the 11th-13th centuries on the territory of modern Peru, later the dominant stratum, as well as the supreme ruler in the state of Tahuantinsuyu formed by them (15th century). They reached a highly developed social order without even mastering the wheel. A highly developed road system helped to maintain the integrity of the geographically extended state. The Incas performed complex surgical operations and mastered the art of mummification. They built stone buildings without using cement, while their buildings withstood such earthquakes in which later Spanish buildings were destroyed to the foundation. And, nevertheless, having a powerful centralized state, they were conquered by a small handful of Spaniards.

The history of the Incas begins with a legend that was passed from mouth to mouth among the Incas - once the first Inca - Manco Capac and his sister-wife Mama Okllo, fulfilling the sacred will of their great father, the Inca Sun, came out of the waters of the protected Lake Titicaca to create a huge country where they will worship their divine father, who presented them with a magic rod, which was supposed to find the best place to build a city, which should become the capital of a new great empire. Empires of the Sun.

This is how, from the legendary first Inca, the son of the Sun, the dynasty of the Inca rulers began, each of which expanded the boundaries of the empire. There are twelve successors to the legendary first Inca. Their reign lasted for almost two hundred years, until the Inca Pachacuti appeared on the horizon of history, according to the biography, one could safely write novels and stage feature films. He was the youngest son of the Inca governor of the city of Cuzco. It is with him that the creation of a new history of the Incas is connected - according to legend, Pacachuli ordered to destroy all the previous "documents" as unworthy of the great empire of the Incas. Many even his name - Pacachuli - is translated as the Inca name “The end of the old and the beginning of a new era”, and everything that the previous Incas did before this, almost without a trace has sunk into oblivion, we are left with only the names of dates and traditions that have come down through third hands. But, as compensation for the disappeared history, Pacachuli ordered to record all his deeds in detail. This is what all his heirs did in the future.

In the retelling of his descendants, whose blood had already mixed with the noble Spanish, gradually giving rise to a new nation, in 1438, the first year of his reign, the Inca empire found a new capital and a new history. The empire even had a new position as an official historian - it usually became one of the ruler's relatives, carefully, with zeal describing his new campaigns and victorious battles. It was then that the Inca army began to seize the shores of Lake Titicaca. The Incas took possession of thousands of herds of llamas and alpacas. It was not only meat, but also transportation and clothing. It is no coincidence that Pacachuli declared these herds to be the property of the ruler. This was the beginning of the zloty of the Inca age.

After his death, he was succeeded to the throne by his son, the Inca Tupac Yupanqui, who became a great commander and a successful emperor-conqueror. He was replaced by his nephew - Huayna Kapak. It was these three Inca rulers who created the great Inca empire, on the lands of which more than ten million people lived. During its short period, it surpassed the glorified Roman Empire in military power.

The Incas were intelligent rulers planning their actions for decades to come. So the seizure of the territories of neighbors was as bloodless as possible, without massacres and conflagrations. The Incas were even thrifty about their future potential possessions, preferring, unlike the Spaniards, living villagers to the devastated desert lands.

The Incas did not have money and therefore the state took all the care of warehouses with food and clothing, placing on its shoulders the need to provide its subjects with everything necessary for life in all the secluded corners of this huge empire in time. And the Incas really succeeded in this, even ordinary inhabitants of the empire never remained without food and clothing during crop failures. In the Inca Empire, there were special reserves - in case of war, crop failure, natural disasters, and even to help the poor, the elderly and the crippled. In special storage facilities were stocks of maize, clothing, weapons and much more for decades to come. Stocks that the Incas did not have time to use and which mostly went to the ungrateful Spaniards. The Incas even had a semblance of the future science of statistics - the entire population was divided into age groups, and the load on each was calculated, corresponding to his capabilities.

The Inca empire combined such seemingly incompatible things as the deification of the Great Inca and some of the rules of socialism, an iron discipline reigned in the state - labor was obligatory, everyone had to work. Even all sowing and harvesting began with the personal example of the great Inca in Cuzco. For heavy work (in mines, planting coca and public construction) and service in the Inca army, a special compulsory service called mita was assigned. It was carried by healthy men in their prime, and it lasted three months a year.

When the supreme Inca, a descendant of the “divine sun,” died, according to tradition, his body was embalmed and the mummy was left in his palace. The new ruler was forced to build a new palace for himself, and only his sister could be the lawful wife of the Supreme Inca, and all the other hundreds of his women were only concubines, of which the most beautiful were young virgin beauties - "brides of the Sun". To select them, a special government official traveled around even the most remote places of the empire, choosing among the ten-year-olds the most beautiful and most perfect girls, who were then taught the art of cooking for four years, and then the best girls were again chosen, who became “brides of the sun”. They had to keep their virginity, which only the great Inca himself “had the right to violate”.

The misfortune that destroyed the empire came from within - when the ruler Wayne Kapak suddenly died, his eldest legitimate son Huascar came to the throne. But in another city his half-brother Atahualpa thirsted for power, and in the struggle for the throne of the Incas more than 150 thousand people died, most of the relatives of both rulers were destroyed and the best generals were killed. And then the last ruler of the great empire of the Incas, Atahualpa, was captured by the detachment of Francisco Pissaro. The emperor of a great empire was captured by a ruthless man who until recently was a simple Spanish swineherd despised by all illiterate illiterates. And this man managed to outwit the ruler of almost an entire continent, forcing him to pay a monstrous ransom, but taking gold, Pissarro nevertheless broke his word and "condemned" the already unnecessary ruler of the Incas to death.

Splendid gold jewelry from the ransom that was unmatched in craftsmanship and design was melted down. The Indians rose again and again to fight the strangers - but now everything was useless. When some of them fought with the Spaniards, other tribes and cities helped the Spaniards, hoping to seize the throne of the great Inca and destroy competitors with the help of alien unprecedented weapons and terrifying horses, and to avenge their murdered relatives. The settling of scores between the Incas went too far - no one believed anyone. Many Inca leaders in the fight against the Spaniards turned out to be capable students - they began to adopt their tactics. So, having beaten off the horses from the Spaniards, the Indians started up their cavalry and even artillery, forcing the captured Spaniards to shoot their relatives from their own cannons. But this could no longer help - too many greedy strangers ended up in the land of the Incas. So in a few decades, the great Inca empire became just history.

Even before the Incas reached their power, several other cultures flourished in the vast Andean region. The first hunters and fishermen appeared here at least 12,000 years ago, and by 3000 BC. e. fishing villages dotted this arid coastline. Small rural communities arose in fertile valleys at the foot of the Andes and verdant oases in the desert.

Millennia later, larger social groups of people penetrated deep into the territory. Having overcome the high mountain peaks, they began to settle on the eastern slopes of the ridge, applying the same irrigation methods that they developed on the coast to irrigate their fields and harvest. Settlements arose around the temple complexes, and artisans produced increasingly complex pottery and fabrics.

Archaeologists classify Andean artisan products according to the time and geographical period of their distribution. To do this, use the term "horizons" to identify the main stages of stylistic uniformity, violated by certain features, in terms of aesthetics and technology.

Early Horizon: 1400-400 BCE BC.

Early Intermediate Period: 400 BC - 550 AD

Medium horizon: 550-900 AD

Late Intermediate Period: 900-1476 AD

Early Colonial Period: 1532-1572 AD

Fall of the Inca Empire

Francisco Pissaro arrived in America in 1502 in search of happiness. For seven years he served in the Caribbean, participating in military campaigns against the Indians.

In 1524, Pissaro, together with Diego de Almagro and the priest Hernando de Luque, organized an expedition to the undiscovered territories of South America. But its participants still fail to find anything interesting.

In 1526, a second expedition took place, during which Pissarro exchanged gold from local residents. During this expedition, the Spaniards captured three Incas in order to make them translators. This expedition turned out to be very difficult, both diseases and hunger fell to their lot.

In 1527, Pissaro entered the Inca city of Tumbes. From the locals, he learns about the large amount of gold and silver adorning gardens and temples in the depths of their lands. Realizing that military forces are needed to obtain these riches, Pissaro travels to Spain and turns to Charles V for help. He talks about the untold treasures of the Incas, which can be obtained quite simply. Charles V gives Pissarro the title of governor and captain of governor in all lands that he can conquer and control.

Even before the Spanish conquest, the Incas suffered from the arrival of Europeans on their continent. Smallpox killed entire families from natives who did not have immunity to it.

Huayna Kapaka (Sapa Inca) dies around this time. The highest public office should go to one of the sons from the main wife. One of the sons was chosen who, in the opinion of the monarch, could better cope with the duties. In Cuzco, the capital of the Incas, the nobility proclaims the new Sapa Inca - Huascara, which means "sweet hummingbird".

The problem was that the previous Sapa Inca spent the last years of his life in Quito. As a result, most of the court lived in Quito. The city became the second capital, dividing the tribal chiefs into two rival factions. The army stationed in Quito gave preference to another son of Huayna Capaca - Atahualpa, which means "wild turkey". He spent most of his life next to his father on the battlefields. He was a man of a sharp mind. Later, the Spaniards were amazed at the speed with which he mastered the game of chess. At the same time, he was merciless, as evidenced by the fear of the courtiers to incur his wrath.

Atahualpa showed loyalty to the new Sapa Inca. But he refused to come to his brother's court, possibly fearing that Huascar sees in him a dangerous rival. In the end, Sapa Inca demanded the presence of his brother next to him at court. Refusing the invitation, Atahualpa sent ambassadors with expensive gifts in his place. Huascar, possibly under the influence of courtiers hostile to his brother, tortured his brother's people. After killing them, he sent his army to Quito, ordering the force to bring Atahualpa to Cuzco. Atahualpa summoned his loyal warriors to arms.

The army of Cuzco at first even managed to capture the rebellious brother. But he managed to escape and join his own. In the battle, Atahualpa defeated those who captured him. Huascar urgently collects a second army and sends it to his brother. The poorly trained recruits were no match for the veterans of Atahualpa, and were defeated in a two day battle.

As a result, Atahualpa captures Huascar and triumphantly enters Cuzco, after which a cruel reprisal was committed against the wives, friends and advisers of the unlucky brother.

In 1532, Pissaro and Almagro returned to Tumbes with 160 heavily armed adventurers. On the site of the once flourishing city, they found only ruins. He suffered greatly from the epidemic, and then from the civil war. For five months, Pissaro moved along the coast, looting imperial warehouses along the way.

As a result, Pissaro goes to the court of Atahualpa. Nine of his people, frightened by the prospect of being in a mountainous area, turned back in the possession of the Incas.

The Spaniards were surprised by the Inca roads, paved with stone slabs, with trees planted along the edges, creating shade, as well as canals lined with stone.

Having learned about the movement of white people within his country, Atahualpa invites them to visit him. From the words of the ambassador, he understood that the Spaniards looked and were friendly. During a meeting with the ambassador, Pissaro made gifts to the monarch and talked a lot about peace.

Pissarro placed his men in an open space, in the main square of the city of Cajamarc. He sent Hernando de Soto to pay his respects to Atahualpa, so that he tried to seduce him with his proposal to meet in person.

Atahualpa rebuked the Spaniards for plundering his warehouses and for disdaining some of the Indians on the coast. To which the Spaniards began to praise their martial art and offered to use their services. Atahualpa agrees to pay a visit to Pissarro in Cajamarca.

During this meeting, Hernando de Soto wanted to scare Atahualpa and almost ran into him on his horse, stopping from him in the immediate vicinity, so that drops of the horse's saliva fell on the clothes of the Inca. But Atahualpa did not flinch. He later ordered the execution of those courtiers who showed fear.

Pissarro, following the example of Cortés, who conquered the mighty empire of the Aztecs by kidnapping the emperor, began to prepare his ambush.

During the night, Atahualpa sent 5,000 soldiers to block the road north of Cajamarca. According to the plan he developed, as he later confessed to the Spaniards, he wanted to capture Pissarro and all his soldiers alive in order to sacrifice Inti to the sun god, and leave their horses for divorce.

At dawn, Pissaro placed his men in buildings around the square. The wait was agonizing for the Spaniards, as the tenfold numerical superiority of the Incas frightened and overwhelmed. Later, as one of the eyewitnesses confessed, "many Spaniards, unknowingly, because of the horror that held them down, urinated in their pants."

At sunset, an imperial procession approached the square. Atahualpa was carried by 80 servants on wooden stretchers inlaid with gold and decorated with parrot feathers on all sides. The monarch, in robes with golden threads and all in ornaments, was seated holding a golden shield with the heraldic image of the Sun in his hands. There were also dancers and accompanying musicians. His retinue consisted of more than 5,000 warriors (the main forces, about 80,000 soldiers, were outside the city). They all came unarmed.

On the square, they saw only one Dominican monk in a cassock with a cross in one and a Bible in the other hand. The Royal Council in Spain decided that the pagans should be given the opportunity to convert to Christianity voluntarily, without bloodshed, and the conquistadors decided not to break the letter of the law. The monk explained the meaning of the Christian faith to the ruler of the Incas, and the translator explained to him that he was being asked to accept the religion of foreigners. "You say that your God accepted death," Atahualpa replied, "and mine still lives," he stressed, pointing to the sun creeping behind the horizon.

Atahualpa took the prayer book extended to him. As far as he understood, the Spaniards valued this thing as much as the Huaca Indians, a talisman in which the spirit of the gods was found. But this object seemed to him a toy compared to their huge stone "huaca", which was worshiped by the Incas, so he threw it to the ground. According to eyewitnesses, after that the monk turned to Pissarro and said to him and his people: "You can attack them after this. I absolve you of all your sins in advance."

Pissaro gave the signal to attack. Two cannons fired a volley at the crowd of Indians. The Spanish horsemen rode out of the buildings fully armed and attacked the unarmed Inca warriors. The infantry followed them to the sound of trumpets with a battle cry - "Santiago!" (the name of the saint who, according to the Spaniards, helps to defeat the enemy).

It was a brutal massacre of unarmed Indians. Pissarro pulled Atahualpa out of it with difficulty. Within a few hours, 6,000 Inca warriors were killed in and around Cajamarca, but no Spaniard was killed. Among the few wounded was Pissarro himself, who was wounded by his own soldier when he tried to break through to the regal enemy in order to capture him alive.

Many researchers have tried to understand why Atahualpa made such a fatal mistake by going out to the Spaniards with unarmed soldiers. Perhaps the leader did not even consider such a course of events when such a small detachment tried to attack his huge army. Or he believed in the speech of the Spaniards about peace.

In captivity, Atahualpa was allowed to retain all royal privileges. All his wives and servants were at his side. Nobles came to him and carried out his orders. In less than a month, he learned to speak Spanish and even write a little.

Realizing that white people are attracted by gold, he decided to pay off, offering for his freedom to fill the rooms in which he was, with gold, as well as twice "fill the Indian hut with silver." Instead of releasing Atahualpa, he signed his own death warrant with such a proposal. By ordering to pluck all the gold in Cuzco, and delivering it to the Spaniards, he only inflamed their passion for the precious metal. At the same time, fearing that his brother would be able to offer even more gold for his freedom, he ordered his execution. The Incas did not perceive gold and silver as something valuable. It was just beautiful metal for them. They called gold "the sweat of the Sun" and silver "the tears of the moon". For them, fabrics were valuable, since they took a long time to make.

The Spaniards began to suspect that Atahualpa was plotting against them. This created panic fear in their ranks. For a long time Pissarro opposed the mood of his compatriots. But in the end, panic broke his decisive attitude.

Atahualpa began to realize the inevitability of his death. His religion guaranteed him eternal life when properly performed.

At a meeting of the council, headed by Pissarro himself, it was decided to burn Atahualpa. When the Spaniards informed the leader of their decision, he burst into tears. The destruction of the body meant the deprivation of immortality.

Before his death, the monk once again tried to convert the pagan to the Christian faith. Realizing that if he adopts Christianity, he would not be burned, but strangled with the help of a garrot (a hoop with a screw to slowly strangle the victim), he agreed to undergo a rite of passage, assuming that the body would be handed over to the people for mummification. But the Spaniards deceived him here too. After the leader was strangled, they burned his clothes and part of his body at the stake. They buried the rest.

Pissarro understood what benefits a local ruler under Spanish control would bring him. He opted for Huayna Capac's son, Manco Inca. When the Spaniards arrived in Cusco, they were greeted as well-wishers who restored the legitimate ruling branch of the Incas, although all the mummies were safely hidden before they appeared.

The conquistadors were not distinguished by their generosity and humiliated Manco in every possible way, showing a disregard for the customs of the Incas. The worst happened when Pissaro went to the ocean coast with the aim of founding the new capital of Lima. He left in charge of his brothers Gonzalo and Juan. Gonzalo treated Manco with undisguised contempt. Having kidnapped his beloved wife, he outraged her.

The atrocities committed by the Spaniards led to the fact that Manco flatly refused to cooperate and made an attempt to leave Cuzco. The Spaniards returned him to the capital in chains. In conclusion, they were subjected to various kinds of humiliation.

As a result, Manco persuades one of Francisco's brothers, Hernando, who recently came to Cuzco from Spain, to release him temporarily from prison so that he can pray at the sanctuary, for which he promised to give a golden statue depicting his father. As soon as Manco got out of Cuzco, he called his people to rebellion. The case ended with the siege of Cuzco, which lasted almost a year. During this siege, there were traitors among the Indians both in Cuzco and beyond, who secretly carried food to the invaders. Among them were even relatives of Manco himself, who were afraid of reprisals for their previous support of the Europeans, from the new ruler. The hopelessness of the siege became clear when reinforcements arrived from Spain. Some of Manco's supporters even split away from him, realizing that the right moment was missed.

After the failure of the siege of Cuzco, Manco took 20,000 of his compatriots with him into the dense jungle. There they built a new city, Vilcabamba, in a short time. It covered an area of ​​about two square miles and consisted of about three hundred houses and sixty monumental structures. There were convenient roads and canals.

From this city, the Incas sometimes raided conquerors, attacking sentry posts. In 1572, the Spaniards decided to do away with this last stronghold, as a testament to the former power of the natives. When they reached Vilcabamba, they found only deserted ruins on the site of the city. The defenders burned it down before leaving the city. The Spaniards continued their pursuit, penetrating deeper and deeper into the jungle. As a result, they captured the last Inca leader Tupac Amaru. He was brought to Cusco and beheaded in the town square. So the dynasty of the rulers of the Incas was stopped.

The result of the fifty-year stay of the Spaniards was the reduction of the indigenous population - by three quarters. Many died from diseases brought from the Old World, and many from hard labor.

A huge amount of gold and silver was exported to Spain. Objects of art were usually melted down before being exported. The finest items were delivered to the court of Charles V, then they were displayed for public viewing in Seville. When Charles began to experience a lack of funds for military campaigns, he was ordered to melt these outstanding works of Inca art.

Conclusion

Studying the Incas, their culture, it becomes clear and visible the richness of their traditions and the solidity of the experience they have accumulated over the period of their existence.

Still, it is worth thinking deeply about who the Incas are? Based on the fact that scientists of the world cannot give a clear answer to many of the phenomena of this ancient civilization, and most importantly, they cannot explain the level of its development at that time. In fact, it is surprising that in an era when Europe only dreamed of many discoveries in the field of various sciences, there, on the American continent, there already existed such civilizations that had long stepped over the barrier of many scientific achievements and developed at a much faster pace than Europe did it. It is also noteworthy that in the world of the ancient civilizations of America, the primitiveness of morals bordered on extraordinary awareness in a variety of sciences, the appearance of many of which in a society of this type did not fit into the minds of the Europeans of that time, and by the way, even now it is even more difficult for us to understand this paradox of the ancients. civilizations.

A person is always driven by a feeling of insufficient knowledge, and he will never stop in the study of various phenomena, if there is even one drop of incomprehensible left. Apparently this is the nature of the human mind.

The lack of real evidence and explanations of certain phenomena of ancient culture by itself gives rise to more and more research searches towards the subject of study, because it cannot be otherwise.

The ancient civilizations of America remain a storehouse of knowledge for all areas of the scientific world. Ethnographers find for themselves a lot of little or not studied at all tribes and peoples living in remote areas of the Amazon River basin. Historians and archaeologists, through archaeological finds and other evidence, are discovering for themselves and for the world unknown episodes in the history of the ancient world of America. Evidence of this is the fact of the attention of scientists and the pilgrimage of tourists to the cities of Machu Picchu and Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Inca empire.

Bibliography

For the preparation of this work were used materials from the site /archive/history.alltheuniverse/

Introduction - - - - - - - 1

History of the Inca civilization - - - - - - - 2

1. Early Horizon: 1400 - 400 BC. - - - - - - - 5

   Early Intermediate Period: 400 BC - 550 AD - - - - - - - 6

   Middle horizon: 550 - 900 AD . - - - - - - - 7

   Late Intermediate Period (Coastal): 900-1476 AD - - - - - - 8

   Late intermediate period (mountainous regions): 900 - 1476 AD - - - - - 9

   Late horizon: 1476-1532 AD - - - - - - - 10

   Early Colonial Period: 1532-1572 AD - - - - - - - 11

Inca army- - - - - - - 12

Religion - - - - - - - 13

1. The hierarchy of the clergy among the Incas - - - - - - - 13

   A theology rooted in the natural history of the world - - - - - - - 15

   Respect for the "living" stone - - - - - - - 16

   The art of working with metal - - - - - - - 17

Fall of the Inca Empire - - - - - - - 18

Conclusion - - - - - - - 23

Bibliography - - - - - - - 24

The vast territories of North and South America were inhabited by numerous tribal associations. Most of them lived in a tribal system, with a predominance of hunting and gathering, the limited spread of agriculture and cattle breeding. At the same time, on the territory of modern Mexico, in the region of the Andean highlands (modern Peru), the first state formations (of the Aztecs and Incas) have already formed, which were at a level of development approximately corresponding to Ancient Egypt.

During the Spanish conquest, most of the cultural monuments of ancient American civilizations were destroyed. Their writing, like the priests who knew it, were destroyed by the Inquisition. All this leaves a lot of room for conjecture and hypothesis, although archaeological data allow us to conclude that civilization in America has a long history.

In the jungles of Mexico and Central America, archaeologists find abandoned cities, pyramids, reminiscent of the ancient Egyptian, abandoned long before the Spanish conquest for no apparent reason. Perhaps the inhabitants left them due to climate change, epidemics, and raids by hostile tribes.

One of the first civilizations about which there is reliable information was the civilization Mayan, existed in the V-XV centuries. on the Yucatan Peninsula. The Maya developed hieroglyphic writing, their own twenty-digit counting system. They are credited with creating a very accurate calendar of 365 days. The Maya did not have a single state, their civilization consisted of cities that competed with each other. The main occupations of the inhabitants of the cities were agriculture, handicrafts and trade. The labor of slaves who cultivated the fields of priests and tribal nobility was widely used. However, communal land use prevailed, with the slash-and-burn method of cultivating the land.

Maya civilization fell victim to wars between city-states and attacks by hostile tribes. The only Mayan city of Tah-Itza that survived by the time of the Spanish conquest was captured by the conquistadors in 1697.

The most developed civilization of Yucatan at the time of the Spanish invasion was Aztec. The Aztec tribal union had conquered most of Central Mexico by the 15th century. The Aztecs fought constant wars with neighboring tribes to capture slaves. They knew how to build canals and dams, received high yields. Their construction art, crafts (weaving, embroidery, stone carving, ceramics production) were not inferior to European ones. At the same time, gold, too fragile metal for the manufacture of weapons and tools, was valued by the Aztecs lower than copper and silver.

The priests played a special role in Aztec society. The supreme ruler, Tlacatlecutl, was both a high priest and a military leader. Polytheism existed there, the religions of salvation did not develop in America. Human sacrifice was practiced, it was considered necessary to propitiate the gods. According to the descriptions of the Spaniards (possibly biased), the sacrifice of children and young girls was especially appreciated.

In South America, the most developed state was Incas, occupying an area of ​​more than 1 million km 2 with a population of more than 6 million people. The Inca civilization is one of the most mysterious. Metallurgy and crafts were developed there, weaving looms were used to make clothes and carpets. Canals and dams were built. Maize and potatoes were grown. These vegetables were unknown to Europeans before the discovery of America. At the same time, trade was not developed, there was no system of measures. It is quite possible that there was no written language, except for the undeciphered nodular letter. The Incas, like other American civilizations, did not know the wheel and did not use beasts of burden. However, they have built an extensive network of roads. The word "Inca" means the people who created the state, its supreme ruler and officials.

In its development, America was very different from Europe, Asia and Africa: after all, it was almost isolated from them. But here, too, states arose, civilizations flourished Mayan, Aztecs and incas who have achieved significant success in crafts, sciences, architecture and art.

People came to America about 25-40 thousand years ago from Northeast Asia. Gradually, they moved southward, developing vast territories. Rare contacts with Europe did not play an important role either for America or for Europe. When in 1492 G.Columbus reached America, it was inhabited by many tribes with different levels of development; some of them created highly developed civilizations, the most famous of which are the civilizations of the Maya, Aztecs and Incas. Each of them not only relied on their own achievements, but also assimilated the cultural traditions of the conquered peoples.

Columbus decided that he was near India, and called the local people Indians. Later America received another title - New World(Unlike Of the old world- Europe, Asia and Africa).

In terms of the level of development, the states of pre-Lumbian America are comparable to the Ancient East. They used slave labor, but free farmers and artisans, united in communities, prevailed. The power of the rulers, who relied on officials, was intensified. The priests enjoyed great influence.

The main occupation was agriculture, in which both the Maya, the Aztecs, and the Incas achieved high efficiency, despite the absence of draft animals and the simplest tools of labor. They skillfully took into account the peculiarities of the climate and soil, created terraces for crops on mountain slopes, irrigated dry lands and drained swamps. The Aztecs created bulk island-beds in the lakes. The Indians grew corn, potatoes, tomatoes, cocoa and cotton.

Not a single civilization of pre-Columbian America knew such widely used achievements in the Old World as a wheel, a gon-charm circle, and iron smelting. The Indians made jewelry and objects of religious worship from gold, silver and copper. Large animals were tamed only by the Incas - they bred a llama, which they used to transport goods and obtain wool.

The Maya, Aztecs, and Incas had different pagan religions, but their beliefs had a lot in common. Their deities were closely associated with the sky, celestial bodies and natural phenomena, therefore astronomical observations and calendar calculations became part of religious rites and were performed very carefully and with amazing accuracy. Holy acts accompanied all daily affairs. Human sacrifice played an important role.

State of the Maya and Aztecs

In the VII-VIII centuries. on the Yucatan Peninsula in Central America, the Mayan civilization flourished. Crafts, sciences and arts flourished in their city-states (Palenque, Chichen Itza, etc.). But later internecine wars weakened them.

North of Yucatan in the XIV-XV centuries. the mighty state was created by the Aztecs. They subdued the surrounding tribes. The power of the ruler of the Aztecs increased and spread to the entire central part of today's Mexico. In their capital, Tenochtitlan, there were up to 100 thousand inhabitants.

The technique of stone construction of the Maya and Aztecs is striking. Its best examples are temples in the form of pyramids and palaces of rulers, as well as fields for ritual ball games.

The Maya developed a writing system based on hieroglyphs, supplemented by pictures. Among the Aztecs, drawing with elements of hieroglyphs has been known since the XIV century. Material from the site

Inca power

In the west of South America, a powerful state was created by the Incas. Since the XII century. the Incas subjugated their neighbors. Over time, a state with a strong central government emerged here. Its leader was considered a descendant of the Sun and bore the title Supreme Inca. The power of the Incas stretched from north to south for almost 5000 kilometers and conquered many peoples. Paved roads with hinged bridges and tunnels connected the capital city of Cuzco with the outskirts.

The ruler owned all the land in the state. He himself received the harvest from the "fields of the Supreme Inca", and the priests - the harvest from the "fields of the Sun". The harvest from the rest of the land was distributed among all.

The Incas created the nodular letter kippu(which means "node"). A kipu is a lace (or stick) with multi-colored laces with knots tied to it. With the help of the kipu, important information (for example, on tax collection) could be revived in memory.

On this page material on topics:

• Pre-Columbian America Inca history in abbreviated form

• Download presentation on the Maya, Aztecs, Incas in the middle century

• Pre-Columbian America report short