At about 1,000 A.D, the Lima culture began to take shape along the central Peruvian coast, the Lima are known for their painted adobe buildings. Sometime later, the Lima were conquered by the Huari (Wari) people. Like the Moche before them, the Huari were a warrior society that appreciated fine artistry and design. Coastal Huari cultures produced textiles of the highest quality. Their ceramics, although less refined than those of Tiwanaku, stressed solid construction, bold design, and a rich use of colors.
Later, Huari was the center of a militaristic Empire that dominated much of the Peruvian highlands and coastal region during the early part of the Middle Horizon. The Huari shared a religion and iconography with the Tiwanaku, but were socio-economically separate. Between about 750 and 1000 A.D, the Huari Empire unified all of Peru.
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For reasons unknown, Huari and its large urban centers like Cajamarquilla, collapsed at around 800 A.D. This marks the end of urban life in southern Peru - until the Inca arrive. Curiously though, at the same time, urban centers are starting to pop-up on the northern coast of Peru, at the sites of future cities such as Chan Chan, Pacatnamú, and others.
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The kingdom of the Chimu, was the first mega-state in Peru, before the establishment of the Inca Empire. It reached the height of its power in the fifteenth century, not long before being conquered by the Incas. The Chimú state originated in the Moche Valley, where its capital Chan Chan lay. The center of this great city is divided into nine walled "citadels," each constructed out of adobe brick finished with mud, and each containing temples, cemeteries, gardens, reservoirs and symmetrically arranged rooms. These citadels it is believed, were the living quarters, burial places and warehouses of the aristocracy. The bulk of the city's population however, lived outside of the citadels in much more modest quarters. There were other Chimu cities at Farfán and Pacatnamú in the Pacasmayo Valley, and at Purgatorio and Apurlé in the Leche and Motupe valleys. Chan Chan, now largely destroyed, once produced a spectacular array of artistic works such as gold jewelry, feather mantles, great textiles, and considerable work in wood and clay. The arid climate has preserved more art from the Chimú region than from most others.
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Like all other great civilizations, the Chimu were militaristic and expansionistic. However in their quest for more territory, they unfortunately ventured south, and ran into the Inca. The Chimu conflict with the Inca began in 1462, and by 1475-1476 A.D, it was over, the Inca had conquered the Chimu state. The entire Chimu state, was absorbed into the Tawantinsuyu community and resettled in the city of Cuzco, to serve their new Inca rulers.
Contemporary with the Chimú, were the Chincha, on the southern coast of Peru. They were a similarly well-organized state. But they were unique in one respect, it appears that they were a completely specialized people, oriented totally towards a fishing economy. Excess from fishing and marine gathering was then used to barter for other goods.
Before going on, we should note that at the same time as these Andean Cultures, and even before them, there was the cultures in the "gateway" to South America, Columbia. Colombia lies at the crossing point between South and Central America. However cultures of Colombia have been little investigated, because almost none of them, left behind spectacular monuments. But their art reveals a high degree of craftsmanship, and their gold-work is the best in the whole continent, both for their techniques and artistic design. Their notable sites were San Agustín, Tierradentro and Ciudad Perdida. The cultures are known as the Tayrona, Sinú, Muisca, Quimbaya, Tolima, Calima,Tierradentro, San Agustín, Nariño, and Tumaco.
Continuing on in Peru: Sicán (800-1375) A.D, was a society of farmers, ceramic artisans, fishermen, and metalworkers. They built brick (adobe) platform mounds for ceremonial and funerary purposes. Like their Moche precursors, the people of Sicán built monumental temples and palaces, where rituals and funerals demanded splendid paraphernalia. The people of Sicán built highly refined irrigation projects, which opened the desert to richly productive agriculture. Their region, a broad river valley extending some 25 miles between the Pacific Ocean and the Andean foothills, is called Batán Grande.
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The lords of the Sicán civilization, were buried in deep tombs, lying at the bottom of vertical shafts. In 1995 Izumi Shimada, excavated one of the richest tombs ever found in the western hemisphere. It contained more than a ton of precious metal shaped as jewelry, and other ritual artifacts. These objects show the highly perfected techniques achieved by Sicán gold and silver smiths.
The Inca, who called themselves the Tawantinsuyu - ruled an empire extending from Ecuador to central Chile, their capital was called Cuzco/Cosco. The Inca were a Peruvian highland warrior people. The king of the Inca Empire was called the Sapa Inca (emperor), or simply Inca.
Inca technology and architecture were highly developed. Their irrigation systems, palaces, temples, and fortifications can still be seen throughout the Andes. Their economy was based on agriculture, its staples being corn (maize), white and sweet potatoes, squash, tomatoes, peanuts (groundnuts), chili peppers, coca, cassava, and cotton. They raised guinea pigs, ducks, llamas, alpacas, and dogs. Clothing was made of llama wool and cotton. Houses were made of stone or adobe mud. Inca farms were high in the mountains, sometimes over 12,000 feet high. In order to make the best use of all available land, the Inca practiced terrace farming in the high mountains.
Because of the varied altitudes that the Inca inhabited, they became expert at using temperature and humidity as a food preservative, (they invented "Jerk" meat). The Inca built a vast network of roads throughout their empire.
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There were two main roads, one north to south, running along the coast for about 2,250 miles, the other inland along the Andes for a comparable distance, with many interconnecting roads and links. Many short rock tunnels and vine-supported suspension bridges were also constructed. The Inca Empire was a patchwork of languages, cultures and peoples, naturally those that had been conquered were not loyal.
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Capacocha is the sacred Inca ceremony of human sacrifice. Sacrifices were often made during or after a calamity such as: an earthquake, an epidemic, a drought, or after the death of an Inca Emperor. The Inca sacrifices often involved the child of a chief. The sacrificed child was thought of as a deity, ensuring a tie between the chief and the Inca emperor, who was considered a descendant of the Sun god. The sacrifice also bestowed an elevated status on the chief's family and descendants. The "honor" of sacrifice was bestowed not only on the family, but was forever immortalized in the child. It is believed that the sacrificial children had to be perfect, without so much as a blemish or irregularity in their physical beauty.
Continuing on:
Francisco Pizarro was born in Trujillo, Estremadura, Spain, probably in 1471. He was the illegitimate son of Gonzalo Pizarro and Francisca González, she paid little attention to his education and he grew up without learning how to read or write. His father was a captain of infantry, and had fought in the Neopolitan war.
In 1522, after having heard accounts of the achievements of Hernán Cortés in Mexico, and with the return of Pascual de Andagoya from his expedition to the southern part of Panama, which had brought news of the countries situated along the west coast of south America. Cortés became filled with enthusiasm for exploration and conquest. He formed together with Diego de Almagro, a soldier of fortune who was at that time in Panama, and Hernando de Luque, a Spanish cleric, a company to conquer the lands situated to the south of Panama. Their project seemed so utterly unattainable that the people of Panama called them the "company of lunatics".
However after many failed attempts, Pizarro finally made it to the Incas territory. By the scoundrels luck, he shows up just as the Inca princes, the brothers Atahuallpa and Huascar, are engaged in a civil war over succession to the throne.
Additionally, there is a smallpox epidemic raging, smallpox having been introduced by Aleixo García, a Portuguese adventurer who had eight years earlier, entered South America through the Río de la Plata Estuary, which divides Argentina and Uruguay. García was intrigued by reports of "the White King" (see below), who it was said, lived far to the west and governed cities of incomparable wealth and splendor. His intention was to plunder Inca territory from the east. In Asunción his group gathered a small army of 2,000 Guaraní warriors to assist the invasion. García became the first European to cross the Chaco, and penetrate the outer defenses of the Inca Empire in the foothills of the Andes Mountains in present-day Bolivia. The García entourage engaged in plundering and amassed a considerable horde of silver. Only fierce attacks by the reigning Inca, Huayna Cápac, {who has since died}, convinced García to withdraw. Indian allies later murdered García and the other Europeans, but news of the raid on the Incas reached the Spanish explorers on the coast and attracted Sebastian Cabot to the Río Paraguay two years later.
Earlier we had deplored certain "unseemly" behaviors by some scientist, researchers and academic's. One reason - other than the obvious - is because those behaviors tend to obscure science. A perfect example is with Huayna Cápac, we had earlier established that Caucasians were probably one part of the "Clovis" migration across the Bering straits.
This theory was further strengthened by the discovery of Scythian mummys in Mongolia, and in 1996, the discovery of the almost complete skeleton of a 50 year old male over 9,000 years old (in Kennewick, Washington U.S.). The mock-up indicated Caucasian as opposed to Amerindian, but then further analysis indicated Polynesian. What all this ambiguity means, is that it is entirely possible that some members of the Inca nation, could have been, more or less, Caucasian. It would all depend on how long a particular group had been in the America's and their relative isolation and/or marriage customs. But because of those unseemly behaviors, we can't be sure if this 500 year-old description of Huayna Cápac is accurate, or just an embellishment by some poor misguided soul, with unhealthy racial issues.
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Just before Pizarro's arrival, Atahuallpa's armies, led by the able generals Quisquis and Challcuchima, had marched south and won a series of decisive victories at Cajamarca, Bombon, and Ayacucho. As they moved southward, Huascar formed another army to defend Cuzco from the invaders. His forces were defeated, and he was captured a few miles from Cuzco in April 1532. The generals killed his entire family, and fastened them to poles along a highway leading from the capital. They also killed a number of people in Topa Inca Yupanqui's corporation because they had supported Huascar during the civil war; and they burned the mummy of the deceased ruler, which was venerated by the members of this group. Atahuallpa was in the north, setting up his administration, when he learned of the victory. He ordered Challcuchima to bring Huascar to the north so he could insult him properly before being crowned.
Meanwhile, the Spaniards had landed at Tumbes, on the northern coast of Peru early in 1532, and were seeking an interview with Atahuallpa, so that they could kidnap him. It is clear that they understood the nature of the Inca civil war and were dealing with emissaries from both factions. Their actions, however, must have seemed puzzling to Atahuallpa. On the one hand, Pizarro and his men were deposing and executing leaders who were loyal to him, and on the other hand, they were sending messages that recognized him as the legitimate ruler of Tawantinsuyu. As the Spaniards moved toward Cajamarca, he sent them a message indicating that he was now the sole ruler of his father's domain. Furthermore, he reminded the Spaniards that they were far from their base of supply and in a land controlled by his armies. The Spaniards replied to this veiled threat by indicating that they would come to his aid against any group that opposed his rule. Atahuallpa clearly wanted the Spaniards as allies but continually misinterpreted their intentions and underestimated their abilities—even after he was kidnapped in Cajamarca on November 16, 1532.
On 15 November, after a long, distressing journey and without opposition from the Indians, Pizarro entered the city of Caxamalca (now Caxamarca). Atahuallpa was invited into the camp of the Spaniards, the Indian prince presented himself accompanied by his bodyguard but unarmed. At a given signal, the Spaniards rushed upon the unsuspecting Indians, massacred them in the most horrible manner, and took possession of their king. Deprived of its leader the great army that was encamped near Caxamalca, not knowing what to do, retreated into the interior. As the price of his release the Inca monarch offered his captives gold enough to fill the room (22 x 17 feet) in which he was held captive.
Atahuallpa was allowed to meet with his advisers while the Spaniards held him prisoner, and he arranged to have the ransom they demanded paid. An enormous ransom was raised, but Pizarro did not free him because it would have been too dangerous for the Spaniards. While he was in prison, Atahuallpa decided that the Spaniards were indifferent to the idea of having his brother slain and ordered Huascar's death. The Spaniards, of course, wanted all pretenders to authority removed, but later used this act to justify their execution of the Inca ruler. Realizing that Atahuallpa's death was a mistake, because it weakened their position, they approved the coronation of Topa Huallpa, a candidate whom they thought would be acceptable to both Inca factions. But the Spaniards miscalculated. Topa Huallpa had not supported Atahuallpa and, in fact, had been in hiding as long as Atahuallpa was alive. He was supported by Huascar's group and was opposed by Atahuallpa's following, who believed that the legitimate heir was the deceased ruler's son in Lima. With this act, the Spaniards suddenly found themselves closely allied with Huascar's faction and were so viewed by both Inca groups.
Topa Huallpa died within a few months—poisoned, according to Huascar's supporters. At this point, the Spaniards reaffirmed their alliance with Huascar's following, placing Huascar's brother, Manco Inca, on the throne and assisting him in dispersing the remnants of Atahuallpa's army. Although Manco Capac was allowed to rule in Cuzco as a puppet monarch, Spanish abuses forced him to lead an unsuccessful revolt. By 1535 the Inca ruler realized that the Spaniards were more dangerous than any threat posed by the remnants of Atahuallpa's followers. the Inca were eventually driven into a remote mountainous area called Vilcabamba, where Manco Capac established an independent Inca state. There they remained for over thirty years. In 1572, the last of the Inca rulers, Túpac Amaru, was beheaded and Tawantinsuyu officially came to an end. Of course, these great battles were not really fought by the Spanish.
As with the tribes in Mesoamerica, the tribes of South America saw Pizarro and his army as a focal point to rally around, and free themselves from Inca tyranny. It would not be revealing to ask which tribes joined Pizarro, it would be more accurate to ask, which did not! One tribe, upon being faced with the brutal truth, actually tried to sue.
Pizarro had acquired a steadfast ally, the Wanka/Cañaris. It was in their territory Xauxa, that the Europeans established their first capital. Along with thousands of soldiers and bearers, the Canaris provided the newcomers with strategic information, plus the food and weapons stored in hundreds of warehouses built by the Inka and filled locally. In one region where the Inka had managed to cobble together some resistance, known as Huánuco, the Europeans had to call on Canaris troops to help them put down the rebellion. All this assistance provided the Europeans, was recorded with care on a khipu Kept by the Canaris lords. This record was first described by Cieza de León, some fifteen years after the invasion. Such bookkeeping later became evidence submitted at a trial initiated at the vice regal court at Lima, by one of the chief's, who in 1532 had opened the country to the Spanish troops of King Charles V. This indian man, titled don Francisco Cusichac, felt betrayed by the ill treatment of his people and the neglect of his own privileges.
Of course, the tribes soon learned that the Spaniards were not there to free anybody, they were there to plunder and loot. As soon as the Inca were destroyed, the Spanish then turned on the tribes, and one by one they were subdued. In the Americas, the lack of Native American metal artifacts is due to the fact that the spanish melted down and carried away, everything that they could find. After all the booty had been taken, the Spanish turned to farming and mining to generate wealth. The Indians were then enslaved to work the farms and mines. Here again: killing, slavery and disease, wiped out most of the population.
Here are some interesting numbers.
At the time of Columbus’s landing in the America’s in 1492, the population of the Hemisphere was approximately 100 million people.
Six million (6) in the Caribbean, ten million (10) in the United States and Canada, forty million (40) in Mexico and Central America, forty four (44) million in South America.
By 1650 the Indian population of the Caribbean, Mexico-Central America and South America, was approximately fifteen (15) million people total. Today the Amerindian population of the Caribbean is all but extinct.
By 1906 the Indian population of the United States and Canada was one (1) million people.
Systematic killing, Slavery and decease having killed almost nine (9) of every ten (10) people.
of our Presentation, we hope you enjoyed it.
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