There were many varied and complex human societies in the Americas in the years between 1200 and 1450 CE. This short essay introduces several major examples.

Haudenosaunee

Around 1200, a very important meeting took place in North America. It drew together Iroquois chiefs of the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk tribes. These five tribes had been fighting with each other for years. During their meeting, the five tribes pledged to live in peace and to unite in a confederation. This new alliance, or union, was known in the Iroquois language as the Haudenosaunee, and would also come to be known as the Five Nations.

The five tribes that made up the Haudenosaunee were all based in different areas of what is now New York State. Each tribe had a matriarchal hierarchy, meaning women held positions of power. These women worked with a men’s council to govern its people. Around 1720, the Tuscarora nation was admitted into the league as the sixth member.

The Haudenosaunee Confederation was the most powerful force in North America until European colonial expansion in the 1700s.

Aztec

Other peoples of the Americas during this era shared similar beliefs and ways of life. Each group interacted with their environment in similar ways and created their own gods. The three major cultural groups were the Aztec (often called the Mexica), the Inca, and the Maya. All three created extraordinary societies, full of complex beliefs. Each developed calendars, weaving, record-keeping, music, and elaborate ceremonies.

The Aztec people, according to their origin story, left their ancestral home, Aztlan, and traveled south seeking a sign—an eagle with a snake its mouth perched on a cactus—that they had arrived at a new home. As the Aztecs traveled over the years they moved through other communities, such as that of the Toltecs. From the Toltecs, the Aztecs borrowed beliefs, crops, weapons, and the legend of Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent. The Aztecs fled from the Toltecs to an island in one of the three lakes in the Valley of Mexico. There they received the sign: an eagle on a cactus with a snake in its mouth. In 1325, they began to build their home, Tenochtitlan.

The Aztecs built huge pyramids, some of which still stand today. They created cities with zones for priest-leaders, craftsmen, families, and merchants, and set up major markets. Their religion included a belief in an impending apocalypse, or world-ending event. The only way to delay the apocalypse was by offering the blood of human sacrifices.

The need for food and bodies for sacrifices pushed the Aztecs on campaigns to conquer neighboring peoples. They took prisoners to sacrifice and also collected tribute, or payment of goods. The Aztecs made little attempt to integrate conquered people into their culture. Merchants traveled across the continent for trade, but also to gather information. Within a century, the Aztec capital had a larger population than any city in Europe.

Mayapan

To the south, in Yucatán, most of the Classic Maya cities had collapsed by 1200. In some Maya cities such as Mayapan, invaders arrived. These were the Toltec, who were neighbors of the Aztec state. Their arrival brought new practices, culture, and even new gods, including Quetzalcoatl. Mayapan was built with a plaza, pyramids, and ball courts. Over time it became increasingly important as a trading power. Between 1250 and 1450, Mayapan served as the cultural and political center of the Yucatecan Maya civilization. Maya cultural achievements—especially in mathematics, calendar-making, astronomy, writing, and the arts—continued in Mayapan, with clear influences from the Toltec culture. Nevertheless, the city was abandoned around 1450.

Inca

The most successful and significant empire in the Americas in this period was established by the Incas around 1100. The legend of their origin begins with the god Viracocha, who came from the Pacific Ocean to Lake Titicaca, where he created the Sun, the gods, and the different peoples. The Incas believed they were created at Tiahuanaco by the Sun god called Inti, so they were his children. The first were Manco Capac and Mama Oqllu. Their family went to the Valley of Cusco to create the Inca capital, Cusco.¹

The ruler of this society, called Sapa Inca, was Inti’s representative on Earth. Around 1250, the Incas began to expand through military conquest, invading villages, and setting up new Inca colonies. They forced conquered people to worship Inca gods and to pay tribute.

This system relied on a network of officials and of well-constructed roads that equaled or possibly outdid Roman engineering. Messengers called chasqui ran the roads carrying information and instructions. They ran up to 250 kilometers in one day and could reach from Cusco to Quito (1500 km) within one week. Strings in knotted systems called quipu preserved records of important events. Eventually, the Inca ruled the Andes from today’s Colombia into Argentina, from the Pacific coast into the Amazon rainforest.

Religious and agricultural festivities marked daily life. The Incas built magnificent temples to honor Inti. Cusco’s best temples were only for the wealthiest and most powerful members of society. Priests maintained these buildings and made sacrifices to the gods. Young women served as priestesses, wove clothes for the Sapa Inca, and prepared food for the gods. Various rocks, streams, mountains, and trees were identified as holy places, called huacas, and people left offerings such as maize, or corn, beside them. The Inca believed that each crop had a protective spirit and offered the best of the harvest to the gods.

Inca spiritual leaders performed cures and warned communities of natural disasters. Their knowledge of healing practices has survived to the present. The spiritual leader might inhale ground cactus through a hollowed animal bone to interact with the spirit world and make prophecies. This practice remains important in modern Andean society and the Inca heritage is central to the identity of modern Peru.

Connections

In everything from political organization to cultural practices, the communities of the Americas were very varied before 1450. No “single story” can cover the history of this vast area in this period. Overall, it was an era of increasing connections between societies. As three of the stories above reflect, it was also an era in which some very large states emerged in several separate regions.

1 If you’re thinking about the animated movie The Emperor’s New Groove right now, yes that was set in sort of the same place, but historically speaking, the movie creators may have taken a few liberties.