From 1200 to 1450 CE, there were enough varied and complex human societies in the Americas to fill several books. This short essay offers several examples of what life was like back then.

Haudenosaunee

Around 1200, a landmark meeting took place in North America. Iroquois chiefs of the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk—who had often been in deadly conflict with each other—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 symbolic “Great Tree of Peace” where the agreement was celebrated was inspired by a white pine, whose characteristic bundle of five needles represented the tribes. Each tribe in the confederation pledged not to fight, ending what had been a long cycle of conflict.

The five tribes that made up the Haudenosaunee were all based in different areas of what is now New York State. Each tribe was matriarchal, meaning women held the top positions of power. Beneath the leader, the clan mother, were the male chiefs and the men’s council. 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

While they did not join together in a confederation, some other peoples of the Americas shared similar beliefs and ways of life. They all interacted with their environment in similar ways, and they all worshiped gods related to the Sun, Earth, and water. Of these, 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 (assumed to be in the southwestern United States), and traveled south seeking a sign—an eagle with a snake its mouth perched on a nopal 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, a feathered serpent who sailed away in stone boat, promising to return. 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 city 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, that had to be delayed with 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 and also collected tribute—payments in the form of food, weaving, feathered art, or precious stones. The Aztecs made little attempt to integrate these people into their culture beyond demanding tribute. The Aztecs developed account books, calendars, and record systems written in a text made up of complex pictures. Merchants traveled across Central America, trading goods while also gathering information about other people. Within a century, the Aztec capital had a larger population than any city in Europe, and a splendid culture.

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, a feathered serpent. Mayapan was built with a typical plaza, pyramids, and ball courts, and 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 his sister (also his wife) Mama Oqllu. Three more brother-sister siblings were born, and the gro up 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. They invaded villages and set up new colonies. They forced conquered people to worship Inca gods and to pay tribute.

This imperial 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 Inti Raymi festival on June 24 of each year, celebrating the Sun, was their most significant festival. The Incas built magnificent temples to honor Inti. Cusco’s best temples were restricted to elites. 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, and those considered the most beautiful were sacrificed. 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

The communities of the Americas—from political organization to cultural practices—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.

1If 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.