The Americas 1200-1450

By William H. Beezley
Prophecies, legends, community crops, tools, and environmental knowledge provided the basis for the founding of major cultures.

Cookie Policy

Our website uses cookies to understand content and feature usage to drive site improvements over time. To learn more, review our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Overhead view of a group of temples surrounded by smaller city dwellings on a waterfront. Across the water is a mountain range.

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.

A photograph showing the symbols used to represent the 5 tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy on a woven belt. From left to right: The Seneca (white outlined square), The Cayuga (white outlined square), The Onandaga (white arrow shape), The Oneida (white outlined square), The Mohawk (white outlined square). The symbols are connected by white horizontal lines.

Replica of the Hiawatha Wampum belt. Represents all five tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy and how they were all woven together. © National Museum of the American Indian.

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.

A map shaded in various bright colors indicating the expansion of the Aztec Empire.

The Aztec Empire and surrounding communities, c. 1450 CE. By WHP, CC BY-NC 4.0. Explore full map here.

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.

A photograph of a Mayan pyramid on a sunny day.

Pyramid to Kukulcan at Chichen-Itza, at what used to be the city of Mayapan. © Getty Images.

Inca

A map of a section of the western coast of South America with bright colors indicating the expansion of the Inca state.

Inca Empire and surrounding communities, c. 1450 CE. By WHP, CC BY-NC 4.0. Explore full map here.

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.

Sources

Englark, Mary L. The Iroquois: The Six Nations Confederacy. Mankato, MN: Capstone Press, 2002.

Leon-Portilla, Miguel. Aztec Thought and Culture: A Study of the Ancient Náhuatl Mind. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963.

McEwan, Gordon F. The Incas: New Perspectives. New York: W.W. Norton, Inc., 2008.

Restall, Matthew. “The People of the Patio: Ethnohistoric Evidence of Yucatec Maya Royal Courts. In Royal Courts of the Maya.” In Data and Case Studies, Volume 2, edited by Takeshi Inomata and Stephen D. Houston, 335–90. Boulder: Westview Press, 2001

William H. Beezley

William H. Beezley teaches Latin American history at the University of Arizona. The Mexican government awarded him the Ohtli medal for his contributions to the nation’s culture. His books on Latin America have been translated into Spanish and Mandarin, and he has appeared a cultural expert on “The Desert Speaks” and “In the Americas with David Yetman.” He just completed a documentary on Mexican women who used embroidery to express their domestic, civil, and human rights.

Image credits

Creative Commons This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0 except for the following:

Cover image: Panoramic view of Tenochtitlan, the ancient capital of the Aztec empire, and the Valley of Mexico, Mexico. © DeAgostini / Getty Images.

Replica of the Hiawatha Wampum belt depicts all five tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy and how they were all woven together. From left to right: Seneca, Cayuga, Onandaga, Oneida, Mohawk. © National Museum of the American Indian.

The Aztec Empire and surrounding communities, c. 1450 CE. By WHP, CC BY-NC 4.0. Explore full map here: https://www.oerproject.com/OER-Materials/OER-Media/Images/WHP-Maps/1450-layer-2

Pyramid to Kukulcan at Chichen-Itza, at what used to be the city of Mayapan. © Roger Viollet Collection/Getty Images.

Inca Empire and surrounding communities, c. 1450 CE. By WHP, CC BY-NC 4.0. Explore full map here: https://www.oerproject. com/OER-Materials/OER-Media/Images/WHP-Maps/1450-layer-2


Newsela

Articles leveled by Newsela have been adjusted along several dimensions of text complexity including sentence structure, vocabulary and organization. The number followed by L indicates the Lexile measure of the article. For more information on Lexile measures and how they correspond to grade levels: www.lexile.com/educators/understanding-lexile-measures/

To learn more about Newsela, visit www.newsela.com/about.

The Lexile Framework for Reading

The Lexile® Framework for Reading evaluates reading ability and text complexity on the same developmental scale. Unlike other measurement systems, the Lexile Framework determines reading ability based on actual assessments, rather than generalized age or grade levels. Recognized as the standard for matching readers with texts, tens of millions of students worldwide receive a Lexile measure that helps them find targeted readings from the more than 100 million articles, books and websites that have been measured. Lexile measures connect learners of all ages with resources at the right level of challenge and monitors their progress toward state and national proficiency standards. More information about the Lexile® Framework can be found at www.Lexile.com.