Research Paper on Early American Civilizations: 10,000 Years of History

Introduction

The early American civilizations included the Maya, Zapotec, Aztec, Wari, Inca, and Mississippian civilizations. The Europeans termed the Americas as the New World, but for most of the indigenous Americans that they encountered, it encompassed everything apart from new. Human beings had resided in America for over ten thousand years. Diverse and dynamic, they spoke many languages and formed distinct cultures. Native Americans formed settled communities, following seasoned patterns of migration (Nicholson, 2017). This paper covers four main parts. The first section identifies the main religions in the area and the way it expanded in the area. The second section focuses on the key beliefs of the religion, while the third and fourth paragraphs identify key features of the region.

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Major Religions in Early American Civilizations

The major religions in the early American civilizations were the Mayan and Aztec religions. The Aztec religion came from the Aztecs of Central Mexico. Like all the other religions in Mesoamerica, it embodied practices including human sacrifice that were part of the Aztec calendar. The polytheistic religion had many goddesses and gods. The Aztecs included deities borrowed from other demographics (Nicholson, 2017). The Maya religion was for the Maya peoples from Guatemala, Western Honduras, Tabasco, and Belize states of Mexico. The traditional Maya religion was already in existence for two millennia, effectively spreading to different kingdoms.

Key Teachings of the Religions

The religious beliefs of the Maya religion are founded on the idea that all the things in the world are sacred (k' uh). The term K'uh is used to define the spirituality of all the animate and inanimate things, and to explain the divine force of human existence (Munson, Amati, Collard, & Macri, 2014). The beliefs of the Maya establish the sanctity and creation of human beings. The Aztec's religious beliefs were founded on the idea that the gods were to be fed with human blood, which kept the sun alive. The Aztecs believed that gods were satisfied through sacrificing objects, people, and animals.

Features of Early American Civilizations

State Building

A common feature of early civilizations in the Americas was urban planning and creating monumental architecture. The early civilizations in the Americas demonstrated these characteristics. This specific trait was made possible due to the efficient system of organizing resources. The rulers in the Aztec and Maya communities established robust systems of administration for controlling labor and related resources. Urban planning and architecture were important for the early American civilizations as it helped with the state-building (Bassett, 2015). The increased complexities of the societies leaned towards social hierarchy, which was only achieved from greater urban planning. Most of the early civilizations in the United States had social hierarchies.

Culture

A defining feature of the early civilizations was the presence of a culture that was defined and distinguished from other civilizations. Most of the early civilizations in America formulated systems for record-keeping and writing independently. Even with the absence of these written records, they could obtain information on early cultures from material artwork and artefacts that they formed and trade (Nielsen, & Helmke, 2014). The early American civilizations such as the Aztecs and Maya traded with each other, exchanging ideas and goods. At the same time, the large states such as Teotihuacan acted as both cultural and religious centers, while also functioning as trading centers.

Conclusion

The societies in Mesoamerica were advanced enough to overpower others. For example, the Aztecs were well organized militarily. The Aztecs had an elite warriors group that provided them with the opportunity of exploiting the land. However, most of these societies were weak because of the ineffective trading systems that exposed them to most enemies. However, the contribution of these societies in forming the current United States cannot be underrated.

References

Bassett, M. H. (2015). The fate of earthly things: Aztec gods and god-bodies. University of Texas Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=8sAvBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=religion+of+the+aztec&ots=pUtowThsgL&sig=hDh17yxJ6Q3pTTu44K6lkkCYXgs&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=religion%20of%20the%20aztec&f=false

Munson, J., Amati, V., Collard, M., & Macri, M. J. (2014). Classic Maya bloodletting and the cultural evolution of religious rituals: Quantifying patterns of variation in hieroglyphic texts. PloS one, 9(9). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4177853/

Nicholson, M. (2017). Public Ritual Sacrifice as a Controlling Mechanism for the Aztec. Retrieved from https://opencommons.uconn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1557&context=srhonors_theses

Nielsen, J., & Helmke, C. (2014). House of the Serpent Mat, House of Fire: The Names of Buildings in Teotihuacan Writing. Contributions in New World Archaeology, 7, 113-140. Retrieved from http://bazhum.muzhp.pl/media/files/Contributions_in_New_World_Archaeology/Contributions_in_New_World_Archaeology-r2014-t7/Contributions_in_New_World_Archaeology-r2014-t7-s113-140/Contributions_in_New_World_Archaeology-r2014-t7-s113-140.pdf