HIST 2260 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Animism, Quetzalcoatl, Ometeotl
Document Summary
First nations of north america or amerindian weren"t a single cultural or social entity but had different nations" with different cultural norms. For amerindians each nation had a different spirituality or religion. Archaeological and ethnographic evidence suggests homo sapiens first arrived in north. One theory suggests the origin of first nations of north america was siberia. Europeans had not made contact for at least 10 000 years allowing cultures, languages. It is believed these people spread over all of north america within 1 or 2 millennia and religions to form. All native american religion was centered around nature, natural landscapes and natural objects are given super-natural power and meaning. Hunting & gathering societies focused on religious symbolism, individual spiritual quests and shamanism as a principle of their economic activities. A group of aztecs called mexica who spoke nahuatl founded the capital tenochtitlan in. 1345 in mexico, they established the aztec empire through alliances, trade and war.
