HI131 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Wild Turkey, Quetzalcoatl, Coatlicue
Document Summary
A brief history of the pre-contact new world: Likely they collapse because the technology they have cannot support the expansion rate. They have an organized but complicated religious system. Mainly lived on corn, beans and squashes. Is a huge empire, the size of europe. They opposed their language as well as some of their religion in the lands they conquered. They system they have for recording things is called quipu, ropes with knots in them. We have no idea how to read it; a lot of it was destroyed by conquistadors. They chewed coca leaves, the stimulant of the leaf gave them the strength to travel great distances for trade. With the arrival of the spanish came the destruction of the city. No writing system though, the spaniards recorded some of it. Are very agricultural society, they had domesticated wild turkey. Produce enough to sustain themselves, not enough to grow.
