CSET Practice Test History Subtest I

Mexican California: The Heyday of the Ranchos

For a quarter century after the achievement of Mexican
independence in 1821, California was a remote northern
province of the nation of Mexico. Huge cattle ranches, or
ranchos, emerged as the dominant institutions of Mexican
California. Traders and settlers from the United States
began to arrive, harbingers of the great changes that
would sweep California during the Mexican American War of
1846-1848.

Life in Mexican California After three centuries of
imperial rule, the American colonies of Spain began to
demand their freedom. Mexican independence was achieved in
1821 following a long and bloody struggle. Life in
California changed slowly. The most visible impact of
Mexican independence was the secularization of the
missions. The missions lost their lands and much of their
power. In "dividing the spoils," Mexican administrators
created huge cattle ranches or ranchos. A few wealthy
land-owning families emerged as a rancho elite, while most
of the labor was performed by California Indians serving
as Native American serfs. 

Native-born Californios grew restive under Mexican rule
and in 1842 asserted the provincial autonomy of
California. The autonomy was short-lived. 

Most rancheros occupied themselves with trading hides and
tallow for manufactured goods brought to California by
ships from the United States. In their leisure hours, the
Californios amused themselves with popular entertainments
such as bull and bear fights or the festive celebration of
a California wedding. 

Mexican Independence The same spirit of liberty that led
British colonists to declare their independence in 1776
inspired Spanish colonists to assert their independence in
the early 1800s. On the morning of September 16, 1810, a
priest named Miguel Hidalgo made a fiery speech in the
town of Dolores in New Spain. His words set off a long and
bloody war to make New Spain an independent country.  

During most of the war for Mexican independence,
California remained uninvolved and unaffected. The only
direct contact with the war came in 1818 when two
"revolutionary" ships sacked and burned several
settlements along the California coast. Three more years
of fighting, all to the south of California, were
necessary before Mexico achieved its independence in 1821.
When news of Mexican independence reached California the
following year, the old red and gold imperial flag of
Spain was lowered over the presidio at Monterey. A crisp
new flag, bearing an eagle and a snake, rose in its place.
As the flag unfolded in the breeze, the assembled soldiers
shouted: "Viva la independencia Mexicana!"

Secularization of the Missions The missions of California,
like the missions on all Spanish colonial frontiers, were
intended to be temporary institutions. When the work of
Christianization and acculturation was finished, the
missionaries were to be replaced by secular clergy and the
mission lands distributed among the former neophytes. This
process was known as secularization. 

Following the establishment of Mexican independence in
1821, demands for the secularization of the missions
intensified. The constitution of the Republic of Mexico
endorsed the equality of all Mexicans regardless of race.
Mexican liberals concluded that the missions--which denied
basic liberties to the Indians--were unconstitutional.

The Indians themselves were becoming increasingly restive
under mission rule. A coordinated revolt broke out in 1824
among Chumash neophytes at three of the missions along the
Santa Barbara Channel. Meanwhile, Native-born Californios
saw the missions as an obstacle to the economic
development of the province; they believed that the
missions' control of prime agricultural lands and the
indigenous labor force retarded the growth of private
ranches and farms. 

In 1834 Governor José Figueroa issued a proclamation
ordering the secularization of the California missions.

Dividing the Spoils

According to the 1834 secularization proclamation of
Governor José Figueroa, half the property of the
California missions was to be distributed to the former
mission Indians. 

Unfortunately most Indians did not receive any of the
mission lands; those who did rarely kept them for long.
Lorenzo Asisara, a former neophyte at Mission Santa Cruz,
later remembered that during secularization his people
were given some "old mares that were no longer productive
and very old rams." They also received a portion of the
mission lands, "but it did not do the Indians any good."

Between 1834 and 1836 each of the twenty-one California
missions was secularized. Governor Figueroa, who died in
the midst of the secularization proceedings, appointed
administrators to supervise the disposal of mission
properties. The administrators sold off the cattle, grain,
and lands that rightly should have gone to the former
neophytes. The vast bulk of the mission properties ended
up in the hands of a few prominent Californio families. 

The final blow to the missions came in 1845 when cash-
strapped Governor Pío Pico auctioned off the remaining
mission properties--including the crumbling mission
churches. One dispirited padre lamented: "All is
destruction, all is misery, humiliation and despair."

The Rancho Elite A small group of ranchero families,
mostly California-born, emerged as the new elite of
Mexican California. Their wealth and power was based on
the enormous ranchos they acquired from the Mexican
government. Each rancho grant was accompanied by a diseño
or map. The maximum legal limit for a private rancho grant
was 11 square leagues--about 50,000 acres. Not even this
generous limit was always applied; some individuals
received multiple grants. 

Typical of the new elite was Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo,
grantee of several ranchos in present-day Solano and
Sonoma counties. Born in Monterey, Vallejo became the most
prominent land-owner in northern California. From his casa
grande in the new pueblo of Sonoma, Vallejo ruled over a
feudal barony of vast lands, herds of cattle, and a large
retinue of Indian laborers.

Native American Serfs The ranchos of Mexican California
depended upon the labor of Native Americans. A typical
California rancho might employ as few as twenty or as many
as several hundred Indian workers. The Native work force
totaled perhaps four thousand in all, including both
former mission Indians and new recruits gathered by the
rancheros. 

The Native workers tended the fields and herds of the
ranchos. Some became highly skilled cowhands or vaqueros.
In return for their labor the Indians usually received
nothing more than shelter, food, and clothing. The
rancheros used various means of coercion--persuasion,
economic pressure, violent force--to recruit and maintain
their labor supply.

The Indian workers were nominally free, but in practice
they were bound to the service of the ranchero as long as
he cared to hold them. Thus rancho society of Mexican
California was essentially a feudal society. The rancheros
ruled as lords on their great landed estates; the Indian
workers who tended the fields and herds were their serfs

Provincial Autonomy During the years of Mexican
sovereignty, California was ruled by a governor appointed
by officials in faraway Mexico City. A provincial
legislature, or diputación, met in Monterey but its powers
were strictly limited.  

The most dramatic assertion of Californio discontent was
the "revolution" led by Juan Bautista Alvarado in 1836.
Alvarado, president of the diputación, seized control of
the capital in Monterey and deported most of the Mexican
officials. On November 7, 1836, he proclaimed California
"a free and sovereign State."

The revolution was short-lived. The Mexican government in
1837 offered Alvarado the governorship of California. He
accepted the offer.

Trading Hides and Tallow

The economy of Mexican California was based on the raising
of huge herds of cattle. Skilled vaqueros or cowhands
periodically rounded up the cattle, slaughtered them,
stripped and cleaned the hides, and stretched the hides in
the sun to dry. The hides were a valuable source of
leather for making saddles, shoes, and other products. Fat
from the cattle was boiled in iron pots until it melted
into a fatty liquid called tallow. The tallow was used to
make soap and candles. 

The rancho elite traded hides and tallow for manufactured
goods from foreign traders who sailed along the coast. In
the following account, Prudencia Higuera recalled a time
in 1840 when a ship from the United States sailed into San
Pablo Bay to trade for hides and tallow: 

"The next morning my father gave orders, and my brothers,
with the peons, went on horseback into the mountains and
smaller valleys to round up all the best cattle. They
drove them to the beach, killed them there, and salted the
hides. They tried out the tallow in some iron kettles....
The captain soon came to our landing with a small boat and
two sailors.... The captain looked over the hides, and
then asked my father to get into the boat and go to the
vessel.... [My father] came back the next day, bringing
four boat-loads of cloth, axes, shoes, fish-lines, and
many new things. There were two grindstones, and some
cheap jewelry. My brother had traded some deerskins for a
gun and four tooth-brushes, the first ones I had ever
seen."

Bull and Bear Fights Among the popular pastimes of Mexican
California were horse races, bull fights, and bull and
bear fights. For the latter, fearless vaqueros would
capture a California grizzly bear, take him to a bull
ring, and tie or chain his hindleg to the foreleg of a
long-horned California bull. Spectators would then place
their bets, sit back, and wait for the swatting, goring,
and biting to begin. Whoever survived the fight was
declared the winner. 

"The bull began the fight by charging the grizzly with his
horns. A blow from the grizzly's paw did not stop the
onset. In a moment they were rolling over each other in
the dust. But the bear finally, though badly gored, got
his teeth fastened into the bull's neck, and bull was
pulled to his knees. The bull's tongue hung out. This was
what the bear wanted. He got his claw into the bull's
mouth, pulled the tongue out still further, and then bit
it off. With this the bull gave up the contest, and soon
after both animals were dispatched."

A California Wedding The rancho elite of Mexican
California was noted for its prodigal hospitality and
spirited entertainments. Singing and dancing were passions
for Californios of all ages. 

Wedding festivities among the elite Californio families
lasted from three days to a week or more, and for each
event the bride usually wore a different outfit. To her
wedding breakfast, she might wear a dress of brightly
colored silk or satin; then change into a low-cut, short-
sleeved gown of delicate pink or blue for the afternoon
activities. For the actual wedding itself, the bride wore
black. Her gown was often of silk brocade, with silk
stockings and satin slippers. She wore her hair piled high
on her head, accented by a beautiful tortoise-shell comb
set with precious stones, and highlighted by an elegant
black Spanish lace mantilla. 

Harbingers of Change During the years California was ruled
by Mexico, visitors and settlers from the United States
arrived in ever greater numbers. These interlopers were
harbingers of the change in sovereignty that would come to
California with the Mexican American War.

The earliest visitors from the United States were sea-
otter hunters who sailed along the California coast. The
story of "Jedediah and the Beaver" reminds us that the
first group of Americans to arrive overland came in search
of beaver pelts in California's great Central Valley. New
Englander Richard Henry Dana was among those who came to
take advantage of the Californio's penchant for trading
hides and tallow for imported manufactured goods.

The first wagon train of overland settlers from the United
States arrived in California in 1841. The perils of the
Donner Party while attempting to cross the Sierra Nevada
starkly revealed the dangers of the overland trail--
dangers that would take the lives of countless others in
the years ahead.

Official United States interest in acquiring California
grew steadily in the 1840s. The Jones Incident of 1842 was
an embarrassing prelude to the far more decisive events of
the upcoming war between Mexico and the United States. 

Jedediah and the Beaver On November 26, 1826, Jedediah
Strong Smith, leader of an expedition of American beaver
trappers, reached Mission San Gabriel after an arduous
crossing of the Mohave Desert and the San Bernardino
Mountains. Smith and his party were the first white men
from the United States to cross overland to California,
thereby effectively opening the fur trade of the far
Southwest. 

California Governor José María Echeandía was perplexed by
Smith's arrival. Suspecting that he was a spy, the
governor ordered Smith arrested. He was released only
after promising to leave California. 

As Smith traveled northwestward over the Tehachapis and
into the southern Central Valley, he found a trapper's
paradise. There he collected a large quantity of pelts and
then turned eastward and left California by way of Ebbetts
Pass. Smith thus accomplished the first recorded European-
American crossing of the Sierra Nevada.

Smith shared with other trappers the story of his
successful hunting in California. One trapper later
recalled that he "reported California to be the finest
country in the world--having a charming Italian climate &
a soil remarkably productive...& Beaver were abundant in
all the Creeks & Rivers."

Richard Henry Dana The hide and tallow trade was important
not only for its immediate economic effects but also
because the writings of men engaged in the trade greatly
heightened American interest in California.

On board the ship Pilgrim in 1835 was a young Bostonian
named Richard Henry Dana. For eighteen months, Dana and
his shipmates collected hides along the California coast.
He also made close observations of California's land and
people. 

When Dana returned to New England, he published his
recollections in Two Years Before the Mast (1840). He
described for his countrymen in precise detail the
beauties of the California landscape, its capacious
harbors, abundant wildlife, and salubrious climate "than
which there can be no better in the world." He was
contemptuous of the Californios, "an idle thriftless
people" who could "make nothing for themselves." He was
amazed that they bought "bad wine made in Boston and
brought round by us" when their own country abounded in
grapes. "In the hands of an enterprising people," he
concluded, "what a country this might be!"

The Donner Party

Among the several parties of overland pioneers that come
to Mexican California, none suffered more hardships than
the Donner party. The party was organized in Springfield,
Illinois, and made good time in the early spring of 1846
as it headed westward across the plains. It later lost
valuable time by taking what was believed to be a shortcut
south of the Great Salt Lake.

The Donner party began its ascent of the Sierra Nevada in
October and had the misfortune of being caught near the
summit during the heaviest snowfall in thirty years. As
the snow reached a depth of more than twenty feet, the
group lived in crude log cabins and lean-tos. When food
provisions ran out, first the pack animals were eaten,
then the hides and the boiled leather from their
snowshoes, and finally the flesh of those who died. Only
about half of the eighty-seven members of the party
survived the winter. There was heroism as well as horror
during that terrible winter in the Sierra. James Reed left
the party to seek help and returned leading a relief
expedition. When rescuers arrived, Tamsen Donner refused
to leave her husband George who was too weak to travel.
Their three daughters were saved, but George and Tamsen
died.  

The Jones Incident One of the strangest episodes in
California history was the premature invasion of Monterey
by a squad of United States Marines in 1842.

It all started when Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones, an
impetuous young naval officer, got wind of a rumor that
the United States and Mexico were at war. Jones was under
standing orders that, in the event of such a war, he was
to set sail and seize Monterey, the capital of Mexican
California.

On October 18, Commodore Jones sailed confidently into
Monterey Bay and demanded that the Mexican officials
surrender. The next morning, a triumphant Jones landed 150
marines and sailors on the beach. The marines lowered the
Mexican flag, raised the Stars and Stripes, fired a
salute, and proclaimed California to be under the
benevolent protection of the United States of America. 

Unfortunately, Commodore Jones had made a big mistake. He
soon learned that the war rumor was false. With all the
dignity he could muster, Jones hustled his marines back on
board his ship and sailed away. 

Four years later, the military forces of the United States
again invaded California. But this time it was for real,
and the conquest was permanent.

Origins of Andean Civilization

PRE-COLUMBIAN ANDEAN CIVILIZATION

In its basic elements, ancient Andean civilizations exists
geographically much as it is today in Ecuador, Bolivia,
Peru and parts of Chile,

Though we call these civilizations "Andean" it should be
pointed out that some of the most important civilizations
occurred on the coasts of Peru.

The ecological and climatic range of andean civilization
is even greater than its geographical dispersal and it
extends to cultures found at sea level to cities located
at well over 14,000 feet in the Bolivian altiplano.

On the coast the Peruvian coastal deserts are extremely
arid, fish and seafoods are important staples, as the
humbolt current hits the coastline around Paracas and then
deflects towards Hawaii.

The highlands are characterized by the domestication of
the llama, cuy and the growth of tubers and millet grains
such as quinoa. Coca is also an important part of the
andean diet.

Like all other civilizations andean culture was founded on
agriculture which permitted for the formation of a large
and sedentary population with leisure time to devote to
cultural development between harvest and sowing.

The social and economic base of ancient andean
civilization was the ayllu, which was a rural social unit
or village based on kinship organization.

Typically ayllus, in the sierra or altiplano functioned on
the idea of andean verticality and reciprocity. The ayllu
also had a vertical form of organization.

Because of the difficult topography of the andes, the
ayllu or community was vertical in the sense that
different ecological and climatic zones were important in
order to maximize the types of crops that could be grown.

The lower part of the ayllu would produce more broad leaf,
tropical crops, while the upper sections of the ayllu
would produce tubers, millets, and cuys.

There existed before the conquest and well into the modern
period a system of reciprocal exchange between the lower
and upper sections of the ayllu where each section would
specialize in growing what they grew best.

From the very inception of the conquest the economic and
social organization of the ayllu would be under assault by
the Spanish as they sought to reorganize this social and
ecological system into the traditional village model of
old Europe.

Each ayllu would also contribute tribute to the Incan
state and would also benefit from the redistribution of
land, water and resources that the Incas would administer
every year.

The Inca were preceded by 4000 years of agricultural
peoples who gradually developed high cultures. The
earliest known andean people were a small group at Huaca
Prieta at the mouth of Chicama river. 

They lived in subterranean houses, were ignorant of corn
and pottery, but did cultivate squash, gourds, chili,
cotton, fished and made coarse clothes that are
radiocarbon dated at 2500 BC.

For 2000 years culture developed, corn was introduced and
the arts of pottery making, architecture and others were
brought into a high state of development. 

The earliest known culture of any sophistication was the
Chavin which developed around 1250 BC in the northern
highlands of Peru.

Around 700 BC the Chavin had a highly organized society
and were a religious cult whose influence was felt much
over the Peruvian coast in which the Jaguar predominated.

The main building at Chavin is an immense three story
structure. Corn was the main food now and all the arts
including pottery, weaving and metallurgy had reached a
high state of development.

Around 1000 BC a mysterious civilization developed around
the shores of Lake Titicaca and in the altiplano some 40
minutes from La Paz. This was known as the Tiahuanaco
civilization and was the first known instance where large
courts and palaces were built, such as the palace of the
sun out of huge blocks of stone.

Chavín was once compared to the Olmecs and depicted as the
Mother Civilization of the Andes. The term Chavín has been
applied to a developmental stage of Andean history, to an
archaeological period, to an art style and to a
hypothetical empire.  Chavín has been interpreted as a
culture, a civilization and a religion. 

The idea of a Chavín horizon was proposed by Julio Tello. 
In the 1930s Tello claimed that Chavín was Peru's oldest
civilization.  His definition of a pan-regional Chavín
culture included attributes of ceramics, architecture and
sculpture.  The incorporation of sites with some Chavín
characteristics eventually led to a perceived culture
spanning two millennia and reaching from Ecuador to
Argentina.  Tello's criteria has since been narrowed and
recent research, especially radiocarbon dating, has
refined understandings of Chavín and regional site
relationships. 

In the 1960s John Rowe's Andean chronology defined the
Early Horizon as the time beginning with the first
appearance of Chavín influence in Ica.  This arbitrary
criteria requires a definition of Chavín influence and a
clear understanding of the Chavín style horizon.  The
style can be unevenly documented on the coast from
Lambayeque to Ica, and from Pacopampa to Ayacucho in the
highlands.  Adhering to Rowe's definition presents some
problems.  For one, new dates at Ica might change the
Andean chronology.  And, as has been subsequently
determined, it also means that Chavín influence precedes
the first sculptures at Chavín, the content of which
defines the style, and precedes Chavín itself.

There are several important areas to consider in assessing
the role of Chavín in the origins of Andean civilization. 
Landscape context is an important aspect of all cultural
development trajectories, and particularly so at Chavín.  
In early Andean communities dependence on more that one
life zone promoted interaction, exchange and
interdependency, a pattern first evidenced in the coastal
valleys where the exchange pattern involved the series of
elevation-stacked ecological zones beginning with maritime
resources and extending inland to agricultural and
pastoral habitats.  An excellent example is found in the
Casma Valley, at Moxeke, 18 km from the ocean, where
almost all animal protein was maritime.  Chavín
civilization may be the best early expression of a similar
pattern on a larger ecological scale, that of interaction
between the three major ecological zones, the coast, the
highlands and the tropical forests. 

Chavín de Huantár, the archaeological site, is uniquely
situated in the region of the Callejón de Huaylas, where
there are only two ranges in the Andes, rather than the
usual three.  The glaciated Cordillera Blanca has, in a
180 km long span, a few passes, all over 15,000 feet in
elevation.  Chavín de Huantár, midway between the coast
and the jungle, is located on a route accessing the very
extensive Marañon drainage.  Almost all the large rivers
of the central Andes flow to the Amazon drainage.  The
Callejón de Huaylas' Santa River drains to the coast,
transecting the Cordillera Negra.  Via the Santa Valley it
is possible to cross the Andes by crossing only one high
pass. 

Chronology is also significant in assessing Chavín's
presumed influence.  Tello considered Chavín to be older
than the coastal sites with Chavín style, and viewed the
stylistic evidence as indicating Chavín's expansion.  John
Rowe's 1962 stylistic seriation of sculpture and of Ica
ceramics provided only a relative chronology for Chavín.
Peter Rowe's subsequent stylistic assessment of
chronological placement of coastal and highland sites
concluded that there was gradual expansion of influence
from Chavín. 

In 1979 Burger clarified the ceramic sequence at the
Chavín site, naming three sequential phases based on 11
stratigraphic excavations.  Burger also analyzed 20 carbon
samples, half each from the monument and the settlement
areas.  Radiocarbon measurements established an absolute
chronology for Chavín de Huantár, spanning from 850 BC to
200 BC.  By 500 BC Chavín de Huantár was a flourishing
center double in size from the time of first construction
300 years earlier.  Most of the construction dates to 400-
200 BC.  Around 400 BC the monument was remodeled and
greatly expanded and the settlement increased to over 40
ha and about 1.2 km in length.  Population may have
reached 3000, making Chavín one of the largest highland
centers in the Andes. 

Radiocarbon dates from coastal sites with Chavín style
ceramics, sites that had been interpreted as provinces of
Chavín, were compared by Burger.  Three widely distributed
major sites were selected, Las Haldas, Caballo Muerto and
Ancón near Garagay.  Monumental construction at Las Haldas
dates from 1190 BC to 900 BC.  At Caballo Muerto the
constructions that resemble Chavín also predate Chavín,
ranging from 1730 BC to 850 BC.  The presumed Chavín
influenced ceramic phases at Ancón dated from 1345 BC to
810 BC, with a mean of 1074 BC.  These coastal monumental
centers prospered between 1700 BC and 900 BC, while the
earliest constructions at Chavín dates to about 850 BC.
The coastal sites are older than Chavín.  The
architectural features and iconographic style at Chavín de
Huantár actually developed elsewhere, and the direction of
influence is the reverse of what was first assumed. 

Relative comparison of site size can illustrate or define
possible relationships.  The Chavín monument is less than
one-tenth the size of Sechín Alto, in the Casma Valley.
The Casma has the largest and most elaborate Initial
Period constructions.  The shortest route from Chavín to
the coast, across the Cordillera Negra, descends into the
Casma Valley.  Sechín Alto covered 300-400 hectares, and
it is just one of several monument precincts in the Casma
drainage.  Sechín Alto is also one of the largest
architectural complexes in the world.  The monument
complex alone extends nearly 2 km.  The entire community
of Chavín would easily fit in Sechín Alto's central
plazas.  Also in the Casma Valley, Las Haldas covers about
five times the area of Chavín.  At Moxeke the monument
complex alone extends over a kilometer in length, with 70
platform mounds flanking the sides of the central plaza.
Other coastal monument complexes also greatly exceed
Chavín in size.  Of course, Chavín features unprecedented
architecture due to its remarkable engineering, quality
masonry and very fine sculptural stone art, in contrast to
mostly earthen and adobe plaster over stone monuments on
the coast.  This may be a response to the local climate
more so than an indicator of relative importance. 

Socio-political organization changes dramatically during
the Early Horizon.  One expression of the preceding
Initial Period social pattern is found in the monumental
architecture.  Distinct style areas of monumental
architecture are seen, with the central, north-central and
the north Peruvian coast having distinct monument styles. 
Each of these zones were represented by a major site in
Burger's radiocarbon comparisons.  Early regional
political relationships may be evidenced by these style
zones and by concentrations of or by extremely large
inland mounds in the Moche, Casma and Chillón-Rimac
Valleys.  Sechín Alto evidences over a millennium of
construction. 

There is little evidence of economic or social
stratification during the early Initial Period in the
Casma Valley.  Evidence of some stratification is seen by
the late Initial Period, with a difference in two groups
of dwellings.  Dwellings attached to the monument precinct
were of more substantial construction.  New social classes
may have emerged by the end of the Initial Period,
coincident with the end of massive public architecture
projects. The first settlements to evidence social
differentiation are the Preceramic sites of Rio Seco, El
Aspero and Bandurria, communities of up to 3,000
population, a size comparable to the maximum at Chavín. 

Stratification is evidenced at Chavín in the settlement
pattern.  Rich burial accompaniments in northern highland
areas during Chavín's last phase evidences status
differences, reinforcing the status interpretation of the
settlement differences at Chavín.  Craft specialization
also appears in households.  The first evidence of
urbanism and these social changes date to the last phase
at Chavín only.  Burger calls the site proto-urban at this
time. 

Trade is an important factor in the development of Andean
civilization.  Interregional trade rose sharply during the
Early Horizon.  Chavín's interaction sphere, as a supra-
political entity, is characterized by a new scale of
interaction and exchange of goods and ideas.  Exchange
items included pottery, shell, stone resources, wool,
textiles, metals, and dried fish.  The more unified
iconography may be related to this social change. 

Chavín's location allowed flow of and/or control of trade
between major environmental zones.  Long distance trade
fueled Chavín's success and growth.  Trade was dependent
on llama conveyance.  Domesticated llamas first appear
with frequency at multiple sites outside their natural
range during the Early Horizon. 

By 400 BC sophisticated economic systems involving distant
trading had been established and roads were developed.
The several regional spheres of interaction during the
Initial Period became a single economic interaction sphere
spanned nearly 1000 km, from Pacopampa to Pata de
Huamanga, and including coastal, highland and the eastern
Andean slopes.  Studies sourcing obsidian evidence a sharp
increase in long-distance trade.  Obsidian from the
Quispisisa source, 450 km south of Chavín, reached the
northernmost extent of the Early Horizon exchange network.
Of the three phases at Chavín, the final Janabarriu phase
reflects the most extensive communication networks, when
obsidian use at Chavín increased 500 fold.  Products from
Ecuador and Chilé found their way into the exchange
network.  At the same time the pattern of interaction is
uneven, indicating local determinism. 

Technological innovations appear suddenly and diffuse over
a wide area during the Early Horizon.  In textiles, use of
camelid hair in cotton textiles, dying camelid hair,
textile painting, resist painting, discontinuous warps,
warp wrapping, and the heddle loom transformed the Andean
textile tradition.  In gold metallurgy three dimensional
forms, soldering, sweating, welding and silver-gold alloys
appear.  Wide distributions accompanied these
technological advances.  

Chavín's elaborate iconography is found on hammered gold
and textiles as well as on ceramics, stone sculpture and
clay friezes. Chavín iconography represents an
unprecedented unification of previously heterogeneous
groups, yet without total cultural homogenization.  A wide
range of groups in the mid-Early Horizon modified
traditional ceramic styles, yet the pottery continues to
display regional style variations.  In contrast, textiles
of the Chavín horizon do not display regional distinctions
in technology or style, and are therefore an excellent
horizon marker in areas of good preservation. 

The Early Horizon panregional ideological codification
reflects a shared ideology and a far wider group identity
than during the Initial Period.  Chavín de Huantár's
iconography reflects an ideological system incorporating
material from the tropical lowlands, the coast and the
highlands.  Nonetheless, the hypothesis emerged that
Chavín's stylistic homogeneity, over a wider area than all
previous cultural styles, resulted from a single point,
rapid dispersal of the style.  There was a long-standing
consensus among anthropologists and archaeologists that
Chavín style expresses a religious ideology and represents
a religious diffusion.  Rafael Larco viewed Chavín as a
pilgrimage center erected by members of a feline cult.
Rebecca Carrión called the Chavín empire a religion that
spread a homogeneous art style.  Gordon Willey interpreted
the diffusion as a peaceful spread of religious concepts. 
The basis of these assumptions, rapid dispersal from a
single source, has been undermined, yet the consensus
interpreting Chavín iconography as religious remains. 

The design features of the Chavín monumental architecture
have their origins in coastal sites.  Chavín's building
style is unique and synthesized.  Chavín's Old Temple, the
initial monument, combined the architecture of the central
coast U-shaped pyramids and the north-central coast sunken
circular court, a synthesis that was seen earlier at
Sechín Alto. Some of the iconography at Chavín is found in
the clay friezes on the earlier coastal monuments.  The
antecedent for low relief stone carvings decorating the
monument exterior dates to 1200 BC at Cerro Sechín in the
Casma Valley.  After 500 BC decorated cylindrical columns,
an architectural element from the northern highlands, were
added. 

What was the function of Chavín?  Hundreds of decorated
ceramic vessels for eating and drinking evidence group
feasting.  The pottery includes items created hundreds of
kilometers from the site, indicating possible usage by
distant communities.  Coastal mussels and fish were found
with the pottery, further evidencing distant contacts.
Chavín art is basically naturalistic, lacking in political
content and devoid of historic personages or scenes.
While the consensus is for a religious function,  Karen
Olsen Bruhns writes that "There is little direct evidence
concerning Chavín religious beliefs or practices..."
There is also little direct evidence of political
function. 

It seems that the preeminence of Chavín de Huantár
continues to be exaggerated due to, first, the early
misidentification of Initial Period iconographies as
Chavín, second, the need to use stone in the highlands
resulting in differential preservation, third, the
sequence in the discovery and investigations, fourth,
changes in available methods, particularly radiocarbon
dating, and fifth, the presumption of a Chavín religion.
Interaction and exchange seem adequate explanations for
the developments at Chavín in such an economically
significant location.  The significant increases in trade
parallels the chronology at Chavín, therefore I see
exchange during the Early Horizon as a very plausible
explanation for the diffusion of a universalist
iconography and art style. 

During the third century BC a disintegration of the Chavín
interaction sphere is evidenced by halting of
construction, replacement of Chavín style ceramics by
local styles, widespread construction of hilltop
fortresses in the highlands and coastal valleys, a decline
in interregional trade and intensified socioeconomic
stratification.   Two centuries after Chavín's
fluorescence the hypothetical civilization waned. 

Experimental Period.

The cultures of the next period sometimes called the
experimental period occurred between 500-300 BC are not so
well known. Cultures developed in the areas near Cuzco and
around the shores of Lake Titicaca. These societies built
great irrigation and terrace works, some of which are
still in use today. It appears that at this point highland
civilization began to surpass coastal civilization in
terms of masonry.

However, much more is known of the coastal civilization as
the arid desert climate preserves almost every remnant,
even textiles and tapestries are perfectly preserved to
this day.

This was a dynamic period in which many new techniques
appeared and agriculture became much more intensive and
productive.

Florescent period

In the first few centuries of the common era high
civilization then developed on the coast of Peru. This
period lasted some 600 to 800 years. In pottery making,
weaving, metallurgy and other arts and engineering this
was the apogee of Peruvian culture.

The river valleys were densely populated, with intensive
agriculture. The best known civilization of this period
was the Moche or Mochica which was located near Trujillo
in Peru where are found enormous adobe pyramids of the sun
and the moon. One of the structures measures 450 by 750
feet and is estimated to contain 130,000,000 mud bricks.
One of their irrigation canals was said to be over 75
miles long.

Especially famous are the pottery vessels modeled in
naturalistic forms that reveal much of the native life,
including erotic life. Apparently there were social
classes and warriors which was the first evidence that
militarism had developed in the andean civilizations.

On the southern coasts of Peru there developed the Paracas
and Nazca cultures which are known for their incredible
textiles and pottery. The lines of Nazca are one of the
great mysteries of the world and researchers have yet to
explain what the lines represent or even how they were
etched into hard desert rock by a stone age culture.

The mummies of the Paracas and Nazca culture are the
oldest and most exquisitely preserved mummies in the
ancient world. Apparently the corpses due to the extreme
dryness were freeze dried so that today one can re-hydrate
the mummies, study their DNA, cellular structure and
disease pathology. The mummies still have all their hair
and it is possible to see the color of their eyes the
freeze-drying process was so efficient.

Some anthropologists suggest that the Paracas culture may
have had contact with Polynesian cultures, since the
design of their pottery and textiles are similar to
Polynesian styles. Especially since the mysteries of
Easter Island off the coast of Chile not only has
Polynesian style statues, but also on one has yet been
able to figure out how a stone-age culture was able to
move let alone cut blocks of stone that average 5 to 7
tons.

The Nazca culture also apparently practiced many different
types of surgery. They seemed to have been very successful
at brain surgery and used gold and silver implements to
drill, cut and suture brain tissue. From the examination
and autopsies of mummies it appears that the Nazca culture
had a success rate of brain surgery similar to what we
have now. The Nazca culture also practiced C-sections, set
bones and performed internal medicine and surgery.

By 500 AD Tiahuanaco civilization arose near Lake Titicaca
again and the art style and religious cult spread all over
Peru. This period is marked by increasing urbanization,
social stratification and militarism.

Also by 500 to 700 AD there arose in the Southern Peruvian
sierra the Huari culture that was the first to use
intensive and intricate stone irrigation works and
aqueducts. Things resembling wheels have been found at the
ruin sites, but its unsure what they were used for since
there were no beasts of burdens in the Andes. The Huari
civilization would later be forcibly federated into the
Incan federation, but the Huaris had a tremendous impact
on Incan mythology, religion, astronomy and possibly
social organization.

In the last few centuries before the rise of Inca power
one civilization is outstanding, that of the Chimu o of
the northern coast of Peru. It resembled the Inca on a
smaller scale with one great capital city at Chan Chan.
The Chimu had a large empire that was acquired probably
through conquest. They had a highly developed governmental
system and definite social stratification from the humble
farmer to the divine king.

The population was probably dense and largely urbanized,
agriculture was carried to its ultimate limit, and
craftsmanship was perfected.

Handicrafts were standardized which implies that
production was mass-production for a mass market. The
capital of Chan Chan is one of the greatest archaeological
sites in the world with close to 30 square miles of ruins,
some 200-300 stone structures, temples, reservoirs,
aqueducts and great walls.

For most persons the term andean civilization implies the
civilization of the Incas. Practically our entire
knowledge of andean civilization is that of the Inca.

In this sense it is not necessary to depend on
archaeological reconstruction as we have for the other
andean civilizations for the writings of many Spanish
observers are recorded. Unfortunately there is
considerable disagreement among them especially regarding
Inca history.

There is no record of Inca writing, and white men never
understood how the quipu was used, whatever history the
Spanish recorded was oral history.

Like the Aztecs the Incas came late upon the historical
scene and even their legends do not predate 1200 AD. Like
European civilization the Incas recounted their history in
terms of the reign of Kings. The first king being that of
Manco Capac 1200 AD, the Sinchi Roca, Lloque Yupanqui,
Mayta Capac, Capac Yupanqui, Inca Roca, Yahuar Huacac,
Viracocha Inca (the white god). Pachacutec Inca Yupanqui
(1438-1471), Tupac Inca Yupanqui (1471-1493), Huayna Capac
(1493-1525), Huascar (1525-1532) and Atahualpa (1532-33).

The first seven emperors were legendary. In this period
the Inca were a small tribe, one of many whose domain did
not extend many mile around their capital of Cuzco. They
were almost constantly at war with neighboring tribes of
equal power.

The incredibly rapid expansion of the Inca empire began
with Viracocha's son Pachacutec one of the great
conquerors and one of the great in men in history.

He was also a great civic planner as well, and tradition
gives him credit for the city plan of Cuzco and the
erection of the many massive fortresses and buildings of
stone that still awe visitors to Cuzco.

The sudden great expansion of the Inca empire was one of
the most extraordinary events in history. It covered
little less than a century from the accession of
Pachacutec in 1438 to the conquest by Francisco Pizarro in
1532 and most of it was accomplished by Pachacutec and
Tupac Inca in the 30 years between 1463 and 1493 and it
encompassed over 380,000 miles, equal to the size of
France, Luxumbourg, Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy and
Belgium combined.

The conquered peoples were incorporated into the expanding
Incan empire. They were allowed to worship their own gods
and speak their own dialect, but often the Incan state
would move ethnicities to new areas where they would
conflict with other ethnic groups and allow the Incan
state to mediate the conflict.

The entire Incan empire was designed along what has been
described as the aquatic axis that ran from Cuzco down to
Lake Titicaca and from Cuzco up to Trujillo. The entire
empire and control of the empire depended on the control
of the ceques or regional and inter-regional irrigation
canals where Cuzco was the central controlling point.

The entire empire was also divided into 4 parts Hanansya,
Urinsyaya, Collasuyo and Omasuyo. The city of Cuzco also
followed this quadrapartite division and you would live
and interact in that quarter of the city as reflected by
what part of your family originated from in the empire.

The Incas were never successful in incorporating the
Amazonian peoples who fought a guerrilla war for decades.

The Incas also practiced a form of state socialism, where
the Inca state would redistribute surplus, land and access
to water to the people, when needed.

The empire was a welfare state with complete
regimentation. No one starved but there was little
initiative as well. 

The land was public and apportioned annually to families
in relation to their size. The land was divided into three
classes with product for the state, for the church or for
the people.

The harvest of state lands went into storehouses fo the
use of the nobility, for the army and for men engaged in
other public services. In lieu of direct taxes or tribute
every man was periodically called to serve the state for
the construction of public works and roads. This labor/tax
institution was called the mita, which means taking ones
turn.

The upper classes such as the nobility, priests and
craftsmen were exempt from the mita as were the yanacuna
who were boys selected to be permanent aids and servants
to the emperor and the nobility.

Beautiful girls were chosen at an early age and taken to
Cuzco to nunneries were they were trained to be concubines
for the emperor.

The emperor or Inca was divine and a direct descendant of
the sun and most emperors married their sisters and most
Incan nobility married their cousins.

Religion was highly organized and centralized, with many
temples built to honor the sun. The Incas also had a
highly efficient postal system and the greatest road
system in the world until the advent of the US road system
in the 20th century.