Native Americans of Middle and South America

Article Outline

Introduction; Culture Areas; History; Native Americans Today

Arts and Crafts

Among the earliest evidence of art in the Central and Southern Andes culture area are 13 decorated gourds from the ancient site of Huaca Prieta, on the northern coast of Peru. These gourds, which are dated to about 2000 bc, feature intricate geometric designs, including stylized human faces that were burned into their exterior surfaces, a technique called pyrography. Simple woven cotton textiles also were found at Huaca Prieta, one of which depicts a condor with a fish in its stomach.

Pottery making in the Central and Southern Andes culture area began around 1800 bc, and ceramic vessels quickly became one of the principal forms of Andean artistic expression. For example, the Chavín culture (about 900 bc to 200 bc) is well known for its 'stirrup spout' vessels. These vessels have a spherical base topped by an inverted U-shaped tube—similar to an upside-down stirrup from a saddle—to which a vertical spout is attached. The Moche continued the stirrup spout vessel tradition begun in Chavín times and also made a variety of other vessel forms. They painted or modeled pottery depicting almost every aspect of their culture, including their daily life, religious beliefs, and political system. These pots have provided scholars with important clues about Moche clothing, social statuses, ceremonies, and the roles of rulers and warriors in the formation and maintenance of the Moche state.

On the southern coast of Peru, the Nazca (200 bc to ad 600) were expert textile weavers, continuing a tradition of weaving that had begun with their predecessors, the Paracas, shortly after 1000 bc. Wool from llamas, alpacas, and possibly vicuñas, along with cotton, was employed in the production of tapestries, brocades, laces, embroidery, and braided work. The textiles were decorated with multicolored designs, sometimes showing as many as 190 different hues in a single fabric. Textiles were used for elaborate turbans, togas, and other articles of clothing and for wrapping of corpses in mummy bundles.

By the time the Inca state emerged in the mid-15thcentury, cloth had assumed a central role in Andean society and was among the most valued of all items. The state used textiles to clothe army soldiers in fine garments, to reward citizens for meritorious service, and as symbolic items in important rites and ceremonies. Inca women, and less commonly men, spun cotton and wool and wove textiles using the traditional Andean backstrap loom. Scholars have estimated that it could take a weaver as long as 500 hours to make a single poncho.

Religious Beliefs and Practices

The complex societies in the Central and Southern Andes culture area practiced temple-oriented religions that focused on a variety of gods, including those identified with the Sun, the Moon, and figures that combined—often in intimidating and monstrous fashion—features that were both human and animal. For example, the main religious figure of Chavín culture is shown with a human face and body, but has long, Medusa-like snake hair writhing out of the top of its head, and its fingers and toes have the talons of a predatory animal. Judging from the iconography on stone tablets, Chavín priests ingested the hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus in the belief that it would make them turn temporarily into jaguars.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Inca religion was the sacrifice of children on high Andean peaks, a ritual called Capac Hucha or Capacocha (Quechua for “royal obligation”). Among other reasons, children were sacrificed to commemorate festivals, to promote the fertility of the empire’s cultivated lands, and to appease the gods. Because of the dry, cold conditions on the summits of peaks that rise above 5,200 m (17,000 ft), where the sacrifices took place, archaeologists have sometimes discovered the extremely well-preserved bodies of sacrificial victims.

Post-Contact History

Although the Inca army was the largest and best fighting force in all of South America—perhaps in all of the Americas—it was defeated by a few hundred Spanish soldiers led by the conquistador Francisco Pizarro. This was accomplished primarily through treachery. In 1532, at a peaceful meeting with the Inca, Pizarro and his soldiers seized the emperor Atahualpa and killed most of the other leaders of the empire. Pizarro held Atahualpa prisoner to force the payment of a vast ransom in gold and silver, then killed him in 1533 after amassing an incredible fortune. With the head of its totalitarian political and religious institutions suddenly gone, the empire was helpless before the newcomers. There was no clear rule concerning the emperor’s successor, and three years passed before the Incas could organize an effective opposition. By that time it was too late, and the entrenched Spaniards suppressed the revolt. A large part of the population withdrew to less accessible regions in the interior and founded a new Inca state that lasted another 40 years; but in 1572, it too was destroyed, and Inca power was at an end.

Despite the Spanish conquest—which introduced European culture, intermarriage, and diseases such as smallpox—the indigenous people of the highland areas of the central and southern Andes survived and flourished to modern times. Today, there are about the same number of indigenous people in this region as there were on the eve of the conquest in 1532. Indigenous people of the central and southern Andes primarily speak Quechua or Aymara, wear homespun and other traditional clothing, and practice small-scale farming and a pastoral way of life.

Amazon Basin

Land and Habitat

The Amazon Basin culture area is defined by the Amazon River Basin, which contains the world’s largest tropical rain forest. Covering an estimated 7 million sq km (2.7 million sq mi), this area accounts for slightly more than 40 percent of the South American continent’s landmass. With temperatures that rarely go below 27°C (80°F) and heavy rains throughout the year, the Amazon Basin is a hothouse of animal and plant species. For example, there are 3,000 fish species, more than 100 species of New World monkeys, and 5,000 species of trees. The Amazon River, measuring 6,400 km (4,000 mi) long, is the second longest river in the world, and together with its principal tributaries—the Xingú, Tapajós, Negro, Madeira, Napo, and Ucayali rivers—it accounts for one-fifth of all the fresh water that flows into the oceans.

Ninety-eight percent of the basin consists of land away from the rivers. Called the terra firme, this land has nutrient-poor soils because torrential rainfall leaches out the minerals. In contrast to the terra firme, the remaining 2 percent of the Amazon Basin’s landmass is exceptionally productive. Called the várzea, this land consists of the levee banks alongside the main channel of the Amazon River. Each year, during the period of maximum flood, the river deposits massive amounts of nutrient-rich silt that flows down out of the eroding Andes.

People and Languages

Among the better-known indigenous groups of the terra firme part of the basin are the Yanomami (comprising the Ynomamö, Yanomam, Ninam, and Sanema), Waiwai, Makiritare, Cubeo, of the northern basin; the Desana, Shuar (formerly Jívaro), Conibo, Shipibo, and Amahuaca, of the eastern basin; and the Machiguenga, Mundurucú, Kayapó, and Tupinambá, of the southern basin. At the time of Spanish and Portuguese contact in the 1540s, the best-known várzea groups were the Tapajós and the Omagua. Major language groups included Arawakan, Cariban, Panoan, and Tupian (which included the Tupí-Guaraní language family), but at least 100 separate, mutually unintelligible languages were spoken throughout the vast area of the Amazon Basin.