Native American Civilizations: Geography--River Valley Patterns


Figure 1.--This savage Aztec clay figurine shows a priest wearing the flayed skine o a child in a ritual to appease Xipe Totec--'the flayed one'. Xipe Totec was a life-death-rebirth deity, variously described as the god of agriculture, vegetation, the east, disease, Spring, goldsmiths, silversmiths, liberation, and the seasons. This grisly ceremony was an an annual event each Spring and was meant to symbolize the new foliage which appeared to cover the earth each year.

The river valley pattern of human civilization seems so basic that one would have expected civilization in the Americas to have developed along the similar lines. It did not and the reasons for this are not entirely clear. The great American rivers ate the Mississippi, The Columbia, the Colorado, the Rio Grande, the Magdalena, Guayas, the Orionoco, the Amazon, the Sao Francico, and the Parana-Paraguay. These river valley systems are not where agriculture (the neolithic Revolution) meaning civilization developed in the Americas. Rather it developed in two rather improbable places--Meso-America and arid areas along the northern coast of Peru. The Central Valley of Mexico was clearly a desirable place fought over by a sucession of people who defended it from war-like tribes to the north. The harsh conditions outside the Central Valley and the struggle to control it created perhaps the most merciless culture of all the graet ancient civilizations. The blood-drenched Aztecs were only the final manifestatioin of the civilizations begun by Teoteouacan. The Central Valley and Lake Texcoco may have represented similar conditions to river valleys. Driving along the coast of Peru one is struck by the utter desolation. At first glance it would seem one of the most likely places in the world for civilization to rise. But there are slender ribboms of green amid a vast desert landscape whoch becomes increasingly arid as you move south. And while there is no single large river in northrn Peru, there were several small rivers running down from the Andean Sierra creating the same river valley conditiins on a smaller scale that produced Mesopotamia and Egypt. The geography of the Americas also seems to explain in part the spread of civilization.

River Valley Conditions

The river valley pattern of human civilization seems so basic that one would have expected civilization in the Americas to have developed along the similar lines. It did not and the reasons for this are not entirely clear. The great American rivers ate the Mississippi, The Columbia, the Colorado, the Rio Grande, the Magdalena, Guayas, the Orionoco, the Amazon, the Sao Francico, and the Parana-Paraguay. These river valley systems are not where agriculture (the neolithic Revolution) meaning civilization developed in the Americas. Rather it developed in two rather improbable places--Meso-America and arid areas along the northern coast of Peru.

Central Valley of Mexico

The Central Valley of Mexico was clearly a desirable place for civilization to devlop. Both the climate and availability of water as a result of Lake Texcoco created conditions similar to the great river valleys where civilization first appeared in the Old World. The desirability of the Central Valley is all too clear from the steady stream of people who fought to control it. The suronding areas, especially to the north, were not deserts as was the case of Mesopotamia and Egypt, but was poorly watered land of only limited agicultural value. The blood-drenched Aztecs were only the final manifestatioin of the civilizations begun by Teoteouacan.

Peruvian North coast

Driving along the coast of Peru one is struck by the utter desolation. At first glance it would seem one of the most likely places in the world for civilization to rise, especially once you get away of the far north around Tumbes. Then the landscpe become essentially a desert. here are slender ribboms of green amid a vast desert landscape which becomes increasingly arid as you move south. Here around Norte Chico, north of Lima, th oAnd while there is no single large river in northrn Peru, there were several small rivers running down from the Andean Sierra creating the same river valley conditions on a smaller scale that produced Mesopotamia and Egypt. The river not only provided water, but aluvial sediment that help enrich the soil.

Nature of Civilization

Geography may well have affected the characters of the civilizations which developed. Mesoamerica faced a harsh, unrelenting land from to the north. And from this area came a sucession of barbarous tribes seeking attracted by the fertile lands and bounty of thge Central Valley. These hardened, fierce nomadic peoples became known as the Chichimecs. The Toltecs, some believe to be a legendary people, destroyed Teotauacan to seize the Central Valley. The Aztecs were only the latest of these fierce northern tribes. There really was no geographic imepediment to these ravages from the north. And the civilizations that emerged from the Central Valley seems to have relected this on going terrible struggle. The harsh conditions outside the Central Valley and the struggle to control it created perhaps the most merciless culture of all the great ancient civilizations. The civilization that developed in northern Peru, Norte Chico, was quite different, Norte Chico was protected from the west by the Pacific Ocean where nothing more offensive than anchovies existed and from Amazonian tribes by the Andes. Nothing like the Chichimecs threatened them from north and south. And the Norte Chico sites do nit show signs of wall and battelments that would have been built for defense. Gradually the people of South america did develop mor war like cultures, nut none approched the people of the Central Valley in thelevels of brutlity and extent of human sacrifice.

Spread of Civilization

The geography of the Americas also seems to explain in part the spread of civilization. Teoteauancan was the graddle of civikization in Mesoamerica. From the Centtal Valley, civilization did mnot spread north, perhaps because of the constant assault of the Chichimecs. It did spread south to the many peoples like the Olmecs and Mayas. The culture of Norte Chico spread north and south from norther Peru. Nothing like the Chivhimecs threatened them. And gradually civilization became well estblished in the Sierra where a higher level of technology was needed for agriculture and th civilizations and their cities were not threatened bu periodic El Niņos and Tunamis. And did not face problem like salinization.







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Created: 4:48 AM 6/15/2008
Last updated: 9:24 PM 3/25/2014