Discuss the importance of landholding and agricultural production in two indigenous societies.

Candidates will offer a considered and balanced review of the importance of landholding and agricultural production in two indigenous societies in pre-Columbian America during, although not necessarily spanning, the period from c750 to 1500. In doing so, they may discuss the ways in which landholding and agricultural production influenced the social, political and economic structures of two societies. Different patterns of landholding may be discussed including communal landholding, landholding awarded to important members of society (such as religious leaders, nobility and warriors) and state landholding. Candidates may also discuss developments in agricultural production that enabled the support of growing populations, such as the “slash and burn” method to increase the availability of land in the Amazonian rainforest.