Download Unit 9 Day 12 Text Passages

Maya Civilization
Big Idea: The Maya people lived in southern Mexico and Central
America. They were very sophisticated builders and artists, created one
of the first working calendars, and they contributed greatly to the fields
of mathematics and astronomy. As a whole, the Maya were very
religious people and worshiped many different gods.
1. Government: The Maya civilization consisted of a large number of city-states.
Each city and its surrounding towns was an independent kingdom and had its
own ruler. Maya kingdoms were constantly at war with each other.
2. Social Classes: The society was divided into classes, with royalty and nobles
living in the city and lower classes living farther outside the city.
3. Agriculture: The Maya civilization was located in present-day Central America
and southern Mexico. The warm, humid climate allowed them to become an
agricultural civilization, growing goods like maize and cacao.
4. Economy: They are thought to have traded with the Aztecs and indigenous
cultures in South America. They lived in cities that had pyramids in their
religious centers and also had palaces.
5. Religion: Their religion was polytheistic, based on the nature of time (it is a
cycle that repeats itself), the cycles of seasons, and the movement of planets.
Religious buildings were at the center of a city. They sacrificed animals, and
sometimes humans, to satisfy the gods.
Aztec Civilization
Big Idea: The Aztec civilization was located in central
Mexico. Their capital city, Tenochtitlan, was on the site of
present-day Mexico City. They rose to power by conquering
nearby cities. The Aztecs were skilled farmers, but they also
traded for many goods. Warfare was a very important part of
Aztec culture. Their civilization fell to the Spanish conquistadors
in 1521.
1. Government: The emperor was the head of government, chosen by the elders,
and he consulted with priests and the elders before making decisions.
Montezuma I ruled the Aztec Empire in the 1400s. During his reign, the
empire became more organized and expanded as it conquered neighboring
territories.
2. Social Classes: Aztec society was divided into classes including nobility,
priests, warriors, merchants and artisans, serfs, and slaves. Membership in the
nobility class was originally based on ability and strength, but it eventually
became hereditary—the child of a noble was more likely to become a noble
than a commoner's child was.
3. Agriculture: Tenochtitlan, the capital city, was the center of Aztec culture and
was located on an island in Lake Texcoco. Crops such as squash, tomatoes,
corn, and beans were grown in chinampas, which were rectangular plots of
land surrounded by water. At its height, Teotihuacan probably housed
between 125,000 and 200,000 people.
4. Economy: The bulk of the economy depended on extensive trade of
necessary and luxury items. Groups in the city were divided into calpulli, which
practiced a specific craft or trade, such as rope-making or pot-making. Aztec
merchants played a large part in the economy with the markets and trading
with other peoples in the land. Slavery was common, though it was different
than the slavery practiced by Europeans. Many Aztec slaves were prisoners of
war, and others were people who were unable to pay their debts. Slaves had
hard lives, but they could own some property (including other slaves), and in
some cases, they were able to buy their freedom. Slavery was not inherited;
the child of a slave was considered free.
5. Religion: Religion was polytheistic, focused mainly on the sun and war gods,
and beliefs centered on myths about the gods. Pyramids with temples at the
top were built to worship the gods. Human sacrifice was practiced throughout
the empire, mostly given at the main temple in Tenochtitlan. The humans
sacrificed were prisoners of war and were killed after battle.
Inca Civilization
Big Idea: The Inca Empire was located in the Andes
Mountains in South America. As a society, they were peaceful
farmers and traders. They had large resources of gold and silver,
and they made many contributions to medicine, mathematics,
and architecture. They were conquered by the Spanish
conquistadors in 1533.
Inca People
1. Government: The Inca government was run by an emperor, who was chosen out of
the original Inca tribe descendants. Cuzco was the capital of the Inca Empire. There
were four provinces (areas) in the empire, and governors oversaw local officials in
the provinces. The Inca expanded their empire by conquering nearby civilizations
and peacefully assimilating other cultures into Incan culture.
2. Social Classes: The Inca people had separate chains of command for military and
religion. Descendants of the original Inca tribe were similar to nobility, and some
even became royalty. Those not in the original Inca tribe had their intelligence
tested at a young age to determine if they would learn a trade or would go to school
to become administrators, who were included in the nobility.
3. Agriculture: The three staple crops were corn, potatoes, and quinoa - quinoa seeds
were used to make cereal, flour, and soups. The Inca grew more food than they
needed. Stored food was dried and kept in special buildings. The Inca invented terrace
farming. They lived in the mountains. Flatlands were rare. So, they simply created flat
land by building steps of land for agriculture down the mountainside.
4. Economy: The Inca had an agricultural economy, relying mostly on potatoes,
tomatoes, maize, peanuts, and similar crops for food. They also raised llamas for
meat and wool and had a road system that allowed food to be distributed
throughout the empire.
5. Religion: Inca religion was polytheistic, meaning they worshiped many gods,
including Inti, the sun god. The emperor of the Incas was believed to be a
descendant of the sun god and therefore had the divine right to rule the empire. The
Inca sacrificed llamas to the gods on many important occasions, and they sacrificed
humans in times of natural disaster and times of distress. The Inca believed in the
afterlife, and they mummified members of the nobility. They believed that people
who were good went to the sun after dying, while those who were evil stayed on the
Earth.