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BELLRINGER: 4/17 & 4/18
• Welcome back! Hope you all had a great Spring Break! 
• Pick up the papers by the door. Find your new seat!
• Turn in your Monty Python film analysis sheet (if you didn’t do this
before break!).
• Update your ToC:
– 128: Unit 6/SOL Review Schedule
– 129: Notes – North American Civs. (Mayans/Aztecs)
– 130: Americas Map
• Write down your HW:
– Read pages 407-411 in your ANCIENT WORLD book and take
notes
• Please grab 2 different colored pencils/markers from the counter or
take out 2 of your own. You will need them during the notes today.
AGENDA: 4/17 & 4/18
• 1. Bellringer
• 2. Notes: North American Civilizations (Aztecs and
Mayans)
• 3. Map Activity: Mapping North American Civilizations
• 4. Documentary Clip: Engineering an Empire – the
Mayans
NORTH AMERICAN
C I V I L I Z AT I O N S :
THE A ZTECS AND
THE MAYANS
HOW DID PEOPLE FIRST GET
TO THE AMERICAS?
• Theory #1: Bering land bridge
– Humans migrated from Asia to the
Americas across land bridge
spanning Alaska to Siberia
• Theory #2: Coastal migration
– Humans get to Americas by
crossing seas (most likely the
Pacific) and then settling along
western coast of the Americas
MAYANS: GEOGRAPHY
• Central Mexico on the
Yucatan Peninsula
• Rainforest
environment
MAYANS: RELIGION
• Polytheistic
• Gods based in nature
• Practiced human
sacrifice
– Trying to appease
their gods, bring
good fortune
MAYANS: ACHIEVEMENTS
• Architecture
– Temples, palaces,
pyramids
• Intellectual
– Observatories (La
Cupula)
– Writing (hieroglyphs)
– Numeral system
– 365-day calendar
• Entertainment
– Ball courts
MAYANS: POLITICS/GOV’T
• NOT centralized
• NOT a central empire
• Made up of different
city-states
• Each city-state = own
ruler
MAYANS: ECONOMY
• Mainly agriculture
based
• Limited trade between
city-states
• No official shared
currency (barter
system)
MAYANS: SOCIETY
• Society = structured around pleasing the gods
• Different classes
AZTECS: GEOGRAPHY
• Settled in central
Mexico
• West of Mayan
civilization
• Bordered Pacific
coastline
• Capital: Tenochtitlan
(near mod. day
Mexico City)
AZTECS: RELIGION
• Polytheistic
• Main Aztec god:
Huitzilopochtli
• Built massive temples,
pyramids dedicated
to their gods
• Human sacrifice =
part of Aztec religion
– Done to honor,
appease the gods
AZTECS: ACHIEVEMENTS
• Agriculture
– Chinampas (floating
gardens)
• Architecture
– Pyramids, temples,
canals
– Engineering (city on
an island)
• Art
– Mosaics, fine jewelry
AZTECS: POLITICS/GOV’T
• Created empire
through conquest
• Conquered? Pay
tribute to Aztecs or die
• Gov’t headed by an
emperor (centralized)
– Emperor = political
and religious leader
(claimed to be divine)
AZTECS: ECONOMY
• Trade and agriculture
• Trade happens at
marketplace
• Used “currency”
(cocoa beans, etc.)
• Tribute from
conquered peoples =
valuable metals or
crops
AZTECS: SOCIETY
• Society = structured
around pleasing the gods
• Different classes
• Patriarchal society
– But some rights for
women  women could
own property, be
priestesses
• Still - specific gender roles
– Women = home
– Men = warriors
WHAT HAPPENED TO THESE
CIVILIZATIONS?
Mayans
Aztecs
• Abandoned many cities • Spanish conquistadores
around 900 CE
led by Cortes
• NO official known
(explorer) conquered
reason why cities are
Tenochtitlan and Aztec
abandoned
civ.
• Defeat Aztecs through
Possible theory: Drought =
war and disease in
starvation or migration to new
1500s
locations
1 CE
500
CE
1000
CE
1500
CE