Download Mayan Social Structure

Mayan Social Structure
The Maya had a complex social structure. The upper and lower
classes led very different lives.
Upper Class:
•Kings held the highest position.
•Priests, warriors, and merchants made up the upper class.
The Maya believed that their rulers were related to the gods.
•Men and women could be rulers, but they had to have been
born into a royal family.
•Priests were also born into their roles. Priests were highly
educated. They used their knowledge of astronomy and
mathematics to plan religious ceremonies.
•The warriors fought the battles and the merchants directed
trade. Together, these four groups controlled political, economic,
and religious life for the Maya.
Lower Class:
Most Maya belonged to lower-class farming families. They lived
in little houses outside the cities.
•Girls were taught to run the household. Men hunted and
farmed.
•Maya farmers were required to serve the upper class. They had
to give up some of their crops and make goods for the upper
class.
•They were also used as labor to build temples. Slaves held the
lowest position in Maya society.
Mayan Communication
The Maya developed an advanced form of writing consisting
of many symbols. These symbols represented combinations
of sounds or entire ideas and formed a kind of hieroglyphic
(picture) writing. These symbols were used on stone
monuments and books to record information about
religious ceremonies, important events and astronomy.
Use this Mayan alphabet translator to test your group
member’s ability to decipher the Mayan alphabet. Secretly
choose one word, type it into the translator, and have your
group members decipher the word.
Mayan Numeric System
Maya used a numeric system based on the number 20
instead of the number 10 as in the decimal system
that we use. Dots and dashes represent numbers
and a special symbol represented zero.
Mathematicians consider zero one of the world’s
greatest inventions, and they credit the Mayans for
this accomplishment.
Collapse of the Mayan Civilization
Sometime around 900 CE, most of the southern Maya
city-states were abruptly abandoned. We know
this because large-scale architecture, as well as
record-keeping inscriptions, suddenly stopped in
these places.
Nobody knows why this happened. Here are some
theories:
• The cities over-exploited the natural resources of
the surrounding areas, exhausting the farmland’s
capacity to grow and deforesting the jungle.
• Widespread war or peasant revolt against the
ruling class
• A drought forced the population to migrate.
Such a widespread systemic collapse was probably not
caused by a single factor, which is why many
scholars subscribe to a combination of some or all
of the major theories.
Foundation of the Aztec Empire
The Flag of Mexico, as it is today, was adopted in 1968. But
Mexican flag history really goes back over 600 years
earlier than that.
In the early 1300s, so the story goes, the wandering tribe
of Mexica people were looking for a home. Persecuted
and cast out from other nations, they believed that their
god, Huitzilopochtli, would show them a sign - to guide
them to their new settlement. The Mexica people (who
would become part of the mighty Aztec Empire) believed
that they would see an eagle perched on a prickly pear
cactus, and that's where they would build their new city.
According to the legend the Mexica people did indeed
see the sign - but it was on an unlikely spot. A small,
swampy island in the middle of Lake Texcoco.
When the Mexica saw this symbol of the empire - an eagle
on a cactus, they misinterpreted the red and blue
currents coming from the eagle's mouth. Someone
thought it was a snake, and the symbolism of the eagle
and snake stuck.
Aztec Agriculture:
Tenochtitlan seemed like an unlikely place for a city. Not
only was the island small and difficult to access, the lake
itself was salty. But the Aztecs knew how to make the best
out of a seemingly bad situation. Soon causeways were built
leading to the city, making it accessible to merchants and
travelers but easy to defend in case of an attack. Aqueducts
were built, providing the city with fresh water. A system of
agriculture developed, making the area extremely fruitful
and efficient, providing the city with food. This method of
farming was called chinampas.
As the city was built, roadways grew up and parts of the lake
were filled in. Tenochtitlan was to become the "Venice of
the New World", a series of canals, city and farmland, well
planned, equal or better than any city in the world.
Aztec Religion
Aztecs were polytheists. That is they worshipped many gods.
There was one thing that was the number one concern; one
thing that governed every day of their lives; one thing that was
most important to all of the people, nobility and commoners
alike: PLEASING THE GODS.
The Aztecs believed that the gods needed to be 'fed' with
human hearts and blood, so prisoners were sacrificed by having
their hearts cut out.
Among the most important gods were Huitzilopochtli, god of
war and the sun, Tlaloc the god of rain (if there was a drought
the Aztecs sacrificed babies to the rain god, believing their
babies tears would bring rain) and Quetzalcoatl (whose name
means feathered snake), the god of learning and wind.
The Aztecs believed that warriors who died in battle and people
who were sacrificed and women who died in childbirth went to
join the sun god in paradise. For everyone else there were 13
Heavens and 9 Hells. After your death you went to the one most
suitable for you.
Fall of the Aztec Empire:
In 1492 the Spaniards discovered the new world. The end for
the Aztec Empire came when the governor of Cuba sent an
army under Hernan Cortes (1485-1547) to conquer Mexico.
They believed that their god Quetzalcoatl had once left Mexico
by sea and promised to return one day. According to legend
Quetzalcoatl would return from the east in the year one reed.
(The Aztecs measured time in cycles of 52 years. One year of
the cycle was one reed). By an astonishing coincidence one
reed fell on 1519 - the year Cortes arrived.
The Aztec emperor Motecuhzoma feared that Cortes was
Quetzalcoatl. He dared not attack a god and so took no action
against the Aztecs. By the time the Aztecs realized the truth it
was too late.
Inca Geography and Agriculture:
The Incan Empire was located on the
western side of South America.
Although the Empire was huge, it can
be easily divided into three
geographical regions - mountains,
jungle, and desert.
Andes Mountains: North to south
were the Andes Mountains - home of
the Inca civilization. The mountains
dominated Incan society. The
mountain peaks were worshiped as
gods.
The Incas invented terrace gardening. They carved steps of
flat land up the side of the mountain to create flat land for
farming. The terraces also helped to keep rainwater from
running off. They reduced erosion. The government built
raised aqueducts to carry water to farmlands for irrigation.
Inca Religion:
Gods and Goddesses: The Incas were known as the "Children
of the Sun". They worshiped gods of nature - the sun god, the
god of thunder, Moon, rainbows, mountain tops, stars, planets,
and many more. Like the ancient Greeks, the Incas believed the
gods could intervene to help you or hinder you. To avoid
problems, they worshiped all the gods every day.
Dreams, Omens, Signs: The Incas believed that the gods and
their dead ancestors could communicate with them through
dreams, omens, and other signs. The priests were very
powerful because people believed they could read the signs.
Priests saw signs everywhere. They could read signs in the
flames of a fire, or in the way a plant grew. Every decision, no
matter how small was determined by the priest, based upon
the signs he received from the gods.
Imagine that all of your decisions were made based upon a
sign….the flipping of a coin, perhaps. Go to this interactive coin
toss . Flip the coin to find your way back to the classroom. Do
not use your own judgment. Follow the signs of the coin.
Heads- go left one step; Tails- go right one step.
Did you make it?
Inca Government
The Sapa Inca was all-powerful. He ruled everything. He made all
the laws. Everything was the responsibility of the Sapa Inca, and
nothing could be done until the Sapa Inca approved it. How did
the Sapa Inca rule 12 million people all by himself? That's easy. He
didn't.
The Sapa Inca organized his government in a pyramid.
Alone at the top of the pyramid was the Sapa Inca
Supreme Council (4 men)
Provincial Governors
Officials (army officers, priests, judges, and others from the noble
class) These individuals could ride in a litter and had other special
privileges not enjoyed by the general population.
Tax collectors. There were several levels of tax collectors. There
was one tax collector for every ayllu (for every family group.) That
tax collector reported to a collector higher up the scale who
might be in charge of 10 ayllus. And so it went. Tax collectors
could be in charge of 100 people or 10,000 people. Their rung on
the social scale was measured accordingly.
Workers. At the bottom of the pyramid were the workers.
Workers were organized into family units called ayllus. Most of
the people in the Inca Empire were workers.
When the Sapa Inca made a new law, he told the top tax
collectors. They told the tax collectors who reported to them,
who told the next level down, and so on, until everyone every
farmer and every family in the empire heard the news. Since
the workers could not vote or voice an opinion, that was the
end of it until the Inca made a new law. Word would come
down. If you broke any Inca law, punishment was harsh and
swift.
The Sapa Inca put his relatives in positions of power. You
could work your way up. But mostly, the government officials
were members of the royal family and the nobility.
It was easy to tell if someone in charge was a royal or not.
When the royals were young children, boards were strapped
to their heads. This was not painful, but their head grew
almost into a point. To the Incas, pointed heads were symbols
of beauty and prestige.
The Fall of the Inca Empire:
The Incas mined for gold and silver, which ultimately brought the
empire to an end, as Spanish conquistadors were eager to
become rich for themselves and the Crown.
The collapse of Inca civilization came with Francisco Pizarro in
1532. Pizarro and his men captured the Sapa Inca, Atahualpa. In
return for the emperor’s release, the Incan people gave the
Conquistadors room full of gold and silver. The Conquistadors
took the gold and silver and killed the Emperor anyway.
Pizzaro and his men returned to Spain with the gold and silver.
They put together an army of Spaniards and returned to conquer
the Incas.
What killed the Incas wasn't much warfare in itself, even though
they didn't have guns or cannons, but rampant disease that
Spaniards brought back with them.
Spaniards brought Smallpox - among other diseases - the single
most devastating loss of life in the New World Indian cultures,
from Mexico all the way to the south.