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Chapter 9
Sec.3: Mesoamerica and Andean
South America
Olmec and Chavin
1200 B.C.
 Worshipped a god
part jaguar and
human
 Mysteriously
disappeared between
400-200 B.C.
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Maya
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Yucatan Peninsula
Far south as El Salvador
Skilled architects and engineers
Pyramid temples
Hieroglyphs
Polytheism
Believed in human sacrifices
Developed counting system including zero
Declined farm methods wore out soil
Maya
Calendar
 Abandoned their cities
around 900 AD
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Aztec
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Wandering warriors
Started city on an island
(Tenochtitlan)
Had over 200,000 people
Borrowed from other cultures
Cinemas: raised fields for crops
from river soil
Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan
(Mexico City) in 1487, the
Aztecs reported that they
sacrificed 84,400 prisoners
over the course of four days
Inca
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Andes Mnts.
Name: “Children of the sun”
Roads
Ruled empire of hundreds of groups who spoke
a different lang.
Wanted to unify
Quipu: kept records by using a series of knots
on parallel strings
Practice medicine and operations on brain
Inca Road
Inca
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Inca
Inca
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No one really knows where
the Incas came from
fabulous wealth in gold and
silver possessed by these
people was discovered, then
systematically pillaged and
plundered by Spanish
conquistadors
Inca Empire was short-lived.
It lasted shy of 100 years
1438-1532
One lost city (right)
They performed successful
skull surgery, which involved
cutting holes in the skull to
release pressure from head
wounds. Coca leaves were
used to lessen hunger and
pain, as they still are in the
Andes