Download aztecincamaya

10/2
Aim: How did early civilizations
develop in Central and South America?
Do Now: How can farming lead to
permanent settlements?
HW #4 –due Friday 10/5
mrcotignola.yolasite.com
The Olmec
• Some of the earliest American
cultures arose in Mesoamerica, a
region that includes the southern
part of what is now Mexico and
northern Central America.
• The Olmec developed the earliest
known civilization in Mesoamerica
around 1200 BC.
• The Olmec are known for their
stone buildings and sculptures.
• By 400 BC, when their civilization
ended, trade had spread Olmec
culture.
The Maya
The Maya civilization in
Mesoamerica lasted from
about 250 to 900 AD.
Among other things, it
was noted for:
1. ---Spectacular cities
2. ---The rule of God-kings
3. ---The building of
pyramids, palaces,
temples, and stone
carvings.
The Maya
4. ---Widespread trade, of salt, honey,
feathers, flint, and other products.
5. ---The cultivation of cacao (chocolate),
which was sometimes used as money.
6. ---A polytheistic religion, which included
occasional human sacrifice of captured
enemies.
7. ---Important achievements in mathematics
(invention of the concept of "zero") and
astronomy
8. ---Construction of an advanced calendar-the Maya calculated the solar year at
365.2420 days, only
.0002 from the
correct, modern figure!
9. ---An advanced writing system, using
hieroglyphics
The Aztec
The Aztec Empire in
Mesoamerica lasted from
the 1200s to the 1500s AD.
Among other things, it was
noted for:
1. ---Its large empire of 5 - 15
million people, based on
military conquest.
2. ---The Aztec forced
conquered peoples to pay
tribute--if they did not, the
Aztec burned villages and
massacred people.
3. ---Aztec society ruled by an
emperor who was treated
like a god.
The Aztec
4. ---The fabulous city of Tenochtitlan,
with a population of 200,000,
large than any European city at
that time.
5. ---Widespread human sacrifices to
the Sun-God. Victims were taken
atop the Great Temple, where
their hearts were carved out, their
blood offered as nourishment to
the Sun-God.
6. ---Belief in the return one day of the
war-god known as Quetzalcoatl,
who would arrive from over the
sea to the east. When the
Spanish conquistadors arrived in
the 1500s, the Aztec mistook
them for Quetzalcoatl. The
Spanish quickly and brutally
destroyed the Aztec Empire.
The Inca
The Inca Empire in South America
(based in modern-day Peru) lasted
from the 1200s to the 1500s AD.
Among other things, it was noted for:
1. ---The largest empire ever seen in the
Americas.
2. ---Its ruler was believed to be
descended from the Sun-God. Dead
rulers were mummified.
3. --The Incas allowed conquered people
to keep their own customs and rulers
as long as they were loyal to the
Incans.
4. ---People worked a certain number of
days a year on state farms or building
roads, palaces and irrigation canals.
5. ---The Incas built a vast road
system, with over 14,000
miles of roads.
6. ---The Incas maintained control
in part by imposing a single
official language and by
founding schools to teach
people Incan ways.
7. ---Like early Africans, they never
developed a writing system,
but had a strong oral tradition.
8. ---Worship of nature spirits
(moon, stars, thunder, etc.)
9. ---The Spanish conquistadors
conquered the Incas in the
1500s.
Task
Imagine you have just finished traveling
throughout Central and South America
and had a chance to observe one of these
civilizations. Write a small diary entry
documenting where you went, what you
saw and how you felt about the trip.