Download Unit 1 Mesoamerican and North American Cultures

The Olmec
• The first great
Mesoamerican culture
was the Olmec, who lived
on the Gulf of Mexico.
• They developed the
beginnings of a calendar
and writing.
• Used slash and burn
farming
• Unsure why civilization
declined
The Maya
• Maya mathematicians
devised a number system
that included zero long
before Europeans.
• Maya scholars also
developed a complex
system of writing with
pictures.
• The Maya civilization
began to decline after
A.D. 800 and
archaeologists are unsure
why.
The Aztec
• The Aztec gained control
the Toltec empire of 5
million people.
• The Aztec capital is on
the site of present day
Mexico City
• A class system
developed in Aztec
society.
• The Aztec viewed warfare
as a sacred duty.
• Believed in human
sacrifice
The Inca
• The Inca was the largest
empire in the Americas at
the time. Located in the
Andes Mountains.
• The Inca forced their
newly conquered subject
to manual labor.
• Inca laborers built
massive buildings as well
as thousands of miles of
roads that linked the vast
empire.
Early Cultures of North America
• The Anasazi constructed multistory
rock and adobe dwellings in the
Southwest.
• They abandoned their communities in
about 1300.
• The Anasazi are the ancestors of the
Pueblo Indians
• The Hohokam lived approximately from
ad 200 to 1400 in present-day central and
southern Arizona, largely along the Gila
and Salt rivers.
• The term Hohokam is said to be Pima for
“those who have vanished.”
• The Adena and Hopewell cultures were
located in the eastern woodlands of North
America.
• These cultures are known as Mound
Builders, created elaborate burial mounds
in Ohio and extending to Kentucky and
New York.