Early Civilizations of the Americas

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Early Civilizations of the Americas

• Teotihuacan, Mayan, Aztec

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Timeline of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican Peoples
In the notes space Make a hypothesis about 2
ways the societies on the timeline came to their
ends
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Where were the great Meso- and South American
Civilizations?
Circa 1500 CE
Chile
Peru

1. Hypothesize 2 ways in which the Inca and Aztecs
   and Maya may have interacted.
2. What are 2 elements of physical geography that
   allowed the Incan Empire to remain relatively
   isolated from the rest of the continent?

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Teotihuacan
Settlements begin circa 500 BCE
Pyramid building c 100 BCE
Pyramids honor sun, moon, butterfly, feathered
serpent
Approx. population 125,000 people, biggest city
in world at time!
Mysterious death approx 650 CE site later used
by Tolmec and Aztec peoples

1. Hypothesize why pyramid building was a common
   style of architecture in early civilizations.
2. Hypothesize why early religions through out the
   world focused on nature deities.

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Maya200 CE- 900 CEBelize, Guatemala, Mexico,
Honduras
Tikal

• How do we know what we know?
• City ruinstemples, homes, streets
• Writing Popol-Vuh holy book, glyphs
• Artifacts art, sculptures, murals, pottery
• What was it like?
• Collection of city-states--centers of political,
  religious, social, economic life
• Each city-state ruled by god-king

1. What other ancient civilizations viewed their
   leaders as gods?
2. Do you think any countries today view their
   leaders as gods? Explain.

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Maya Culture

• Polytheistic (100s of gods) astronomers
• Calendar 365 day solar 260 day religious cycle
  (like astrology)
• A cycle lasts 5,125 years (2012 doomsday?)

What 2 things does the Mayan calendar tell us
about their culture?
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Maya

• Writing
• 100s of glyphs represent sounds or words

--Numbers --base 20
What are 2 important functions of a written
number system? (For what might the Maya have used
their written number system?)
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Aztecs Greatest Empire of Mesoamerica

• Circa 1200 CE Aztecs (poor nomads from northern
  Mexico deserts known as the Mexica people) arrive
  in central Mexico Valley
• Find remains (old buildings, some settlements of
  people) of Teotihuacan and Toltec societies and
  build civilization there
• Cultural diffusionAztecs influenced by culture
  of Toltecs

What is an example of cultural diffusion that
occurred when the Europeans started settling in
North America?
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Aztec Government City structure

• Military powerhousetook over smaller societies
  throughout Mexico
• Demand tribute (gold, maize, cacao, cotton,
  jade) or respond with brutality
• Rule by all-powerful Emperor
• Cities will planned, engineeredcenter around
  Temples, rivers for transport, floating gardens
  for farming
• Tenochtitlancapital city built on an island
  (most ruins lie under modern day Mexico City)

Why might the Aztecs have build their capital
city on an island?
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Aztec Social Hierarchy

• Emperor
• Nobility Military generals, priests, government
  officials
• Commoners merchants, artisans, soldiers, farmers
  who own land
• Slaves

1. Why are military generals higher in social status
   than soldiers?
2. How do you think they chose who to enslave?

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Aztec Culture

• Polytheisticthousands of gods
• Ritual human blood sacrifice to Sun
  GodHuitzilopochtli
• Need for sacrificial victims fueled war machine
• Calendar similar to Mayans

• Why do you think the Aztec sacrificed people to
  the Sun God? (what do you think they thought they
  would get in return?)
• What inference can historians make about the
  Aztec and Mayan just by the fact that their
  calendars were very similar?

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Inca The Inca build and Empire (pp.
459-460)Where, when, and how?
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Incan Government and Cities (pp. 460-461)
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Inca Culturereligion (pp 462, 464-465)
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What happened to the Maya, Aztecs, and Inca? (pp.
554-559)

• Use bullets in the adjacent text box to address
  the following questions
• When and why did the Spanish come to the
  Americas?
• What 3 methods did Cortes use to conquer the
  Aztecs in Mexico?
• When and by whom were the Incas defeated?
• What was Spains pattern of conquest throughout
  the Americas?
• What role did the Catholic Church play in
  conquest and converting the natives?
• ERASE these INSTRUCTIONS when done!