Transcript The Rise of Empires

The Rise of Empires

We will visit the Mayans,
Aztec, and Incan Empires
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Vocabulary: civilization,
surplus, specialize, pyramid,
empire, tribute, and slavery
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Places: Valley of Mexico,
Tenochtitlan, and Cuzco
The Mayan People

The year 400, they reach
their peak of civilization!
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A culture with its learning,
religion, and government
all organized
Farmers who cut down
thick forests to make open
fields
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Growing corn and other
crops
Daily Life
So successful at farming
they had a surplus of
materials.
 Surplus of food allowd for
trade, jobs became
specialized to community
need.
 Skills developed: basket
weaving, jewelry making,
and stone cutting

Creations
Mayans studied the world
around them and
developed new ideas
 Detailed calendar
developed
 Skilled Mathematicians:
first to use the number
zero

Buildings and Work
What is a pyramid?
 At the top the Mayans
placed temples for
religious ceremonies
 Their Kings were buried
here.
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
Do you think that you
would want to be a personal
servant to the King?
Accomplishments!
Recording their history, so
we can better know what
their lives were like
 Basic development of
math and science learning.
 Written language
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
We cannot read all of their
writings, but the writing
does give us a look into
their life
Into the present day

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Mayan civilization begins to
decline.
By the year 900, they have left
their cities
The forest grow back and
begins to cover the Mayan
tracks
Mayan descendants live in
Mexico and Central America
Fact Check
 The
Mayan struggled to have enough food for
everyone. (T/F)
 What are some areas of Mayan specializations?
(List 2-3 examples)
 What are some of the Mayan accomplishments?
 There are no descendants of the Mayans. (T/F)
Where to Next?

The Aztecs
Migrated south, following
the instructions from a
god.
 Could stop when they
saw: an eagle with a snake
in its beak sitting on a
cactus
 They stopped in the Valley
of Mexico

The City
Tenochtitlan (te noch tee
TLAHN) or “near the
cactus” – the symbols
 Great city full of
Causeways (uhh?)
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Linked the land to the lake
300,000 people living here

That’s a bunch of people
Floating Gardens
To have more land to
farm, Aztecs created
“floating gardens”
 Developed irrigations
system by carving
terraces, or wide, flattened
steps, into hillsides

Food and city… now what?
After Tenochtitlan, armies
were sent out to conquer
others and build an empire
 Once conquered, these
people were forced to pay
the Aztecs tribute
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Sending gold, silver, and
precious stones to the
empire each year
People as a tribute?
Aztec would take people
as tribute
 What could they be used
for?
 These “tributes” were not
just given, some were
taken during a war

Huitza- what?
Huitzilopochtli (we tsee
loh POHCH tlee) god of
war
 Aztec worshiped many
gods
 Huitzilopochtli was
offered blood as a scarfice


Often the slaves and
prisoners were used
Fact Check
Describe two ways the
Aztecs created more land
for farming.
 The legend of the Aztec
migration led to the
images on the Mexican
flag. (T/F)
 How did the Aztecs gain
their empire?


The Aztecs always offered
their gods flowers as a
sacrifice. (T/F)
Let us not forget the Inca
The Inca created their
empire through
conquering others
 Built roads that linked
parts of the empire to the
capital
 Cuzco: present day Peru

Traveling the Roads
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Government messengers
could travel to empire’s
outskirts at a rate of 140
miles a day

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Take a snack for that trip
This was the fastest
communication system
anywhere at that time
Timeline
 3000
years ago: Mayan
civilization began to
develop
 Year
 Year
900: Mayan
civilization declines
and they leave their
cities
1200: Aztec civilizations
begins in Mexico and Incan
civilization begins in South
America
Fact Check

The Incan empire asked
their neighbors to join
their empire. (T/F)
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How was the Incan empire united?
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Give me two things that the Aztec and Incan empires had in
common.
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The Incan message system
never left the empire.
(T/F)