Transcript Topic: From Empires and Colonies to Free Nations

Topic:
From Empires and Colonies to
Free Nations
From Empires…
When Columbus came to the New World in 1492,
he thought he had landed off the coast of
India, in Asia. Therefore he gave the name
“Indian” to all the people living in Latin
America.
The three major Native American groups of the
past were the Maya, Aztecs, and Incas.
The Maya
• They built their civilization in
present-day Guatemala, Belize,
El Salvador, Honduras and on
the Yucatan Peninsula in
Mexico.
• They reached their peak
between the 4th and the 10th
centuries and began to slowly
fade away.
• They lived in separate citystates.
– Wars were fought to obtain
tribute (payment) and to acquire
prisoners for religious sacrifice.
• Mayan culture was spread
through military alliances and
trade
What happened to the Mayan?
- War and lost?
- Soil became poor,
loss of food?
- Disease?
- Volcanic Eruption?
Achievements
• Developed a writing system (Spanish destroyed many records)
• Sculpted in cement, clay, and wood
• Built temples on top of great terraced pyramids
• Made pottery, developed textile weaving, mat-making, basketweaving, and jade carving
• Kept time and made a calendar (studied the sun and stars) 365 day
calendar was most accurate
• Fine mathematicians – understood the idea of the zero, developed a
counting system using bars and dots
Aztecs
• Lived in highlands of central Mexico. They started out as
nomads.
• In the 13th century, they settled near a chain of lakes and built
(1325) their capital of Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City) on
an island of Lake Texcoco.
– The city had very large public buildings.
• Over the years, they conquered many neighbors and became
rulers of Mexico.
• Believed in human sacrifice – killed victims and the blood and
heart were offered to the gods.
Tenochtitlan
Achievements
• Wove cotton, made beautiful jewelry, and
wrote poetry
• Great farmers
– Corn, beans, squash, peppers, tobacco
• Chocolate
• Great engineers and architects
- bridges, dikes, canals
Incas
• Lived in the highlands of
the Andes Mts. (stretched
3000 miles from north to
south)
• They came to Cuzco, Peru
about 1200. They gained
power by getting other
tribes to join them, not by
war.
• They took care of the
young, old, and sick.
Achievements
• Excellent road builders
• Excellent bridge builders
• Excellent record keepers with no written language
(used a series of strings)
• Built cities of stone
• Herded llama and alpaca (beasts of burden)
• Excellent farmers (terraced farms, canals for
irrigation)
• Excellent communication (had runners/messengers)