Transcript Shaped By History - McCullers` World Explorers

Ancient Latin American
Civilizations
Mayas, Aztecs, and Incas
Maya Civilization
 Arrived in (present-day) northern
Guatemala around 1000 BC
 The Mayas are BEST known for:
1. Studying the stars and planets (led to a
calendar being created)
2. Developing a system of writing called
HIEROGLYPHS
The Maya also lived in
southern Mexico,
Honduras, El Salvador,
and Belize.
Maya Origins and Religion
 Origins:
 Early Maya lived in small, isolated villages
 Villages soon began TRADING with each other---as
TRADE increased, villages GREW
 TRADE, not RULERS, linked the Maya’s cities
 Religion:
 Worshipped MANY gods
 EXS: sun god, moon goddess, and maize (corn)
god
 Believed each god controlled a different part of
everyday life
 Wanted to please the gods---believed them to be
BOTH HELPFUL and HARMFUL
Advancements
 Studied math and astronomy extensively
(With a lot of detail)
 Created calendars based on various
movements
 Ex.: 260-day calendar for sacred days and
a 365-day calendar based on the sun’s
movements
 Maya calendar was MORE accurate than any
calendar used by Europeans until the 1700s.
HIEROGLYPHS
 Created a system of writing called
Hieroglyphs
 Best developed written language in ancient
Latin America
Example of Maya
hieroglyphs from the
Museo de sitio in
Mexico.
The Mayans Disappear?
 Early AD 900s, the empire began to
decline
 People stopped building structures and left
the cities, moving back to the countryside
 There are MANY theories (ideas) as to
why the Maya empire collapsed, but one
thing is for sure---by the time the Spanish
arrived in the 1500s, the Mayas had faded.
Aztec Civilization
 Arrived in the Valley of Mexico in the
1100s
 The Aztecs were made up of a number of
wandering warriors, most from the
Mexica tribe
 All the “good” land was taken, so they
settled on a swampy island in the middle
of Lake Texcoco
 Had little land to farm on, so the Aztecs
built floating gardens called
CHINAMPAS
Aztecs Expand
 1325: began building their capital,
Tenochtitlan, and conquering nearby
towns
 Came to power mainly due to war and
the conquest of other peoples
 The Aztecs forced those conquered to pay
TRIBUTES (taxes)
 How could tributes be paid?
 Food, cotton, gold, or slaves
 Tributes allowed the Aztecs to grow very rich
Aztec Society
 The MOST important
Emperor
member of society
was the EMPEROR
Nobles
 Chose trusted nobles
to oversee his
demands regarding
trade, payment
collections, and
warfare
Warriors and Priests
Merchants and Artisans
Farmers and Laborers
SLAVES
All men, including PRIESTS, had to
join Aztec army for 2 reasons: (1)
help maintain a powerful empire
and (2) religious.
Religion
 Religion:
 Worshipped MANY gods, believed the gods
controlled nature and human activities.
 Exs.: Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, and
Huitzilopochtli
 Human sacrifices were regularly made by priests to please
the gods
 (mostly SLAVES and those captured in
battle were sacrificed)
Aztec Achievements
 Sculpted stone pyramids and statues
 Like the Maya, studied astronomy and
made a calendar
 Like the Mayans, used HIEROGLYPHS for
their writings and kept detailed records of
historical information
 Had a strong oral tradition
End of Aztec Empire
 Late 1400s: Spanish arrive
 Are looking for (1) Adventure, (2) Riches,
and (3) Converts to Catholicism
 1519: Group was led by conquistador
(conqueror) Hernan Cortes
 Aztec’s are taken over by Cortes and the
Spanish
Hernan Cortes vs.
Montezuma II story
Incas
 1200: Settled in Cuzco, which is a village in
the Andes (South America)
 Began as a small tribe in the Andes
 Cuzco eventually became the capital city
 Mid 1400s: Inca ruler, Pachacuti, began to
expand Inca territory (some conquering)
 Other leaders soon followed his example
 Empire eventually stretched from (presentday) Ecuador to central Chile
 About 12 million Incas lived in the empire
Inca Government
 To rule effectively, built a strong
CENTRAL government
 Pachacuti removed local leaders from
conquered lands because he wanted to
remain the MAIN leader/ruler
 Created an official language (Quechua) to
UNIFY the people
 Government also told households what
work to do.
Social Divisions
Upper Class:
Emperor
Government Officials
Priests
Inca had NO Slaves,
didn’t practice this
idea.
Lower
Class:
Farmers
Artisans
Servants
Incan Religion
 Worshipped many gods
 Inti, the sun god was the most important
 Incas thought their rulers were related to the
SUN god (their most important) and that they
never really died.
 Inca had ceremonies with sacrifices, but didn’t
use humans like the Maya and Aztec.
 Those outside of Cuzco worshipped other gods
as well and at other “sacred” locations
 Mountaintops, rocks, and springs
Inca Achievements
 Excellent farmers, builders, and managers
 Cuzco (capital) was the center of
government, trade, learning, and religion
 Built more than 19,000 miles of roads
 Why?
 Roads allowed the Incas to better govern their
empire; they could get to other areas easier
Achievements continued
 The Incas also built canals and aqueducts
 What is an AQUEDUCT?
 Pipe or channel designed to carry water from
a distant source
 Why did the Incas feel that canals and
aqueducts were important?
 Allowed the Incas to irrigate (dampen) land that was
otherwise too dry to grow crops
Inca Language?
 Had NO written language
 Recorded info. using a QUIPUS (kee-pooz)
 What is a Quipus?
 A “writing” system of knotted strings where
the knots=numbers and the different color
strings represent info. about crops, land, and
other important topics
 When Spanish arrived, they had Inca
stories/historical info. written in Spanish
Quipus
The End of the Inca Empire
 Late 1520s: Civil War breaks out amongst the
Incas—2 brothers both want to be NEW ruler
 Atahualpa (ah-tah-WAHL-pah) vs. Huascar
 1532: Atahualpa wins, but the fighting has
weakened the Inca army
 On the way to his crowning, Atahualpa learns
of a Spanish group in the area; led by
Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish attack
 Atahualpa is captured (and later killed) and
the Incas are defeated