Transcript The Inca Empire - Lee County Schools

6th Grade UBD - Unit 10- Latin American Societies
 How did the
ancient societies
in Latin America
become so
powerful?

The Maya Empire- The Maya developed many of their unique characteristics
because of their geographical location. The central location of the Mayan people,
along with the warm and fertile climate, allowed them to share ideas with
neighboring peoples.

The Aztec Empire- The Aztec civilization was located in central Mexico. It
consisted of tribes that formed a Triple Alliance. They were defeated by Spanish
conquistadores in the 1500s.

The Inca Empire- The physical geography of the Inca Empire impacted its people
in many ways. The mountainous terrain and huge amount of land occupied by the
Inca Empire made it a challenge to keep the empire united.

The Maya lived in the highlands of southern Mexico and the lowlands of Central
America.

The Maya built a large road system connecting them to other cities and
civilizations.

Mayan farmers practiced terraced agriculture. Crops included corn, cacao beans,
and rubber.

Each Mayan city was ruled by a separate leader, and they often fought each other.

The Maya developed a complex calendar system, a number system, a writing
system, and a language that influenced modern languages still spoken in Central
America and Mexico.
There were many smaller nations, but the Maya, the Aztec, and the Inca
developed into the three strongest empires of Central and South America.

Long before the arrival of European explorers, South
America was inhabited by peoples with their own
distinctive cultures and civilizations.

These civilizations had their own complex societies and
forms of government, with diverse styles of art and
architecture, and many scientific innovations.

Humans first traveled
to the Americas
between 15,000 and
30,000 years ago and
quickly settled
throughout the
continents.

The Mayan civilization first
appeared in Mexico around
2600 BCE.

The Maya spread
throughout northern Central
America, interacting with
other cultures from North
and South America.
Mayan temples included giant limestone pyramids like this one from
Chichen Itza.

The Mayan civilization is organized into three
eras: the Pre-Classic period (2000 BCE–250
CE) the Classic period (250–900 CE) and the
Post-Classic period (900–1517 CE—1517 was
the year the first Spanish explorers arrived in
Mayan territory).

The Maya built many great cities,
including Palenque, Copán, and
Tikal. The ruins of these cities, and
the roads the Maya built to
connect them, remain today.

Located between the civilizations
of North and South America,
Mayan cities were well placed to
become trade hubs.
The Maya practiced terrace farming on hillsides, growing corn,
cacao beans, and rubber.

The Maya worshipped many gods, including the
Toltec gods Quetzalcoatl (whom the Mayans called
Kukulkan) and Tezcatipoca. They built the great
religious center of Chichen Itza on the Yucatan
Peninsula between 750 and 900, with its great step
pyramid, the Temple of Kukulkan. Like the Toltec, the
Maya practiced human sacrifice.

Each Mayan city had its own
leader; there was no centralized
government. Cities often fought
each other for territory and
trade and competed in ball
games.

The Maya were skilled builders,
mathematicians, and
astronomers.
The Maya had an extremely sophisticated culture. This Mayan observatory is
called a caracol, or snail, because of its round tower.

The Mayan developed a number system
and a calendar to track the 12-month
solar year. We use this calendar today.
Video- Maya Number System

The Mexica were the tribe that became known as the Aztec. They would
eventually build the Aztec Empire. Following their belief in a religious
prophecy, the Mexica settled near Lake Texcoco.

All boys in Aztec society were trained to be warriors.

Girls in Aztec society were trained in domestic skills like cooking and
sewing.

The Aztec believed in human sacrifice to their gods.

Montezuma expanded the Aztec empire and made improvements to the
city of Tenochtitlán.

Cortés was a Spanish explorer who claimed Mexico for Spain.

Modern-day Mexico and Central America were once the lands of the
Toltec Empire, which thrived from about 800 to 1150 CE.

The Mexica people were one of many groups under Toltec rule. The
collapse of the Toltec Empire meant upheaval for the Mexica, who were
forced to leave their homeland of Aztlán in today’s central Mexico.

They traveled south until they reached a large lake where, according to
the legends from this time, the people of Aztlán saw an eagle perched on
a cactus, eating a snake—a sign that their god Huitzilopochtli had told
them to look for. The Mexica settled on an island in the lake. Here, they
would found a great city and a great empire as the Aztec.

Aztecs were known as
savage warriors.

They built the city of
Tenochtitlán on an island
on Lake Texcoco in part
to protect themselves
from their enemies.

The fourth leader of
the Aztec, Itzcóatl,
came to power in 1427
CE and built a strong
and powerful empire
by joining with two
neighboring peoples.

The Aztec defeated the Tepanec Empire, expanding
their power and their empire.

Itzcóatl centralized the government, gaining wealth
and resources from conquered peoples who sent
tributes to the Aztec to prove their loyalty.

The Aztec Empire grew until it ruled over much of
south-central Mexico.

The Aztec’s were polytheistic,
with three major gods. There
were many religious ceremonies
held to worship Aztec gods and
ensure the protection of the
society; human sacrifice was
often part of Aztec worship.

Just as the conquered
peoples of the empire paid
tribute to the Aztec by
sending goods and luxury
items to the emperor, so too
did the Aztec pay tribute to a
higher power—their gods—
by sending them the beating
hearts and blood of their
people.
Video- Culture and Power

Aztec society was based
on a class system.

The upper class of
landowners and the
lower class of workers
strictly separated.

All Aztec children attended school, with children of
different classes and genders learning different skills
in their segregated groups.

The lower classes became resentful of their lowly
position in society, and this unrest grew as conquered
tribes began to object to the tributes they had to pay
to the government.

Montezuma II rose to power in 1502. He ruled over
more than 15 million people and assumed that he
would continue the expansion of his empire over the
course of his reign.

Montezuma never imagined that a small band of lowranking foreigners would appear on the fringes of his
lands, overthrow him, and crush his empire.

Spanish explorers led by Hernán Cortés reached the Aztec
Empire in 1519.

Montezuma was unable to gauge their identity, intentions, or
strength, and he initially sent gifts to the explorers. However,
he also warned them not to enter Tenochtitlán.

The Spanish did not comply, and Montezuma invited them to
his palace, setting into motion the chain of events that would
lead to his own death and the fall of the Aztec Empire.
Montezuma, the last emperor of the Aztec Empire, ruled from 1502 to 1520.

The Inca used terrace farming on the steep hillsides of
the Andes.

The Inca created a system of roads, sometimes linked
by suspension bridges, which aided communication,
travel, and trade.

The Incan emperors conquered huge expanses of
land. Regional governments helped the emperors
keep control of a large empire.
The Inca Empire extended over much of the length of the South American
continent. The Andes Mountains terrain and climate presented difficult challenges
for the Inca.

The location of the Inca Empire in the Andes Mountains of
South America, the highest mountains in the Americas,
presented the Inca with many challenges, including high
altitudes, highly variable daily temperatures, and rugged
mountain terrain.

As a result, the Inca were forced to adapt their lifestyle to fit
their environment, but they did so successfully and became
one of the major pre-Columbian empires on the American
continents.

Because the Inca lived on such
steep mountain slopes, farming
was difficult.

To solve this problem, the Inca
built terraces, or large steps, into
the mountainside, which made it
easier to irrigate, plow, and
harvest crops, as well as
preventing topsoil from washing
down the mountain.

The Inca also built canal
systems to carry freshwater
both to their crops and to the
cities.

They also built a system of
roads and bridges to connect
cities and to make travel,
trade, and communication
throughout the mountainous
region easier.
The Inca used llamas to transport goods over the rugged roadways and relay
runners to deliver messages to locations across the empire quickly.
Video- The Inca Empire

Over time, the Inca Empire expanded from its central
location in present-day Peru to include parts of
modern-day Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.

In some cases, the Incan army conquered neighboring
regions, but in others, messages from the emperor
promising wealth and protection were all it took to
convince villages to join the Inca Empire.
The ruler of the Inca was a god-king who was believed to be descended from the
sun god Inti.

The emperor helped promote unity and maintain
order throughout the vast empire by installing nobles
from conquered areas in government positions.

While the emperor was the central figure in the Incan
government, the empire was further subdivided into
quarters, districts, and villages—led by imperial
administrators, district governors, and village leaders.
Video- Incan Economics

Cuzco was the capital city of the sprawling Inca
Empire, the most impressive Incan city was perhaps
Machu Picchu.

Located 8,000 feet above sea level in the Peruvian
Andes, Machu Picchu contained impressive
architecture and engineering, with white granite
walls, terraced land, walking ramps, freshwater
canals, and an underground drainage system.
Nestled high among the mountain peaks of the Andes, Machu Picchu was a sacred
ceremonial center for the Inca.