Aztecs and Incas of Latin America

AZTECS or “ Mexica” of Meso America North America South America Meso-America

Young Boys had to let their hair grow until they captured an enemy! Short hair was a sign of manhood!!! Aztecs would try to capture their enemy so priest could later sacrifice them to the gods.

Families ate two meals a day. Meat was expensive so mostly vegetables and breads. Corn or “maise” was a staple in the diet. Aztecs used corn to make dumplings and pancakes later called tortillas. These were served with stewed vegetables and hot chillies. Aztecs mainly drank water On special occasions they had beer made from cactus sap. The rich people drank hot chocolate made from cacao tree beans. Aztec Food and Drink

Aztec Feast

Aztecs grew crops on floating islands called chinampas. Chinampas were held together by the roots of trees also growing on them. Crops included tomatoes,avocados, peppers, pumpkins, beans, and peanuts. Aztecs hunted deer, geese, ducks, and rabbits. Used nets to catch fish. Boys gathered lizards, insects, worms, mushrooms, and cactus leaves. Used human pooh for fertilizer. gross Aztec Farming and Hunting

Family Life Aztec families belonged to a clan called a calpulli. Everyone worked together to help each other. Marriage was usually around age of 20. Most were arranged marriages done by old women known as match makers. The married couple lived with grooms family and worked for them. Women’s role was to cook, weave cloth, care for children and sick. Men grew food and built houses

Aztec School and Calendar 14 years old boys and girls went to school. Studied history, art, religion, songs, and counting. Boys would learn combat skills. Farmers used a Sun calendar that had 360 days plus 5, priest calendars had 13 months with 20 days in each.

Art and Architecture The Aztecs made fancy headdresses out of feathers and gold. Used turquoise to make pendants and necklaces. Warriors were often tattoed. Aztecs built stepped Pyramids with temples at the top. To be closer to Gods.

Examples of Aztec Art

Aztec Art and Architecture

Gods

Religion Aztec made many sacrifices to appease the Gods. Their belief was they are living in the 5 th and final world. To keep their world going they offered blood by pricking their ears at least twice a day. The ideal sacrifice was to cut the heart out of a male who was young, brave, handsome, and strong. To Aztecs they were the most valuable person. Winners of sporting events were often sacrificed.

Aztec End The Aztecs were conquered by the Spanish. Hernan Cortez set out to explore Aztec lands looking for Gold. Aztecs managed to drive them away at first but Cortez returned and destroyed their city and killed most of its citizens. The big killer were diseases the Europeans brought with them.

Interesting Fact The Aztecs believed they could see a giant rabbit in the moon. Go out side and see if you can find it

Incas of South America

The Sapa Inca in his golden chair as the highest authority from the Inti Raymi

Inca trail road

Inca city Machu Picchu

Llama The Incas used the llama for various reasons. One for a beast of burden. The Incas lived in high altitudes, in the Andes mountains, and the llamas could survive in that cold, high, and rocky climate and had good balance. Also, the Incas used the llama for meat and food. Lastly, they used the llama for their wool to make clothes and Incan textiles.

What Incas Eat Although potatoes were the main source of food for the Incas other food such as quinoa, beans, squash, sweet potatoes, avocados, tomatoes and manioc were also heavily involved within the Inca peoples diet.

Inca agricultural terraces

Statue of the Supreme Inca Pachacuti

Inca Surgery Incas were specialists in opening the skull to heal injuries. trepanation-removing pieces of the skull to relieve pain caused by brain swelling.

Inca Surgery

Religion Inca believed in many gods. They worshiped many deities and sacred places. Viracocha was the creator of the Sun, the Moon and the Stars. They believed Sun was the most important servant of Viracocha. To the Inca, Sun was the life saver. Sun was the father of Inca emperor.

Inca Art Inca Pottery

Inca Women Clothing Woman wore a one-piece dress that combined skirt and blouse, reaching to the ankles and bound at the waist by a long, wide, woven, and ornamental sash. The women wore sandals and head bands They did not cut their hair but parted it in the middle

Inca Men Clothing Man usually wore a sleeveless tunic A large cloak, worn over the shoulders with two corners tied in front. Inca sandals were of untanned llama hide. Inca men cut their hair, leaving it short in front, medium long behind

Inca Counting The Incas had developed a method of recording numerical information which did not require writing. It involved knots in strings called quipu. The quipu consists of strings which were knotted to represent numbers. A number was represented by knots in the string, using a positional base 10 representation

Inca Quipu 586 on a quipu

Inca Music Inca instruments were made of wood, reeds, pottery, bone, shell, and metal. The Incas played two basic kinds of instruments: wind and percussion. Drums and flutes were the most common instruments used by the Incas Inca Flute