The Mayan, Aztec and Incan Civilization

The Mayan The Maya are a native people who settled in the rainforest of the Yucatán Peninsula in southeastern Mexico, Belize, much of Guatemala, and parts of El Salvador and Honduras. The dates of their arrival in the area are disputed, but it is generally agreed that their culture reached its apex around 300–900 CE.

The Aztecs The Aztecs were a wandering (nomadic) tribe from northern Mexico and were one of the last great Native American civilizations. They lived in an area will now know as Mexico. The word "Aztec" means "someone who comes from Aztlán", an unknown location north of Mexico. The Aztec also referred to themselves as the Mehika or Meshika or Mexica, the origin of the name "Mexico". The Aztecs were famous for their agriculture, cultivating all available land, introducing irrigation, draining swamps, and creating artificial islands in the lakes. They developed a form of hieroglyphic writing, a complex calendar system, and built famous pyramids and temples.

The Incas The Incas, an American Indian people, were originally a small tribe in the southern highlands of Peru. In less than a century, during the 1400s, they built one of the largest, most tightly controlled empires the world has ever known. Cuzco was the center of the Incan empire.

What do the ruins of the Maya tell you about the importance of religion to their civilization? Why is the 365-day solar calendar developed by the Maya particularly impressive? Why did the Aztec make human sacrifices? Why were llamas so important to the Inca? How did the Inca use their engineering skills to manage and grow their empire? What were the factors that contributed to the end of the Aztec and Inca empires?