Civilizations of the Americas Here we go again with the Civilizations!

The Olmecs This was the first civilization in the Americas and they settled on the Gulf Coast of Mexico. They were alive during the same time as Ancient Greece.

What do we know….? Not much, similar to the Indus River Valley, we have to rely on artifacts. Most of their art was carved into stone, made figurines of gods and people And then there are the 14 stone heads……

Those stone heads They were carved out of 40-ton stones. How did those ancient Olmecs move those stones without heavy machinery? We don’t know.

The Maya! They come after the Olmecs, around 300 B.C. They built many successful city-states throughout Central America.

The Mayan City-States They were often at war with each other and throughout the Mayan period, many different city-states competed to be “King” city-state. The Mayans were never united in an “empire,” but they were connected through trade.

How was society structured? Each city-state had its own ruler. Nobles served as the military and were in charge of “everyday” affairs. Merchants probably formed a middle class. Majority were farmers…….same old story as the class structure in Europe. And Asia. People are people everywhere.

Visual

Culture Religion- Polytheistic Temples were in every city Had a hieroglyphic writing system They were into astronomy and math- created the 365 day calendar. Math- had the concept of 0 (Just like India! Cooooool!) Then they declined. We don’t really know why.

The Aztecs! According to legend, the Aztecs were told by their gods to build their city where they saw and an Eagle holding a Snake on top of a cactus….

Unfortunately, they saw the sign. And it was in a swamp.

So they built their city on top of a swamp. They created man made islands that acted as “floating gardens” and that’s how they grew their food.

Empire Expands In the 1400’s they begin to expand their empire (Renaissance is happening in Europe). By 1517, the Aztec Empire numbered an estimated 6 million people. Same year Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses.

Capital City of Tenochtitlan Huge city with immense wealth. It had temples, palaces, zoos, floating gardens.

Aztec Society Single ruler- council of nobles, priests, and military leaders elected the emperor. Below the Emperor were the nobles, then the warriors, then the middle class merchants, most of the people were farmers…….

Religion Polytheistic Had many temples

Incas They evolved in South America.

Society Structure of the Inca Emperor who was said to be a god, son of the sun. Emperor owned all the land. Nobles were under the Emperor, they ran the provinces Next were officials who ran the day-to-day. Most people were farmers……

Farming techniques. The Inca lived in the mountains and they developed the “terracing” method of farming. You dig “steps” into the mountain side so you can have sections of flat land in which to farm.

Machu Picchu is the most famous Incan legacy. It was a huge town built on the very top of a mountain more than 7,000 feet in the air.