Chapter 5 - Lesson 2 Creating a Mexican Culture Mexico

The Olmecs pg 177 - 178 Civilization – a culture that has a complex economic, governing, and social system as well as advanced technology The earliest Mexican civilization was the Olmecs The Olmecs first settled along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in what are now the states of Veracruz and Tabasco

The Olmecs pg 177 - 178 Innovation – new ways of doing things By the early 1200s B.C., the Olmecs were living along coastal rivers in villages of small houses made of reeds and straw and farming and fishing for food The Olmecs developed an early counting system and a calendar to keep track of the flood season They also used a form of picture writing to keep record of important events Olmec

The Olmecs pg 177 - 178

The Olmecs pg 177 - 178 The Olmecs culture spread through trade with other tribes Olmec artworks were made for religious purposes The Olmecs based their religion on the forces of nature that affected the growing of crops They worshipped many different gods, but the most important was a god in the form of a jaguar that they believed brought rain In the middle of each Olmec city was a temple for worship Because all civilizations in the future would borrow ideas from the Olmecs, they are called the “Mother Civilization of the Americas” Olmec Civilization

The Maya pg 178 The Maya civilization came about just before 500 B.C. Reclaimed – taken back The Maya civilization came about just before 500 B.C. They were in present day Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Southern Mexico They began borrowing many Olmec culture traits, by clearinf forests and creating farm land and started building cities with great temples The largest Mayan city was Tikal, with more than 100,000 people, it was located on the Yucatan Peninsula

The Maya pg 178 The Temples of the Maya were in the shape of pyramids and made of limestone with four sloping sides that came to a flat surface with a carved jaguar statue at the top Again, borrowing from the Olmec, the Mayan people worshipped similar gods The Maya improved upon the Olmec’s calendar making it 365 days The Mayans also came up with a symbol for zero and picture representations The Mayan civilization lasted 600 years and in A.D. 900 Mayan cities were reclaimed by the surrounding forests Maya People

The Aztecs pg 179 - 181 The Aztec civilization developed in A.D. 1200 when the people settled in the Valley of Mexico The Aztecs were very much like the Mayans: they used a calendar and mathematics to help with their crops, they also used pictures to write and developed large cities and temples

The Aztecs pg 179 - 181 The Aztec civilization’s largest city was Tenochtitlan By the 1400s it had more than 300,000 people and became the capital city of a huge Aztec civilization

The Aztecs pg 179 - 181 The Aztec Empire may have had as many as 5 million people, including the civilizations they conquered Tenochtitlan saw more than 60,000 people from other parts of the Aztec Empire trade and exchange ideas each day in the marketplace

The Aztecs pg 179 - 181 Aztec God: Quetzalcoatl Quetzalcoatl Canto Tenochtitlan

The Aztecs pg 179 - 181 Some of the contributions that the Aztec culture had on present-day Mexico are in the language, Nahuatl Many Mexican cities, people and the name Mexico come from Nahuatl Mexican foods also come from Aztec culture: the main food of the Aztecs was a thin cornmeal pancake called tlaxcalli, the Spanish later called it a tortilla. The Aztecs used these tlaxcalli to scoop up other food or wrap bits of meat and vegetables to make a sort of taco

The Spanish pg 181 - 182 Missionaries – religious teachers Between 1519 and 1521, Spanish explorers led by Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztec Empire and claimed the land for Spain They started forming colonies in New Spain, the capital was Tenochtitlan now renamed Mexico City Eventually, New Spain became all of the land that is present-day Mexico Mexico remained a Spanish colony for 300 years and that is why today the people of Mexico speak Spanish and it is the official language of Mexico The Spanish people practiced the Roman Catholic religion as a result of the missionaries that went from nation to nation in the 1500s This is why most Mexicans are Roman Catholic and at one point the government did not allow any other religion

The Spanish pg 181 - 182 Fiesta – festival Mestizos – the children of Native Mexicans and Spanish colonists Every Mexican city and town holds a yearly, fiesta to honor the Catholic saints Guadalupe Day is the most important Mexican religious holiday as it honors Mary the mother of Jesus Christ on Dec 12 Spanish influences in architecture can also be seen on the churches and buildings of Mexico Today most people of Mexico are mestizos, which are children of Native Mexicans and Spanish colonists

How did Olmec culture traits spread to other cultures? (pg.178) How was the Olmec civilization important to the Maya? (pg. 178) What Aztec cultural contributions are found in present-day Mexico? (pg. 181) What traits of Spanish culture are seen in present-day Mexico? (pg. 182)

Remember Reclaim Missionaries Fiesta Innovations Civilization mestizos

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