 Yucatan Peninsula (modern day Guatemala)  Dense rainforest blocked out the sun (which made it seem like a bad location at first glance)  Swamps and sinkholes provided the Maya with a year-round source of water by giving them access to underground streams and rivers

 Mayan civilization consisted of a group of city-states  Each city-state had it’s own king  Kings claimed that they were god-kings who descended from the Sun God

 Mayan Kings taught their people how to please the gods  One of the ways that they did this was to offer humans as sacrifices to the gods  The Mayans believed that the gods gave “life-giving fluid” (rain) to the people, so the people offered their own “life-giving fluid” (blood) to the gods

 At the center of each city-state was a ceremonial center with temples, palaces, ball courts, and markets  Small villages surrounded the ceremonial center which made up the city-state  Temples were structured for human sacrifice  People who were offered up for sacrifices included losers of games and prisoners of war  Polytheistic religion

 Royal women often married into families from other Mayan city-states  This increased trade and created political alliances

 Priests created a strict class system  Ruler (King) & Family  Nobles / Priests  Craftsman, Merchants, Traders  Farmers, Hunters, Slaves

 365 day calendar based on astronomy  Priests studied the “heavens” (sky) to schedule planting crops and religious festivals  Written language- hieroglyphics  Only nobles could read hieroglyphics  Method of counting based on 20

 Nobody knows for sure what caused the fall of the Mayans, but there are several theories:  Over-farming used up all the land  Enemies attacked and took over  Peasants rebelled and overthrew kings  Drought

 Wandered for hundreds of years in search of a home promised to them by their sun god, the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl  They would find this place where an eagle “screams and spreads it’s wings and eats the serpent”  Settled on a swampy island called Lake Texacoco

 Tenochtitlan was the name of their new city  Means “place of the prickly pear cactus”  Built floating gardens, piling soil on rafts anchored to the lake bottom  Became the largest city in Mesoamerica with over 400,000 people  Huge pyramid in the center known as the “Great Temple” with more than 100 steps

 Aztecs dreamed of wealth and conquest  They wanted to collect tribute  Conquered neighboring city-states and took control of their resources

 Claimed to be descended from the gods  A council of warriors, priests, and nobles picked, or appointed, the king from the royal family  Kings were expected to prove themselves by leading troops into battle

 The king, or emperor, was at the top of Aztec society  Rest of the population fell into four classes: nobles, commoners, unskilled laborers, and enslaved people  Largest group was the commoners, who worked as farmers, artisans, or traders  Commoners could join the noble class by performing an act of bravery in war

 Polytheistic religion  Saw death as honorable  Those worthy of an afterlife included soldiers who died in battle, captives who gave their lives in sacrifice, and women who died in childbirth

 Thought that he could reach Asia sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean  Discovered the island of Hispaniola  Returned home carrying gold, spices, colorful parrots, and Native American captives  Set out again in 1493 to conquer  Brought conquistadors with him

 Spanish conquistador who invaded Mexico  Aztec Emperor was Montezuma  Montezuma expected Cortes because he had had a dream  Cortes had Spanish horses and guns  Cortes took Montezuma hostage and defeated the Aztecs

 Chinampas- floating gardens  Bridges (since Lake Texacoco was located on an island)  Mandatory, universal education  Calendar  Chocolate (Aztecs and Mayas)

 Andes Mountains- modern day Peru  High river valleys  Capital was Cuzco

 Greatest Incan leader  Name means “earthshaker”  Pachacuti and his son, Topa, built the largest ancient empire in the Americas  Stretched 2,500 miles

 Pachacuti set up a strong central government, but let local leaders stay in power  Sons of local leaders came to Cuzco for training  Required everyone to learn Quechua, the language spoken by the Inca  He also designed a system of roads for travel and trade- covered about 25,000 miles when finished  Empire divided into four provinces  Tributes paid in the form of labor tax  Local leaders appointed by the Emperor/King

 Polytheistic  Believed that the sun god, Inti, protected Cuzco  Turned to sacrifice only in times of trouble, such as during earthquakes  Built large works of stone to please the gods  Incan kings were mummified

Royal Couple head priest and commander of the armies regional army leaders Temple Priests, Army Commanders, Skilled Workers (musicians, artisans, accountants) Farmers, Herders, Ordinary Soldiers

 Everyone grew what they needed, the rest was collected by the government put in storehouses in case of disaster  Labor tax- everyone had to work for the government for several weeks every year  Command Economy- no money/credit, only small amounts of local bartering and the government makes decisions about distribution

 A Spanish soldier named Balboa marched across the jungle-covered mountains of Panama looking for an “empire filled with gold”  He was accused of treason and killed before he reached it  A soldier traveling with him named Pizarro took up the search

 Incan Emperor was “Atahualpa”  Atahualpa underestimated Pizarro since the Incas outnumbered Pizarro’s soldiers  Pizarro asked Atahualpa for a meeting and he agreed  Atahualpa thought that 5,000 bodyguards would be enough protection… it wasn’t.  Incan soldiers had swords, but the European soldiers had guns  Pizarro captured Atahualpa and defeated the Incas