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Early Western Civilizations: Maya, Aztec, Inca Civilizations

At about 1000 B.C., people in the Western Hemisphere began to live in villages and develop distinctive cultures.

Olmecs (before 1200 BC and died off around 400 BC) - Earliest people without records. - Carved giant stone heads and objects of jade. - Divided by social classes and worshiped a god represented by a jaguar. - Practice human sacrifice. Culture disappeared abruptly.

Zapotecs (300 BC) -Farming -Polytheistic with temples -Developed calendar and system of writing

Go to your read-a-long page. Discuss with your partner the following questions. A. Several of these early American civilizations come up with their version of calendars. What information are they using to make the calendars? B. Why are their calendars different?

Mayas (before BC 200 – 800 AD) - Ceremonial centers with steep pyramids with advance architectural techniques - Studied astronomy, predicted solar eclipses and devised a calendar - Developed counting system based on 20 and zero. Writing system and libraries used elaborate temples (monuments) and sports courts.

- Lived in villages and farmed - Ruling class practiced self-mutilation and the society practiced human sacrifice. -Around 800 A.D., Maya civilization began to decline -Culture was stratified or “spread out”

Go to your read-a-long page. Discuss with your partner the following questions. A. What reasons might civilizations turn to sacrificing humans? B. Why would these sacrifices by done in, on or around a pyramid?

Aztecs (1250 AD) -Began as wandering warriors, fighting for whoever would pay them. -Priests instructed the Aztecs to settle where they saw a sign: an eagle sitting on a cactus devouring a snake.

-They saw the sign and built a city there named Tenochitilan. -Pyramid temples for human sacrifice -They used the inventions of tribes they conquered and traded with (diffusion)

-learned to use metals, weaving, pottery making, the first calendar, and math. -Learned to farm on chinampas: floating artificial islands in their many lakes. -Used canals and aqueducts -Aztecs society was dominated by the military which was the most prestigious thing an Aztec could be apart of.

Go to your read-a-long page. Discuss with your partner the following question. A. The Aztecs were a very war-like civilization. What other examples of their behavior can you give to support this statement?

Incas ( AD) -Capital Cuzco “City of the Sun” -Religion was based on worship of the sun. -Built fortresses, irrigation systems and laid paved roads. -Packed animals carried goods.

-Maintained storehouses of food to prevent famines. -Established a school system that taught Inca religion and language, Quechua. -Established a school system that taught Inca religion and language, Quechua. No system of writing but they practiced accounting and developed a decimal system. - Advanced in medicine, including Anesthetics and brain surgery - Advanced in medicine, including Anesthetics and brain surgery which were always being improved. - - Created a recording keeping system called quipu – knotted strings

Go to your read-a-long page. Discuss with your partner the following questions. A. Why might storing food be an advancement in civilization? B. Why were the Incas a people who worshiped the sun?

Spanish Exploration In 1519, with 600 men, Hernando Cortes defeated the Aztec ruler Montezuma and captured the city of Tenochitilan, today Mexico City, with its population of more than 200,000. Cortes and his troops had horses and guns, which were unknown to the Aztecs. The population rapidly declined.

In 1533, Francisco Pizarro led an expedition of 180 men and 27 horses into the heart of the Inca Empire in South America. He defeated the Inca and claimed their empire for the Spanish crown.

Go to your read-a-long page. Discuss with your partner the following question. A. How were the Spanish, under Cortes, able to overtake such the war-like civilization of the Aztecs?

However, it was not only the weapons and horses the Spanish brought to the New World. The Spanish brought with them diseases including malaria, smallpox, and measles for which the people of the New World had no immunities. In some places, as much as 90% of the native population died as a result of contracting these diseases.

B. According to the graph, what impact of Exploration explains the decline of the native population during the 16c.

The Spanish married the natives and their offspring were called mestizos. Although they were often the largest portion of the colonial population they were usually at the bottom of the social ladder.

The greatest single need of the Spanish conquerors was labor. People were forced to work in the mines and on the ranches. The crown devised a system called encomienda. A nobleman was given a large grant of land and with the land came the right to force the native people who lived on the land to work for the nobleman.

This system eventually led to the virtual annihilation of several native groups. With the failure of the encomienda system, slaves from Africa were introduced into the Spanish colonies to supply the need for labor. From the mid-sixteenth century on, Africans constituted a large portion of the laboring population.

Go to your read-a-long page. Discuss with your partner the following question. C. Why don’t the native peoples in Latin America make good slaves for the Spanish?

Put it all together. Discuss the following and complete with your partner: