Cultures of Mesoamerica Chapter 7.2 pp

The Olmec

The Olmec The Olmec  1200 BC to 300 AD  “mother culture” of Mesoamerica  Built pyramids  Had a calendar and writing  Traders

The Ballgame  Olmec invented the ballgame  Many cities had a ballcourt  Cross between volleyball and basketball  Later, losers were killed

The Olmec Heads  8-10 feet tall  17 have been found so far  Could be portraits of rulers

Zapotec  1500 BC to 750 AD  Southern Mexico  farmers  Capital: Monte Alban  Pyramids  Ballcourt  Observatories  plazas

Zapotec Monte Alban

Toltec  Central Mexico  AD  Capital : Tula  Trade center  Militaristic  Had pyramids and temples

Maya  Began around 1000 BC  From Yucatan Peninsula to Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize

Mayan farming  Grew maize, beans, squash  Used slash-and-burn agriculture  Forest is cut down, then burned to provide nutrients for soil

Mayan Cities  Chichen Itza  Palenque  Copan  Tulum

Mayan cities  Each city was independent  Had separate rulers and gov’ts  Had large populations  Traded with each other  Often at war

Mayan Science and Math  Astronomy  365-day calendar with leap years  Calculated movements of planets and stars  Math  First to use zero  Base-20 math

Mayan Writing  First to fully develop writing  Used glyphs, or symbols  Records kept in bark- paper books called codexes

Mayan Religion  Creation myth in the Popol Vuh  Men made from maize  Hero twins – Hunahpu and Xbalanque – who become the sun and moon  Polytheistic  Practiced human sacrifice and ritual bloodletting

Mayan decline  Decline began around 900 AD  Warfare  Drought  Rebellions  Environmental damage  Maya communities still exist today

Aztecs  Central Mexico  1100s – 1500s  Farmers and warriors  Capital: Tenochtitlan

Tenochtitlan  Tenochtitlan built on Lake Texcoco  Prophecy told them to found a city where they saw an eagle on a cactus eating a snake  One of the world’s largest cities – 200,000 people  Farmed on Chinampas, or “floating gardens”

Aztecs

Aztec Empire  Formed an alliance with nearby cities  Texcoco  Tlacopan  Demanded tribute, or tax, from conquered tribes

Aztec Culture  Worshiped the gods Huitzilopochtli and Quetzlcoatl  Practiced slavery and human sacrifice  Arts  Gold, copper, jade, turquoise jewelry and pottery  Poetry  Glyph writing and calendar

Moctezuma II  Leader of Aztecs when Cortes arrives

End of Aztec culture  Aztecs conquered by Spaniards and Cortes  Moctezuma killed – not sure how  Spanish aided by people conquered by the Aztecs

South American Cultures  Chavin  BC  Peru  Chavin de Huantar – ceremonial center  Moche  400 BC to 600 AD  Central Peru  Skilled at metalworking and unusual pottery

South American Cultures  Nazca  200 BC to 600 AD  Southern Peru – desert area  Farmers – built irrigation canals  Famous for the Nazca Lines – geometric shapes on the desert floor

Nazca Lines  What’s the purpose of the Nazca lines? No one is sure  Rituals  Astronomical?  Signs for the gods?

Incas  West coast of South America  1400s – 1572  Capital: Cuzco

Inca Empire  Highly organized and efficient  Led by an emperor  Leaders of conquered people were moved away to limit rebellions

Inca Culture  Government distributed food and supplies to all people  Surplus was stored for emergencies  Built roads to connect the Empire  Skilled engineers and metalworkers  Spoke Quechua- still spoken today

Inca records  No writing  Inca recorded population and taxes using quipu  Colored and knotted cords  The colors and type of knots represented numbers and dates

Incan leaders  Pachacuti – expanded Incan kingdom to an Empire  Built city of Machu Picchu

Incan leaders  Atahualpa  Last emperor of the Incas  Came to power after a civil war with his brother  Murdered by the Spanish  Tupac Amaru- last Incan emperor

Assignment: Timeline  Create a timeline depicting when the various American cultures existed.  Moche- 400 BC – 600 AD  Hohokam – 300 BC – 1500 AD  Hopewell – 200 BC – 500 AD  Olmec – 1200 BC – 300 AD  Maya – 1000 BC – 900 AD  Aztec – 1100 – 1572 AD  Nazca – 200 BC – 600 AD  Inca – 1400 – 1532 AD

Assignment: Timeline (cont.)  Now, create an identical timeline underneath to compare other cultures  Golden Age of Greece – 500 – 323 BC  Roman Empire – 27 BC – 476 AD  Birth of Christ – 0  1096 AD – the first Crusade  221 BC – Great Wall of China is started  1250 BC – Ramses the Great rules Egypt