1. The Maya

2. Where were the Maya located? Location – the Yucatan Peninsula; Guatemala, Honduras

3. What is a city-state? City-states – a city that is an independent political state with its own ruling government What was the Mayan religion like? Religion – largest buildings were temples; consulted gods before making decisions; offered human sacrifices

6. What are hieroglyphs? Hieroglyphs – a picture or symbol representing an idea, an object, a syllable, or a sound

8. What is a popol vuh? Popol Vuh – sacred book; gods purposely clouded human understanding like “breath on a mirror”.

9. What is pok-ta-pok? Pok-ta-pok – similar to basketball; first one to score wins; losers are sacrificed

12. What is a solar calendar? Solar Calendar – based on sun; 18 months

13. What is a sacred round? Sacred round – 260 days long and used to keep track of religious holidays

14. What science was most important to the Maya? Astronomy – sun shone directly on most important part of temple What math concept did the Maya develop? developed concept of zero; number symbols How did they make a living? farmers; made own clothing and pottery

15. What happened to the Maya? Theories - no one really knows 1. Civil war 2. Deadly disease 3. Famine 4. Earthquake 5. Invaders

16. Who discovered the location of the Maya? In 1839, two American archaeologists discovered the ruins of the city of Copan

17. The Aztec

18. Who are the Aztecs? grew strong and wealthy by conquering others Where were the Aztecs located? Originally nomadic; traveled around Mexico; built Tenochtitlan on a lake island

20. What is the Legend of the 5 suns? four previous universes had been created and destroyed offered human sacrifices to keep the sun god happy the heart was the most important part to sacrifice

24. What was their society like? ruled by priests and soldiers; born into “classes” What is Tenochtitlan? built on island with three causeways connecting the city to the mainland; “floating gardens”

28. What about schools? sons of Aztec nobles are taught by priests What was the Great Temple? largest temple in the city; surrounded by smaller temples dedicated to gods; skull rack

32. Who is Montezuma II? emperor in 1500’s drought, comet, lightning strikes temple – Doomsday?

33. Incas: Lord of the Mountains 1438-1532

34. Where were the Incas located? Western coast of South America mainly Peru Dry plains, Andes Mountains, plateaus, and jungle

37. What was their life like? king – Sapa Inca; also known as Son of the Sun Clans/tribes – most were farmers; potatoes were an important crop Guinea pigs – food; alpacas – wool; llamas – pack animals, wool hide, waste, and meat

40. What was “for the good of the empire?” stored food so no one went hungry Who is “He Who Sees Everything?” collected taxes; matchmaker

41. What was the Royal Road? 2000 miles long, 24 feet wide in most areas; dirt and paved with stones; all done by hand What were they known for building? bridges; one was in service 1350-1890

45. What are terraces? Flat piece of land carved out of side of mountain

47. What about a written language? They had none! Quipu – record keeping; messengers had to memorize messages and run long distances quickly

48. What is Machu Picchu? mountain fortress

50. What was their empire like? conquered others, but did not sacrifice all; let them live their lives the Inca way

51. The End of Two Empires

52. Aztecs Who is Hernan Cortes? Spanish explorer support from those conquered by the Aztec was welcomed by Montezuma II Montezuma was taken hostage, war broke out, Spanish fled, but hundreds killed attacked again in 1521 and finally won

56. Inca How were the Incas conquered? disease brought by Spanish; killed thousands of Incas Sapa Inca dies and his two sons took over; civil war

57. Who is Francisco Pizarro? Spanish explorer; discovered Incas in 1527 attacked unarmed Incas; captured Atahualpa 1534 conquered Incas