1. People & Empires in the Americas
Chapter 16 (p )

3. North American Groups Did NOT: Did: Create great empires
Leave many ruins as spectacular as those in Central and South America
Did:
Create complex societies
Conduct long-distance trade
Construct magnificent buildings

4. Maya Mesoamerica Highlands and lowlands
Blended local customs with Olmec influences

5. Maya
Independent city-states, ruled by a god-king and serve as a center for religious ceremonies and trade
Feature giant pyramids, temples, palaces, and elaborate stone carvings dedicated to the gods and important rulers

6. Maya City-states linked through alliances and trade
Agriculture provided the basis of life

8. Maya Polytheistic Prayed, offerings, human sacrifices
Religious beliefs led to the development of the calendar, mathematics, and astronomy

9. Maya
Developed the most advanced writing system in the ancient Americas
Glyphs- hieroglyphic symbols
Codex- bark-paper books used to record historical events

10. Maya Maya abandoned many of their cities in the late 800s Theories:
War disrupted trade and caused economic hardship
Population growth and over-farming damaged environment

11. Aztecs
Mexico
Mountain basin
Lots of resources and fertile soil

12. Aztecs Teotihuacan- first major civilization of Central America
One of the largest cities in the world at the time
Became a center of trade
Declined abruptly

13. Aztecs Arrive in the Valley of Mexico around 1200 Poor, nomadic people
Small city-states survived Toltec rule
Poor, nomadic people
Adapted
Became soldiers-for- hire
Founded Tenochitlan

14. Aztecs
Alliance with two other city-states built the leading power in the Valley of Mexico
Built power on military conquest, tribute gained from conquered subjects, and brutal responses to resistance

16. Aztecs
Tenochtitlan
By 1500s- became an extraordinary urban city

17. Aztecs Polytheistic Centered on elaborate public ceremonies
Human sacrifice to the Sun God

18. Aztecs Montezuma II- crowned emperor in 1502 Empire began to weaken
Unrest and Rebellion
Arrival of the Spanish

19. Inca South America Largest empire seen in the Americas
Andes Mountains
Largest empire seen in the Americas
Built empire on cultural foundations thousands of years old

20. Inca Controlled empire through a central bureaucracy
Efficient economic system
Extensive road system
Single language

21. Inca
Polytheistic
Temple of the Sun, in Cuzco, most sacred

22. Inca Death of emperor led to split of empire between two sons
Led to civil war
Spanish arrived at the last days of the war