1. The Earliest Americans
Mesoamerican and South American civilizations

2. First Migrations to the Americas
During the last Ice Age, evidence suggest that Paleo-Indians from northeastern Asia crossed the Bering Land Bridge into what is now Alaska between 38,000 and 10,000 B.C.E.
These people were hunter-gatherers
Warmer climates allowed early Native Americans to migrate and spread throughout North and South America.

3. Olmec
The Olmec developed around BCE in Mesoamerica, which is now Mexico and the northern parts of Central America.
Known for their use of stone in architecture and sculpture
Built the first pyramids in the Americas and huge stone head sculptures.
Civilization ended around 400 BCE

4. Maya The Maya started out as small trading villages
By AD 200, the Maya was building large cities.
Maya cites had pyramids, large stone temples, palaces and bridges
They paved large plazas for public gatherings and built canals to control water flow through the cities.
The Maya collapse in the 900s; historians still aren’t sure what caused their decline.

5. Aztec
Aztec were known as fierce warriors; superior military was the key to their success
Aztec migrated south to central Mexico around the mid-1100s CE
In 1325 CE, Aztec founded the capital city Tenochtitlan on an island in Lake Texcoco.
It was the greatest city in the Americas and one of the world’s largest cities.
By the 1500s, Aztec ruled the most powerful state in Mesoamerica.
Spanish conquistadors (conquerors) invaded and conquered Tenochtitlan, and killed the emperor Montezuma II
Spanish made Tenochtitlan their own capital, Mexico City.
This brought an end to the Aztec in 1521.
They conquered many towns, made alliances to build an empire and controlled a huge trade network
Built raised roads to connect the island to the shore for better trade and travel

6. Aztec

7. Inca
The Inca were located in South America in what is now Peru in the Andes Mountains
The capital city was called Cuzco
Expanded their territory in the mid-1400s; by 1500s the empire stretched the Pacific Coast from what is now Ecuador to Chile
Had a strong central government with the king as the ruler of about 12 million people
Official spoken language was Quechua
Recorded everything on system of knotted strings called quipu.
Known for building and art; had an advanced system of highways of paved roads that stretched the length of the empire.
Conquered by Francisco Pizarro in 1532.

8. The Inca

9. Homework
Tonight do some internet research on the four Mesoamerican civilizations that we discussed in class.
Decide which civilization was the greatest of the four.
Write 1-2 paragraphs with at least three reasons why that civilization is the greatest.
Cite your sources for which you get your information.