1. Native Groups
Meso & South America

2. Olmec Where: Mexico When: 1200BC-400BC Key Details: What happened?
The first civilization in Mesoamerica
The first civilization in the Western Hemisphere to develop a writing system
Carved giant basalt heads
What happened?
Olmec were very advanced, but died out, probably because of a famine

3. Olmec Basalt Head

4. The Chavin Where: Peru When: 900BC-200BC Key Details: What happened?
Had advanced drainage systems to protect the population from flooding
Were skilled metal-workers
Domesticated llamas and other similar animals
What happened?
Unknown; they mysteriously disappeared

5. Chavin Religious Carving

6. Maya Where: Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico and El Salvador)
When:1000BC-900AD
Key Details:
Skilled architects, astronomers, engineers
Pictographic writing called “glyphs”
Polytheistic religion; practiced human sacrifice
What happened?
A series of catastrophes drove people out of the cities. The population declined. Farming methods wore out soil; warfare; peasant revolt.

7. Mayan ruins at Palenque

8. Toltec Where: Central Mexico When: 800AD Key Details What happened?
Ruled by a military class
Introduced metalworking into the region
Practiced human sacrifice to the god Quetzalcoatl
What happened?
Tula, the capital, was destroyed around 1100; from there, the Toltec lost their power

9. The Atlantes Columns in Tula

10. Aztec Where: Central Mexico When: 1200s-1519 Key Details:
Conquered most surrounding groups; large empire; city of 200,000 Tenochtitlan
Produced a large amount of food using chinampas
Human sacrifice to feed the sun god
What happened?
Conquered in 1519 by Hernan Cortez and his alliance of native groups formerly conquered by Aztec; most who survived were killed by disease

11. Aztec Calendar

12. Inca Where: Peru (Andes Mountains) When: 1400s-1530 Key Details:
Worshiped sun and moon; called themselves “children of the sun”
Intricate road system; some paved; good communication
Recordkeeping system of knotted strings called quipu
What happened?
Conquered by Francisco Pizarro and the Spanish in 1530

13. Machu Picchu-Lost Incan City