1. Meso-America
Chapter 8
Lesson 1 & 2

3. Learning Objectives
In what ways were civilizations in early Mesoamerica and South America complex?
How were civilizations in early Mesoamerica and South America influenced by previous cultures?

4. 4

6. RISE Flourished between A.D. 300 and 900 Yucatan Peninsula.
One of the most sophisticated civilizations in the Americas.
Built temples, pyramids, developed a complex calendar.
Declined due to:
Invasion
Internal revolt
Natural disaster (volcanic eruption & overuse of land.)

7. Political & Social Structure
Composed of city-states ruled by hereditary ruling class.
Rulers claimed to be descendants of gods
City-states often at war.
Captures soldiers were enslaved
War Leaders / Nobles used as human sacrifice

8. Civilization included
Nobles
Artisans
Government Officials
Merchants
Workers
Most people were Farmers = Peasants
Men= fighting & hunting
Women= homemaking & raising children

9. Religion & Culture Belief: all life was in the hands of divine powers.
Human sacrifice appeased the gods
War Captives tortured, beheaded
Their supreme God was Itzamna (“Lizard House”)
Mayans were polytheistic
Believed in many gods

10. Writing & Calendar Wrote on bark with thin plaster
Carved into clay, jade, bone, shells, stone
Sophisticated writing system based on hieroglyphs (pictures)
Destroyed by the Spaniards
Two ways of measuring time:
Solar calendar of 365 days
Sacred calendar of 260 days based on cycle of creation and destruction.
Calendar: world was created in 3114 BC downward cycle on Dec. 23, 2012 AD

12. Explain why the Mayans were a sophisticated civilization?

14. Toltec 950-1150 AD War –like people Tula center of empire
Near Central Mexico
Extended conquest into Mayan lands
Brought metal working to Mesoamerica. First people to work with gold, silver, and copper
Fighting leads to decline in 1250 A.D.
Aztec people emerged carrying many Toltec traditions

15. RISE Capital at Tenochtitlan
Island in the middle of Lake Texcoco, settlement of Aztec.
Now the location of Mexico City.
Built magnificent cities with:
Temples
Roadways of stone to link Islands to the mainland.
Excellent warriors

16. Political & Social Structure
Authoritarian Government
Monarch/King claimed to be descendant of the Gods. Held all power.
Council of officials assisted King.
The rest of the population:
Nobility: held positions in government
Indentured workers: (landless laborers), worked on nobles land
Slaves
Commoners: mainly farmers of chinampas (swampy islands)

17. Boys: trained to be warriors
Girls: worked at home, weaving and raising children

18. Highly developed trading system
Tropical feathers
Cacao beans
Animal skins
Gold

19. Religion & Culture Polytheistic: Believed in many Gods
Ometeotl: supreme god, represented all- powerful forces of the heavens
Quetzalcoatl: God of day and night
Huitzilopochtli: god of the sun and war (feathered serpent)
Religion unending struggle between the good and evil
Good and Evil caused creation and destruction of four worlds,.
To postpone destruction of fifth world, human sacrifice was practiced

21. Aztec made advances in astronomy
Priest observed movements of stars and planets
Calendar showed days, months, cosmic cycles
Like Mayans, the Aztec also had a number system based on units of 20.

22. Decline Due to arrival of the Spaniards 1519.
Hernan Cortes arrived at Tenochtitlan
Aztec King: Montezuma offered gold and gifts
Montezuma believed Cortes was a representative of Quetzalcoatl (God).
Eventually Spanish took Montezuma hostage and began to sack the city.
Aztec revolted drove Spanish out.
Aztec fell sick and died diseases of Europeans.

23. The First Spanish Conquests: The Aztecs
vs.
Hernan Cortes
Montezuma II

24. How did the Aztec continue the tradition of building successful civilizations in Mesoamerica?