1. THE MAYAN, AZTECS AND INCA

2. MAYAN

3. Stretched from southern Mexico into northern Central America

4. Maya Create Urban Kingdoms
By 250, culture had flourished because they took on Olmec influences, blending these with local customs
is known as Classic Period
Built spectacular cities
Independent city-states ruled by a god-king and serving as center for religious ceremonies and trade

5. People lived in residential areas surrounding the city center
Pyramids, temples, palaces, and elaborate stone carvings dedicated to gods and rulers
People lived in residential areas surrounding the city center
Ball court= stone-sided playing field
Played a game for religious and political significance
Would maintain the cycles of the sun and moon and bring life-giving rains

6. Agriculture and Trade City-states linked through alliances and trade
Exchanged salt, flint, feathers, shells, and honey
Used cacao as a uniform currency
Maize, beans, and squash provided basis for life
Practiced slash-and-burn agriculture, planted on raised beds above swamps, and on hillside terraces

7. Led to wealth and development of social classes
Mayan king (regarded as holy figure; position of heredity)
Nobel class (priest and leading warriors)
Merchants
The peasant majority

8. Religion Shapes Mayan Life
Believed in many gods who inhabited 13 layers of the sky and 9 layers of the underworld
Gods of corn, death, rain and war
Gods associated with four directions and colors
Prayed and made offerings of food, flowers and incense
Pierced bodies, offered their blood and carried out human sacrifice

9. Religious beliefs also led to:
Calendar
Mathematics
Astronomy
Time was a burden carried on back of a god
Day would be lucky/unlucky depended on nature of god
Needed calendar to see what god was in charge
2 calendars
260 day religious calendar with day months
365 day solar calendar with day months
Told them when to plant crops, attack enemies, or crown new rulers

10. Written Language Consisted of 800 hieroglyphic symbols or glyphs
Glyphs can stand for whole words or represent symbols
Carved in Stone or in a bark-paper book (codex)
Only three of these ancient books have survived
Most famous is the Popol Vuh, which recounts Maya’s version of the story of creation

11. Mysterious Mayan Decline
Maya ended in mystery
Late 800s, suddenly abandoned many cities
Invaders from north (Toltec) moved into the lands
Many theories from historians, but no one really knows for sure

12. AZTECS

14. Valley of Mexico
A mountain basin 7,000 feet above sea level and served as the home base of several powerful cultures
Teotihuacan and Toltecs both took advantage of the basin from the first century AD to 1200
Shared several similarities with the Aztecs

15. Aztecs Build an Empire Arrived in Valley of Mexico around 1200
Made up of a few city-states that survived collapse of Toltec rule
Were poor nomadic people from deserts
Aztecs’ sun god, Huitzilopochtli told them to found own city and they chose small Island on Lake Texcoco in 1325 and called it “Tenochtitlan”

16. Based off military conquest and getting tribute from conquered people
1428 made Triple Alliance with Texcoco and Tlacopan to increase strength
Empire divided into 38 provinces and had between 5 and 15 million people
Based off military conquest and getting tribute from conquered people
Tolerant and let local rulers govern own regions as long as they paid tribute with products
If failed to pay tribute, Aztecs brutally responded by destroying villages and slaughtering inhabitants

17. Social Classes Emperor- was an absolute ruler and treated like a god
Noble class- consisted of military leaders, government officials and priests
Commoners- included merchants, artisans, soldiers, and farmers
Lowest class- slaves that were captives who did many different jobs

19. Trade
Extensive trade network that brought many products from faraway regions
Economic heart of the city was the huge market of Tlatelolco which was in the capital
Hernando Cortés (the Spanish conqueror of Mexico) said this market was larger than any in Spain
Provided the food needed for a
huge urban population

20. Tenochtitlan: A Planned City
1500’s, 200,000 people were in the city, which was bigger than London at the time
Connected island to mainland by building three raised roads called causeways over the water
Palaces, temples, markets, and residential districts were connected by streets and avenues
Canals divided the city, allowing canoes to bring people and cargo directly to city center
Aqueducts funneled fresh water in from mainland

21. Religion Major role in society and adopted many gods from Toltecs
Held public ceremonies to communicate with gods and win their favor
At ceremonies, priests made offerings to gods and presented rituals
Sun god “Huitzilopochtli made the sun rise everyday only when he was nourished by human blood
Human sacrifice on massive scale
Would carve hearts out using knives
Sent army on new conquest so they could sacrifice the captured

23. Problems in the Aztec Empire
1502 Montezuma II becomes ruler and Aztec empire begins to weaken
Population bigger because of conquering and ruler calls for more sacrifice
Leads to rebellions
Reduced government officials
Tension continued
Spanish arrived
New Southern empire
emerges

24. INCA

26. Inca Come to Power
Inca originally name of ruling family of group living in high plateau of Andes
Settled in fertile lands in the Valley of Cuzco and developed small kingdom by 1200
Thought Incan ruler was descendent of sun god who would bring prosperity and greatness
Orejones- “big ears” bc large plugs in earlobes
Only men from 11 noble families could be descendents of the sun god (Orejones)

27. In 1438, Pachacuti took throne and Inca expanded quickly by conquering
1500, empire was 2,500 miles
Called empire Thuantinsuya or “Land of the Four Quarters”
80 provinces and 16 million people
Strong military, but very tolerant
Most people surrendered instead of going to war

28. Government Extraordinary organizers and administrators
Built roads and all roads led to capital, Cuzco
Masterful engineers (temples, plazas and palaces)
Ayllu (small groups of people) worked together for common good building irrigation canals and agricultural terraces

29. Divided families into groups and each had a leader
Everyone had to pay tribute
Mita= labor tribute; required everyone to work a certain number of days every year
Roads symbolized power
14,000-mile-long network of roads and bridges
Runners known as “chasquis” traveled roads as a kind of postal service, carrying messages

30. The Economy State controlled economy
Regulated production and distribution of goods
Very little private commerce or trade
Citizens expected to work for state and the state would provide for them
Divided on state lands, religious lands and community lands (each grew different goods)
Farmed on all three and stored water for dry seasons
Kept records through “quipu,” a set of knotted threads

31. Religion Focused on the moon, the stars and thunder Gods by importance
Viracocha (creator)
Inti (sun god)
King (descendant of Inti)
Priest led sun-worship with help from “mamakuna” or virgins of the sun
Sacrifice of llamas

32. Decline of the Inca
In 1525, King Huayna Capac died from disease and civil war broke out due to who claimed the throne
Capac’s son won but war tore empire apart
Spanish would soon arrive taking advantage of the weakened empire