American Civilizations (Adapted by Mrs. Costello from Mr. Donn’s “When Worlds Collide”

Early Civilizations Olmecs Zapotec Teotihuacan Mayans Toltecs Aztecs Incas Tainos

Olmec Flourished from B.C. Settlements, involving ceremonial centers, burial mounds, and huge Olmec Stone heads. The Olmecs used a calendar and hieroglyphic writing.

Zapotec Civilization 500 B.C. in the semi-arid Oaxaca Valley of Central America. Monte Alban was surrounded by two miles of stones walls, and the city included stone temples, pyramids and a ball court.

Mayans Highly developed agriculture and water irrigation systems. Maya developed “glyph” writing with phonetic and pictographic elements, mathematic system (based on 20 and with a Zero), and complex series of calendars.

Aztecs At height of power, Aztecs controlled region stretching from central Mexico east to the Gulf of Mexico and south to Guatemala. Government ruled much of what is now Mexico from about 1428 until 1521

Aztecs built cities and developed a complex social, political, and religious structure. capital - Tenochtitlán, present-day Mexico City. large metropolis built on islands and reclaimed marsh land, possibly the largest city in the world at the time of the Spanish conquest (1521) featured a huge temple complex, a royal palace, and numerous canals.

Tenochtitlán

Incas The Inca Empire, Andes Mountains of South America the Quechua The Incas built a wealthy and complex civilization that ruled between 5 million and 11 million people. the Incas lacked both a written language and the concept of the wheel, but accomplished feats of engineering that were unequaled elsewhere in the Americas. built large stone structures without mortar and constructed suspension bridges and roads that crossed the steep mountain valleys of the Andes.

Incas Road building established communication throughout the huge, complex empire. Inca emperors built a 10,000-mile network of stone roads. Trained runners carried official messages, working in relays to cover up 250 miles per day. Terracing agriculture

Incas recorded information on the knotted strings of a quipu.

Economic Developments constructed aqueducts, cities, temples, fortresses, short rock tunnels, suspension bridges, 2250mi road system metal works of alloy, copper, tin, bronze, silver gold developed important medical practices- surgery on human skull, anesthesia resources-corn, potatoes, coffee, grain created woven baskets, woodwinds

Machu Picchu Polytheistic religion- Pantheon headed by Inti-the sun god Animism / worship of nature gods offered food, clothing, and drink rituals included forms of divination, sacrifice of humans and animals

How did the Worlds Collide? Source: Bergman and Renwick, 2003 When and where the first trips to Latin America?