1. Meso America Review
Test Preparation

2. Standard 7.7
Students compare and contrast the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations.

3. Task:
As you view the following presentation fill-in the answers to the questions on the review sheet.
Then study the questions and answers in preparation for your test on Meso-American and Andean Civilizations.

4. Mayan Cultures

5. The Mayans Around 1500 BC the Mayans began to build villages.
The Mayans built their villages in Guatemala, Belize, Southern Mexico, El Salvador, and Honduras. This is in the area now known as Central America.
This region is called Meso America

6. Mayan History
The Mayans reached the peak of their society between AD.
This was known as the classical period.
Their greatest king was Pacal II.
He built the cities to have palaces, plazas, ball courts, and pyramids with temples on the top.

7. Mayan Religion
They worshipped more than 160 gods and goddesses. They believed the gods created the world. To get help from the gods the Mayans fasted, prayed, and performed animal and human sacrifices.

8. Mayan Achievements
Mayans had 3 main achievements: Astrology, their numbering system, & calendar

9. Numerical System
The numbers are made up of three symbols; zero(shell shape), one (a dot) and five (a bar).
Discovered the number 0.

10. Mayan Calendar
The Maya used three different dating systems. 1. Long Count Calendar 2. Civil year Calendar Called "Haab." It has 365 days 3. Sacred or Divine year Calendar Called "Tzolkin
There were 4 cycles to their calendars
Mayan & Aztec both developed accurate calendars

11. Mayan Writing System
The Mayan developed a system of writing using glyphs were recording important events in carvings and books.
They carved these glyphs on buildings and wrote them on bark paper.
The paper was made from fig tree bark and formed into a book called a codex.
The most famous codex was called Popol Voh. It told the story of their creation.

12. Mayan Astronomy
The Mayans observed the position of the sun, moon, and stars.
They discovered the planets Venus and Mars.
They calculated the cycle of planets and were able to predict solar eclipses.
According to the Mayans, December 21,2012 was the last day of their calendar.

14. The Aztecs
The term "Aztec" refers exclusively to the people of Tenochtitlan, situated on an island in Lake Texcoco, who called themselves Mexica Tenocha.
They were hated and rejected by all the surrounding inhabitants of the valley, for their barbarous and uncultured habits.

15. Aztec History
Early in the 14th century, Huitzilopochtli told Tenoch, their leader to take his people to a place of refuge on a swampy island in Lake Texcoco.
When they reached their destination, they were to look for an eagle perched on a cactus, growing from a rock or cave surrounded by water.
At that location, they were to build their city to honor Huitzilopochtli with human sacrifices.
The city they built was called Tenochtitlán, the city of Tenoch.

16. Tenochtitlan
Tenochtitlan was the capital city and is located in what is now present day Mexico City
It was built by Lake Texcoco
It was built in 1325 in the center of Texcoco which gave it lots of paths to other civilizations with bridges that could be pulled up in case of emergency

17. Tenochtitlan
The Aztec had to continuously repair or rebuild their temples and buildings because the city was built upon swamp land and the buildings would sink.

18. Chinampas
Often referred to as "floating gardens," Chinampas were stationary artificial islands
They were small, rectangle-shaped areas of fertile land to grow crops on the shallow lake beds.

19. The Aztec practiced an overwhelming amount of human sacrifice
Aztec Religion
The religion of the Aztecs was incredibly complicated, partly due to the fact that they inherited much of it from conquered peoples.
Their religion was dominated by three gods:
Huitzilopochtli (hummingbird wizard)
Tezcatlipoca (Smoking Mirror)
Quetzalcoatl (Feathered Serpent)
The Aztec practiced an overwhelming amount of human sacrifice

20. The Calendar
In addition to sacrifice, the Aztec religion, like the Mayan religion, was dominated by calculations of time.
The Aztecs had two calendars: the ritual year and the solar year. The ritual year lasted for 260 days and the solar year lasted for 365 days

21. The Spanish
Hernan Cortez was the Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec.
Montezuma saw Cortez as the living representation of the god Quetzalcoatl and was afraid he was returning to take back his kingdom.
Cortés's alliance with Aztec’s local enemies helped them to defeat the Aztec Empire.

22. The Spanish
By 1521, the Spaniards had conquered the Aztec army. Cortes captured the Aztec gold and silver and sent it to Spain. Within two years the Spanish weapons and European diseases had destroyed the Aztec civilization.
There were three reasons the Spaniards wanted to conquer the Aztec: gold, land and to Christianize the Aztecs.

23. The Inca Empire

24. Geography
The Inca Empire was located in the Andes mountains of what is now Peru, Ecuador, and Chile.
It's earliest beginnings date to 1100 A.D. when a small warlike tribe began to move into the valley of Cuzco.
They used a variety of methods , from conquest to peaceful assimilation to expand their empire.

25. Inca Development
The Incan people believed that their leaders were direct descendents of the Sun God.
In 1438, the ninth Inca ruler, Pachacuti whose name meant “earth-shaker”, came to power. Under his rule, the Inca conquered all of Peru and moved into surrounding lands.
Pachacuti reorganized the kingdom of Cuzco into an empire. He sent spies into regions he wanted. He would offer the regions luxury goods and promise they would be materially richer under Inca rule.

26. Inca Culture
The Inca Society had two main groups- nobles and commoners.
The commoners consist of builders, farmers, and artisans.
Every citizen was assigned a certain task in life, connected to their age and gender.

27. Farmers
Terraced farm land

28. Economy Products like potato, tomato, corn, and fruit.
The Inca civilization was advanced for its time. They had an agriculture based economy. They were mainly self-sufficient farmers who used advanced tools. More than a half of agricultural products today were developed by the Inca or their neighbors.
Products like potato, tomato, corn, and fruit.
They raised animals like the llamas & alpacas

29. Economic Exchange
The Inca had a moneyless society. They would barter among themselves for handcrafted goods
Long distance trade was supervised by the central government using the excellent Inca roads.
They used chasquis (runners) for any long distance trade, messages, and travel.
Each chasqui carried a pututu (a horn), a khipu in which information was stored, and a qipi on his back to hold objects to be delivered.

30. Final Battle
The 40,000 member army of the Inca was destroyed by a 180 member Spanish conquistador army, which was commanded by Francisco Pizarro.
He and his troops reached the Incan Empire by 1532.
The warriors of the Inca were no match for the Spanish guns. By 1535, the Inca society was completely overthrown.

31. How could an Army of only 180 defeat an army of 40,000 men?
The Incas had an army which consisted of 40,000 people. The Spanish army in the Americas, which was commanded by Francisco Pizarro, had only 180 people. How could an Army of only 180 defeat an army of 40,000 men? There are three main reasons for this.
1)  Much of the Incan army died as a result of smallpox, which was carried to them via the Spanish Conquistadors. 
2)  The Spanish Conquistadors were able to convince other tribes, already under Incan rule, to side with them and over throw the Incan Empire.
3)  The weapons used by Incan warriors ,though effective in tribal warfare, were no match for the superior Spanish weapons and horses.
By 1535, the Inca society was completely overthrown, and Pizarro moved the capital from Cuzco to Lima.