The Meso-American Civilization

8/14/2019 The Meso-American Civilization

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The MesoamericanThe Mesoamerican

CivilizationCivilization

By Jose RosarioBy Jose Rosario

Page 88Page 88


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a.Ice glaciers had frozen vastquantities of the Earths water,lowering the sea levels.

b.This exposed a land bridge betweenAsia and Alaska.

c.Hunters and food gathers crossedthis land bridge into NorthAmerica.

1.1. The First Americas may haveThe First Americas may havearrivedarrived to the Americans as earlyto the Americans as early

as 22,000as 22,000 years ago.years ago.


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T h e N o rth A m e rica n Ice C a p co ve re d fro m G re e n l


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The Last Great Migration

T F t


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NativeAmericanscame indifferent

waves:a)Northern

Asia

b)Japanese

Islandsc)South

PacificIslanders

d)Northern

T e F rstAmericanFace


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Theories About How the FirstGroups Came to the Americas


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a.The most challenging & rewarding prey

was the woolly mammoth.b.But as the Ice Age ended 10,000 to 12,000

years ago, people switched to huntingsmaller game, fishing, and gathering

nuts, barriers, and fruits alone withgrain, beans and squashes.

c.Agriculture developed between 10,000 &5,000 years ago around Mexico andCentral America.

2. Experts believe that peoplecame by foot evidence says thatthey were big time hunters.


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a.Storing surplus of food contributed tobe development into villages andlater cities.

b.People had more time to developmore complex societies, but someremained nomadic.

c.Around 3,000 years ago, largercommunities and civilizationbegan to develop.

d.Archeologists believe that the first

empires of the Americans

3. Agriculture made it possiblefor people to remain in one place.


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a.The Mayas appeared in the YucatanPeninsula in 400 B.C.

b.Between 250 to 900 A.D. the Aztecestablished theirs in the Valley ofMexico.

c.And in Peru, the Incas developed near

1200 A.D.d.In North America around 300 A.D. the

Hohokam and the Anasazi developed

theirs civilization in what is today

4. 1200 years ago the Olmecdeveloped a civilization along the Gulf

of Mexico.


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Empires of the AmericasEmpires of the Americas


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a.By the 1400s there were 700,000 to800,000 Native Americans living inthe continental United States.

b.The Native Americans adapted totheir environment, and looked tothe family to fulfill many of theirsocial needs.

c.Their society was organized in anetwork of Kinship or a clan(grandparents, parents, uncles,cousins etc. . . . )

5. Archeologists suggestthat separate waves of

migrations


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Using the Atlas of the United StatesHistory

Copy the Map on Page16 to the map(Hunters Reach America) providedin class today

THIS MAP SHOULD BE ON PAGE 1 IN

YOUR NOTEBOOK

Map Class Work


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Empires of the AmericasEmpires of the Americas


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The MayasThe MayasBy Jose RosarioBy Jose Rosario


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The Maya Empire


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1. The Maya civilization is aMesoamerican civilization.

a.They had the onlyknown fullydevelopedwrittenlanguage of thepre-ColumbianAmericas.

b.And spectacularart,monumentalarchitecture, &sophisticated

mathematical &


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2. The Mayas established in Central Americaand the Yucatan Peninsula during the Pre-

classic period (c. 250 to 900 AD).

a.By the arrival ofthe Spanish theMaya

Civilization wasnot longerthere.

b.At its peak, it was

one of the mostdenselypopulated &culturally

dynamic


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3. The first clearly Maya settlements wereestablished in approximately 1800 BC inSoconusco region of the Pacific Coast.

a.Archaeologicalevidencesuggests theconstruction ofceremonialarchitecture inMaya area byapproximately

1000 BC.b.Evidence suggests

that thesecultures and the

formative Maya


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4. The Classic period (c. 250 - 900) wasthe peak of large-scale construction

and urbanism.

a.They developed a city-centered empireconsisting of numerous independentcity-states.

b.Including well-known cities ofTikal,Tikal,Palenque, Copn and Calakmul,Palenque, Copn and Calakmul,& lesser known cities.

c.They built pyramids as their religiouscenters and palaces of their rulers.

d.Other important archaeological remainsinclude the carved stone slabsusually called stelae.


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5. The Maya centers went into decline duringthe 8th & 9th centuries and were

abandoned shortly thereafter.

a.This decline was coupled with a cessation ofmonumental inscriptions and large-scalearchitectural construction.

b.Although there is no universally acceptedtheory to explain this collapse, currenttheories fall into two categories:

c.Non-ecological theories: foreign invasion,peasant revolt, &/or the collapse of

key trade routes.d.Ecological hypotheses: environmental

catastrophe, epidemic disease, & climatechange.


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6. The Maya peoples never6. The Maya peoples neverdisappeared.disappeared.

a. Today, the Maya &their descendantsform sizeablepopulations

throughout theMaya area &maintain adistinctive set oftraditions & beliefs

that are the resultof the merger ofpre-Columbianpre-Columbian &post-Conquestpost-Conquestideologies (&

structured by thealmost total


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The AztecsThe AztecsBy Jose RosarioBy Jose Rosario


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The Aztec EmpireThe Aztec Empire


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1. The true origin of the Aztecs isuncertain.

a.According to theirlegends, theAztec's place oforigin was Aztln.

b.It is generallythought thatAztln wassomewhere to

the north of theValley of Mexico;some expertshave placed it asfar north as the

Southwestern

2 I h h M i


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2. It appears that the Mexicansarrived at Chapultepec in or around

the year 1248 AD.a.At the time of their arrival, the Valley of Mexico

contained many city-states, like CulhuacanCulhuacan& Azcapotzalco& Azcapotzalco.

b.According to Aztec legend, the Aztecs were

shown a vision of an eagle perched on aprickly pear cactus, clutching a snake in itstalons.

c. This vision indicated that this was the locationwhere they were to build their home.

d.The Aztecs arrived on a small swampy island inLake TexcocoTexcoco where they founded the townofTenochtitlanTenochtitlan in 1325.

e. In 1376, the MexicasMexicas elected their first HueyTlatoani, AcamapichtliTlatoani, Acamapichtli, who was living in

TexcocoTexcoco at the time.

3 The Aztecs is a collective term used for all


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3. The Aztecs is a collective term used for allof the Pre-Columbian MesoamericanPre-Columbian Mesoamerican

peoples under the control of the MexicaMexica,founders of

TenochtitlanTenochtitlan, & their two

principal allies, who built an extensiveempire in the late Post-classic period in

the 14th, 15th & 16th centuries in CentralCentral

MexicoMexico.

4 The nucleus of the A t E iA tec Empire as the


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4. The nucleus of theAztec EmpireAztec Empire was theValley of Mexico, where their capital

Tenochtitlan was built upon raised islets

in Lake TexcocoLake Texcoco.a.After the 1521 conquest ofTenochtitlanTenochtitlan by Spanish forces andtheir allies which brought about the

effective end of Aztec dominion,b.The Spanish founded the newsettlement of Mexico City on the siteof the now-ruined Aztec capital.

c.The capital of the modern-day nation ofMexico, the greater metropolitanarea of Mexico City now covers muchof the Valley of MexicoValley of Mexico and the

now-drained Lake of Texcoco.

5 Aztec culture had rich &


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5. Aztec culture had rich &complex mythological &

religious traditions.a.For Europeans, the most striking

element of the Aztec culture was thepractice ofhuman sacrificehuman sacrifice which

was conducted throughoutMesoamerica prior to the Spanishconquest.

b.While human sacrifice was practiced

throughout Mesoamerica, under theAztecs this practice to anunprecedented level. Ex., for thereconsecration ofGreat PyramidGreat Pyramid

of Tenochtitlanof Tenochtitlan in 1487, the Aztecs


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Human SacrificedHuman Sacrificed


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The IncasBy Jose RosarioBy Jose Rosario


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The Inca EmpireThe Inca Empire


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The Incas


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1. The Incas had various origin myths. Thesemyths have been transmitted via oral

tradition, since the Incas did not develop

writing.

2 The Inca people began as a tribe in


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2. The Inca people began as a tribe inthe Cuzco area around the 12th

century.

a.Under the leadership ofManco CapacManco Capac,they formed the small city-state ofCuzco.

b.In 1438 they began a far-reachingexpansion under the command ofSapa Inca PachacutiSapa Inca Pachacuti.

c.c.PachacutiPachacutireorganized the kingdom

into an empire, a federalist systemwhich consisted of a centralgovernment with the Inca at its head

d.d.PachacutiPachacutisent spies to regions he

wanted in his empire; they brought

3 The most powerful figure in the


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3. The most powerful figure in theempire was the Sapa Inca ('the

unique Inca').

a.Only descendants of the original Incatribe ever ascended to the level ofInca.

b.Most young members of the Inca'sfamily attended Yachay Wasis(houses of knowledge) to obtaintheir education.

c.There were separate chains ofcommand for both the military andreligious institutions, which

created a system of partial checks

4 Architecture was by far the most


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4. Architecture was by far the mostimportant of the Inca arts, with pottery

and textiles reflecting motifs that were at

their height in architecture.a.The breathtaking site of Machu Picchu wasconstructed by Inca engineers.

b.Amaranth was one of the staple foods of theIncas, and it is known as kiwicha in theAndes today.

c.Native Americans were responsible for someof the worlds most prolific crops,including tomatoes, peppers, lima beans,

ancient ancestors to modern squash and,most importantly, the potato.

d.Maize (Corn) was also deeply integratedinto Inca agriculture and daily life.

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The Meso-American Civilization

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