Maya, Aztec, and Inca Societies: Social Classes, Religious Beliefs, and Advancements

1. THURSDAY/FRIDAY 7.57-

2. Thursday What Am I Learning Today? Learning Intention Success Criteria I CAN list the social classes of the Aztec people in order. I CAN describe Maya, Aztec & Inca Society. • 7.57- Describe the social, economic, and political characteristics of the Maya, Aztec, and Incan civilizations, including: oral traditions, class structures, religious beliefs, slavery, and advancements (e.g., astronomy, mathematics, and calendar).

3. BELLWORK- GET SHEET OF PAPER Open to pg. 165 in the social studies textbook. Read pgs. 165-166 Draw a pyramid List the social classes of the Aztec’s on social hierarchy pyramid.

4. Social Hierarchy

5. Mayan • Thrived between 250 AD and 900 AD.  However, they have been around for thousands of years • The Maya live in Central America on and around the Yucatan Peninsula. • The Maya lived in large cities containing plazas lined with pyramids, temples, ball courts and palaces.   • The Maya created an extremely accurate calendar (more accurate than the Europeans had at the time), had a full written language, and an extensive knowledge of mathematics.  Artifacts from their time still fill the rainforests of Central America, many of which remain unexplored. • Disease and overpopulation seems to have been the cause of their decline • Their descendants still exist today

6. Mayan Mayan Glyph Writing The Maya invented the most advanced form of writing in the ancient Americas. The Mayas used about 700 symbols or glyphs. A glyph is a picture or a symbol used to represent a sound, a word, or perhaps a syllable. Their system of writing is arguably one of the most difficult to understand, with hundreds of unique signs or glyphs in the form of humans, animals, objects and abstract designs. Directions: The Mayans created their own language and system of writing called glyphs, which are carved symbols that stand for a syllable or word. Create your own “Glyph” style of writing, in which you create your name and 1 sentence about the Mayan culture and translate it using your own code, or glyph. Make sure to include the key to your code so others can translate! For example: Sentence: Mayans created a calendar with 365 days.

7. Aztec • The Aztec empire appeared at about the same time as the Mayan civilization was declining. • The Aztec borrowed many things from Mayan culture such as their pyramid building and the games they played. • The Aztecs lived in what is now southern Mexico.  They were to the north of the Maya. • Built a great capital city, Tenochtitlan, on the site of present day Mexico City.  It was built on a series of islands in a large lake and connected to mainland by a series on stone road ways. • At one point it was perhaps the largest city in the world 200,000

8. Aztec • Master architects, philosophers, and artists • Religion dominated their lives.  Prosperity depended on the good will of the gods.    • They practiced human sacrifice to appease their gods.   • Conquered many peoples in the Mexican peninsula, forcing them to pay high taxes.  These people were forced to send treasure, food and, slaves to the capital for tribute.   • Spanish destroyed their empire in the 16th century.

9. Aztec

10. Inca- Reading, Document on Mrs. Alexander’s website

11. Inca- Draw Web & fill in answers

12. Inca- Draw Web & fill in answers

13. EXIT TICKET

14. FRIDAY BELL WORK

15. FRIDAY What Am I Learning Today? Learning Intention Success Criteria I CAN answer DBQ about Maya, Aztec & Inca Society. I CAN describe Maya, Aztec & Inca Society. • 7.57- Describe the social, economic, and political characteristics of the Maya, Aztec, and Incan civilizations, including: oral traditions, class structures, religious beliefs, slavery, and advancements (e.g., astronomy, mathematics, and calendar).

16. Document 1 “As soon as the Incan ruler had conquered any kingdom and set up his government, he ordered that the farmland used to grow corn be extended. For this purpose, he ordered irrigation channels to be constructed. The engineers showed great cleverness and skill in supplying water for the crops, since only scattered sections of the land could grow corn. For this reason, they endeavored to increase its fertility as much as possible.” Answer the short answer questions in complete sentences for full credit. Document 1: Farming in the Incan Empire, 1539 This description of farming in the Incan Empire was provided by Garciasco de la Vega, a son of an Incan princess and a Spanish explorer. • GOAL 1: Create and answer an observation level question regarding this excerpt from de la Vega. • GOAL 2: Do you think an Incan would have described this achievement as “clever”? Explain. • GOAL 3: Explain why irrigation is a significant achievement.

17. Document 2: Hernando Cortés: Second Letter to Charles V, 1520 When he arrived in 1519, the Spanish conquistador, Cortés, described the magnificent Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan with these words to his king: Document 2 GOAL 4: Create and answer an observation level question regarding this letter from Cortés to the Spanish King, Charles V. “The city has many squares where markets are held and trading is carried on. There is one square . . . where there are more than 60,000 souls, buying and selling . . . all kinds of merchandise . . . including food products, jewels of gold and silver, lead, brass, copper, zinc, bones, shells, and feathers. . . . Every kind of merchandise is sold in a particular street or quarter assigned to it exclusively, and thus the best order is preserved. They sell everything by number or measure. . . . There is a building in the great square that is used as an audience house, where ten or twelve persons, who are magistrates, sit and decide all controversies that arise in the market, and order delinquents to be punished. In the same square there are other persons who go constantly about among the people observing what is sold, and the measures used in selling.” • GOAL 3: Imagine that you are a young man or woman in Spain who aspires (wants) to be a conquistador. How could you use this letter to persuade the king to allow you to attack a different section of the Aztec Empire? • GOAL 2: Explain why Cortés was so impressed when he arrived in Tenochtitlan.

18. Document 3: Human Sacrifice in the Aztec Empire Document 3 Spanish descriptions of Aztec society contain extensive discussions of human sacrifice, and the practice is well represented in the codices. The Spanish sources, however, are heavily biased. The need to put an end to this custom was one of the prime rationalizations (reasons) for the conquest of the Aztecs, and for this reason the Spanish writers almost certainly overstated the extent of sacrifice. Archaeological finds demonstrates (shows) beyond a doubt that the Aztecs, like most ancient Mesoamerican cultures, did indeed sacrifice people. This practice was ancient and widespread in central Mexico. Rites of human sacrifice were part of a complex tapestry of myths and beliefs that have been extensively analyzed and debated. . . . Key concepts include the sacredness of human blood [and] the idea that people owe a debt to the gods [which] . . . must be repaid with blood and human lives. • GOAL 4- Create and answer an observation level question regarding the picture or text that connects with human sacrifice in the Aztec Empire. • GOAL 3- Create and answer an inference level question regarding the picture or text that connects with human sacrifice in the Aztec Empire. • Goal 2- Create and answer a connection level question regarding the picture or text that connects with human sacrifice in the Aztec Empire.

19. Document 4: Terrace Farming in the Incan Empire Document 4 • GOAL 4: Create and answer an observation level question regarding the picture or text that connects with terrace farming. • GOAL 2-3: What are the pros and cons that terrace farming offers to the Incan people? The Inca lived in the Andes Mountains, which stretch down the west coast of South America. Flat areas for people to farm were very hard to find. Instead the Inca dug terraces on mountain sides to grow crops. 2,471,053 acres of farmland covered much of the Incan Empire. (This figure includes both terraced and flat farms.) Interesting, the stones used to support terrace farming would gather heat throughout the day and during the night would distribute the heat to the plants. . . . [These stones also meant that] erosion was virtually impossible.

20. Document 5 Document 5: Chinampas Farming in the Aztec Empire • Goal 4: Create and answer an observation level question regarding the picture or text that connects with chinampas farming. • Goal 2-3: Explain whether you think that this sort of farming could be enacted on a large scale in the Incan Empire, which was on the Andes Mountains. Source: http://www.history.com/videos/aztec-ingenuity#aztec-ingenuity, 2014