Early Civilizations in Mesoamerica

1. Early Civilizations in Mesoamerica

2. Objectives • Student will demonstrate knowledge of major civilizations of the Western Hemisphere, including the Mayan, Aztec, and Incan by • Describing the geographic relationship, with emphasis on patterns of development in terms of climate and physical features • Describing cultural patterns and political and economic structures • Essential Questions • What were the characteristics of Mayan, Aztec, and Incan civilizations

3. Olmec • Appeared in Mesoamerica around 1200 B.C.E. • Located in the hot, swampy lowlands of Gulf of Mexico • Mesoamerica’s “mother culture” • 1st advanced civilization • Farmed along muddy riverbanks • Had large cities, center of religious rituals • Oldest city was San Lorenzo, 1150 B.C.E. • Had earthen mounds, courtyards, and pyramids • Large stone monuments • La Venta, 900 B.C.E. • Used mounds as tombs • Center of Olmec religion

4. Culture and Decline • Culture • Planned ceremonial centers • Ritual ball games • Elite ruling class • Religion • Carved colossal stone heads, represent their gods • Polytheistic • Worshiped Jaguar spirit • Represented a powerful rain god • Trade • Large trading network • Traded iron ore and stones • Decline • around 300 B.C.E. • No real answers as to why

5. Maya • On Yucatan Peninsula • Stretched from southern Mexico into Northern Central America • Included dry scrub forest, jungle, and mountains • Civilization growing at same time as Olmec • Classic Period (250-900 C.E) • Spectacular cities • Tikal, Copan, Palenque, Chichen Itza • Sophisticated civilization • Most advanced of all Mesoamerican civilizations • Built temples and pyramids • Complicated calendar • Civilization included Central America and Southern Mexico • Unknown decline

6. Mayan Political Structure • Composed of city-states • Ruled by god-king • Hereditary rule • Often claimed to be descended from the Sun God • Served as centers of religious ceremonies and trade • Cities • Featured pyramids, temples, palaces, stone carvings • Ball court • playing game would maintain cycles of sun and moon and bring life giving rains • City-states often at war with each other • Captured soldiers became slaves • Nobles were used for human sacrifice

7. Agriculture and Trade • Independent city-states that were linked through trade and alliances • Very few “outside” trading partners • Exchanged local products • Salt, flint, feathers, shells, honey • Cotton textiles, jade ornaments • Currency: Cacao beans • Agriculture • Maize, beans, squash • Slash-n-burn farming as well as sophisticated farming like on terraces • Successful farming led to accumulation of wealth and development of social classes

8. Mayan Social Structure • Rulers • descended from gods • Passed rule onto eldest son (hereditary) • Nobles: • Leading warriors, priests • Townspeople: • skilled artisans, officials, merchants • Farmers • most people • lived on tiny plots • Men: fighting and hunting • Women: homemaking and raising children

10. Mayan Religion • Life was in the hands of divine powers • Each day was a living god whose behavior could be predicted with the help of a system of calendars • Polytheistic • Gods of corn, death, rain, war • Associated with four directions and different colors • Supreme God: Itzamna • Good and Evil (ex. Jaguar of the night) • Practices • Mayans worshipped Gods in various ways • Offerings of food, flowers, and incense • Practiced human sacrifice • Believed it kept the world in balance • At Chichen Itza threw people into a deep sinkhole lake along with gold and jade

11. Calendar • Mayan religious beliefs led to the development of the calendar, mathematics, and astronomy. • Believed time was a burden carried on the back of a god • Accurate calendar needed to know which god was in charge of what day • Calendar • 260-day religious calendar • Consisted of twenty13-day months • 365-day solar calendar • Consisted of eighteen 20-day months • Used both solar calendar and sacred calendar • Only trained priests could use read • Used it to foretell the future • Helped identify best times to plant crops, attack enemies, and crown new rulers • Indicated sophisticated mathematics and astronomy • Based calendar on observation of the planets, sun, and moon • Math system included concept of zero

12. Writings • Writing • Most advanced system in ancient Americas • Consisted of 800 hieroglyphic symbols • Stood for whole words and syllables • Wrote on a bark-paper book called codex • Spanish assumed they were evil and destroyed many of the codexes • Only three remain

14. Disappearance • What happened to the Maya? • In 800 C.E. the Maya suddenly abandoned several cities, while other cities continued to thrive • Invaders (Toltec) arrived • Most historians now believe disappearance was due to increased city-state warfare, overpopulation, disease, and drought/famine.

15. Mayan Civilization

16. Teotihuacán • First major city in Central Mexico • “place of the gods” • Located near Mexico City • Built during 1st century C.E. • 125,000 residents at its height • Pyramids of the Sun and Moon • At center was avenue of the dead, lined with 20 pyramids • Pyramid of the Sun was the largest • Over 200 ft tall and 3,000 ft wide • People lived in apartment-block buildings around avenue • Most residents were farmers • Center of trading network • Obsidian was most valuable item • City was abandoned by 750 C.E.

18. Toltec • Dominated central Mexico from900- 1200 C.E. • Center of empire at Tula • War-like people • Worshiped a fierce war god • Demanded blood and human sacrifice • Characteristics • Built pyramids and palaces • Carved tall pillars in shapes of warriors • Legend of Quetzalocoatl • Through trade and conquest, the Toltec ruled as far as the Yucatan peninsula • Greatly influenced late- Mayan culture

19. Aztec • Migrated to Valley of Mexico in 12th century C.E. • Mountain basin • Several large, shallow lakes • Accessible resources and fertile soil • 1365 C.E. built capital at Tenochtitlan on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco • Took conquering spirit of Toltec to the extreme • War at center of government and religion • Rule until 1500s when conquered by Spanish

20. Rise of Aztec • Sign would come from their god of war and of the sun. • God would tell them when they saw an eagle perched on a cactus growing on a rock, their journey would end. • 1325, attack from other peoples drove them into the swamps where they would see the sign and build Tenochtitlan • Took 100 years to build city • While they were building capital, their warriors conquered modern Mexico • Collection of semi-independent territories governed by local lords • Were tributary states

21. Tenochtitlan • By early 1500s was an extraordinary urban city • Population between 200,000- 400,000 • Larger than London • Connected to mainland by three raised roads, or causeways • Smaller cities ringed the lake • Streets and avenues connected the city center with residential areas • Canals intersected the roadways allowing canoes into the center of the city • Tlateloco: huge market at center of the city • Market had agricultural produce • Avocados, beans, chili peppers, corn, squash, tomatoes • Massive, walled complex at center • Main structure was Great Temple, a giant pyramid with twin temples on the top

22. Aztec Political Structure • By 1500, 4 million lived in Valley of Mexico • Monarch had the power, claimed was descended from gods • Ruler assisted by council of lords and government officials • Formed Triple Alliance with other leading city states • Power was based on military conquest and tribute states • Let local rulers rule tribute states • Demanded tributes of gold, maize, cacao beans, cotton, jade, and other products • Destroyed rebellious villages or captured slaves if they didn’t pay their tribute • At time of Spanish conquest, ruled over 38 provinces • Empire stretched from Central Mexico to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts • Estimated population between 5 and 15 million

23. Aztec Social Structure • Monarch/ Emperor • Had absolute power • Nobles: • Council of lords • Government officials • Military Leaders • Religious leaders • Commoners • Farmers (most people) • Warriors • Craftspeople • Merchants (elite) • Indentured workers • Landless laborers • Slaves • Captured in war

24. Aztec Social Structure • Boys • Men were warriors from moment of birth • Girls • Not equal to men • Could inherit property • Could enter into contracts • Most worked at home • Raised children, weave textiles • priestess

25. Trade and Agriculture • Trade Network • Huge market at the heart of the city • Products brought in from all over Mesoamerica • Larger than most in Europe at the time • Agriculture • Produce grown on chinampas • Farm plots built on marshy fringes of the lake

26. Religion and Culture • Religion an important part of Aztec life • Adopted many beliefs from Toltec • Religious practice centered on elaborate public ceremonies • Meant to communicate with the Gods and win their favor • Polytheistic • Over 1000 gods • Most important rituals involved Sun God, Huitzilopochtli • Had to be nourished with human blood to make the sun rise everyday • Human sacrifice carried out on a massive scale • Thousands led to altar atop the Great Temple • Priests carved out hearts using obsidian knives • Believed day of reckoning was coming, so human sacrifice would delay it • Required lots of captured slaves and different battle tactics to capture live prisoners • Feathered serpent: Quetzalcoatl • Legend about a Toltec prince whose return from exile would be proceeded by sign of an arrow in a sapling • When Aztec saw the sign, the cross, on the Spanish they thought it was Quetzalcoatl returned

27. Aztec Calendar • Derived from Mayan System • Two main calendars • Sacred • Agricultural/solar • Had 5 unlucky day period known as the nemontemi • Both calendars started on same day, was marked by a great ceremony of fire • Sunstones • Calendar was a huge stone • Measures 13 feet and weighs 24 tons • Contained information about days and gods

28. Destruction of the Aztec • 1502 Montezuma II crowned Emperor • Aztec Empire began to weaken • Overpopulation • Too many sacrifices • Provinces rose up against Aztec oppression • 1519: Spanish forces under Hernan Cortes landed in Veracruz • Arrived at Tenochtitlan received warm welcome from Monarch Montezuma • Montezuma, thinking they were their god resurrected, gave the Spanish gifts of gold • Spanish took Montezuma hostage and pillaged the city in 1520 • Aztec revolted and fought Spanish • Natural disasters such as smallpox, brought by the Spanish, ravaged the Aztecs • Cortes leveled pyramids, filled in canals and rivers and built on top of Tenochtitlan

29. Aztec Civilization

30. Objectives • Student will demonstrate knowledge of major civilizations of the Western Hemisphere, including the Mayan, Aztec, and Incan by • Describing the geographic relationship, with emphasis on patterns of development in terms of climate and physical features • Describing cultural patterns and political and economic structures • Essential Questions • What were the characteristics of Mayan, Aztec, and Incan civilizations