Early Civilizations of the Americas

1. Early Civilizations of the Americas Chapter 12

2. South America and the Incas Section 1

4. GEOGRAPHY OF THE AMERICAS • Manyamericanculturesdevelopeddifferentways of lifetofittheirgeographicsettings. • Somemadetheirhomes in: • dense forests • fertilerivervalleys 3. orrockycliffs

6. INCAS • People of a powerfulempirethatruledpart of South America in the 1400’s and 1500’s. • Theirhugeempirewaslocated in theAndes, a mountainchainthatsnakesalongthe western coast of thecontinent.

8. LOCATION • This empire stretched through what are now the countries of: • Ecuador • Peru • Bolivia • Chile • Argentina

9. GROWTH OF AN EMPIRE • 1200 A.D. – The Incas settled in a smallvillageon a highplateau in the Andes. • ThevillagewasnamedCUZCO, whichbecametheInca’s capital city. • Theword Cuzco means“center”. • Over time manydifferentgroupscameundertheir rule.

10. CUZCO At its height, the Incan Empire included as many as 12 million people.

12. INCAN GOVERNMENT • The Incan ruler was called Sapa Inca (the emperor). • They believed that their emperor was related to the sun-god. • The emperor owned all the land and divided it among those under his rule.

13. Officials used a census, an official count of the people to keep track of everyone’s responsabilities. • The census helped to make sure that everyone paid taxes. • The official spoken language of the empire was Quechua, but the Incas did not have a written language.

14. Instead, theyinvented a complexsystemforkeepingdetailed records. Informationsuch as births, deaths, and harvests. Itwasrecordedon a group of knottedstringscalled a quipu.

16. ACHIEVEMENTS • Constructedthousands of miles of pavedroads. • Massivewalls • Mountaintopbuildings • Buildterraces (step-likeledgescutintothemountains) • A complexsystem of aqueducts. Much of whattheybuiltstill stands today.

17. Decline of Incan Empire • A number of factorscontributedtothefall of theempire. • Member of therulingfamilybegantofightamongthemselves. • Workersstartedtorebel. • Francisco Pizarro captured and killedtheemperor Atahualpa and gained control of thevastIncanEmpire

21. Francisco Pizarro

22. Lines of Nazca • Are a series of ancient geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert of Peru. They have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. • Scholars believe the Nazca Lines were created by the Nazca culture between 400 and 650 AD. The hundreds of individual figures range in complexity from simple lines to stylized hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, fish, sharks or orcas, llamas, and lizards.

23. The lines are shallow designs made in the ground by removing the ubiquitous reddish pebbles and uncovering the whitish ground beneath.

24. Hundreds are simple lines or geometric shapes. • More than seventy are designs of animal, bird, fish or human figures. The largest figures are over 200 metres (660 ft) across.

25. Purpose • Archeologists, ethnologists and anthropologists have studied the ancient Nazca culture to try to determine the purpose of the lines and figures. • One theory is that the Nazca people created them to be seen by their gods in the sky.

33. A new giant picture on the Nazca Plateau in Peru, which is famous for giant patterns that can be seen from the air, has been discovered by a team of Japanese researchers. • The image is 210 feet long, and appears to be an animal with horns, somewhat resembling (of all things) a lobster.

35. CULTURES OF MIDDLE AMERICA SECTION 2

36. THE AZTECS • Around 1325 theAZTECS, a group of peoplewholived in the Valley of Mexico, beganlookingfor a place tobuildtheir new capital. • Accordingtotheirlegend, theAztecsaskedtheirgod of warwheretheycouldbuildtheir capital. He replied: “Build at the place whereyouseeaneagleperchedon a cactus and holding a snake in itsbeak.”

37. Mexican Flag

38. The Aztecs where surprised when they found the sign. • The eagle was perched on a cactus which was in a swampy island on the center of Lake Texcoco. • And so this was the place where the Aztecs built TENOCHITLAN, their capital. • It would become one of the largest and finest cities of its time.

39. TENOCHTITLAN

40. THE AZTEC EMPIRE • By the 1470’s they had conquered the surrounding lands. • Their large empires stretched trom the Gulf of Mexico in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. • A single powerful leader, the Aztec emperor, ruled these lands. • The people under his rule were forced to pay taxes in the form of gold, food, or slaves.

41. In spite of the fact that it was located in a swampy area, Tenochitlan became a magnificent capital city. • To supply the city with fresh water, the Aztecs also built aqueducts.

42. As the population grew, the Aztecs realized they needed more farmland. • Their solution was to build many island gardens in the shallow lakes around the capital. These raised fields were called chinampas. • Chinampas were made from rich soil dredged up from the lake bottom. Trees were planted along the edges to prevent the soil from washing away.

44. RELIGION AND LEARNING • The most important God was the sun god. • Aztec religion thought that the sun would not have the strength to rise and cross the sky every day without human blood. • Aztecs were known for their daily human sacrifices. Prisioners captured during war often served as human sacrifices. To schedule their religious festivals and farming cycles, the priests created a calender based on the Mayan calendar and their knowledge of astronomy. Thier calendar has 13 periods (like months) of 20 days each.

45. AZTEC SOCIETY • Theyhad a strictclassstructure: • Emperor • Royal family, nobles, preists, and militaryleaders. • Soldiers • Artisans and merchants • Slaves (mostwereprisonerscaptured in battle) • Warwas a part of life in theAztecEmpire. • Mostmenovertheage of 15 served as soldiersfor a period of time. • Priests and governmentofficialsdidnotserve in themilitary. • Womenwerenotallowedtowork as soldiersormilitaryleaders. Womenhadtobeskilled at weaving.

46. END OF THE EMPIRE • In 1519, Spanish conquistadors invaded the Aztec Empire. Some people that had been under the rule of the Aztecs joined the Spanish in defeating the Aztec emperor Moctezuma. • Diseases carried by the spanish spread and killed many of them. • In 1521, the Aztecs surrendered to the Spanish. The empires was at an end!

49. Culture of Middle America Thousands of years before the Aztecs built Tenochtitlán others cultures thrived in Middle America. 1.- One of those ancient people, called the Olmec lived along the Gulf Coast from about 1200 B.C. until about 600 B.C. - They were known for their pyramid-shaped temples and huge carved stone heads.

50. The Culture of the Mayas • Somewhat later, an important culture developed in parts of Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula to the north. The Yucatan Peninsula is located at Mexico’s southeastern tip. • These people, called the Mayas, established a great civilization and built many cities in this region of Middle America.