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OLMEC EMPIRE1200 BC – 400 BC Southern Mexico El Salvador.
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OLMEC EMPIRE1200 BC – 400 BC Southern Mexico El Salvador • formed the first truly complex Mesoamerica culture established civic-ceremonial centers at San Lorenzo and La Venta, with temples, palaces built towns with clay building platforms and stone pavements and drainage systems traded in aw materials such as jade created large stone jade sculptures of human heads developed rudimentary hieroglyphic writing
MAYAN EMPIRE50 BC – 1400 AD Southern Mexico Yucatan Guatemala Central America • invented writing system which mixed script with ideographs and phonetics wrote historic records on pots, stone stele (upright inscribed slabs), and palace walls cultivated corn as staple crop produced a complex astronomical calendar established religious rituals which included human sacrifices, mythology, and ancestral worship created a monarchy that united small settlements into larger states built flat-topped pyramids as temples and rulers’ tombs built palaces, shrines, large ball courts for ceremonial sport and astronomical observatories invented math system, included zero base
AZTEC ORIGINS • Because of their antagonistic behavior they were driven from one place to another. • Around 700 years ago the Aztec peoples left their homes in Atzlan in North West Mexico. • Their chieftan Tenoch led them to the Valley of Mexico named Anahuac. • The Aztecs were a poor, ragged people who ate rats, snakes, and stole food.
According to legend,they had been told by the gods to build their city in the spot where an eagle, perched on a cactus,would be seen eating a snake.
The Aztecs founded the great city of Tenochtitlan. Today this place is called Mexico City.
AZTEC CITIES • Tenochtitlan was built about 1325 on an island in a lake. • Great stone temples and pyramids stood in the center of the city. • Stone bridges connected the city with the mainland. • By 1376 they chose a man named Acamapichtli as their first emperor. He ruled until 1395 • By the late 1400’s more than 60,000 people in Tenochtitlan.
The Aztecs used irrigation to grow crops throughout the year. • They made ‘chinampas’ or floating gardens by filling shallow areas of the lake and anchoring the soil with trees. • The canals formed part of their defense system.
ORGANIZED RELIGION • As their city grew stronger the Aztec warriors extended their powers over neighboring territories, gaining tribute payments and most importantly, human hearts for sacrifice. Huitzilopochtligod of war
They believed it was necessary to feed the gods with human hearts to ensure the sun would rise every day. • It was important in battle to seize as many live prisoners as possible, these unfortunate victims would then be held captive until they were required for sacrifice. Aztec wall of skulls
Aztec sacrificial mask • Spanish accounts describe Aztec human sacrifice in detail. ...the men or women who were to be sacrificed to their gods were thrown on their backs and of their own accord remained perfectly still. A priest then came out with a stone knife...and with his knife he opened the part where the heart is and took out the heart, without the person who was being sacrificed uttering a word...
ART Aztec Chacmool Chacmools were vessels made of basalt, and were used to contain sacrificial offerings to the gods. As such, they were the intermediaries between gods and men and were placed outside temples.
SOCIAL CLASSES • The Aztecs did have two clearly differentiated social classes. • At the bottom were the macehualles, or "commoners“. • At the top the pilli, or nobility. • These were not clearly differentiated by birth, for one could rise into the pilli by virtue of great skill and bravery in war.
SPECIALIZED JOBS • The city itself consisted of a large number of priests and craftspeople. • The bulk of the economy rested on extensive trade of both necessary and luxury items. • Some occupations included rope-making and pot-making.
LANGUAGE &WRITING • The Aztec language was called N'ahuatl. • It was a system of pictures which they used as sort of an alphabet. • They used hundreds of different symbols in their vocabulary. • Nouns were easy to draw - they drew a cat as a cat and drew a fish as a fish and so on. • They joined them together to form sentences, and used them to write down stories and keep records.
LAW • Aztec laws were simple and harsh. • Almost every crime, from adultery to stealing, was punished by death • Other offenses usually involved severe corporal punishment or mutilation (the penalty for slander, for instance, was the loss of one's lips).
EDUCATION The Aztec children had to go to school too! • Children of the noble class attended a calmecac, a school for noble children that was attached to the temples. • Girls and boys went to separate calmecac schools.
BOYS • At fifteen (15), boys attended either a calmecac or a cuicacalli. • The calmecac was run by priests who taught religious and administrative subjects. • Calmecac pupils also had extra religious duties, as well as lessons in history, astronomy, poetry, and writing. • The cuicacalli was more of a military school. All boys were trained in war and there was great rivalry between the schools, often leading to fights.
GIRLS • Aztec girls were mainly taught at home and began spinning at four (4) and cooking at twelve (12). • Their education was basically a training for marriage. • Noble girls spent a year at twelve (12) or thirteen (13) helping in the temple, and some became professional priestesses.
Aim: Were the Aztecs civilized or savages? • Civilized • Tenochtitlan was built on a lake. Large pyramids and temples stood at the center of the city. Bridges connected the city with the mainland. • The Aztecs made objects out of gold, silver, and precious stones. They wove fine cloth and used a system of writing. The Aztecs created artistic stone figures. • The Aztecs had a calendar. • In conducting human sacrifice the Aztecs believed they were preserving humanity, saving it from the wrath of the gods.
Civilized • The Aztecs had two different social classes. • The Aztecs had specialized jobs. • The Aztecs had a language and a pictograph form of writing. • The Aztecs had a system of law. • Both boys and girls received an education.
Aim: Were the Aztecs civilized or savages? • Savages • The Aztecs waged war with the purpose of capturing prisoners for human sacrifice. • Human sacrifice was conducted by cutting victims open and removing their hearts. • The Aztecs were hated by their neighbors whom they raided for the purpose of ritual sacrifice. The Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes vehemently objected to this practice as well.
INCA EMPIRE1200 AD – 1535 ADAndes Mountains(Peru, Ecuador, parts of Chile, Bolivia & Argentina) • established largest empire of the Americas – at its height in the 16th century, the Inca Empire controlled 12 million people, over 100 cultures with 20 different languages • formed a strong monarch ruled from Cuzco by using strategic resettlement of loyal “colonists” among rebellious groups • believed emperors descended from the Sun god and worshipped them as divine beings • adapted an intricate 12,000 mile road system for traveling messengers and services for traveling bureaucratic officials • created agricultural terracing and irrigation systems • adapted various “vertical climates” of the Andes’ elevations for a variety of crops • built elaborate fortress cities such as Machu Picchu • developed refined spoken language (Quechua) • instituted quipu (knot-cord) record keeping system • developed a religion centered on the worship of the Sun • minded gold for use by the elite for decorative and ritual purposes
