Early Civilizations in the Americas: Mesoamerican Empires

1. Chapter 1 – The Americas

6. Summary of Chapter 1 • Culture and early life of Americans similar to Mesopotamia, Indus River, Egypt, Huang He • Reliance upon water • Geography & climate enable Americans to build a civilization Sioux Warrior Shirt

8. Summary of Chapter 1 • The early inhabitants of the Americas probably traveled from Asia across aBering Strait land bridge produced by the Ice Age. • The Inuit, Iroquois, Hopewell, Plains Indians, and Anasazi were major North American groups. • The Mayan, Aztec, and Incan civilizations developed and administered complex societies.

9. The Grand Council • The Iroquois League was as model for British colonies. • Ben Franklin used the Iroquois League as an example for American democracy. • The men were hunters and warriors. • The women owned the longhouses, and harvested the crops– corn, beans, and squash, called the “three sisters.”

10. The Great Peace =Alliance of the 5 groups of Iroquois • Principles of Great Peace: • do not act on self-interest • act for the welfare of the whole • act with the good of future generations in mind • Iroquois lived in Longhouses:

12. North American Natives • In North America, these early inhabitants included the Inuit people near the Arctic Circle • The Hopewell peoples of the Ohio River valley, known as “The Moundbuilders” • The Great Plains Indians lived in teepees

13. Video: Mystery of the Anasazi – The Ancient Ones – SW America – Disappeared suddenly

14. MesoAmericans • Name for areas of Mexico and Central America that were civilized before the Spaniards arrived. • Major civilizations were the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas • Most advanced civilizations of ancient Americas

15. The Aztecs • The Aztecs develop into an empire that could have rivaled Rome. • Floating city, pyramids, & aqueducts • Teotihuacán [TAY oh wuh KAHN] • (“Place of the Gods”) was Mesoamerica’s first major city. • Located near where Mexico City is today • 200,000 inhabitants • 200 ft tall Pyramids

16. Aztec Turquoise Mosaic Serpent

17. Maximum extent of the Aztec Empire

18. The Avenue of the Dead in Teotihuacan, an example of a Mesoamerican settlement planned according to concepts of directionality. Their concepts of space and time are associated with the four cardinal compass points and linked together by the calendar

19. A view of the Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan which flourished from 200 AD to 600 AD, and which is the site of the second largest pyramid in the Americas

20. The Aztecs – The Rome of the Americas

23. The Mayans • They developed an agriculturally intensive, city-centered empire consisting of numerous independent city-states. • The Mayans collapsed suddenly • There is no universally accepted theory to explain this collapse.

24. What Happened to the Mayans?

25. Engineering an Empire - Maya

26. Incas • Located on western coast of S. America • Became an empire under the leadership of Pachacuti – created highly centralized govt. • A system of roads that extended 24,800 miles

28. Incan Empire • No writing system, kept records on quipu – a series of strings and knots • Like all the MesoAmerican civilizations, the Incas were no match for the Spanish Conquistadors and their steel weapons, gunpowder, and horses. • Diseasealso plays a large role in the downfall of Native American civilizations after contact with Europeans