Aztec Day 1

Aztec Day 1

by Caitlin Irwin

Multiple Choice

Prehistory is the time before

• Writing

• Fire

• People

• Tacos

Multiple Choice

The Maya People lived:

• On the beaches of Florida

• On the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico

• On Southern tip South America

Multiple Choice

The climate of the Yucatan Peninsula is:

• Tropical and wet

• Freezing and dry

• Hot Desert

Multiple Choice

The Ancient Maya were:

• Polytheistic:

  they believed in many gods

• Monotheistic: they believed in one god

• Not religious

​All Civilizations:

• ​spoke the same language;

• had similar beliefs about the world and nature—about how the world started, why certain things happen, etc.;

• lived near one another, often in towns or perhaps cities, and had the same way of living;

• agreed to live by certain rules or laws; and

• had a form of writing.

​The Aztec People

​About three hundred years after the Maya abandoned their cities, another great civilization arose. They were the Aztec people, who lived in what is today central Mexico.

Multiple Choice

The Aztecs existed ______ the Maya People.

• After

• Before

• At the Same time

Multiple Choice

The Aztecs live in present day _______

• Mexico

• United States

• Chile

• Yukatan Peninsula

​Creation Myth

• ​Thousands of years ago people did not have the sciences to help them understand life. For instance, they did not know why the Sun rises each morning or why the seasons change. Ancient people saw sickness, death, and natural disasters, but they did not understand what caused them.

​Creation Myth

• ​Groups of people developed their own stories and beliefs to explain the world around them.

• These stories were usually not written down.

• They were passed from one generation to another by telling them out loud as stories.

• People accepted them as the truth. In this way, myths became beliefs.

Multiple Choice

Myths are:

• a story to help explain the world

• Always true

• Written down carefully

Creation Myth

​According to legend, the Aztec were once a nomadic tribe. They wandered the land, setting up temporary homes here and there, fighting off attackers, and surviving on snakes and lizards.

​Creation Myth

​One day, the god of the sun spoke to the people. The god told the Aztec people to look for a sign—an eagle with a snake in its beak perched on a cactus. On the spot where the eagle perched, the Aztec were to build a great city.

​Creation Myth

​The legend goes on to describe how the Aztec finally received the sign the god had told them about. The eagle appeared on a swampy island in Lake Texcoco

​Tenochtitlan

​On that day, the Aztec’s wandering ended. They settled down and began building a city. The Aztec people called their new home Tenochtitlán (/tay*noch*tee*tlahn/), which means “the place of the prickly pear.”

​Mexican Flag

​Even today the eagle and serpent are shown on the flag of Mexico.

​Aztec Empire

​The Aztec established Tenochtitlán by 1325. By the 1400s, the Aztec civilization had begun to expand. The Aztec proved to be fearsome warriors. One by one they conquered neighboring city- states and added them to their empire.

Multiple Choice

What is an empire?

• is a set of lands or that are ruled by one leader

• a small country

• a continent

• an area of land surrounded by water on 3 sides

​Aztec Empire

​By the early 1500s, the Aztec Empire included four hundred to five hundred city-states and controlled much of present-day Mexico.

​Aztec Empire

​The Aztec emperor ruled more than five million people.

​

Tenochtitlán alone probably had between 150,000 and 200,000 residents, making it one of the largest cities in the world at this time. No city in the United States would grow so large until the 1800s.

Multiple Choice

What symbol from the Aztecs is on the Mexican flag?

• eagle with a snake on a cactus

• 50 stars and 13 stripes

• a maple leaf

Multiple Choice

The Aztec Empire grew to be very large.

• Tr

• False