Pre-Columbian Civilizations: Aztecs, Mayans, Incas

Pre-Columbian /Latin
American Civilizations

MesoamericanCivilizations

Pre-Columbian

●

BEFORE Columbus

• Meso-Central America🡪

Latin America

• Latin America🡪 all areas

south of the United
States (N. America

🡪Central (Meso) America

I🡪Latin America

🡪I

The Mayans

Yucatan Peninsula

• located in

present-day
Mexico (looks like
a big thumb!)

• Home of the

Aztecs & Mayans

Mayans 300-900 CE

• Located in Central America

mainly on Yucatan peninsula

• Built pyramid-like temples

– Largest buildings in

Americas until 1903

• Polytheistic (this means?)
• Most wealth came from trade
• Most of population were

peasant farmers

Advances in Learning

• Developed complex

hieroglyphic writing
(who else did this?)

• Had books made of

bark

• Understood the

concept of zero…(just
like the Guptas in
India)

• Developed an

accurate 365-day
solar calendar

– Predicted the world

would end in 2012-
GUESS NOT!!! :p

• 260-day calendar

based on orbit of
Venus

Skeletal remains of Mayan
sacrifice victim (teenager)

“The Crystal Maiden”

Decline
• Fled their cities in 900
• Possible Reasons:

○ War?
○ Invasion?
○ Disease?

• Overpopulation?
• Peasant revolts?
• Environmental

Catastrophe?

• Aliens? (JK)
• The real reason remains

a mystery to this day.

Aztecs

1200s - 1521

Tenochtitlán

• Capital city (present-day Mexico City)
• Located in Valley of Mexico
• Was constructed on a swampy island in the

middle of Lake Texcoco

• Built causeways

(low bridges) to
get to the mainland

• Built chinampas

– artificial islands
– Helped to create

more farmland to
produce more food

– Raised corn,

squash, beans

Religion

• Polytheistic
• Chief god was the Sun God

– Huitzilopochtli(wheat-zi-la-poach-tlee)
– Battled forces of darkness every

night

– No guarantee the sun would rise

again

– Performed human sacrifices to

give it the strength to rise every
day

• Most were prisoners of war
• Sometimes were members of noble

families…appeased the gods more

Advances/Achievements

• Had an accurate

calendar

• Treated illnesses by:

○ A) herbs & medicines

for fevers and wounds

○ steam baths

• They could also:

○ Set broken bones
○ Fix dental cavities

Inca

Children of the Sun

• Located in the Andes

Mountains

• Cuzco – capital city
• Leader is called the

Sapa Inca

– a)Had absolute power
– b)Claimed to be the son of

the sun (that’s funny right?)

– c)Gold was his symbol –

“sweat of the sun”

– d)Only wore an outfit

once…and then it was
burned

Andes Mountains

Along the west coast of South America- made it hard to
unite the people

Social Pyramid

Incan Roads

• Awesome form of

communication
○ Helped to unite the empire

• All roads led through Cuzco

○ Wound more than 14,000

miles

○ Allowed armies & couriers

to move throughout the
empire

• “Runners”

carries
messages
throughout the
empire on foot!
○ Runners

would snack
on coca
leaves for
energy

Bridges were built over gorges

Adaptation to Environment

• Civilization located in the Andes

Mountains – hard to farm

• Had to adapt
• Used terrace farming

○ What other mountain

civilization did this?

○ Terrace farming is effective

with limited land in the
mountains

Terrace Farming

China

Peru

Japan

• Found in 1911 by the
American explorer Hiram

Brigham

• Most people lived in the

eastern part of the city

• Burial caves are below on

the mountainside.

• Religious rites were
performed in the “Sacred

Plaza”

Machu
Picchu

True/False?

•1)Latin America is everything north of the USA

•2)The Aztecs and Mayans lived on the Yucatan Peninsula

•3)Modern day Mexico city sits on the ruins of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan.

•4)The Aztec warriors performed sacrifices to the Sun God so that it would rise every
day.

•5)Chinampas are natural islands.

•6)The Incas used terrace farming to adapt to their mountain surroundings.

•7)The Andes Mountains are located along the east coast of South America

•8)Cuzco was the capital of the Inca Empire

•9)Runners used coca leaves for energy in the Aztec Empire

•10)The Mayans only developed one accurate calendar.

•11) The Aztec Emperor burned all of his outfits after he wore them.

•12) The Mayans built causeways for access to their capital city