Aztec -- Economy

Aztec -- Economy

By Caitlin Irwin

​Economy

the way people spend money and the way people make money

​

In Ancient times people didn't always use money. The economy was how civilizations got the materials (food, tools, building materials) they needed or wanted.​

Multiple Choice

The Economy has to do with:

• how a civilization gets its needs and wants met

• how a civilization organizes society

• studying historical events

• managing government in a civilization

What is an ECONOMY?

An ECONOMY is making, selling, and buying goods and services for human needs and wants.

Need: Food, Water, Air, Shelter

Want: Anything else that someone would like to have for fun or to look fancy

Multiple Choice

Economy has to do with:

• how a civilization gets what it needs or wants

• the landforms of an area

• the beliefs of a group

• art, inventions, and technology

What is an ECONOMY?

Needs and wants are an important part of an economy. Needs are things that people require to survive. Food, water, clothing, and shelter are all needs. If a human body does not have those things, the body cannot function and will die. Wants are things that a person would like to have but are not needed for survival. A want may include a toy, expensive shoes, or the most recent electronics.

Word Cloud

Write one word of a NEED.

Word Cloud

Write one word of a WANT.

Natural Resources

Natural resources are raw materials needed to produce goods.

Land on which a business is built.

Service industries need to be located near potential customers.

Multiple Choice

Anything found in nature that living things can use is a ___________.

• conservation

• natural resource

• export

• import

Agriculture

​Aztecs met their need for food by growing crops.

​

The main crops of the Aztec Empire was maize (corn), but they also farmed squash, chilis, peppers, beans, avocado, peanuts and cacao.

​Chinampas

Because they didn't have good soil to grow crops on, they had to invent a new way to farm.

​

​The method of farming they used was chinampas. A Chinampa is a method of farming that used small, rectangular areas to grow crops on shallow lake beds . 

​

Multiple Choice

Because the soil wasn't good for growing crops, the Aztecs:

• invented a new way to farm on floating gardens

• invented a new irrigation system to bring water to the crops

​Food

​They were proficient hunters and ate deer, rabbit, fish and iguana. They kept bees for the honey and turkey for eggs and meat.

Open Ended

How did the Aztecs meet their needs for food?

​The Market

​Tenochtitlan was the center of the Aztec government and religion. It was also a very big trading center.

​

They traded many things ​including sandals, feathers, seashells, turkeys, wood, corn, bananas, pineapples, honeycombs, and fabrics.

Multiple Choice

The Aztec would go here to buy goods and trade.

• Market

• The Great Pyramid

• Palace

​Most Aztecs lived in small, simple homes often made of adobe bricks or wood with wattle-and-daub construction and thatched roofs. These homes were usually one-story with one or two rooms and sometimes had gardens nearby. Inside, a sleeping area, cooking area, and an area for shrines to worship the gods.

​Shelter

Multiple Choice

To meet their needs for shelter, the Aztecs:

• built homes using adobe and wood

• relied on tents made of animal skins
• used only thatch for roofing
• built homes from stone and clay

​Lake Texcoco contained salt water. Providing fresh water for the population of Tenochtitlán was a challenge. The Aztec used sand, dirt, rocks, and wooden stakes to build three wide causeways. Each causeway was about two and a half miles long. These wide, raised roads connected the city to natural springs on the mainland. Each causeway supported an aqueduct, a structure built to carry water.

​Water

Multiple Choice

To meet their needs for drinking water, the Aztecs built:

• wells and reservoirs
• pipes and tanks
• aqueducts and causeways

• waterfalls and lakes

​Aqueducts

• ​An aqueduct is like a super long water slide that carries water from one place to another.

• Aqueducts are built to gently slope downward, so the water can flow easily, like a long, slow water slide.
  
  

Multiple Choice

What is an aqueduct?

• A structure for storing fish.
• A type of ancient building material.
• A method of irrigation using wind power.
• An aqueduct is a water transportation system.

Open Ended

How did the Aztecs meet their needs for drinking water?

​The emperor demanded tribute, or taxes, from all parts of the empire. When he conquered new lands, the Aztecs forced people to pay tribute in goods, including cacao, rubber, seashells, cotton, feathers, and precious gems.

These goods contributed to Tenochtitlán’s wealth and greatness. The emperor’s demands created anger among the conquered city-states.

​Wants

Multiple Choice

The emperor made conquered people pay taxes called:

• Levy
• Taxation
• Duty
• Tribute