Outline

• Intro

• Olmec

• Maya

• Aztec

• Putting it together

• Activity

MesoamericaChapter 8, Section 5

Mesoamerica

• After the domestication of corn and other crops, societies grew larger and more complex

• Several great civilizations rose in Mesoamerica, or Middle America.

Olmec – 1000 B.C. – 100 B.C.

• Lived in present-day Mexico

• Called the “mother culture”

• Developed planned cities, hieroglyphic writing and a calendar

• People lived in farming villages that surrounded religious cities

• Cities had temples, sacred pools, houses for nobles

• Little is known about the political structure, but is assumed to be hierarchical

Maya – 500 B.C. – 900 A.D.

• Lived in present day Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala

• The people lived in farming villages around religious cities

• Great traders: their cities were linked by cement roads and they used canoes to trade along the coast

• Had a writing system, sophisticated concepts of mathematics and astronomy

• Theories of collapse: environmental causes (soil depletion, deforestation), plague, war

Aztec – 1200 A.D. – 1500 A.D.

• Lived in present-day central Mexico

• Expanded their empire through military conquest

• By 1400 A.D. they had 5 million people

• The conquered people had to pay tribute of corn, clothing, rubber, and wood

• Capital city of Tenochtitlan was built on an island in Lake Texcoco. Causeways connected the island to the mainland.

• Filled with pyramid temples, palaces, zoos, schools, markets

• At its peak, 300,000 people lived in Tenochtitlan

Aztec

• The Aztec built aqueducts and irrigation and drainage system to control the water surrounding the city.

• They used chinampas for farming

• Aztec religion had 2 main gods: the rain god, who stood for farming, and the sun god, who stood for war and the expansion of the Aztec empire. It was believed that the sun god needed human sacrifices, or else the sun would not rise. Victims were usually prisoners of war.

• In 1521, the Spanish defeated the Aztec. They were overwhelmed by their guns and horses, as well as diseases like smallpox.

Mesoamerican AccomplishmentsOlmec

• Planned cities

• Hieroglyphic writing

• Calendar

Maya

• Religious cities

• Cement roads for trade

• Hieroglyphic writing

• Idea of zero

• 365-day calendar

• Ability to predict eclipses

Aztec

• Established a huge empire

• Constructed a monumental city

• Use of drainage canals and aqueducts