CHAPTER 6: MESOAMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS

1. CHAPTER 6: MESOAMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS

2. Section 1: The Maya Picture is of what is left of the Maya people’s city. Image taken from: science.nasa.gov

3. Migration to the Americas • Mesoamerica is made up of central Mexico to northern Central America. • People from Asia were able to migrate to Mesoamerica, because the land bridge was exposed do to lower sea levels, thus allowing people to travel from one continent to another. • The text argues that the people who traveled to Mesoamerica did so in search of food.

4. Geography of Mesoamerica • Mesoamerica’s geography included highlands that cover the south of Mesoamerica and lowlands that lie to the north. • The volcanoes ashes produced rich soil for farming. The volcanoes also provide a natural volcanic glass called obsidian, which was used to make sharp blades for spears and arrows. • Heavy rainfall in parts of the lands supported a dense rain forest. Although, the rain forest was not rich in soil, it did produce valuable resources such as plant food, animals, which were hunted for their meat, skin, and feathers.

5. The Olmecs and Zapotecs • The Olmec people created the slash-and-burn method of purifying soil to make it rich. • The Olmecs also were able to grow a surplus of food, which allowed for a larger population. • They were also known for their artwork, in which they carved their leader’s heads out of stone. • Finally, their practices and cultures have contributed to the way future civilizations in Mesoamerica lived, as the Zapotec people show. • The Zapotec people contributed the city known today as Monte Alban and the first writing system for the Americas.

6. Maya Civilization Picture depicts the Mayans carving out subwoofers. Image taken from: dismuse.com

7. Maya Cities • The ancient Mayan cities consisted of hundreds of buildings, pyramids, temples, and palaces. • The Mayan cities had large plazas, which were the gathering places of the time. • The causeways or raised roads, connected the plazas to each other. • Finally, Mayan people did not generally live in the big cities, rather they lived in the farming villages surrounding the cities.

8. Maya Society • The Mayan society consisted of: Nobles, middle class, and commoners. • The noble class consisted of the families that had the power of the civilization. This consisted of the king, high officials, and priests. • The middle class consisted of lower-ranking lords and higher-ranking commoners. • The Commoner class consisted of most of the Mayan people. They worked in the fields and on the village buildings. They raised their children and tended to their gardens.

9. Farming and Trade • Farming was important to the Mayan cities, because the production of food on farms was the center of the Mayan economy. • The Mayan people like the Olmecs used the slash-and-burn agriculture method of farming and they also fertilized the fields. • Traders from the villages traded food, cotton, and cacao beans, while traders from the highlands traded obsidian, jade, and feathers from the quetzal, a colorful tropical bird.

10. Maya Government, Religion, and Fall • Mayan city-states often fought with each other to acquire land and captives. They also fought for trade routes, which would increase their economic means. • Mayan people were very religious people who believed in many Gods. They believed that most of these Gods controlled the forces of nature. They worshipped their Gods on the top of pyramids. Like other civilizations before them, the Mayan believed that their priests had a special relationship with the Gods, thus people often tried to please the priests. The Mayan people also believed in human sacrifices. They believed that sacrificing a human was an offering to their Gods and thus this was a regular practice. • Mayan cities were crumbling one after another due to drought and warfare. Eventually, the Spanish conquered them, but the Mayan people and language is still very much alive today.

11. Maya Achievements Picture is the Maya Calendar. Image was taken from: shellybarclay.com.

12. Writing and Astronomy • The Mayan people were able to preserve accurate information about their culture and way of life by creating the first writing system of Mesoamerica. • This system, like that of the Egyptians was written in hieroglyphics. • Their hieroglyphics system consisted of 800 glyphs or symbols that stood for words, ideas, or sound. • Mayan people were able to make great contributions to the study of astronomy. • They were able to plot the movements of the sun, moon, and planets, even without a telescope. • Finally, they also developed a complex system of calendars that consisted of a 260 day religious calendar and a 365 day solar calendar.

13. Mathematics, Architecture, and Art • The Maya people created an advanced system of numerals that included zero. Adding zero allowed counting to become much more simple. • The Mayan people’s justification for building pyramids were very religious in nature, as they were very religious people. Thus they believed that if their temple was at the highest it could possibly be, then they would be closer to the Gods and the Gods could hear what they were asking for. • The Mayan people created artwork that were brilliantly colored with reds, greens, blues, and yellows. Artists in Maya created murals, pottery, and jewelry. They also made magnificent stelaes, which are stone slabs craved with writings about Mayan history.

14. Section 2: The Aztecs Picture of an Aztec pyramid. Image taken from: travellng.com.

15. The land of the Aztecs • The Aztec was located predominately in the Valley of Mexico. The Valley of Mexico was an area of a broad high plateau that stretched across the central highlands. The temperature of the area was cool due to its high elevation. Volcanoes rose above the plateau, thus the basin located below the volcanoes had fertile soils. This was excellent for farming and population growth. • The Aztec were brilliant at architecture. They managed to built causeways that connected the island city to the lake shore. They were also able to build chinampas, which were manmade islands that they farmed to increase their crop production. This also allowed for a growth in population. Finally, they were able to secure fresh water by building a dike that held back brackish water from the city. • The Aztec wanted to have a larger empire and they were able to acquire a larger empire through warfare. By the 1500s the Aztecs controlled a significant part of Mesoamerica. They had a full- blown empire, which included pyramids and glittering palaces.

16. Aztec Government • The Aztec government had a king that had absolute power, otherwise known as an absolute monarchy. • The Aztec king had an alliance with the kings of Tlacopan and Texcoco, but the Aztec king had the most power of the three. • The kings of the Triple Alliance, as they were called, collected tribute from the kingdoms that they took over. According to the text, tribute flowed through the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan in abundance. • When the Aztec king died, the Supreme Council chose a member of the ruling family as the new king. • The king of the Aztecs is advised by three councils: The Supreme Council, War Council, and Council of Four, but ultimately it was the king who made all decisions regarding the Aztec people and civilization.

17. Aztec Society • The Aztec people were very religious people. They believed that the Gods Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc controlled everything and their everyday lives. • The God Huitzilopochtli brought success in battle and made the sun rise. • Every year the Aztecs sacrificed many people as offerings to their Gods. They believed that without human blood, the Gods would become weak. • The Aztec people had two social classes. The first social class consisted of the nobles and the second of the commoners. • The commoner’s life centered on farming and household duties. The men tended the fields, while the women cooked, cleaned, and raised the children. Some commoners worked as artisans while those who were considered to be wealthy traveled the empire as traders.

18. Aztec Achievements • The Aztec people achieved greatly in the areas of arts and engineering. • The Aztecs were brilliant engineers, as they created canals within cities and build aqueducts that carried fresh water from the lake to the surrounding hills. • The Aztec was also great in making jewelry and speeches. Their jewelry included rings, necklaces, and other jewelry made out of gold, silver, and other precious stones. • The Aztec people did not have a strong written language, but they were excellent speakers.