1.6 AP Olmecs Maya Aztecpost3.pptx

Mexico
 Thousands of years ago, the first people of Mexico made
great civilizations

Mexico
 For hundreds of years, different ethnic groups mixed,
making today’s Mexico.

The People
 Mexico’s first people came from Asia around 40,000 years
ago.

 40,000 BCE First Human Migrate from Asia

 1400-400 BCE Olmec
 Teotihuacan 100 BCE-700 CE
 250-1539 Maya
 Toltecs
 1325-1521 Aztec Empire
 Spanish Empire (Conquistadors) 1502-1829
 Independence 1830

Time Line
1782
623 B.C.
Olmecs
Aztec
Maya
Spanish Conquistadors
Independence

 Today the Bering Strait is 55 miles or 85 KM wide, 290
feet or 30-50 meters deep.

 During Paleolithic times, you could walk from Asia to
North America.

 As the Ice Age ended, sea level rose and the ice melted,
blocking the land route.

 Agriculture arose independently in at least three regions:
South America, Mesoamerica, and eastern North
America.

 They domesticated successful food plants—most notably a
mutant corn(maize) with husks, dating to c. 5300 BCE—
permanent village farming life by about 1500 BCE.

 They were agricultural geniuses, and created most of the
food that we enjoy today.

 Over thousands of years, they developed beans,

tomatoes, potatoes, squash,

tomatoes, potatoes, squash, chili pepper, sweet
potatoes, cotton and chocolate.

 Complex societies such as theMaya and Aztecs built
elaborate irrigation systems

 In Peru the Inca built terraced fields on the steep
Andean slopes. The Inca developed hundreds of
varies of potatoes to grown in different temperatures.

The Olmecs (1200 BCE) and Teotihuacan created
prehistoric civilizations .

Most Olmecs lived in small villages, planting some crops along river banks.

They mostly farmed by slash-and-burn agriculture to clear the forests and shrubs,
and to provide new fields once the old fields were exhausted.

They mostly farmed by slash-and-burn agriculture. The cleared jungle with fire to
have new fields.

The Olmec had large religious centers, like La
Venta for their religious rituals.

La Venta had a pyramid that towered above
the city, pointing true north.

Leaders sat on thrones during religious
rituals. DIG DEEPER

They carved images of their rulers in gigantic heads.
DIG DEEPER

The Olmec may have been the first civilization in the region to develop a writing system.
Symbols found in 2002 and 2006 date from 650 BCE] and 900 BCE.
Cascajal Block

The Long Count calendar used by many subsequent Mesoamerican civilizations, as
well as the concept of zero, may have been devised by the Olmecs.

Later the Mayans took over these lands.

Teotihuacán ( called “Place of the Gods” by the
Aztecs) was the first major city in Mesoamerica.

Teotihuacán flourished from 100 BCE to 550 CE.
DIG DEEPER

200,000 people called the city home.
DIG DEEPER

Most people were farmers, that lived in government
housing, painted in murals glorifying the rulers.

The art and architecture of the city shows it was a polytheistic
society, with the primary deity being the Great Goddess of
Teotihuacan, which is depicted as a spider goddess.

Like the Ancient Greeks that sent youths to Crete to be
sacrificed to the Minitour, Teotihuacán sacrificed
animals and even humans (rare) to the goddess.

They sacrificed animals and even humans (rare) to the
goddess.

In 1989, researchers discovered 18 sacrificial victims
buried in a long pit just south of the Temple of
Quetzalcoatl.

They later discovered that around 200 other victims
were sacrificed when the temple was built in the early
3rd century A.D.

Sacrifices were male warriors in military attire, young
women and males of high social status.

The city rulers lived on and in the pyramids.

Teotihuacá made weapons of a special green
obsidian. DIG DEEPER

Teotihuacá was the center of weapons trade, which
allowed it to grow.

Obsidian is a volcanic rock, that is so sharp it is used
today for eye surgery. DIG DEEPER

Like the ancient Greeks in Europe, they greatly
influenced the region, yet we do not even know what
language they spoke.

According to archeologists, deforestation led to soil
erosion. DIG DEEPER

Deforestation is the loss or destruction of forest or trees,
mainly for logging or farming.

Farmers could no longer grow enough food to eat, they
blamed the leaders of the city.

In 550, the city was destroyed by fire. Archeologists
theorize that people burned down the leaders homes
and moved out.

Around 600 A.D., major buildings were deliberately burned and artworks and religious
sculptures were destroyed, suggesting an uprising from the poor against the ruling elite
Another theory holds that invaders sacked and burned it—though Teotihuacan exerted
its military power over other cultures, the city lacked fortifications and military structures
By 750 A.D., the remaining inhabitants of the city had all abandoned their homes to join
neighboring cultures or return to their ancestral homes.

Economically, other cultures leaned how to make their
own obsidian weapons.

The Aztecs would later discover the abandoned city and
name it “the city of the Gods”. DIG DEEPER

The Aztecs copied the layout and architecture to build
their capital city.

Native American Empires
 The Mayas produced a Classical Civilization from 250-900.

Maya
 Mayan civilization had city-states, each governed by a
king claiming to be ancestors of the Gods.

 city state
 nounhistorical
 a city that with its surrounding territory forms an
independent state.

Maya
 Mayan city-states competed and made war on each
other, with the Kings leading in battle.

Maya  The Maya built well planned cities, with many
temple pyramids, government housing.

Maya  The Maya built well planned cities, with many
temple pyramids, government housing.
Tikal

Maya  Royalty, the wealthy, and priests lived on top of
pyramids.
Tikal

Maya  Had a glyph complete writing system .

 Glyph is a writing system using symbols instead of
letters.

Maya
 The most advanced
mathematics of all the
ancient world. Including
the zero, not known to
Europe until early modern
times.

Maya The most accurate calendars and observations of the
stars.
DIG DEEPER

Maya Forged gold, but never developed bronze or iron.
DIG DEEPER

 They built large ball courts, players struck a 4 kg
rubber ball with their hips, forearms, rackets, bats, or
hand stones.

 They remained primarily stone age people, although
Teotihuacán developed copper work, the Maya continued to
use mostly sharpened obsidian
Maya

 The Maya were deeply religious, and worshiped various
gods related to nature, including the gods of the sun, the
moon, rain and corn.

 At the top of Maya society were the kings, or “kuhul ajaw”
(holy lords), who claimed to be related to gods and followed
a hereditary succession.

 They were thought to serve as mediators between the gods
and people on earth, and performed the elaborate religious
ceremonies and rituals so important to the Maya culture.

 Like the Ancient Romans, the Maya offered sacrifices
to the gods and goddesses.

 Like the. Greeks of the 10th Century BCE or the British
at Stone Henge, the Mayas occasionally sacrificed high
status prisoners of war to the gods.

Tikal
 Allied or came under the influence of Teotihuacán
 Built many pyramids and public buildings at Tikal.
 Made Tikal a super city state South by defeating other city
states in the south.

Calakmul made economic alliances with the surrounding city
states to counter the rise of Tikal. The 100 year strategy
worked, as Teotihuacán fell, Tikal was surrounded by allies of
Calakmul.

King Yikin Chan Kawil of Tikal 734-
760
 Built many pyramids and public
buildings at Tikal.
 Reinvigorated Tikal and brought the
southern city states back under the
control of Tikal.
 Tikal becomes one of the largest
cities on the planet.

 As city state rivalry grew, so the demand for bigger armies
and larger populations.

 However, the environment of the Mayas could not supply the
needed food to sustain these huge populations.

 During the 900’s to 1400’s the Mayas abandoned the southern
cities due to deforestation, weak king system, and constant
fighting.
Maya

 Mayan population moved near rivers and the northern coast.
Maya Postclassic period (c. 950–1539 AD

 During the 900’s to 1400’s the Mayas abandoned their cities
due to farming challenges, deforestation, constant fighting
between the god kings of each city state.
Maya

 There are no major river systems on the Yucatan Peninsular,
fresh water was a major challenge.
Maya

 Limestone bedrock with sink holes filled with water were the
only supplies of fresh water .
Maya

 They continued using slash and burn farming, leading to soil
And corn could not be stored for more than a year without
rotting due to the climate.
Maya

 However, the growing populations of huge cities continued to
demand more and more food. So, farmers continued using
slash and burn farming, leading to soil exhaustion.
Maya

 Soon, the city swelled to perhaps 90,000 inhabitances.
Maya

This led to a huge boom in building in the city states, people
even built homes on the mountain side and the cities swelled in
population.
Maya

 Kings ordered farmers to keep growing crops on plots without
allowing the fields to rest (fallow). Soon the city states had cleared
all the land between the city states for farming.
Maya

 Then long periods of drought combined with exhausted soil
led to crop failures, malnutrition, and eventually starvation.
Maya

 By800, even the graves of nobles show signs of malnutrition.
Maya Post classic period (c. 950–1539 AD

 Kings were supposed to be related to the gods, and if you
supported the king, the gods should protect you.

 This led to social unrest, as people burned down the Kings
palaces in several Mayan city states.

 Cities could not support large populations so those that could
left.

 Refugees leaving cities traveled to other cities, putting them
under more food stress, causing them to collapse.

 Soon people fought desperately with each other over food.

 Cities became less desirable and people lived in villages.

 By around 800, Tikal had been mostly abandoned and the
rainforest began retaking the city.
Maya

 Some royal families moved north into smaller cities (built on
hills surrounded by ravines) and continued rivalries and
constantly fought each other.

 In 1448, the last great city Mayapan was abandoned after
decades of war and deforestation

 Contact with the Spanish brought diseases that wiped out at
least half the population.

 Yet, the Mayan fought against the Spanish conquistadors, and
retreated further into the Tropical rainforests.

 It took the Spanish Empire more than 200 years to conquer
the Mayan people.

 The Spanish conquest of most of the area would strip away
most of the defining features of Maya civilization.

 However, many Maya villages remained remote from Spanish
colonial authority, and for the most part continued to
manage their own affairs.

 Some Maya communities and the nuclear family
maintained their traditional day-to-day life to today.

Toltecs Built an empire from Tula as the Mayan
kingdoms fell.

Toltecs
They spoke a language called Nahuatl, which became the
main language of the region. Toltec ,means artists.

Toltecs
But they brought military violence to Central America.

Toltecs
They modeled themselves on the Teotihuacan Empire.

Toltecs
Perhaps ending similarly, the capital city of Tula was
abandoned and fell into ruin 1168.

Aztec Around this time, the nomadic bans of Meticas
moved through the area.

Aztec  They called themselves Mēxihcah , had
arrived in the valley to find it totally settled
in the late 1200’s.

Aztec  They exchanged military service for food
for decades, nobody given a home.

Aztec  They settled on an island in the swamp
area, and named their hut village after King
Tenoch.

Aztec Tenochtitlan would become one of the largest
cities of the Middle Ages population 200,000.

Aztec  Farmers built floating islands to grow food called
chinampas.

Aztec
 Island gardens grew maize beans tomatoes, chilies, flowers.
They ate fish tacos, and made salt from brackish water.

Aztec
 Took on old cultures of Toltecs, welcomed
craftsman and engineers

Aztec  In 1418 , they built up 3 bridges, aqueducts
and dams.

Aztec  With plenty of food and safe from raids the
city flourished.

Aztec  The Aztec ‘s had a highly structured class
system led by a king later an emperor and
military officials.

Aztec  The king later emperor owned all the land, with
farmers workers and slaves the bottom of society.

Aztec government was a theocracy, which is rule by religious
leaders.

At the top was the king later emperor, known as the Great
Speaker, who was the political ruler as well as a divine
representative of the gods.

Next in the social hierarchy were land-owning nobles, who also
formed the majority of Aztec military leadership

Next in rank were scribes and healers, followed by craftspeople
and traders..

A special merchant class called pochteca traded in luxury
goods.

Below the traders were the peasants and common soldiers.

Captured and Aztec slaves were the lowest.

Aztec people could be enslaved for not pay their debts or
for crimes.

Aztec  Using obsidian weapons they built an empire by
conquering most of the Mexican plateau.
DIG DEEPER

Aztec Math
Aztec Writing
DIG DEEPER

 Role of Women
 Women played an important role in the Aztec tribute system
since they wove the valuable cloth that local rulers demanded
as part of the regular tribute.

 Role of Women
As the demand for cloth tribute increased, an Aztec husband
might obtain more than one wife in order to be able to pay the
tribute.

 Role of Women
Aztec women became priestesses, midwives, healers, or
merchants.

 Role of Women
Some noblewomen worked as scribes to female members of
royal families.

 The city expanded greatly, Its population would reach 200,000
making it larger than any European Capital of the time.

Aztec Sun Stone --
Calendar DIG DEEPER

 The city expanded greatly, the most imposing temple the double
red and blue pyramids, which every King expanded on

 They worshipped an ever-evolving pantheon of
hundreds of deities, many of whom were
considered to have both male and female aspects.

 The most imposing temple the double red and blue pyramids,
which every King expanded on, making it larger and grander.

 It was dedicated simultaneously to Huitzilopochtli, god of
the Sun and War, and Tlaloc, god of rain and agriculture.

 Huitzilopochtli,, the humming bird god of sun war sacrifice,
needed energy to chase the Moon and stars everyday

 If Huitzilopochtli ran out of energy , the world would
end, so they sacrificed human hearts everyday.

 They believed that every human being had part of the Sun in
their heart, which makes our skin warm.

 Aztec solders were trained to capture prisoners, not kill on
the battle field..

 Aztec solders recived a feathered cloak after capturing 2
prisoners. were trained to capture prisoners,

 Aztec solders capturing 4 prisoners were promoted to
Jaguar warrior (enter nobility).

 Jaguar warrior the captured more people could be
promoted to the top or Eagle Warriors.

 Some historians argue that capturing people for sacrifice
simply moved the place of death of warfare.

 Medieval European battles would leave 10,000 dead on
battlefield and devastate villages, while the Aztec battlefield
would have no dead, but bring back captives to capital.

Captured Tlaxcala tribes men sacrificed to the Sun
God.
 High ranking priests sacrificed conquered people
to their gods, to help prevent the end of time.

 One affect would be to terrify people into behaving. Yet, may
be comparable to the spectacular public punishments and
executions in Europe that would last until the 18th Century.

 They became a power after 1400, as King Itzcoatl
defeats off Tepanecs

 The Tepanecs ruled the valley from Azcapotzgal .

 The Tepanec king Tezozomoc ruled by fear and cruelty.

 King Tezozomoc used assassination and military brute
force to rule.

 King Itzoatl allies with homeless prince Nexahualcoyotl,
homeless as King Tezozomoc had assassinated his father and
taken Nexahualcoyotl’s city of Texcoco.

 Prince Tezozomoc spends exile in Tenochtitlan befriending
King Izakolto

When Tezozomoc dies (106 yr old), his many sons start a
civil war over his replacement in 1426

 Itzcoatl and Nexahualcoyotl go from village to village
gaining support to overthrow the hated Tepanece,
everyone joins, a 2 year war ends as the new allies burn
the Tepanecs capital to the ground.

 King Itzcoatl and King Nexahualcoyotl along with an
alliance with Tlacopan make Triple Alliance to rule the valley,
that becomes the Aztec Empire.

 Itzcoatl and his chief advisor Tlacaelel ruthless building of
empire.

 Tlacaelel (chief advisor to the next 3 Kings) standardizes
the tax and tribute system.

 Tlacaelel (chief advisor to the next 3 Kings) and Izocotal
burns book on the history of the Mexicas that did not glorify
the warrior class.

 Tlacaelel greatly increased human sacrifice, and the .
War God now became the ruler of all the gods.

 Only warriors that died in battle would go to serve
Hummingbird war god in his daily trip across the sky.

 King Nexahualcoyotl ruling from Texcoco was the
opposite.

 King Nexahualcoyotl ruling from bans human and
animal sacrifice,

 King Nexahualcoyotl wrote poetry and built a huge
library and zoo.

King Itzcoatl quickly conquers neighboring cities around
Lake Texaco Most in valley give up without a fight just give
tribute and taxes

By 1440, the next King Montezuma 1st reformed the tribute
system and expanded the empire with the advice of Tlacaelel .

The Empire remained based on tribute, which went one way
into Tenochtitlan. They built roads with running messengers
every 2 miles.

 Chief Advisor Tlacaelel and the 4 Kings developed a tribute
system that insured their dominance.

 Conquered people were forced to pay tribute, surrender lands,
and perform military service.

 Tribute included practical goods such as food, cloth, and
 firewood, as well as luxury items such as feathers, beads, and
jewelry.

 The Aztecs allowed local rulers to stay in their positions to serve
as tribute collectors, so they had political dominance without
direct administrative control.

 In exchange, the conquered people were extended Aztec
protection.

 The Aztecs grouped city-states into provinces.
 They moved warriors and their families to each province's
capital to make sure the province remained under Aztec
control.

 In addition, an Aztec official was stationed in each capital to
collect tribute from local officials.

The one people to avoid direct rule were the Tlaxcalans.

The Tlaxcalans lived over the mountains east of valley Mexico,
and were constantly at war with the Aztecs.

TheAztecs blockaded the mountain passes so no luxury
goods went to Tlaxcalans.

TheAztecs forced the Tlaxcalans to participate in the Flower
Wars, colorful parade of warriors that ended in the Aztec
capture and sacrifice up to 650Tlaxcalans at a time.

In 1487, Tlacaele dies the empire ruled perhaps 6 million
people, and seemed to be on the way of becoming the
greatest in the Americas.

But within 30 years will meet an enemy more ruthless and
warlike then themselves, the Spanish Conquistadors. The
Spanish would find a strong ally the Tlaxcalans with
generations of hate for Aztec Empire

Aztec  Built their capital Tenochtitlahe on an island,
Mexico City today.

Aztec The Aztec Empire was still expanding when Spanish
explorers landed on the Yucatan Peninsula in 1519.

 However, the Aztec capital began to suffer from epidemics of
small pox since 1500.

Cycle of Conquest &
Colonization
Explorers
Official
European
Colony!

Fernando Cortez
1518-1520
The First Spanish Conquests:
The Aztecs
Conquistadors

 Cortés (300 Conquistadors) allied himself with the long-
time enemy of the Aztecs, the Confederacy of Tlaxcala and
arrived at the gates of Tenochtitlan on November 8, 1519.

 The Spanish and their Tlaxcallan allies became increasingly
dangerous and unwelcome guests in the capital city

 The Spanish and their Tlaxcallan allies became increasingly
dangerous and unwelcome guests in the capital city. In June
1520, hostilities broke out, culminating in the massacre in
the Great Temple

The Death of Montezuma II
DIG DEEPER

 The Spaniards fled the town on July 1, barely escaping alive.

 The Aztec capital suffered an epidemic of small pox.

 Cortez returned in the spring of 1521 to lay siege to
Tenochtitlan, with a large army.

 90–100 cavalry
900–1,300 infantry
6 guns
Tlaxcalans 80,000–200,000

 The Spaniards destroyed the city on August 13th.

Mexico Surrenders to
Cortez
after 90 percent of the Aztecs and Maya die of dieses.

 The Spanish installed puppet rulers such as Andres de Tapia
Motelchuh, eventually conquering all of Meso America and
making it a Spanish colony.

 A puppet ruler is a person who has a title indicating
possession of political power, but who, in reality, is
controlled by outside individuals or forces. Such
outside power can be exercised by a foreign
government, in which case the puppet ruler's domain
is called a puppet state.

An Independent Nation
 For the next 300 years, Mexico was part of the Spanish
Empire.

Colonial Rule
 The Spanish brought the feudal system of government
to New Spain.
DIG DEEPER
Viceroy Royal Governor
Slaves South American and African

The ruler of Spain appointed a royal viceroy, who
gave large amounts of land to elite men to rule.

 This included the present-day Mexican states of
Oaxaca, Morelos, Veracruz and Mexico.

 Cortez received the Oaxaca Valley for himself, which
his family owned until 1814. It came with 23,000
servants and slaves.

 They also brought the Roman Catholic Church.

Priests went with the conquistadors
to convert people to the Roman
Catholic Church.
DIG DEEPER

Friar Deigo de Landa 1524 – 1579
 Ruthlessly converted indigenous people to the RCC,
and burnt all the Mayan writings and libraries.
DIG DEEPER

The Influence of the
Colonial Catholic Church
Guadalajara
Cathedral
Our Lady of
Guadalupe
Spanish Mission

1.6 AP Olmecs Maya Aztecpost3.pptx

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