2. Mexico Before Columbus Nomads settled in the area between 40,000-5,000 B.C. Agriculture and shelter was created People made communities and stayed in one place Common food was/is Corn, fish, cactus, and iguana.
3. The Olmec People Earliest developing settlers around 1,200 B.C. they were well established Created written language and calander Created pyramids
4. The Mayan People Also built Pyramids Held over thirty different languages Created a game similar to Basketball Cultivated and had agriculture and treasures Had many sub-cultures which make up today’s regions of Mexico
5. The Aztec People Dominated in the 14th, 15th, and 16th Century Centered in Tenochtitlan, Modern day Mexico City Known for the Aztec Empire Spoke Nahuatl
6. Columbus Comes to Americas In 1492 Columbus sited land Landed in the Bahamas He encountered natives who would repeat what he said To him they were backwards because their weapons were out of date
7. Cortes Arrives Governor of Cuba appointed Hernan Cortes to find more land Cortes found Yucatan (center of Mayan people) Quickly began attacking and taking over what the Mayan people had
8. Cortes’s Betrayal Cortes went to Montezuma and made him believe he was a good man Montezuma took Cortes’ men in Cortes and his men stole from Montezuma and corrupted his government
9. Christianity in Mexico Cortes told his men is was their duty to Jesus Christ to bring Christianity to the natives Those natives who survived disease were forcefully converted to Christianity
