Ch.16 the early americas- 2003

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Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
Chapter 16
World History: Ancient Civilizations Through the Renaissance
The Maya
The Big Idea
The Maya developed an advanced civilization that thrived in Mesoamerica from about
250 until the 900s.
Main Ideas
•Geography helped shape the lives of the early Maya in Mesoamerica.
•During the Classic Age, the Maya built great cities linked by trade.
•Maya culture was influenced by social structure, religion, and achievements in science and
the arts.
•The decline of Maya civilization began in the 900s, for reasons that are still unclear.

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Chapter 16
Main Idea 1: Geography helped shape the lives of the early Maya in Mesoamerica.
• The Maya civilization developed in Mesoamerica.
• Thick forests covered the area, so people had to clear
the land for farming.
- The Maya grew a variety of crops, including beans,
squash, and maize, or corn.
- The forests also brought valuable resources, such as
animals to use for food and trees for building
materials.
• The Maya lived in small villages that traded with each
other.
• As trade grew, villages grew.

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Chapter 16
Main Idea 2: During the Classic Age, the Maya built great cities linked by trade.
• The Maya civilization reached its height in a period called the
Classic Age.
• During this period, the civilization spread to the Yucatan
Peninsula. It included more than 40 cities of 5,000 to 50,000
people each.
• Cities were really city-states, each with its own government
and king.
• No single ruler ever united the many cities into one empire.

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Chapter 16
Maya Classic Age
Trade
•The Maya cities in the
highlands traded with those in
the lowlands.
•People traded items like cacao
beans, obsidian, jade, bird
feathers, and supplies for
construction.
Cities
•The Maya built grand
buildings, some of which
honored Maya kings such
as Pacal.
•They also built structures
such as canals, ball courts,
and large plazas.

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Chapter 16
Main Idea 3: Maya culture was influenced by social structure, religion, and
achievements in science and the arts.
• The Maya civilization reached its height in a period called the
Classic Age.
• Maya worshipped many gods who controlled a different part
of daily life.
- Gods could be helpful or harmful, so the Maya tried to
please the gods.
- The Maya believed the gods needed blood to prevent
disasters, so they offered their blood from piercings or
sometimes used human sacrifices.
• Maya achievements included advances in astronomy and
writing.

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Chapter 16
Upper Class
Held the highest position in Maya society. He was
believed to be related to the gods.
Priests, merchants, and noble warriors. Together
with the king, they held all the power in Maya
society.
Most Maya fell into this group, made up of farming
families who lived outside the cities. They also had to
“pay” rulers with crops or goods and helped construct
buildings.
Lower Class
Slaves Usually men captured in battle or those who
worked for farmers and the upper class.
Maya Social Structure
King

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Chapter 16
Maya Achievements
Science
•Built observatories,
buildings from which
people could study
the sky
•Created a 365-day
calendar for planting
and a 260-day one for
religious events
•Created a number
system that included
zero
Writing
•Had a writing
system similar to
Egyptian
hieroglyphics
•Wrote on stone
tablets, bark paper
books, and passed
down stories orally

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Chapter 16
Main Idea 4: The decline of Maya civilization began in the 900s, for reasons that are
still unclear.
• Historians are not sure why Maya civilization
collapsed.
• One theory is that increased warfare over food may
have destroyed the Maya.
• Another theory is that people may have rebelled
against the kings, who demanded too much of
them.
• A long period of droughts may have played a role.
• Most scientists agree that it was a combination of
causes.

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Chapter 16
The Aztec
The Big Idea
The strong Aztec Empire, founded in central Mexico in 1325, lasted until the Spanish
conquest in 1521.
Main Ideas
•The Aztecs built a rich and powerful empire in central Mexico.
•Life in the empire was shaped by social structure, religion, and warfare.
•Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec Empire in 1521.

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Chapter 16
Main Idea 1: The Aztecs built a rich and powerful empire in central Mexico.
• The first Aztecs were farmers, but when they arrived
in Central America, all the good farmland was taken.
• They settled on a swampy island in the middle of
Lake Texcoco, built a capital, and started to conquer
nearby towns.

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Chapter 16
The Aztecs’ Rise to Power
• War was the key factor in the Aztecs’ rise to power.
• The Aztecs built alliances, or partnerships, to build their
empire.
• The Aztecs made the people they conquered pay tribute, or
give them cotton, gold, or food.
• The Aztecs controlled a huge trade network. Markets drew
buyers and sellers from all over the Aztec Empire.
• By the early 1500s the Aztecs had the most powerful state in
Mesoamerica.

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Chapter 16
Tenochtitlán
• Tenochtitlán was the capital of the Aztec Empire. It was built
on an island in the middle of a lake.
• The Aztecs built causeways, or raised roads across water or
wet ground, so people could access the city.
• The Aztecs built stone canals to bring water to the city and
floating gardens to raise food and flowers.
• It was the greatest city in the Americas during the time of the
Aztecs.

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Chapter 16
Main Idea 2: Life in the empire was shaped by social structure, religion, and warfare.
• The Aztecs had a complex social structure, a demanding
religion, and a rich culture.
• The Aztecs worshipped many gods and regularly made human
sacrifices to please the gods.
- Sacrifices were often battle captives. Aztec warriors
waged frequent battles with neighboring people to
supply enough victims.
• They studied astronomy and devised a calendar like the Maya
did.

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Chapter 16
Classes of Aztec Society: Kings and Nobles
• The king was the most powerful person in Aztec
society.
• The king was in charge of law, trade and tribute, and
warfare.
• The king had nobles to help him manage the
kingdom.
• The nobles were tax collectors and judges and
performed other jobs as well. They passed their
titles down from father to son.

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Chapter 16
Classes of Aztec Society: Warriors and Priests
• The priests had a great deal of influence over the
lives of the Aztecs.
• The priests had many duties, including keeping
calendars to decide when to plant crops and holding
religious ceremonies.
• Aztec warriors also had many duties. They fought to
capture victims for religious sacrifices. They also
brought great wealth to the empire.
• The warriors were very well respected by the
Aztecs.

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Chapter 16
Classes of Aztec Society: Merchants and Artisans
• Merchants gathered goods from all over the empire
and sold them in the main market.
• Many merchants were very wealthy

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Chapter 16
Classes of Aztec Society: Farmers and Slaves
• Farmers and slaves made up the lowest class of Aztec society.
• Most of the people who lived in the empire were farmers who
grew maize, beans, and a few other crops.
• Farmers were very poor and did not own their own land.
• Slaves were people who had been captured in battle or who
could not pay their debts. They were laborers, and if they did
not obey, they were sacrificed to the gods.

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Chapter 16
Main Idea 3: Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec Empire in 1521.
• In the late 1400s Spanish explorers and soldiers
arrived in the Americas. The Spanish conquerors, or
conquistadors, came to explore new lands, search
for gold, and spread the Catholic religion.

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Chapter 16
Cortés and Moctezuma
• A small group of conquistadors led by Cortés reached Mexico in
1519.
• Moctezuma II, the leader of the Aztec, believed that Cortés was
a god.
• Moctezuma sent Cortés gifts, including gold. Cortés wanted
more gold, so he went to Moctezuma.
• Cortés took Moctezuma prisoner. The other Aztecs attacked
Cortés and his men. The Spanish were driven out, but
Moctezuma was killed.
• Cortés returned with many Indian allies, and in 1521 they
defeated the Aztecs and ended their empire.

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Chapter 16
Causes of the Defeat of the Aztecs
• Alliances The Spanish had help from other Indians in the
region who resented the Aztecs’ harsh rule.
• Weapons The Spanish had better weapons than the Aztecs.
They had cannons, armor, swords, and horses that the Aztecs
did not have.
• Disease The Spanish had unknowingly brought deadly diseases
such as smallpox to the Americas. These diseases killed the
Aztecs, who had never been exposed to such diseases.

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Chapter 16
The Incas
The Big Idea
The Incas controlled a huge empire in South America, but it was conquered by the
Spanish.
Main Ideas
•The Incas created an empire with a strong central government in South America.
•Life in the Inca Empire was influenced by social structure, religion, and the Incas’ cultural
achievements.
•Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas and took control of the region in 1537.

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Chapter 16
Main Idea 1: The Incas created an empire with a strong central government in
South America.
In South America, a great empire arose. The Inca
Empire began as a small tribe in the Andes, but it later
stretched from modern Ecuador to central Chile.

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Chapter 16
Foundations for the Inca Empire
• The early Incas began as a small tribe in the Andes
Mountains. A ruler named Pachacuti led the Incas to
expand their territory through agreements with, or
conquests of, other tribes.
• Later Incan rulers continued to expand their
territory. By the 1500s the Inca Empire was huge and
had 12 million people.

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Chapter 16
The Incan Government
• They made the conquered leaders move out of their villages
and move in with leaders who were loyal to the Incan
government.
• The Inca made the children of the conquered leaders come to
the Incan capital to learn about Incan ways.
• The Incas established an official language, Quechua.
• They controlled the economy by having the Inca pay a tax with
their labor.
• There were no markets or merchants. Instead, the government
would distribute goods. Leftover goods were stored in the
capital for emergencies.

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Chapter 16
Main Idea 2: Life in the Inca Empire was influenced by social structure, religion, and
the Incas’ cultural achievements.
• Rulers controlled Incan society very closely but protected the
general welfare of all the empire.
• Common people had little freedom, and not everyone was
treated equally.

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Chapter 16
Society and Daily Life
Upper Class
•Kings, priests, and government
officials made up the Incan upper
class.
•Men worked for the government,
and women had household duties.
•Sons went to school.
•Upper-class families had many
privileges, such as private schools,
stone houses, and the best clothes.
Lower Class
•The lower class was made up of
farmers, artisans, and servants.
There were no slaves in Incan
society.
•They worked on government
farms, served in the army, worked
in mines, or built roads.
•Most children did not go to school
but instead learned to farm.

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Chapter 16
Religion in the Inca Empire
• The Inca Empire had an official religion.
• When they conquered new regions, they taught this religion to
the conquered people.
• They allowed the conquered people to worship their own gods
as well.
• The god of the sun was the most important god to the Incas.
They believed their kings were related to the sun god.
• The Incas rarely sacrificed humans. Instead, they sacrificed
llamas, cloth, or food.

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Chapter 16
Incan Contributions to Culture
• The Inca were known for their massive buildings and forts
made of huge stone blocks. Blocks were cut so precisely that
even today it is nearly impossible to fit a knife blade between
the stones.
• The Inca also built a system of roads that connected all parts of
the empire.

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Chapter 16
Main Idea 3: Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas and took control of the region in
1537.
A civil war began in the Inca Empire between the two sons of the
king, Atahualpa and Huáscar. Atahualpa eventually won the war,
but he was captured by the Spanish soon after.

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Chapter 16
The Fall of the Incas
• Although Atahualpa had won the war, the infighting had
weakened the empire.
• A group of conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro arrived in the
empire.
• When Atahualpa came to meet the Spanish, they attacked and
captured him.
• The Incas tried to free Atahualpa by offering the Spanish a
roomful of gold and silver, but the Spanish killed Atahualpa
anyway.
• The Spanish defeated the last of the Incas, and the empire fell
in 1537.

Ch.16 the early americas- 2003

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