The document summarizes several advanced civilizations that existed in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and South America, including the Maya, Aztec, and Inca empires. It describes key aspects of each civilization like their cities, religious practices, social hierarchies, and interactions with Spanish conquistadors in the 15th and 16th centuries CE that ultimately led to their collapse.

1. Mesoamerica – advanced native civilizations of Central America – Maya, Aztec and Inca.

2. Where did humans first originate? How did people first come to America?

3. Maya – 300 – 900 C.E bloody civilization on the Yucatan peninsula (Mexico). Lived in the rainforest and built cities in the jungle *Gods fed on and survived on human blood– human sacrifice. *Built pyramids

4. Huge cities – many cities. Some with over 40,000 people

5. My sister’s been here!!! Chichen-Itza . – sacred Mayan religious center.

7. Indent this under Chicken-Itza Pok-a-tok – sacred ball game of the Maya. Using only head, knees and elbows get a rubber ball through a hoop thirty feet off the ground. Winners win great prizes. Losers are sacrificed.

9. Brutal but brilliant Hieroglyph writing system – One of only five original writing systems invented. Maya math – used zero. Used a form of decimal system = five = one

11. Great astronomers - predict eclipses of sun and moon. Believed the earth moved through cycles of birth and destruction. December 23rd, 2012 – Mayan Day of Doom – The end of this cycle according to the Maya. Around 900 C.E. the Maya abandon their cities and return to the jungle. No one knows why.

12. Empire ruled by an emperor Capital city of Cuzco Bodyguards wore golden armor Inca - 1200-1500 C.E. 2,500 mile long, 12 million people empire in the Andes Mountains in S. America.

13. Farmed the Andes Mts. Lived and farmed on the sides of mountains – potatoes and corn Terrace farming – cutting steps into mountain sides for farming.

15. Inca never invented the wheel! Never invented the wheel – used llamas as work animal.

16. Great road system Road system – suspension bridges, way stations, runners to carry messages.

17. Coca leaf - chew for a burst of energy – like caffeine. Cocaine

19. No written language Quipas – no written language – knots and colored ropes to keep track of goods and records for business.

20. All Inca cities destroyed except… Machu Picchu – religious city in the clouds. Not discovered until 1911. 50 ton blocks cut precisely No mortar! Everything cut perfectly. Incan mummies! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK0PVKfN7M0

26. Aztecs – 1200 – 1500 A.D. – warlike empire conquered all of Mexico. Huitzilopochtli – sun and war god of the Aztecs. Demanded constant feeding of human blood.

27. FEEEEDDD!!!! MEEEEE!

28. Flowery Death – the honor of dying and feeding the god! Aztecs sacrificed sometimes thousands a day. Some were volunteers. Others were captured from war.

30. Aztecs conquer an empire Obsidian swords – didn’t have metal. Made swords from volcanic rock obsidian. Extremely sharp swords but brittle. Also wore cotton quilt armor.

31. What do you do with an empire? Tribute – nation is forced to pay heavy taxes to prevent invasion. Gold and in captives for sacrifice. Aztecs were hated by the people they ruled.

32. Put all that cash into the Aztec capital city!!!! Tenochtitlan –great capital city of the Aztecs built in the middle of a lake. Held 300,000 people with canals for streets. Aqueducts brought water to the city Hundreds of pyramids to different gods. Some coated in gold! Where present day Mexico City is

35. Spanish invasions! Conquistadors : conquerors. Given the right by Spain to hunt for treasure. keep 1/5 of all treasure found.

36. What treasure be there? El Dorado : legendary 7 cities of gold in the Americas. Hernando Cortez – Spanish conquistador who landed in Mexico in 1519 C.E. Has an army of 500 men, 16 horses and 14 cannon.

37. Conquer or die! Cortes lands in Mexico. Burns his ships. Befriends native tribes. Met by emissaries of the Aztecs. Cortes asks if they have any gold. They say lots. “ Bring it to us, for I and my companions suffer from a disease of the heart that can only be cured by gold.”

38. GREED!

39. Cortez welcomed into Tenochtitlan! Montezuma : Aztec emperor! Believes whites represent powerful nation. Cortes also shows up in the year of the god Quetzalcoatl Quetzalcoatl : white skinned god who once ruled over the Aztecs. Spanish have horses, guns, and armor. Could Cortes be Quetzalcoatl?

41. Spanish horrified by sacrifice and order it stopped. It is. Montezuma taken prisoner. Months pass becomes obvious Cortes just greedy white guy. Aztecs chase them out. A year later Cortes returns with a native army of 100,000. But, most of the Aztecs are dead…

42. Smallpox

43. Pizarro : Conquistador who conquers the Incas with 350 men. Tons of Gold. Gold, gold, gold flows into Spain making Spain a superpower.

44. Spanish empire!

45. Columbian exchange – gifts exchanged by the Old World and the New World. Europe gets Tomatoes Corn Potatoes Squash Chocolate Tobacco America gets Slavery Smallpox Conquest Horses