The Olmec were the first civilization in Mesoamerica, located along the Gulf of Mexico coast. They built large cities and were centers of religion, carving colossal stone heads to represent rulers or gods. Mesoamerica was home to three major pre-Columbian civilizations - the Maya, Aztecs, and Incas. The Maya flourished from 300-900 CE in modern Guatemala and Honduras, building immense city-states centered around pyramids topped with shrines. They had advanced achievements in astronomy, mathematics, and a complex writing system. The Aztecs rose to power in central Mexico from 1400-1520 CE, establishing the island city of Tenochtitlan,

1. Meso-America Notes
Textbook Pages 184-209
Meso-America = “Middle America”

2. The Olmec
The 1st
civilization of Mesoamerica
Located on the hot and swampy
lowlands along the coast of the Gulf of
Mexico
They had large cities that were centers
of religious rituals
They carved colossal stone heads
May have been to represent their ancestors,
rulers, or gods.

3. Olmec heads

4. Meso-America
Mesoamerica was home to 3 major
civilizations in Pre-Columbian times.
Pre-Columbian means before the time of
exploration (think before Columbus)
The 3 highly developed civilizations
were:
Mayans
Aztecs
Incas

5. Mayan Civilization – p. 196
300 – 900 CE

6. I. Geography & Economy
 Settled in modern
Guatemala, Honduras
 Located in dense
rainforest-farming difficult
 Yucatan Peninsula
 Successfully farmed using
 Slash-and-burn agriculture,
irrigation
 Corn, squash, beans

7. II. Government
different city-states ruled by kings
Not one unified empire
Linked by cultural and political ties
Built immense city-states (Tikal, Chichen Itza)
Cities-Were built around a central pyramid
Pyramid was topped with a shrine to the gods.
All cities were abandoned around 900 CE for
unknown reasons

8. Society
Upper class- priests, nobles, warriors
Everyone else- peasants who taxes to
the king (corn)
No rights for women

9. IV. Religion
Center of Mayan life
2 levels of existence: Physical daily life and
spiritual world
Kings performed rituals and ceremonies
Human sacrificing!
Polytheistic

12. Decline:
All cities were abandoned around 900
CE for unknown reasons

13. III. Achievements
A. Architecture
1. Known for step-pyramids
2. Pyramid at Tikal is 130 ft high
B. Astronomy
1. Had exact knowledge of moon phases
2. Able to predict sun and moon eclipses

14. Achievements cont.
C. Ball Game
1. Played by many
Central American
civilizations
2. Had both religious and
recreational purposes
3. Losing coach
sacrificed to gods
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H

15. Achievements cont.
D. Calendars
1. Religious obsession
with time
2. Used interlocking
cycles of time
3. Calendar restarts
every Long Cycle.
The last on 12/21/12
and the next 9/6/3114

16. Achievements cont.
E. Mathematics:
Sophisticated
system based on
number 20

17. Achievements cont.
F. Writing
1. Developed
complete writing
system
2. Represented ideas
and objects
3. Hieroglyphics

18. The Aztecs
1400-1520CE

19. Origins
Early Aztecs were hunters and warriors
who moved from N. into central Mexico
They were considered vulgar by other
city-state because of the religious ways
(we will talk about this)
Forced to flee to Lake Texcoco
Divine Prophecy: Settle where you see
an eagle sitting on a cactus and holding
a snake in its beak>>> Tenochtitlan

20. Tenochtitlan
Capital city in 1345 CE
It was built on an island on a lake (Lake
Texcoco)
Modern day Mexico City
Clean! Gardens, baths, temples fill the
city
About 80,00-25000 people at its height
in 1500

21. Tenochtitlan- city on a lake
Mexico’s flag: Eagle on a
cactus with a snake in
beak (divine prophecy)

22. Adaptations to environment
 They expanded land through chinampas, or
man-made islands!
 These became floating gardens in which they could
grow a variety of crops, including corns and beans.
 Population grew- people moved outside to the
mainland
 Created canals, dams, and aqueducts to improve
trade and transportation and to keep the mainland
connected to the capital city.

23. Chinampas

24. Economy
Agriculture- Chinampas
Bustling markets-bartered (food, straw
mats, cloth, luxury items, like feathers)
Sometimes cocoa beans were used as
currency

25. Religion
Polytheistic
Used pyramids
Felt that life was uncertain, everyone
was at the mercy of nature gods
Needed to please the gods through
human sacrificing
Waited for a god to return to earth

26. Human Sacrificing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQKJRnPpIxw

27. Achievements
Capital city
Strict legal system
Used the death penalty
Education for Aztec children
Gold and silver jewelry
Calendars: 360 days- helped them plan
farming and activites 365 days- solar
calendar 18 months (20 days each, and
then 5 extra days)

28. Decline
Conquered by the Spanish conquistidor-
Cortez
The Aztecs were “unpopular” with their
neighbors--- They kidnapped them for
human sacrifices!
Some of these neighbors (along with a few
unhappy Aztecs) helped lead explores to
and defeat the Aztecs

29. The Inca Empire
1200-1500 CE
Modern Day: Peru, N.
Chile, parts of
Columbia, Ecuador,
Bolvia, Argentina

30. I. Life in the Andes
A. By 1500, Incans ruled
on of the largest
empires of the era
B. Empire stretched
2,500 miles down
almost entire length
of Andes Mountains
C. Rainless, coastal
deserts; high
mountains; rain forest
D. Important cities:
 Cuzco, capital
 Machu Picchu

31. II. Government
 Emperor- absolute
power
 Direct rule
 arranged marriages
 Passes for travel
 Controlled harvest
 Conquered people
forced to adopt Incan
ways

32. III. Expansion
A. Carefully planned and
administered empires in
Americas
B. Pachacuti – leader who
helped expand the
Empire
C. Incan leaders would
conquer neighboring
groups- they learned to
speak official language—
Quecha
D. By 1525, lots of infighting
made them vulnerable to
attack by Spanish
Pachacuti–
https://youtu.be/sN
z9phB27xU

33. II. Agriculture- terrace farming
A. Effective farming
was key to huge
Inca Empire
B. Terrace farming,
straightening rivers,
filling or draining
marshes for
farmland
C. Potatoes and
quinoa!

34. IV. Roads and Bridges
A. Built 2 main roads
one along Pacific
Coast—2520 miles long
one along Andes—
3,250 miles long; up to
17,000 feet high
B. Suspension
Bridges- mountain
travel

35. V. Gold
A. Gold “sweat of
the sun”
B. King owned all the
gold that was mined
and panned in
empire
C. Gold decoration
and jewelry

36. Brain Surgery!
Human Sacrifice!

37. Keeping Records
Quipu- system of ropes and knots

38. Decline
Inca
 The Spanish arrived 1531
 Defeated by the Spanish
conquistador Pizarro
 https://youtu.be/pM-
igYjn6E4
Why were the Spanish able to
defeat the Aztec and Inca?
 Superior weapons
 Rebels provided the
Spanish with allies
 Cultural traditions
blinded the Aztec and
Inca to the real motives
behind the Spanish
 Disease killed up to 80
percent of the Aztec
and Inca populations
(key leaders and
soldiers)