1. Pre-Columbian Civilizations In the Americas

2. Early Human Migrations

3. Major Pre-Columbian Civilizations

4. The Mayans

5. Lands of the Maya

6. Political Characteristics • Never form a unified political system • Do create a unified culture • Larger city-states dominated smaller city-states • Large city-states built elaborate commercial and religious centers • Chichen-Itza

7. El Castillo at Chichen Itza

8. Maya Economy • Cultivated maize, cotton, and cacao • Increased agricultural production by draining swamps, terraced fields, and irrigation ditches • Led to environmental degradation • Hereditary nobility controlled most of the land • Maya merchants came from ruling class • Traded primarily in luxury products

9. Maya Religion • Polytheistic • Cosmos consisted of three layers: the heavens, the human world, and the underworld • Priests could communicate with residents of both supernatural worlds • Mayan developments: calendar, writing system, and mathematics • Used to determine religious holidays

10. Maya sacrifice • Had to please the gods via sacrifice • Piercing of bodies with needle • Human Sacrifice • Sacrificed prisoners of war, slaves, and children

11. Mayan Bloodletting

12. Mayan Ball Game

13. Mayan Calendar

14. Maya Decline • Maya city-states were abandoned or destroyed between 800-900 CE • Causes for decline include: • The disruption of trade after the decline of Teotihuacan in Central Mexico • Environmental degradation caused by overpopulation • Epidemic disease

15. The Aztecs

16. Rise of the Aztecs • Aztecs (Mexica) migrate to Lake Texcoco in central Mexico c. 1325 • Founded city of Tenochtitlan in 1325 • Empire started in 1434 • Aztec kings represented civil power and served as a representative of the gods on Earth

17. Aztec Government • City-states ruled by a speaker chosen from the nobility • The Great Speaker, ruler of Tenochtitlan, was in effect an emperor • Increasingly considered a living god • Conquered peoples maintained some autonomy if they paid tribute

18. Human Sacrifice • Human sacrifice was a typical part of Mesoamerican religion • Aztec expand practice into a cult where military supplied war captives for sacrifice • Why? • Political purposes • Population control • Cannibal kingdom

19. Human Sacrifice

20. Tenochtitlan “The Venice of the Americas

21. Chinampas

22. Aztec Society • Women’s primary role was the household • Women spent six hours a day grinding corn; restricted women’s rights • Marriages were arranged • Polygamy existed amongst the nobility • Women could inherit property

23. The Inca

24. Inca Economy • Unlike Aztecs, not a lot of trade • Tried to be self-sufficient • Primarily agricultural • Terrace farming & complex irrigation • Over 200 types of potatoes • Inca Socialism • Used forced labor for massive projects

25. Terrace Farming

26. Inca Technology • Built a complex system of roads and bridges • 2500 miles of roads • Used a system of runners to carry messages throughout the empire • Beautiful pottery, cloth, and metalworking • Quipu • Masonry

27. Bridges and Roads

28. Quipu

29. Inca Metalworking