The Mesoamerican Civilization

1. The First Americas may have arrived

to the Americans as early as 22,000
years ago.
a. Ice glaciers had frozen vast quantities of the
Earth’s water, lowering the sea levels.
b. This exposed a land bridge between Asia
and Alaska.
c. Hunters and food gathers crossed this land
bridge into North America.
The North American Ice Cap
covered from Greenland to
Alabama.
The Last Great Migration
The First
American Face
Native Americans
came in different
waves:
a) Northern Asia
b) Japanese
Islands
c) South Pacific
Islanders
d) Northern
Europe
Theories About How the First Groups
Came to the Americas
2. Experts believe that people came by
foot evidence says that they were
big time hunters.

a. The most challenging & rewarding prey was the

woolly mammoth.
b. But as the Ice Age ended 10,000 to 12,000 years
ago, people switched to hunting smaller game,
fishing, and gathering nuts, barriers, and fruits
alone with grain, beans and squashes.
c. Agriculture developed between 10,000 & 5,000
years ago around Mexico and Central America.
3. Agriculture made it possible for
people to remain in one place.
a. Storing surplus of food contributed to be
development into villages and later cities.
b. People had more time to develop more
complex societies, but some remained
nomadic.
c. Around 3,000 years ago, larger communities
and civilization began to develop.
d. Archeologists believe that the first empires of
the Americans developed 1200 years ago.
4. 1200 years ago the Olmec developed a
civilization along the Gulf of Mexico.
a. The Mayas appeared in the Yucatan Peninsula in
400 B.C.
b. Between 250 to 900 A.D. the Aztec established
theirs in the Valley of Mexico.
c. And in Peru, the Incas developed near 1200 A.D.
d. In North America around 300 A.D. the Hohokam
and the Anasazi developed theirs civilization in
what is today Arizona.
Empires of the Americas
 5. Archeologists suggest that separate
waves of migrations
a. By the 1400s there were 700,000 to 800,000
Native Americans living in the continental
United States.
b. The Native Americans adapted to their
environment, and looked to the family to
fulfill many of their social needs.
c. Their society was organized in a network of
Kinship or a clan (grandparents, parents,
uncles, cousins etc. . . . )
 Map Class Work
• Using the Atlas of the United States History
• Copy the Map on Page16 to the map (Hunters
Reach America) provided in class today
• THIS MAP SHOULD BE ON PAGE 1 IN YOUR
NOTEBOOK
Empires of the Americas
The Maya Empire
1. The Maya civilization is a Mesoamerican
civilization.
a. They had the only
known fully developed
written language of
the pre-Columbian
Americas.
b. And spectacular art,
monumental
architecture, &
sophisticated
mathematical &
astronomical systems.
2. The Mayas established in Central America and the
Yucatan Peninsula during the Pre-classic period (c.
250 to 900 AD).
a. By the arrival of the
Spanish the Maya
Civilization was not
longer there.
b. At its peak, it was one
of the most densely
populated & culturally
dynamic societies in
the world.
 3. The first clearly “Maya” settlements were
established in approximately 1800 BC in Soconusco
region of the Pacific Coast.
a. Archaeological evidence
suggests the
construction of
ceremonial architecture
in Maya area by
approximately 1000 BC.
b. Evidence suggests that
these cultures and the
formative Maya
influenced one another.
4. The Classic period (c. 250 - 900) was the peak
of large-scale construction and urbanism.
a. They developed a city-centered empire
consisting of numerous independent city-states.
b. Including well-known cities of Tikal, Palenque,
Copán and Calakmul, & lesser known cities.
c. They built pyramids as their religious centers
and palaces of their rulers.
d. Other important archaeological remains include
the carved stone slabs usually called stelae.
5. The Maya centers went into decline during the 8th &
9th centuries and were abandoned shortly
thereafter.
a. This decline was coupled with a cessation of
monumental inscriptions and large-scale architectural
construction.
b. Although there is no universally accepted theory to
explain this “collapse,” current theories fall into two
categories:
c. Non-ecological theories: foreign invasion, peasant
revolt, &/or the collapse of key trade routes.
d. Ecological hypotheses: environmental catastrophe,
epidemic disease, & climate change.
a. Today, the Maya & their
descendants form sizeable
populations throughout
the Maya area & maintain
a distinctive set of
traditions & beliefs that
are the result of the
merger of pre-Columbian
& post-Conquest
ideologies (& structured
by the almost total
adoption of Roman
Catholicism).
The Aztec Empire
 1. The true origin of the Aztecs is uncertain.

a. According to their
legends, the Aztec's
place of origin was
Aztlán.
b. It is generally thought
that Aztlán was
somewhere to the north
of the Valley of Mexico;
some experts have
placed it as far north as
the Southwestern
United States.
 2. It appears that the Mexicans arrived at
Chapultepec in or around the year 1248 AD.
a. At the time of their arrival, the Valley of Mexico contained
many city-states, like Culhuacan & Azcapotzalco.
b. According to Aztec legend, the Aztecs were shown a vision
of an eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus, clutching a
snake in its talons.
c. This vision indicated that this was the location where they
were to build their home.
d. The Aztecs arrived on a small swampy island in Lake
Texcoco where they founded the town of Tenochtitlan in
1325.
e. In 1376, the Mexicas elected their first Huey Tlatoani,
Acamapichtli, who was living in Texcoco at the time.
3. The Aztecs is a collective term used for all of the Pre-
Columbian Mesoamerican peoples under the
control of the Mexica, founders of Tenochtitlan, &
their two principal allies, who built an extensive
empire in the late Post-classic period in the 14th,
15th & 16th centuries in Central Mexico.
 4. The nucleus of the Aztec Empire was the Valley of
Mexico, where their capital Tenochtitlan was built
upon raised islets in Lake Texcoco.
a. After the 1521 conquest of Tenochtitlan by
Spanish forces and their allies which brought
about the effective end of Aztec dominion,
b. The Spanish founded the new settlement of
Mexico City on the site of the now-ruined Aztec
capital.
c. The capital of the modern-day nation of Mexico,
the greater metropolitan area of Mexico City
now covers much of the Valley of Mexico and
the now-drained Lake of Texcoco.
 5. Aztec culture had rich & complex
mythological & religious traditions.
a. For Europeans, the most striking element of the
Aztec culture was the practice of human
sacrifice which was conducted throughout
Mesoamerica prior to the Spanish conquest.
b. While human sacrifice was practiced throughout
Mesoamerica, under the Aztecs this practice to
an unprecedented level. Ex., for the
reconsecration of Great Pyramid of
Tenochtitlan in 1487, the Aztecs reported that
they sacrificed 84,400 prisoners in four days,.
Human Sacrificed
The Inca Empire
The Incas
1. The Incas had various origin myths. These myths
have been transmitted via oral tradition, since the
Incas did not develop writing.
2. The Inca people began as a tribe in the Cuzco
area around the 12th century.
a. Under the leadership of Manco Capac, they
formed the small city-state of Cuzco.
b. In 1438 they began a far-reaching expansion
under the command of Sapa Inca Pachacuti.
c. Pachacuti reorganized the kingdom into an
empire, a federalist system which consisted of a
central government with the Inca at its head
d. Pachacuti sent spies to regions he wanted in his
empire; they brought reports on the political
organization, military might & wealth.
 3. The most powerful figure in the empire was
the Sapa Inca ('the unique Inca').
a. Only descendants of the original Inca tribe
ever ascended to the level of Inca.
b. Most young members of the Inca's family
attended Yachay Wasis (houses of
knowledge) to obtain their education.
c. There were separate chains of command for
both the military and religious institutions,
which created a system of partial checks and
balances on power.
 4. Architecture was by far the most important of the
Inca arts, with pottery and textiles reflecting motifs
that were at their height in architecture.
a. The breathtaking site of Machu Picchu was
constructed by Inca engineers.
b. Amaranth was one of the staple foods of the Incas,
and it is known as kiwicha in the Andes today.
c. Native Americans were responsible for some of the
world’s most prolific crops, including tomatoes,
peppers, lima beans, ancient ancestors to modern
squash and, most importantly, the potato.
d. Maize (Corn) was also deeply integrated into Inca
agriculture and daily life.