Ch 16 Lesson 2 Presentation

8/3/2019 Ch 16 Lesson 2 Presentation

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Chapter 16 Lesson 2

Life in the Americas: Part 1



Main Ideas

● Maya: adjusted to life in the tropical rain forestand built a culture based on their religious beliefs

● Aztec: moved into the Valley of Mexico where

they created an empire based on conquest andwar

● Incan rulers set up a highly organizedgovernment and society to unite their huge

empire● Geography in lands north of present-day Mexico

shaped the development of many different NativeAmerican cultures



Vocabulary● Quipu: a rope with

knotted cords of different lengths andcolors

● Igloo: dome-shapedhomes made fromblocks of ice and snow

● Confederations:

governments thatlink several groups

● Adobe: apartment-likehomes made of sun-

dried mud brick



Main Idea #1● The Maya adjusted to life in the tropical

rain forest and built a culture based on their religious beliefs



Where did the Maya first settle?



Present-day Guatamala



Why was this area appealing?



Swamps and sinkholes providedwater year-round



What were the negative parts of theregion?



● Dense forests blocked out the sun

●

Stinging insects● Poisonous snakes



Life in Mayan Cities

● Rulers said they were descended from thesun

● Claimed they had the right to rule as god-kings and expected every person to servethem

● Huge monuments were built to serve them

● Taught their subjects how to please thegods



Life in Mayan Cities Continued

● One way to please gods was humansacrifice

● Wanted captives more than land

● Captives were kept enslaved and put towork until they were sacrificed

● Believed gods controlled everything thathappened on Earth; religion was the center of Mayan life



Were women honored in Mayancivilization?

● Yes. At least two women served asqueens. One may have helped found thecity.



Why was astronomy important to theMayans?



Mayan priests thought gods revealed their plans through movement of the sun, moon, and

stars● Watched the sky to know when to plant

crops

● Developed a 365-day calendar to trackheavenly movements

● Predicted eclipses, scheduled religiousfestivals, plantings, and harvests



On what is the Mayan countingsystem based?

● Based on 20



Did the Mayans have a writtenlanguage?

● Used to record numbers and dates

● Hieroglyphics that only the nobles couldread

● Scholars have just now begun to unlockthe stories told



Main Idea #2

● The Aztec moved into the Valley of Mexico,where they created an empire based onconquest and war

● Explain the legend of how the Aztecssettled here



● Aztecs were not welcome. One king thoughthe would get rid of them by giving them a

patch of snake-filled land. They ate thesnakes and built their own kingdom.

● Sun god Quetzalcoatl had promised a home

for the Aztecs. They searched for hundredsof years for the place where an eagle“screams and spreads its wings, andeats...the serpent

● A.D. 1325 in Lake Texcoco they saw aneagle with a snake in its beak and believedthey found home



● New city- Tenochititlan= “place of theprickly pear cactus”

● Dreamed of conquest and wealth

● Collected payment from conquered peoplefor protection

● How did the Aztecs choose a king?



● Kings were chosen from those whoclaimed to be descendants of the gods

● Council of warriors, priests, and noblespicked kings from the royal family

● Usually picked king's last son, but not

always

● Expected king to prove himself by leadingtroops into battle



Aztec classes● King● Nobles

● Commoners- largest group- worked as

farmers, artisans, or traders● Unskilled laborers

● Enslaved people

● How could commoners join the nobleclass?



● By performing

an act of bravery in war

● If the soldier died thechildrenreceived landand the rank

of noble



Developed two calendars

● Religious calendar

● 260 days

●

Kept track of religious rituals andfestivals

● 365-day calendar

● Kept track of whento plant and harvest

crops

● Divided into 18months with 20

days each● 5-day week at the

end of the year



Aztec view of the afterlife

● Saw death ashonorable if servingthe gods

● Who was worthy of an afterlife?



● Soldiers who died in battle

●

Captives who gave their lives in sacrifice● Women who died in childbirth



Duties of boys and girls

Boys

● Taught they wereborn to be warriors

Girls

● Taught to stay inthe home

● Those who gavebirth were honoredas heroes

● Why do you think the girlswould be consideredheroes for giving birth?



Tenochtitlan- largest city inMesoamerica

● May have held 400,000 people with amillion more in other cities and villagesunder Aztec control

● Supporting a large population was achallenge- much of the area wasunsuitable for agriculture

●

Used irrigation and fertilization, drainedlakes, encouraged trade and paid for government and military actions throughtaxes and conquest



The Great Temple

● In the center fo Tenochtitlan to honor theAztec gods

● Rose more than 135 feet and had more

than 100 steps

● Thousands of victims were taken to the topwhere they were sacrificed to the gods



Source Credit

● Pictures courtesyGoogle Images

● Text informationtaken fromGlencoe's “World

History: JourneyAcross Time”

● Chapter 16

●

Lesson 2: Life inthe Americas

Ch 16 Lesson 2 Presentation

Documents

Transcript of Ch 16 Lesson 2 Presentation