ANCIENT LATIN AMERICA

1
ANCIENT LATIN AMERICA

• CIVILIZATIONS

2
THE MAYA-LOCATION

• Territory covered what is now
• Southeast Mexico
• Honduras
• Guatemala
• El Salvador
• Belize
• Built among dense jungles

3
THE MAYA-ACHIEVEMENTS

• Math
• concept of zero
• Astronomy
• 365 day calendar based on the suns movement
• Written language
• Used hieroglyphs

4
THE MAYA-ACHIEVEMENTS

• Farming
• Slash and burn agriculture
• Cut and burned trees
• Planted crops
• After a few years, let forests regrow
• Repeat process in another area
• Built up ridges on floodplains

5
THE MAYA-MYSTERY

• Construction of cities stopped and cities were
  abandoned

6
THE AZTEC-LOCATION

• Started in Tenochtitlán (their capital)
• Island city in Lake Texcoco (the former lake
  where Mexico City is now)
• Slowly grew to control the region

7
THE AZTEC-ACHIEVEMENTS

• Strong military
• All men were expected to join the army
• Chinampas
• Floating gardens on which the Aztecs grew crops

8
THE INCA-LOCATION

• Started in the Andes Mountains of Peru
• Capital was Cuzco
• Expanded into surrounding areas of modern day
  Columbia, Ecuador, Bolivia, northern Chile, and
  northwestern Argentina

9
THE INCA-ACHIEVEMENTS

• Stone terraces
• Irrigation canals
• Stone roads
• Message relay system
• Stonework

10
THE SPANISH ARRIVE

• Hernán Cortés
• Defeated Aztec -- Montezuma II
• Francisco Pizarro
• Defeated Incas Atahualpa

11
VOCABULARY

• Columbian Exchange
• The exchange of goods between Europe and its
  colonies in North and South America