Chapter 7: Civilizations in the Americas

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Chapter 7 Civilizations in the Americas

• Section 1 Civilizations of Middle America
• Section 2 The World of the Incas
• Section 3 Peoples of North America

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Section 1 Civilizations of Middle America

• Summary
• The Mayas and the Aztecs both developed advanced
  civilizations in Middle America

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Section 1 Civilizations of Middle America

• During the last ice age, frozen oceans created a
  land bridge between North America and Asia
• Groups of Paleolithic hunters and food gatherers
  crossed from Asia into Alaska
• They migrated eastward and southward across the
  Americas
• Were these the first Americans?

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Section 1 Civilizations of Middle America

• The Mayas built a civilization in Central America
  around A.D. 300
• Each Mayan city-state had its own ruling chief
• Mayan farmers developed complex ways of raising
  crops

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Section 1 Civilizations of Middle America

• The Mayas built giant pyramids and large palaces
• Often carving on temple walls recorded historical
  events

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Section 1 Civilizations of Middle America

• Traders carried valuable goods along hard-packed
  dirt roads
• Mayas developed a system of writing, an accurate
  calendar, and a number system

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Section 1 Civilizations of Middle America

• The Aztecs developed another great civilization
• In 1325, they founded the city of Tenochititlan,
  where Mexico City now stands today

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Section 1 Civilizations of Middle America

• The Aztecs were fierce warriors
• However, they also made alliances with other
  peoples
• Tribute, or payment from conquered peoples, made
  the Aztecs wealthy

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Section 1 Civilizations of Middle America

• By 1500, the Aztec empire numbered 30 million
  people
• The Aztecs sacrificed many captured soldiers to
  their gods
• The sacrifices and tributes caused rebellions by
  the conquered peoples

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Section 1 Civilizations of Middle America
Mayas Aztecs
Time 300-900 1325-1521
Location S. Mexico Central Am. Central Mexico
Government -City-states -Ruling chiefs -Military leaders -Public officials -Single ruler -Nobles served as officials, judges, governors
Way of Life -Farmers -Traders -Farmers -Warriors -Traders -Slaves
Religion -Powerful priests -Ceremonies for harvest/war -Human sacrifices -Worshipped many gods -Sun god most important -Priests -Human sacrifices
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Section 2 The World of the Incas

• Summary
• The Incan empire was united by a strong
  government, a common language, and a complex
  series of roads

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Section 2 The World of the Incas

• For more than 2,000 years, Peru was home to many
  different civilizations
• In the 1400s, Incan armies quickly conquered a
  large empire

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Section 2 The World of the Incas

• By the early 1500s, the Incas ruled an empire
  that stretched 2,500 miles along the Andes
• It reached from Ecuador to Chile and from the
  mountaintops to the Pacific Ocean

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Section 2 The World of the Incas

• Efficient centralized government united the
  empire
• The Incan Emperor, a god-king, had complete
  control of everyone and everything in his empire
• Nobles ran the provinces
• Officials below them collected the taxes

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Section 2 The World of the Incas

• The government built an amazing series of roads
  to unify the empire

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Section 2 The World of the Incas

• The Incas strictly controlled the lives of the
  people within their empire
• All people had to speak the Incan language of
  Quechua
• Government officials decided what job each person
  should do who each person should marry
• Farmers grew food for the emperor the government
  stored grain for hard times

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Section 2 The World of the Incas

• Religion affected all parts of daily life
• All people in the empire had to practice the
  Incan religion
• Incas worshipped many gods

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Section 2 The World of the Incas

• The emperor, who was considered the son of the
  sun, was also the religious leader
• Powerful priests conducted ceremonies and monthly
  festivals of sports and rituals

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Section 2 The World of the Incas
Hundreds of bridges
Ordinary people forbidden on roads
Over 12,000 miles of roads
Incan system of roads
Better than Roman system of roads
Steps carved into steep slopes
Messages and news passed from runner to runner
Tunnels through hills
Allowed speedy military movement
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Section 3 Peoples of North America

• Summary
• Hundreds of cultural groups arose in North America

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Section 3 Peoples of North America

• Many different cultures arose in North America
• Farming societies developed in the desert in what
  became the southwestern United States

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Section 3 Peoples of North America

• Southwestern United States
• The Hohokams used irrigation to farm the desert
• They may have learned this from the earlier
  civilizations of Central America

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Section 3 Peoples of North America

• Southwestern United States
• The Anasazi built houses high in the cliffs
• Some buildings had more than 500 rooms
• These cliff houses protected the Anasazi from
  invaders

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Section 3 Peoples of North America

• Other farming societies emerged in the
  Mississippi and Ohio River Valleys around 700 B.C
• A group called the Mound Builders built huge
  mounds made of earth
• Mounds were cone-shaped or shaped like animals

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Section 3 Peoples of North America

• Temples probably topped the largest mounds, where
  the priest would have offered prayers to the sun
• Scientists see the mounds as evidence of an
  organized society and strong leadership

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Section 3 Peoples of North America

• Many other groups of Native Americans lived in
  the different regions of North America before
  1500
• In each region geography influenced their ways of
  life

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Section 3 Peoples of North America

• In the Artic region, the Inuits built igloos to
  keep warm and used dog sleds to travel across the
  ice

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Section 3 Peoples of North America

• In the Northwest Coast, people fished for salmon
  and built large villages with wooden homes
• The Iroquois of the Eastern Woodlands cleared
  land and built villages in the forest

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Section 3 Peoples of North America
Environment Culture group Patterns of life
Artic/Subarctic very cold, harsh climate frozen seas and icy treeless plains limited supply of food Inuits -Lived in small groups of nomadic people -Made igloos -Hunting fishing
Northwest Coast mild climate ocean rivers thick forest large food supply Kwakiutls -Permanent villages -Fished/hunted -Traded -Built homes of wood
Eastern Woodlands hot summers and cold winters forests medium to large food supply Iroquois -Farming villages -Hunted in forests -Built long houses out of bark -5 nations formed Iroquois league
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