Essential Questions: What were the characteristics of the Maya, Aztec and Inca cultures? How did the Aztec and Inca build and strengthen their empires?
I. Early Civilizations
A. Maya (AD 600-900)
1. Most advanced civilization in the Americas (Yucatan peninsula)
a. The Maya were skilled architects and engineers
-They built steep. Pyramid shaped temples
-They developed a writing system based on pictographic
characters called glyphs
b. Religion lay at the heart of Mayan society
-Mayans worshipped many gods
-It was closely tied to agriculture (offered human sacrifices
to the rain god)
c. They also studied astronomy
-Learned to predict solar eclipses
-Devised an agricultural calendar
-Developed a counting system that included zero
2. Decline of Mayan civilization
a. In about AD 900 a series of catastrophes struck the Maya
-Mayan farming may have worn out the soil
-Warfare between city-states
-Peasants may have revolted
II. The Aztec and Inca Empires
A. The Aztec built their city at Tenochtitlan (AD 1200-1500)
1. The city grew to include pyramid temples, marketplaces, and palaces
2. The Aztec�s borrowed from the cultures they conquered
a. Aztec artisans learned metalworking, pottery, and weaving
b. they also learned mathematics
3. Many Aztecs farmed on chinampas (raised fields made from lake mud)
4. The military dominated Aztec society
a. Warriors earned prestige, wealth, and power
5. Worshipped the sun god
B. Inca (AD 1500-1600)
1. They built their civilization in the Andes Mountains in South America
a. They built fortresses and irrigation systems
b. They laid roads, many of which were paved
c. The Inca established an educational system for the children of
nobles
d. The Inca never developed a writing system
-Instead they kept records by means of quipu � a series of
knots on parallel strings
e. Inca technology included ceramics, textiles, and metals
f. The Inca also became advanced in the practice of medicine
-Inca surgeons used anesthetics and could even perform
operations