The 5 W’s of Maya, Inca and
Aztec
Who were the Mayans?
Who were the Mysterious Mayans?
A long time ago, around 2500 BCE, an ancient
tribe of Central American Indians called the
Olmecs settled in the rainforests of the Yucatan
Peninsula of Central America.
About two thousand years later, around 400 BCE,
a new people suddenly appeared. These people
were called the Maya. No one knows where they
came from, but they arrived with amazing skills.
They were an advanced civilization. They soon
took over the Yucatan Peninsula of Central
America.
The Maya were very clever people. Their system
of mathematics was among the most
sophisticated in the ancient world.
Like the ancient Romans, the Mayas were master
builders.
Unlike the ancient Romans, the ancient Mayas
did not have metal tools. Their tools were made
of stone, bone, and wood. Yet they built beautiful
structures, huge cities, and excellent roads roads that connected the many hundreds of cities
that made up the Maya world.
Around 900 CE, the Maya cities
were abandoned. A few people continued to
live in the cities, but mostly, the cities were
empty. The people had, for the most part,
disappeared, gone somewhere else. Those
who remained were unable or unwilling to
repair the magnificent roads and buildings.
The great Maya cities fell into ruin.
To this day, nobody knows where the Maya
people came from before they arrived in the
Yucatan Peninsula, and nobody knows why
they left or where they went when most of
the Maya people abandoned their cities and
disappeared from the Yucatan Peninsula.
That's why the Maya are sometimes referred
to as "the mysterious Mayas".
During the 1500 years or so that the Maya
Indians made their home in Central America,
they build hundreds of religious centers, each
filled with huge pyramids and elaborate
temples. There was at least one ball court in
every city. Excellent roads ran for miles
through the jungles and swamps, linking these
centers of religion and learning.
Today, archaeologists remain very curious about
these ancient people. Archaeologists face many
dangers to hunt for the ruins of the ancient Maya
cities hidden deep in the jungles of Central
America.
There are not many, but there are some Maya
people still living in Central America, descendants
of the ancient Mayas who remained behind in the
nearly deserted cities. Still today, their crafts are
amongst the most beautiful in the world.
Who are the Incredible Incas?
A Little History: At first, the Incas were simply
a small tribe that lived in the city of Cuzco.
They worshiped gods of nature. They believed
in omens and dreams. Around 1430 C.E, a
neighboring tribe attacked the Incas. The Incas
won! That was the beginning of the Inca
Empire.
Since the Incas never developed a system of
writing, archaeologists must study myths and
legends and the artifacts they left behind for
clues about the ancient Inca civilization.
Incan Tall Tales: The Incas loved stories. Special
"wise men" created stories that were told over
and over. They loved tall tales. Their emperors
always did amazing things. Their battles were
always bigger than life. The Incas believed in
many gods. Some of their stories were about the
wondrous feats of their gods. One Incan myth
refers to an old man with long white hair, who
was really a god. This god lived in a coal sack (the
Milky Way). He created the Incan people.
Size of the Inca Empire: Over the next 100
years, the Inca Empire grew into a vast
empire. The Incas were able to build a vast
empire by demanding loyalty from conquered
people. At the height of their power, the Inca
Empire was 2,500 miles long, 500 miles wide,
and home to 12 million people. These people
called themselves "the Children of the Sun".
Land of the Four Quarters: The land the Incas
ruled became known as "the land of the four
quarters". It was named that because the Inca
Empire was divided into four parts for ruling
purposes. Cuzco was still the capital.
Religion: The Incas believed that their ruler was the
direct descendant of the sun god, Inti. Their ruler was
a god. The Incas believed in many gods. They believed
in the god of nature, the moon, of weather, of
rainbows, and of planets. Every mountaintop was a
god. All Incas had little statues in their homes that
were the homes of little spirits. Anything might house a
god. Just to be safe, they prayed to all their gods every
day.
Every month, the Incas held a huge and public religious
festival honoring one of their major gods. At the
festival, there was dancing and feasting and sacrifice.
Mostly, the Incas sacrificed animals. Sometimes, if
something really important was going on, they
sacrificed people.
Fall of the Inca Empire: The Spanish
conquered the Incan civilization. Francisco
Pizarro led the Spanish invaders. After a series
of fierce battles, the Incas were defeated in
1531. The ancestors of the Incas still live in the
modern day country of Peru today.
Who are the Awesome Aztecs
Around 1300 CE, a wandering tribe of Indians
wandered into the Valley of Mexico. These
people were called the Aztecs.
When the Aztecs arrived in the Valley of
Mexico, other tribes were already in
residence. They had already taken the best
land. The Aztecs had to make due with the
swampy shores of Lake Texcoco.
But this did not bother the Aztecs. Not only were
they very clever people, but they had every faith
that their main god had sent them to the
swampy shores of Lake Texcoco, so obviously
this They adapted to their environment.
They built canoes, so they could fish and hunt
birds that lived near the water. They created
floating gardens for growing food. They created
more land for agriculture by filling in the
marshes. They built dikes to hold back the water.
After they settled in, they began to conquer the
neighboring tribes. They conquered first one
tribe, and then another, and then another.
Each conquered tribe had to pay tribute to the
Aztecs in the form of food, clothing, jewels, and
of course, captives to feed the hungry gods. That
made the Aztecs very happy and very rich.
The Aztecs expanded and expanded until they
had built an empire.
One day, around 1500 CE, Spanish soldiers
arrived in the Valley of Mexico. They were
amazed at what they saw.
One soldier said, “There were soldiers among
us who had been in many parts of the world,
in Constantinople and Rome and all over Italy,
who said that they had never before seen a
market place so large and so filled with
people.”
The Spanish conquered the Aztecs. The arrival
of the Spanish brought guns, horses, huge
fighting dogs, and disease. Because the Aztecs
were such fierce warriors, they might have
had a slim chance of survival against guns and
horses and huge fighting dogs. But they had
no defense against disease. They had never
been exposed to childhood diseases like
measles. Many became ill once the Spanish
arrived; many died.
The Spanish also received help from the other tribes in
the area. These tribes saw a chance to get even, and
perhaps even to rid themselves of the feared and
hated Aztecs. These tribes did not expect to be
conquered themselves, which they were. Nor did they
know how harshly the Spanish would rule their people.
By the mid-1500’s, the Aztec Empire had collapsed, and
the Spanish had taken over the entire region.
Today, there are around 1,000,000 (one million)
descendants of the ancient Aztecs living and working in
Mexico. Human sacrifice is no longer part of their
festivals. But the beautiful art and clever games the
Aztecs created are still enjoyed today.
Location, Location, Location!
What Words You Should Know!
Maya
• Maya: people of Mexico and Central America
starting around 2500 B.C.
• Mayan Calendar: a sacred almanac of 260 days
used to predict good or bad luck based on a
combination of gods, goddesses, and numbers.
• Stelae: large stone monuments sculpted with
hieroglyphics depicting important events in the
lives of rulers and their families.
Inca
• Allyu: a group of extended family members
• Coya: a divine ruler’s empress
• Inca: South America civilization, flourishing
around 1438.
• Francisco Pizarro: Spanish leader who defeated
Inca leaders and took over their empire.
Aztec
• Aztec: people who ruled most of Mexico during the 1400s and
early 1500s
• Codic: books made from tree bark used to record hieroglyphics
• Hernando Cortes: Spanish conqueror of the Aztec empire.
• Stone of the Sun: giant circular stone calendar elaborately
carved with Aztec symbols
• Tenochtitlan: capital of the Aztec empire, which is now present
day Mexico City
• Tianquiztli: a marketplace where bartering of goods took place.
What are they known for? And why
do we still know about them?
Mayan Inventions
The Maya invented the most advanced form of writing in the
ancient Americas. They used hieroglyphics. The Mayas used
about 700 symbols or glyphs. A glyph is a picture or a symbol
used to represent a sound, a word, or perhaps a syllable.
Hieroglyphics covered their stelas, the big stone slabs they
built to tell the story of special occasions and events.
Hieroglyphics were used on temple walls and pillars. The
Mayas wrote everything down
The Maya wrote books about their gods, their leaders, their
daily life, and their special events. They were not like the
books we have today. Maya books were made of soft bark and
were folded like a fan. The reader had to unfold them to read
them.
The Mayans had a number system consisting
of shells, dots, and lines. You could write up
to 19 with just these symbols. The Maya were
one of the only ancient civilizations that
understood the concept of zero. This allowed
them to write very large numbers.
Means zero
Means one
Means five
Mayas developed a 364 day calendar based
upon movements of the sun.
Inca Inventions
The Incas loved music. They invented many
wind and percussion instruments. Drums and
flutes were very popular. The panpipe was the
most popular. A panpipe is a group of single
pipes tied together in a row. Each pipe in the
row makes a different sound, and the pipes
are arranged very carefully. Panpipes are still
played in the Andes Mountains today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5WKgLTUNPg&feature=related
Using a base of ten, the quipus had a main string
about two feet long. Many additional colored
strings were tied to the main string. Each string
had knots in it. The color of the strings and the
distance between knots all had meaning to the
ancient Incas. The quipus allowed messages to be
carried by the Inca runners from one end of the
empire to the other. Some people believe the
Incas could even tell stories with the intricate
knots of the quipus.
It took training to read the quipus. Only a few
people could write and read their secret
messages.
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Aztec Inventions
The ancient Aztecs invented a game called Volador, the
flying bird game. Wearing costumes designed with beaks
and feathers, Aztec athletes would complete to see who
could complete the round trip with the most style and
speed. The game went something like this - First, all the
players climbed a 60-90 foot pole. After they reached the
top, they each tied a rope to the top of the pole. Hanging
on tightly with their legs, they spread their arms wide,
kicked off, and sailed around the pole like eagles until they
reached the ground again. In olden times, many spectators
gathered to watch the flying birds. It was a very dangerous
sport. Still today, well-trained Mexican acrobats perform
this wonderful spectacle.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dES93smMNrk&feature=related
As the Aztec population grew, more food was needed.
To solve this problem, Aztec engineers created
“floating” gardens. First, they built a series of rafts and
anchored each to the lakebed. Vegetation and reeds
were piled on top of a raft. Then, they piled on enough
dirt to be able to grow crops.
To further secure the floating gardens, mud retaining
walls were built up around the raft to hold it in place.
These also acted as walkways that connected the many
floating gardens of the Aztec capital city of
Tenochtitlan.
The floating gardens were quite successful. The Aztecs
used the gardens to grow chili peppers, squash, corn,
tomatoes, and beans.
Resources
http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112511/mayan_
number.htm