FACTS ABOUT MESOAMERICA: THE FINAL BATTLE
MAYA
AZTECS
INCAS
The capital city was Copan.
The capital city was
The capital city was Cuzco.
Tenochtitlan.
The supreme leader was the
The supreme leader was the
The supreme leader was the
kuhul ajaw
Tlatoani.
Sapa Inca.
The leader of the individual
Their doctors or medicine men Llamas were used for food,
city-states was called the
provided dental care.
transport, sacrifice, and wool.
Halach Uinich.
The empire was located in the
The empire was located in
Their Empire was established
Yucatan Peninsula in the
central Mexico in the Valley of
over an area of 2500 miles in
countries of Mexico. It
Mexico.
what is present-day Peru,
included the countries of
Ecuador, northern Chile,
Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and
western Bolivia, and
Guatemala.
northwestern Argentina.
Other cities included Chichen
A commoner risked death if he Another city was Machu Picchu
Itza and Tikal, Tulum, and
or she was caught wearing
Palenque.
feathers or carrying a fan.
The creation story involved the The creation story involved an
The main language is called
Hero Twins.
earth goddess name Coatlique. Quechua.
The empire existed from
About 20,000 human sacrifices Human sacrifice involved
@1000BC to 1697 AD.
were carried out each year.
selecting the most beautiful
children to be left high in the
mountains to die of exposure.
The jaguar was used as the
The bravest warriors were
They had no system of writing.
symbol for the divine right of
members of the Orders of the
kings.
Arrow, Jaguar, and Eagle.
They played a ritual ball game
Among the most highly
They kept records with a quipu,
called pok-ta-pok.
respected members of society
which was made up of a series
were teachers.
of knotted ropes.
The Court of a Thousand
Children all attended school.
They built more than fourteen
Columns was a great
thousand miles of curving
marketplace.
roads.
A flat forehead, crossed eyes,
Children attended a school
They were the first to cultivate
and tattoos were all considered called a calmecac or
the potato.
standards of beauty.
telpuchcalli.
In some human sacrifices,
The first emperor was
They were such skilled builders
victims were thrown into the
Acamapichtli
that they did not need mortar to
Well of Sacrifice.
hold their stone buildings in
place,
Priests were called Akin.
They loved to read and write
The doors and windows of their
poetry.
buildings were usually built in
the shape of a trapezoid.
They used the slash-and-burn
The name of their capital city
They were such skilled builders
technique in raising crops.
meant “the place of the prickly- that they did not need mortar to
pear cactus.”
hold their stone buildings in
place,.
They carved the tribes history
One of their weapons was a
They frequently consulted the
on large stone columns called
sword made of obsidian glass
mummies of their ancestors for
stela.
called a macuahuitl
advice.
They developed the
They created chinampas on
The first emperor was
mathematical concept of zero.
They built many large
observatories in their cities.
They mysteriously left their
centers and cities around
850AD.
which they grew crops.
Each noble’s house had a
separate structure containing a
steam bath.
Young men participated in a
game called volador, where
they tried to fly like an eagle
from a pole that was 60-90 feet
tall.
They were betrayed to the
Spanish by a woman they
called La Malinche.
Their merchants were
frequently used as spies and
ambassadors.
The oldest and largest city was
Tikal.
According to legend, they
migrated from a place called
Atzlan.
The common people were
called macehualtin
Each town had a traveler’s
house that was provided with
food, firewood, and water for
out-of town visitors.
They prepared land for farming
by using the “slash and burn
technique,” called milpa, to
clear the forests.
Earth was thought to be the
back of a giant crocodile
resting in a pond of water lilies.
Marriages were arranged by a
matchmaker.
They had about 166 different
named gods, many of which
were different aspects of a
single god.
Merchants were called ppolm.
Huitzilopochtli, god of war and
of the Sun, was the main god.
Some worshipped Itzamna as
their main god---he was
thought to be the god of
knowledge and writing.
They engaged in selfmutilation, cutting themselves
to provide blood to the gods.
Their ritual ball game was
called tlachtli.
They could predict eclipses
and the orbit of the planet
Venus.
Pachacuti
The empire was conquered by
the conquistador, Francisco
Pizarro.
The emperor at the time of the
Spanish conquest was
Atahualpa.
The name they gave their
empire was Tahuantinsuyu,
which meant “land of the four
quarters.”
At the height of the Empire, it
was the largest nation on
Earth.
Of the three Mesoamerican
cultures, this one was the most
diverse and varied due to its
size and the extent of the area
it covered.
Their society was made up of
ayllus, clans of families that
who lived and worked together.
The nobles drank chocolate in
a drink called cacahuatt.
The chief of each clan was
called the curaca.
The shamans or doctors were
called tlichtli.
Chosen women were selected
when they were about ten.
They lived in the Aqilawasi
where they performed special
duties such as making clothes
for the emperor.
Amautas were a special group
of very wise men who had the
responsibility of keeping the
cultures traditions and history.
Quipus were knotted ropes
which were used to keep
important records. They could
only be “read” by accountants
called quipucamayok.
Chasqui were young men who
were specially trained to be
couriers and messengers.
Merchants were called
pochtecas
The nobles belonged to a class
called the pipiltin.
Women has some authority in
the social hierarchy.
Human sacrifice was
perpetrated on prisoners,
slaves, and particularly
children, with orphans specially
purchased for that purpose.
Chacs assisted the priests in
human sacrifice by holding
down the victim’s hands and
legs.
The nacom was the priest who
actually opened the chest of
the victim and removed the
heart.
The chilam was a shaman
figure who went into a trance
and received messages from
the gods during the human
sacrifice.
Some villages had four crosses
and four jaguar spirits (or
balam) at the village’s four
entrances to keep away evil
spirits.
They wrote over 800 different
signs or glyphs, and their
writing system was the most
sophisticated in Mesoamerica.
They considered writing to be
a gift from the gods.
They built observatories in
many of their cities and
designed important structures
according to the movements of
celestial bodies.
Their astronomers were able to
predict eclipses, the orbit of
Venus, and the movement of
constellations, which were
believed to be the activities of
their gods.
Important cities included Tikal,
Copan, Chichen Itza,
Palenque, and Uxmal.
The head priest was called the
Ah Kin Mal (The Highest One
of the Sun) who ruled over all
other priests (Ah Kin).
The Sacred Calendar was
called the tonalpohualli
Coyas were the wives of the
ruler.
The main language was
Nahuatl.
They were conquered by the
Spanish conquistador, Hernan
Cortes.
The mita was a labor program
imposed on every inhabitant of
the empire.
The emperor at the time of the
Spanish conquest was
Moctezuma (or Montezuma) II.
The emperor traditionally
married his sister as his
principle wife.
They had scribes for every
branch of knowledge. Some
wrote history, while others kept
genealogies-recording the
ancestors and descendants of
the rulers.
Each noble family had a
separate building containing a
steam bath.
The ruler wore clothing only
once, and then it was
destroyed.
If one of them suffered from an
illness, a shaman or doctor
called a tlictli was called in to
remove the “magic dart” that
was believed to cause the
illness.
Tlictli were skilled surgeons
who used knives made of
obsidian glass to perform
surgery.
Whenever he left his palace,
the emperor covered his face
with a cloth because it was
believed that he was too
splendid to be seen by anyone.
Tlictli attended special schools
where they learned to make
about 1000 different medicines,
to heal wounds, to set bones,
and to perform dental care.
They enjoyed gambling in
Cuztikteno, a game of skill and
chance.
They ate dried llama meat
called charqui, which was later
called “jerky”
When the ruler died, many of
his servants volunteered to die
also so that they could serve
him in the afterlife.
The punishment for insulting
the ruler was to be thrown off a
cliff.
The Apus were the four
regional commanders who
were in charge of each of the
four quarters of the empire.
Their religion was obsessed
with time. It was based on
accommodating humanity with
the cycles of the Universe.
Most of the gods were some
form of reptile and they had
two aspects---one good and
one bad.
Their civilization was not one
unified empire but a multitude
of separate city-states.
They filed their teeth to a point
or a T-shape and inlaid them
with small round plaques of
jade or pyrite.
Young men painted
themselves black before
marriage, and afterward
covered their bodies in tattoos
and scars.
The average height of men
was just over five feet and
women were about four feet
eight inches tall.
They practiced human sacrifice
because they believed that the
gods had sacrificed themselves
for mankind, the their blood
had given man life, and that the
Sun was nourished by human
blood.
The leader was the
representative of the god
Huitzilopochtli on earth. He
was the head of the
government and the main
priest of the Great Temple.
Among the most respected
members of society were
physicians, teachers, and
artisans.
The largest social class was
the macehualtin which was
made up of people engaged in
agriculture and the common
trades.
The calpulli was the family
group that collectively owned
land.
They conquered most of their
empire under the leadership of
Pachucatec who ruled from
1438 to 1471.
Children of nobles attended the
calmecac, while the other
children attended the
tepochcalli.
Huacas were sacred objects
that could be temples built by
humans or objects found in
nature, such as rivers, trees, or
rocks.
They called themselves
“Children of the Sun”
In one form of human sacrifice
was throwing the victim into a
well. The famous “Well of
Sacrifice” is located in Chichen
Itza.
Itzamna was the head god, lord
of the heavens and lord of the
day and night.
Kinich Alhuac was the sun god
and the god of rulers.
Merchants were called
pochtecas, and they had their
own god, Yacatecuhtli, which
means “Lord Nose.”
Chac was the rain god.
Slaves were not captured
people. They were members
of the tribe who had been sold
into slavery or who had
Long distance merchants often
acted as ambassadors or spies
for the government.
Decorations on clothing
indicated the wealth and social
rank of the person wearing it.
According to their creation
myth, the god Viracochu
emerged from Lake Titicaca,
bringing human beings with
him.
Pachamama was the earth
goddess, the mother to all
human beings.
According to legend, the first
emperor was Manco Capac, an
earthbound sun god.
Gold was the “sweat of the
sun” and silver was the “tears
of the moon.”
Juanita was a 500 year old ice
mummy that was discovered in
1995.
Priests believed that they could
foretell the future by studying
objects to find magic signs.
They studied such things as
the flames of a fire or the
insides of animals. This was
called divining.
Guinea pigs were the major
meat in their diet.
Ah Puch was the god of death
and was depicted as a
skeleton.
They built huge stone
structures using limestone
cement to provide mortar.
They then spread limestone
over the stone and painted the
buildings with bright colors.
Chichen Itza contained a large
observatory tower used by
ancient astronomers.
When they dyed fibers to use
in weaving cloth, they used
symbolic colors. Black
represented war, red stood for
blood, and blue indicated
sacrifice.
The Court of a Thousand
Columns was a large
marketplace located at
Chichen Itza.
Their conquest by the Spanish
lasted many years, and the last
kingdom to be conquered was
Tayasal in 1697.
Though they were master
builders, they did not use
metal. Their tools were made
of stone, wood, and shell.
A steal was a very large stone
slab that was inscribed with
hieroglyphics to honor an important occasion.
Pyramids had a square base
with four rectangular sides.
They built step pyramids that
could be climbed by priests to
conduct ceremonies on the
committed a crime. No one
was ever born into slavery.
They played a gambling game
called patolli and a ritual ball
game called tlachtli.
The home of the gods and
goddesses was called Talocan.
Potatoes were their principle
food. They cultivated over 200
varieties and developed a
method for freeze-drying them.
Farm implements included
such things as a tacila (a heavy
wooden spade), a stone-tipped
club for breaking up dirt clods,
and a digging stick.
The first ruler was
Acamapichtli, whose name
means “handful of arrows.”
They sacrificed about 20,000
people each year.
They grew a greater variety of
crops than any other Meso
culture.
The design and construction of
their buildings was so precise
that a knife blade could not fit
between the huge stones they
used in construction.
Every able-bodied boy was
trained to be a warrior. They
believed that it was a religious
duty to go to war. A boy
became a man after he
captured his first prisoner.
Jaguar and eagle warriors
were part of the nobility. They
believed that a dead warrior
would return to earth after four
years as a hummingbird or a
butterfly.
The main purpose of warfare
was not conquest but to collect
victims for human sacrifice.
They built a 14,000 mile road
system, most of which was
paved with flat stones.
When they captured a tribe,
they demanded tribute in the
form of food, building materials,
clothing, precious stones, and
captives for human sacrifice.
Chocolate was a drink
reserved for rulers and nobility.
The chocolate drink was called
cacahuatt.
Many of the doors and
windows in their buildings (of
all kinds) were made in the
shape of a trapezoid.
They made octli, an alcoholic
drink made from the maguey
cactus. This drink was
The Sun Temple in Machu
Picchu was a religious
calendar that marked the
summer and winter solstices.
Building stones were fit
together so precisely that no
mortar was needed.
The most unusual example of
pottery was the aryballus, a jar
with a pointed bottom that
balanced itself when it was
filled, and rested on its side
when it was empty.
The two major roads were the
Royal Road and the Coastal
Highway.
steps where everyone could
see them.
At least one ball court was built
in each city. They were
typically placed at the foot of
the temple.
Their system of writing was
“borrowed” from the ancient
Olmecs.
They believed in a “Mirror
World” which they imagined
was inhabited by demons,
devils, gods, and acestors.
One of their legends said that if
you looked into a mirror, you
could communicate with the
inhabitants of the “Other World”
because the mirror would act
as a gateway or portal.
Ka’tun was a ceremony
conducted every twenty years
at which a new stela was
created to share what had
happened over the past twenty
years.
Warriors going into battle
would wear mirrors on their
backs so that no one could
sneak up on them without
being snatched by a demon
from the “Other World.”
They created more than 1,000
dances. These dances
included the Monkey, the
Grandfather, the Shadow of the
Trees, and the Centipede.
reserved for rulers, nobility,
and warriors.
The Templo Mayor was the l
religious center of Tenochtitlan.
The emperor’s palace had
rooms covered in gold panels.
It also contained a zoo.
Rest houses called tampus
were built every 12-20 miles
along roads.
They called their suspension
bridges chacas. These
hanging bridges were made
from cables that they wove
from the maguey plant.
Their number system was
based on the number ten.
At the Spanish Conquest,
Francisco Pizarro had their
ruler, Atahualpa, strangled
after he had arranged for the
Spanish to receive a ransom of
gold.
To control their vast empire,
they did not use force or
violence. They simply
relocated rebels to other areas.
The government kept grain
warehouses to help the
members of their empire during
hard times.