Unit 3, Lesson 2
Government
Smart Start
 What is the absolute location of Mexico City?
 What is the absolute location of Rio de Janero?
 What is the relative location of Columbia?
 What is the relative location of Uruguay?
 Why is Latin America called a cultural region?
Today’s Objectives
 SWBAT describe the
cultural aspects of
ancient civilizations in
Latin America.
 SWBAT explain the lasting
effects of the Mayan,
Incan, and Aztecan
cultures in Latin America.
Keep in mind…
 In this lesson, scholars are
going to need to teach
their classmates’ the
information that they
need to know in the
jigsaw activity. If they are
not actively trying to be
good COMMUNICATORS,
then they will not learn
everything they need to
learn that day.
What do they have in common?
Cultural Diffusion
Cultural diffusion is
when the cultural
aspects of one
culture spread to
other places/people.
(Think “salad bowl.”
Important Questions
What is cultural definition in
your own words?
Big Thought
What are examples of
cultural diffusion?
Individual Work
You are going to fill an
info page for each of the
ancient Latin American
civilizations.
Draw pictures, write notes
– these are your notes to
study for the next text!
MAYAN CULTURE
 Time Line
 Architecture
 300s-900s A.D.
 Mayan cities were abandoned in the 900s for unknown reasons,
perhaps due to war, disease, crop failure, or draughts.
 Mayans built great cities that were centers for culture and religion.
 Farmers grew maize (corn) in the fields surrounding the cities. They
also grew beans, peppers, avocados, papayas, and squash.
 Great pyramids were built as temples to the gods.
 Miscellaneous
 The Mayan Civilization was located in southern Mexico (Yucatan
Peninsula) and the northern Central American countries (Belize,
Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador).
MAYAN CULTURE
 Numbering system that included ZERO – a placeholder that means
there is none of something. (EX: For 308, there are no tens.)
 Contributions
 Calendar (which we still use today)
 Pok-a-tok, a game similar to a basketball/soccer combo. This was
the first spectator sport.
AZTEC CULTURE
 Time Line
 1100s-1500s A.D.
 Hernan Cortez, a Spanish conquistador, easily conquered the Aztecs who
mistook him for a good-like figure. (Huge ships, horses, metal armor, white
skin were all unknown and new to them.)
 Moctezuma, King of the Aztecs, showed Cortez the civilization’s gold, silver,
and other riches; Cortez stole them for the King of Spain and claimed the
land for Spain.
 War, disease, and harsh labor reduced the population of “New Spain” from
25 million to less than 3 million over the first 50 years of Spanish occupation.
 Architecture
 Aztecs built great cities that were centers for culture and religion.
 Farmers grew maize (corn) in the fields surrounding the cities.
 Miscellaneous
 The Mayan Civilization was located on the Central Mexican Plateau
between the Sierra Madre Mountains to the east and west. The plateau
was great for farming to feed a large population, and the mountains
provided a natural barrier to invading forces.
AZTEC CULTURE
 More than 1000 medicines were created from plants.
 Aztec astronomers predicted eclipses and the movement of the
planets.
 Contributions
 Aztecs forced the tribes they conquered to pay tribute (taxes),
making them the first tax collectors.
 Like the Mayans, they also created a system of letters and numbers
(hieroglyphics) and a calendar.
INCAN CULTURE
 Time Line
 Architecture
 1200s-1500s A.D.
 Francisco Pizzaro, a Spanish conquistador with a small army of soldiers,
easily conquered the Incas. Their roads allowed the conqueror easy
access to all parts of the empire.
 Aztecs built great cities that were centers for culture and religion.
 The Incan Empire was 2500 miles along the west coast of South America,
but it was covered with more than 19,000 miles of roads.
 The Incan’s built aqueducts to carry water from the Andes Mountains to
irrigate their farmlands.
 Terraced farming allowed them to build Machu Picchu, a “city in the
clouds” atop one of the taller Andes Mountains.
 Miscellaneous
 Descendants of the Mayan Civilization live in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia,
Chile, and Columbia, and still speak the Incan language of Quechua.
INCAN CULTURE
 Incans were inventive architects and builders. They built:
 19,000 miles of roads – from modern-day Ecuador through Peru, and
Bolivia, Chile to Argentina – going over some of the most mountainous
land in the world.
 Contributions
 Farmland was increased by building terraces into the side of steep
slopes.
 Aqueducts (pipes or channels to carry water from a distant location)
allowed the Incas to irrigate land to grow crops.
MAYAN
AZTEC
300s-900s AD
Disappeared for
unknown reasons
• Calendar
• Zero
• Pok-a-tok was
first spectator
sport
Civilizations located
in southern
Mexico and northern
Central America
1100s-1500s AD
Conquered by
Hernan Cortez
• 1000+ medicines
• Predicted eclipses
Built great cities for culture and • First to collect taxes
religion
Had their own hieroglyphics
Farmed corn to feed people
Left something important to Conquered by
to the world
Spanish conquistadors
1200s-1500s AD
Conquered by Francisco Pizzaro
• Architects: built 19,000 mi of roads
• Aqueducts for irrigation
• Machu Picchu (terraced farming)
INCAN
Are they really gone?
Whether these cultures
were killed (Aztec, Inca)
or disappeared (Maya)
doesn’t matter – they left
a print on Latin America
and you can still see their
influences (farming,
language, games,
carvings, etc.)
Group Work
With a table partner, find
examples of cultural diffusion
from the three ancient cultures
– what still exists today because
the ancient civilizations spread
their cultural traits? Put a star
next to those areas on your
worksheet.
Independent Work
 Respond to the following questions:
1. What was on example of adaptation that you
learned about today?
2. What was one example of modification that you
learned about today?
3. What role did conflict play in these cultures?
4. What do you think is the most important
contribution that these ancient cultures made to
Latin America? Why?
5. Which cultural aspect has lasted the longest?
Why?
Big Thought
What do you think is the most
important contribution that
these ancient cultures made
to Latin America? Why?