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Chapter Introduction
Section 1 The Peoples of North
America
Section 2 Early Civilizations in
Mesoamerica
Section 3 Early Civilizations in South
America
Chapter Summary
Chapter Assessment
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Key Events
As you read this chapter, look for the key
events in the history of the Americas. 
• The early inhabitants of the Americas
probably traveled from Asia across a
Bering Strait land bridge produced by
the Ice Age. 
• The Mayan, Aztec, and Incan civilizations
developed and administered complex
societies. 
• Diseases that Europeans brought to the
Americas contributed to the downfall of
several cultures.
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The Impact Today
The events that occurred during this time
period still impact our lives today. 
• The Anasazi culture and the Anasazi’s
descendants influenced adobe dwellings
and handcrafted pottery made today in
the southwestern United States. 
• The Iroquois League was as model for
British colonies. 
• As in the Incan Empire, compulsory
military service has been used in the
United States and is used in other
countries of the world.
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Chapter Objectives
After studying this chapter, you should be
able to: 
• describe the various peoples who
adapted to North American geography
and formed societies. 
• describe the major cultures of
Mesoamerica, particularly the Maya and
the Aztec. 
• explain the rise, progress, and decline of
the Incan Empire.
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The Peoples of North America
Main Ideas
• The first inhabitants of the Americas were
hunters and gatherers, while later inhabitants
also practiced farming. 
• Because of the great variety of climate and
geographic features, many different cultures
emerged in the Americas. 
Key Terms
• longhouse 
• adobe 
• clan 
• pueblo
• tepee 
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The Peoples of North America
People to Identify
• Inuit 
• Plains Indians 
• Hopewell 
• Anasazi 
• Iroquois 
Places to Locate
• Amazon 
• Cahokia 
• Bering Strait 
• Mesa Verde
• Gulf of Mexico 
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The Peoples of North America
Preview Questions
• Who were the first inhabitants of the Americas? 
• What archaeological evidence remains of the
Anasazi culture?
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The Peoples of North America
Preview of Events
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Maize, or corn, which originated in the
Americas, is now one of the most widely
distributed of the world’s food plants.
Only wheat exceeds it in acreage.
Although the United States produces
about half the world’s total output of corn,
a corn crop matures somewhere
in the world every month of the year.
The Lands of the Americas
and The First Americans
• The Americas stretch about nine thousand
miles from the Arctic Ocean to Cape Horn
at the tip of South America. 
• Ice-covered lands, dense forests, river
valleys ideal for hunting and farming,
coastlines, tropical forests, and deserts
are all part of the Americas.
(pages 347–348)
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The Lands of the Americas
and The First Americans (cont.)
• Two major mountain ranges–the Rocky
Mountains and Andes–run along the
western side of the Americas. 
• Broad valleys with fertile farmland run
between these ranges and eastern
mountains. 
• Two great rivers are the Mississippi and
the Amazon.
(pages 347–348)
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The Lands of the Americas
and The First Americans (cont.)
• Between 100,000 and 8,000 years ago,
the last Ice Age left a land bridge between
Asia and North America in the Bering
Strait. 
• Hunters and gatherers, probably pursuing
herds of bison and caribou, crossed the
bridge as the glaciers receded.
(pages 347–348)
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The Lands of the Americas
and The First Americans (cont.)
How do we know about the early peoples
of North America?
Archaeologists and anthropologists
developed theories about them based
on finding artifacts, fossils, and other
remnants of the past.
(pages 347–348)
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The Peoples of North America
• About 3000 B.C., the Inuit moved into
North America from Asia. Most settled
into the cold, harsh, treeless tundra on
the coasts south of the Arctic. 
• They became skilled hunters and fishers,
using harpoons and spears of antler or
narwhal tusk. 
• Homes were made of stones and turf. 
• Igloos, made of snow, were only
temporary shelters for travelers.
(pages 348–350)
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The Peoples of North America (cont.)
• Around 1000 B.C., farming villages
appeared in the Eastern Woodlands–the
North American land stretching in the east,
from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of
Mexico. 
• The Hopewell peoples of the Ohio River
valley are the best known. 
• They are also known as the Mound
Builders. 
• Elaborate earth mounds, some built in the
shapes of animals, were used by them as
tombs or for ceremonies.
(pages 348–350)
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The Peoples of North America (cont.)
• A shift to full-time farming around A.D. 700
created a prosperous culture in the
Mississippi River valley from present-day
Ohio to the Gulf of Mexico. 
• Corn, squash, and beans were grown
together so as to provide plants with
nutrients and shade.
(pages 348–350)
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The Peoples of North America (cont.)
• Cities began to appear. 
• At the site of Cahokia, near modern-day
East St. Louis, Illinois, archaeologists
found a burial mound with a base larger
than that of the Great Pyramid of Egypt. 
• Cahokia was the seat of government for
much of the Mississippian culture, which
collapsed in the thirteenth century for
unknown reasons.
(pages 348–350)
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The Peoples of North America (cont.)
• The Iroquois lived northeast of the
Mississippian culture. 
• They lived in longhouses built of wooden
poles covered with bark. 
• Each was 150 to 200 feet long and
housed about a dozen families. 
• The men were hunters and warriors. 
• The women owned the longhouses,
gathered wild plants, planted the seeds,
cared for the children, and harvested the
crops–most importantly, corn, beans, and
squash, called the “three sisters.” (pages 348–350)
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The Peoples of North America (cont.)
• Wars and blood feuds were common
among the Iroquois. 
• Legend says that sometime in the 1500s
the Iroquois peoples were almost torn
apart by warfare. 
• A leader named Deganawida preached
the need for peace, and one who listened
was Hiawatha. 
• From their combined efforts came the
Great Peace, which created the Iroquois
League of five major groups that banded
together.
(pages 348–350)
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The Peoples of North America (cont.)
• One of the laws of the Great Peace made
its principles clear: do not act on selfinterest, act for the welfare of the whole,
act with the good of future generations in
mind.
(pages 348–350)
The Peoples of North America (cont.)
• A group of 50 representatives met in the
Grand Council to settle differences among
league members. 
• Iroquois society was organized into clans
of related families. 
• The clan mothers, who were chosen by
the women of the clan, chose the
members of the Grand Council. 
• Council representatives were instructed to
be firm but tender, not to act from anger,
and to deliberate judiciously.
(pages 348–350)
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The Peoples of North America (cont.)
• Some scholars believe that Benjamin
Franklin used the Iroquois League as a
model when he drew up his Plan of Union
for the British colonies.
(pages 348–350)
The Peoples of North America (cont.)
• West of the Mississippi River basin,
Plains Indians cultivated the “three
sisters” and hunted buffalo, often by
driving a frightened herd over a cliff. 
• The Plains Indians ate the meat, used
the skins for clothing, and made tools
from the bones. 
• They also made their circular tepees
from buffalo skins stretched over
wooden poles.
(pages 348–350)
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The Peoples of North America (cont.)
• The Anasazi established an extensive
farming society in the Southwest, a dry
part of North America covering presentday New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and
Colorado. 
• Between A.D. 500 and 1200, they used
canals and earthen dams to turn parts
of the desert into fertile gardens. 
• They were known for their pottery, and
used stone and adobe (sun-dried bricks)
to build multi-storied pueblos that could
house many people.
(pages 348–350)
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The Peoples of North America (cont.)
• Two of the most important Anasazi centers
were Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde. 
• Chaco Canyon’s Pueblo Bonito was a
large pueblo complex with eight hundred
rooms that could hold over a thousand
people. 
• A 50-year series of droughts caused the
site to be abandoned.
(pages 348–350)
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The Peoples of North America (cont.)
• Mesa Verde, now a national park, is in
Colorado. 
• It is a remarkable complex of buildings
in the recesses of the cliff walls. 
• Prolonged drought also caused the
abandonment of Mesa Verde.
(pages 348–350)
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The Peoples of North America (cont.)
Are the three principles cited from the
Great Peace good principles to live by?
Why or why not?
(pages 348–350)
Checking for Understanding
Define Match each definition in the left column with the
appropriate term in the right column.
__
C 1. a circular tent made by
stretching buffalo skins
over wooden poles
__
B 2. a group of related families
__
D 3. sun-dried brick
A. longhouse
B. clan
C. tepee
D. adobe
E. pueblo
__
A 4. Iroquois house about 150 to
200 feet (46 to 61 m) long built of wooden poles
covered with sheets of bark and housing about a
dozen families
__
E 5. a multistoried structure of the Anasazi that could
house up to 250 people
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Checking for Understanding
Describe how settling in the tundra
affected Inuit lifestyles.
The Inuit depended on hunting and
fishing for food and clothing. They built
homes of stone and turf.
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Checking for Understanding
List the major sources of food for the
Plains Indians. Also list the many
different ways in which the Plains
peoples made use of the buffalo.
The major sources of food came from
farming (corn, beans, squash) and
hunting (buffalo). They used buffalo for
food, clothing, tools, and shelter.
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Critical Thinking
Evaluate The Iroquois League is
considered “an experiment in
democracy.” What do you think this
means?
They had a council of representatives
known as the Grand Council.
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Analyzing Visuals
Examine the photograph of the
Anasazi ruins shown on page 350 of
your textbook. From this photograph,
what conclusions can you draw about
the daily life of the people who lived at
this site?
The site is surrounded by desert and
plateaus, suggesting that people were
always looking for water supplies and
that they adapted to life in a dry, hot
climate.
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Close
Discuss how different peoples
adapted to the varying environmental
conditions in North America.
Early Civilizations in Mesoamerica
Main Ideas
• Early Mesoamerican civilizations flourished
with fully-developed political, religious, and
social structures. 
• The Aztec state succumbed to diseases
brought by the Spanish. 
Key Terms
• Mesoamerica 
• hieroglyph 
• tribute
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Early Civilizations in Mesoamerica
People to Identify
• Olmec 
• Aztec 
• Maya 
• Hernán Cortés 
• Toltec 
• Montezuma 
Places to Locate
• Teotihuacán 
• Chichén Itzá 
• Yucatán Peninsula 
• Tenochtitlán 
• Tikal 
• Lake Texcoco
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Early Civilizations in Mesoamerica
Preview Questions
• What are the principal cultural developments of
Mayan civilization? 
• What caused the Aztec to settle in Lake
Texcoco?
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Early Civilizations in Mesoamerica
Preview of Events
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All of La Venta’s major structures are set
on an axis 8° west of north, probably in
alignment with some star or constellation.
A 100-foot-high clay mound shaped like
a pyramid or fluted cone, perhaps to
represent a volcano, dominates the site.
The Olmec and Teotihuacán
• Mesoamerica is the name for areas of
Mexico and Central America that were
civilized before the Spaniards arrived. 
• The Olmec civilization began around
1200 B.C. in the hot, swampy lowlands on
the coast south of Veracruz, Mexico. 
• Olmec peoples farmed along the area’s
muddy riverbanks.
(pages 352–353)
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The Olmec and Teotihuacán (cont.)
• The Olmec had large cities, such as La
Venta, that were centers of religious
festivals. 
• The Olmec carved colossal stone heads,
probably to represent the gods. 
• Around 400 B.C., the Olmec civilization
declined, then collapsed.
(pages 352–353)
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The Olmec and Teotihuacán (cont.)
• Teotihuacán (“Place of the Gods”) was
Mesoamerica’s first major city. 
• It was the capital of a kingdom that arose
around 250 B.C. and collapsed about A.D.
800. 
• Most inhabitants were farmers, but the
city was a trade center as well. 
• Tools, weapons, pottery, and jewelry were
traded as far as North America. 
• Built near modern Mexico City,
Teotihuacán had as many as 200,000
residents.
(pages 352–353)
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The Olmec and Teotihuacán (cont.)
• Temples and palaces were located along
the Avenue of the Dead. 
• The massive Pyramid of the Sun
dominated the city.
(pages 352–353)
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The Olmec and Teotihuacán (cont.)
The main thoroughfare in Teotihuacán
was known as the Avenue of the Dead.
Remembering that the street had many
temples, why might it have had that
name?
The most likely possibility is that human
sacrifice was performed in the temples.
(pages 352–353)
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The Maya and Toltec
• On the Yucatán Peninsula east of
Teotihuacán, the highly sophisticated
Mayan civilization flourished between
A.D. 300 and 900. 
• It covered much of Central America and
southern Mexico. 
• The Maya built splendid temples and
pyramids, and they developed a
complicated calendar.
(pages 353–355)
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The Maya and Toltec (cont.)
• Mayan cities were built around a central
pyramid topped with a temple to the
gods. 
• Nearby were temples, palaces, and a
sacred ball court. 
• Urban centers such as Tikal (in presentday Guatemala) may have had a hundred
thousand inhabitants.
(pages 353–355)
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The Maya and Toltec (cont.)
• Mayan civilization was composed of citystates governed by a hereditary ruling
class. 
• The states warred on each other. 
• Captured nobles and war leaders were
used for human sacrifice. 
• Other war captives were enslaved.
(pages 353–355)
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The Maya and Toltec (cont.)
• Mayan rulers claimed to be descended
from the gods. 
• A class of scribes helped the rulers.
Mayan society also had townspeople who
were artisans, officials, and merchants. 
• Most Maya were farmers, however. 
• Labor divided along traditional gender
lines.
(pages 353–355)
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The Maya and Toltec (cont.)
• The belief that all life is in the hands of
divine powers was crucial to Mayan
civilization. 
• Itzamna was the supreme god, and some
gods, like the jaguar god of the night,
were evil. 
• Like other ancient peoples in Central
America, one way the Maya appeased the
gods was through human sacrifice. 
• Human sacrifice was also performed on
certain ceremonial occasions.
(pages 353–355)
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The Maya and Toltec (cont.)
• The walls of the ball courts were covered
with images of war and sacrifice. 
• The exact rules of the game that was
played are unknown, but we do know that
small teams tried to send a ball through a
hoop using their hips. 
• The game had a religious meaning
because the court symbolized the world,
and the ball represented the sun and the
moon. 
• The defeated team was sacrificed.
(pages 353–355)
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The Maya and Toltec (cont.)
• The Maya created a writing system using
hieroglyphs, or pictures. 
• Unfortunately, the Spaniards assumed the
writings were evil because they were not
Christian, and they destroyed many
Mayan books. 
• The Spanish applied their own religious
views to the native civilizations which
helped to destroy them.
(pages 353–355)
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The Maya and Toltec (cont.)
• Many of the writings recorded dates in the
Mayan calendar called the Long Count. 
• The Long Count was based on a belief in
cycles of creation and destruction. 
• The Maya believed our present world was
created in 3114 B.C. and would end on
December 23, A.D. 2012. 
• Many other hieroglyphs recorded
important events in Mayan history,
especially events in the lives of Mayan
rulers.
(pages 353–355)
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The Maya and Toltec (cont.)
• The Maya used a solar calendar of 365
days. 
• Priests, however, used a sacred calendar
of 260 days to foretell the future and know
the omens associated with each day. 
• Only priests could read and use the
calendar.
(pages 353–355)
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The Maya and Toltec (cont.)
• The Toltec were a fierce and warlike
people who conquered the Mayan lands
of Guatemala and the northern Yucatán. 
• They also built great palaces and
pyramids, controlling the upper Yucatán
Peninsula from Chichén Itzá. 
• They came to power around A.D. 900 and
declined around 1200.
(pages 353–355)
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The Maya and Toltec (cont.)
What does it say about the Spanish that
they destroyed so much of the native
culture in the Americas they conquered?
Possible answer: It says that Catholicism
led the Spanish believe they were helping
the Native Americans. Dogmatism may
have made them arrogant.
(pages 353–355)
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The Aztec
• Sometime during the twelfth century A.D.,
the Aztec began a long migration to the
Valley of Mexico. 
• They established their capital at
Tenochtitlán on an island in the middle of
Lake Texcoco, where Mexico City is now.
(pages 356–358)
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The Aztec (cont.)
• According to legend, the Aztec believed
that a sign would come from the god of
war and of the sun, Huitzilopochtli, telling
them where to settle. 
• In 1325 they were driven into the swamps
and islands of Lake Texcoco, where they
saw an eagle standing on a cactus
growing out of a rock, the sign that had
been foretold.
(pages 356–358)
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The Aztec (cont.)
• They built a magnificent city of temples,
other public buildings, and roadways
linking the islands and mainland. 
• They also consolidated their rule over
much of what is modern Mexico. 
• The kingdom was a collection of semiindependent territories governed by
lords. 
• The Aztec ruler supported the lords in
return for tribute–goods or money paid by
conquered peoples to their conqueror.
(pages 356–358)
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The Aztec (cont.)
• By 1500 up to four million Aztec lived in
the Valley of Mexico and its environs. 
• Power was in the hands of the king, who
claimed descent from the gods. A council
assisted him. 
• The population consisted of commoners,
indentured servants, and slaves, who
were war captives and worked in the
houses of the wealthy. 
• The indentured servants were landless
laborers who worked the fields of the
wealthy.
(pages 356–358)
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The Aztec (cont.)
• Most people were commoners and
farmers. 
• Merchants also lived in the cities. 
• Boys and girls had different roles from
birth. 
• The midwife said to a newborn boy, “You
must understand that your home is not
here where you have been born, for you
are a warrior.” 
• She said to the newborn girl, “As the heart
stays in the body, so you must stay in the
house.”
(pages 356–358)
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The Aztec (cont.)
• Women were not equal to men, but they
could inherit property and enter into
contracts, something not often allowed in
other world cultures of the time. 
• They were also allowed to be priestesses.
(pages 356–358)
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The Aztec (cont.)
• Huitzilopochtli was a particularly important
god. 
• Another was Quetzalcoatl, the feathered
serpent. 
• According to Aztec tradition, this being left
his homeland and vowed to return in
triumph. 
• This became part of a legend about a
prince whose return from exile would be
preceded by a sign of an arrow through a
sapling.
(pages 356–358)
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The Aztec (cont.)
• When the Aztec saw the Spanish with a
cross on their breastplates, they mistook
the Spanish for Quetzalcoatl’s
representatives because the cross
looked like the sign they awaited.
(pages 356–358)
The Aztec (cont.)
• Aztec religion was based on the belief in
an unending struggle between the forces
of good and evil, which led to the creation
and destruction of a series of worlds. 
• The Aztec practiced human sacrifice to
postpone the day of destruction of their
world, the fifth world.
(pages 356–358)
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The Aztec (cont.)
• Aztec culture featured monumental
architecture. 
• A massive pyramid at the center of the
capital was topped with shrines to the
gods and an altar for human sacrifice.
(pages 356–358)
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The Aztec (cont.)
• The lords in the eastern provinces wanted
greater independence from the Aztec king.

• Areas that had not been conquered
wanted to remain free. 
• In 1519, a Spanish force under the
command of Hernán Cortés marched to
Tenochtitlán. 
• He had only 550 soldiers and 16 horses,
but he made allies with the city-states that
had tired of Aztec rule.
(pages 356–358)
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The Aztec (cont.)
• Cortés was greeted warmly by the Aztec
king, Montezuma, who believed his visitor
represented Quetzalcoatl. 
• Montezuma offered gifts of gold and a
palace to use.
(pages 356–358)
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The Aztec (cont.)
• Tensions arose between the Aztec and
Spanish. 
• In 1520, the local population revolted and
drove the Spaniards from the city, killing
many. 
• Many Aztec also soon died from
European diseases. They had no
immunity to them. 
• Cortés received troops from his local
allies, and in four months the city
surrendered to his forces.
(pages 356–358)
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The Aztec (cont.)
• The use of gunpowder also aided the
Spanish considerably in their battles with
the Aztec. 
• They leveled the Aztec buildings and used
the stones to construct government
buildings and churches.
(pages 356–358)
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The Aztec (cont.)
What do you think the Aztec midwives
meant when they compared a woman’s
life in the home to the heart in the body?
(pages 356–358)
Checking for Understanding
Define Match each definition in the left column with the
appropriate term in the right column.
__
B 1. a picture or symbol used
in a system of writing
A. Mesoamerica
__
C 2. goods or money paid by
conquered peoples to their
conquerors
C. tribute
B. hieroglyph
__
A 3. the name used for areas of Mexico and Central
America that were civilized before the arrival of
the Spanish
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Checking for Understanding
Explain how Mayan hieroglyphs have
helped us to understand Mayan
culture.
They provide a record of events in
Mayan history, especially in the lives
of Mayan rulers.
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Checking for Understanding
Summarize the different categories
of Aztec society.
Rulers (monarch, lords, government
officials), nobles, commoners,
indentured workers, and slaves are
the categories of Aztec society.
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Critical Thinking
Evaluate What was the importance of
trade for the early American
civilizations?
Trade brought in new products, created
new markets, and initiated exchange of
ideas.
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Analyzing Visuals
Compare the sculpture of a Mayan
athlete shown on page 354 with the
photograph of modern athletes shown
on page 355 of your textbook. What
inferences can you draw about the
status of athletes in Mayan culture?
What status do athletes in America
have today?
The fact that someone took the time and
resources to create the sculpture of the
Mayan athlete suggests that athletes
had a great status in Mayan culture, as
they have in American society.
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Close
Compare and contrast the most
important features of the Mayan
and Aztec civilizations.
Early Civilizations in South America
Main Ideas
• The Inca developed a well-organized,
militaristic empire. 
• Incan communities undertook sophisticated
building projects and established a high level
of cultural development. 
Key Terms
• maize 
• quipu
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Early Civilizations in South America
People to Identify
• Moche 
• Pachacuti 
• Inca 
• Francisco Pizarro 
Places to Locate
• Ecuador 
• Machu Picchu 
• Cuzco 
• Urubamba River
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Early Civilizations in South America
Preview Questions
• What does Moche pottery tell us about the
Moche people? 
• What method did the Inca use to enlarge their
empire?
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Early Civilizations in South America
Preview of Events
Click the Speaker button to
listen to the audio again.
Descendants of the Inca still live and farm
in the Andean highlands from Ecuador to
Bolivia. Known as the Quechua–after their
language, adapted from the language of
the Incan Empire–they have been the
subjects of numerous studies about
physiological adaptation to high-altitude
living.
Early Civilizations
• Located in Peru, Caral is believed to be
the oldest major city in the Western
hemisphere, one thousand years older
than those previously known. 
• It had stone buildings for officials, grand
residences, and apartments. 
• Caral’s inhabitants developed an irrigation
system. 
• Caral was abandoned between 2000 and
1500 B.C.
(pages 359–360)
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Early Civilizations (cont.)
• Sometime about 200 B.C., another
advanced civilization appeared near the
Pacific coast just south of the border of
Ecuador. 
• An urban center arose at Moche, amid
irrigated fields. 
• Farmers grew enough maize (corn),
peanuts, potatoes, and cotton to supply
much of the region.
(pages 359–360)
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Early Civilizations (cont.)
• The Moche led lives centered on warfare. 
• They had no written language, but we
know about them from images on their
pottery. 
• The authority of the Moche rulers
extended far along the coast.
(pages 359–360)
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Early Civilizations (cont.)
What kinds of images on the Moche’s
pottery do you think have taught us that
their lives centered on warfare?
The pottery has images of warriors,
prisoners, and sacrificial victims.
(pages 359–360)
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The Inca
• The Moche civilization collapsed around
A.D. 700. 
• A new power–the kingdom of Chimor–
arose a few hundred years later. 
• This was destroyed by people who
created a more spectacular empire–the
Inca.
(pages 360–362)
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The Inca (cont.)
• In the late 1300s, the Inca were a small
community in the area of Cuzco, a city
high in the mountains of Peru. 
• In the 1440s, the Inca, under the
leadership of the powerful Pachacuti,
began to conquer the entire region. 
• Eventually the Incan Empire went as far
as Ecuador, central Chile, and the edge
of the Amazon basin. 
• It included twelve million people.
(pages 360–362)
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The Inca (cont.)
• The Incan state was built on war. 
• All young men had to serve in the army,
which numbered two hundred thousand. 
• Supplies were carried on the backs of
llamas because, like other cultures in
the Americas, the Inca did not use the
wheel. 
• Once the Inca controlled an area, the
inhabitants learned Quechua–the Incan
language.
(pages 360–362)
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The Inca (cont.)
• To instill organization and order, Pachacuti
divided the empire into four quarters,
which in turn were divided into provinces,
each with about ten thousand residents. 
• At the top of the entire system was the
emperor, who was believed to be
descended from Inti, the sun god.
(pages 360–362)
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The Inca (cont.)
• Forced labor was an integral part of the
state. 
• All subjects were responsible for labor
service several weeks each year. 
• Laborers were moved to other parts of the
empire to take part in building projects. 
• Sometimes whole communities were
moved.
(pages 360–362)
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The Inca (cont.)
• The Inca built 24,800 miles of roads. 
• Two major north-south highways had
connecting routes between them. 
• Rest houses–located a day’s walk
apart–and storage depots were placed
along the roads. 
• Bridges, including some of the finest premodern suspension bridges, spanned
ravines and waterways.
(pages 360–362)
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The Inca (cont.)
• Incan society was highly regimented.

• Men and women had to marry someone
from their own social group. 
• Women either worked in the home or
were priestesses. 
• In rural areas, the people farmed on
terraces watered by irrigation systems.
(pages 360–362)
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The Inca (cont.)
• The Inca were great builders. 
• The building in the capital of Cuzco
dazzled European visitors. 
• The ruins of the abandoned city Machu
Picchu show architectural genius. 
• It was built on mountain peaks far above
the Urubamba River. 
• In one part, a long stairway leads to an
elegant stone known to the Inca as the
“hitching post of the sun.”
(pages 360–362)
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The Inca (cont.)
• It may have been used as a solar
observatory. 
• During sun festivals, the people gathered
there to chant to the sun god.
(pages 360–362)
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The Inca (cont.)
• Instead of a writing system, the Inca used
a system of knotted strings called the
quipu. 
• They had a highly developed tradition of
court theater consisting of both tragic and
comic works. 
• Plays often recounted valiant deeds. 
• Members of the nobility or senior officials
were the actors. 
• Poetry also was recited, accompanied by
music.
(pages 360–362)
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The Inca (cont.)
• The first Spanish expedition arrived in the
central Andes in 1531, under the
command of Francisco Pizarro. 
• Though he had only a small band of about
180 men, Pizarro had some things the
Inca did not: steel weapons, gunpowder,
and horses. 
• The Incan Empire experienced a smallpox
epidemic. 
• Like the Aztec, the Inca were not immune
to European diseases. 
• The emperor died of smallpox.
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(pages 360–362)
The Inca (cont.)
• When the emperor died, his sons fought
a civil war for control. 
• Atahuallpa defeated his brother, but
Pizarro then captured and executed
Atahuallpa. 
• Pizarro then captured the capital Cuzco
with the help of Incan allies. 
• By 1535, Pizarro had established a new
capital at Lima for a new colony of the
Spanish Empire.
(pages 360–362)
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The Inca (cont.)
Why would some Inca ally with Pizarro
against the Incan Empire?
Possible answers: Resentment against
the rulers, promises of power, and
promises of riches might have caused
some Inca to ally with Pizarro.
(pages 360–362)
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Checking for Understanding
Define Match each definition in the left column with the
appropriate term in the right column.
__
A 1. corn
__
B 2. a system of knotted strings
used by the Inca people for
keeping records
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A. maize
B. quipu
Checking for Understanding
Describe the Incan system of forced
labor.
All Incan subjects were responsible for
labor service, usually several weeks a
year.
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Checking for Understanding
List evidence historians use to support
the claim that the Moche led lives
centered around warfare.
The paintings and pottery of the Moche
portray warriors, prisoners, and
sacrificial victims.
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Critical Thinking
Evaluate How did Pachacuti expand
the Incan state into an empire?
He expanded it through military
conquest and careful governing of
conquered territories.
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Analyzing Visuals
Examine the photograph of the Incan
temple at Cuzco, Peru, shown on page
359 of your textbook. What architectural
elements does the Incan temple have
that are also seen in buildings from
other cultures you have read about?
It has curved arches seen in Roman
buildings, it is elevated like Greek
temples, and it has a rounded
foundation similar to medieval castles.
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Close
Compare the rise, achievements, and
decline of the Aztec and Incan
Empires.
Chapter Summary
The table below summarizes the factors
that helped shape early cultures in the
Americas.
Using Key Terms
Insert the key term that best completes each of the following
sentences.
longhouses
1. The Iroquois built _______________,
made of
wooden poles and covered with bark, to house many
families.
clans
2. Within each Iroquois group were _______________,
groups of related families.
adobe
3. Sun-dried bricks are called _______________.
4. The Aztec ruler allowed others to rule semiindependent territories if they paid _______________,
tribute
goods or money paid by those conquered.
5. The Mayan system of writing was based on pictures
hieroglyphs
called _______________.
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Reviewing Key Facts
Culture How many people did some
of the urban centers of the Hopewell
people contain?
Some contained 10,000 people.
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Reviewing Key Facts
Government The phrase “selfinterest shall be cast away” comes
from which Iroquois statement?
It comes from the Great Peace.
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Reviewing Key Facts
History What did the Spanish bring to
the Americas that contributed to the
destruction of the early civilizations?
They brought disease and gunpowder.
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Reviewing Key Facts
Religion What did the Aztec believe
when they saw the crosses on the
Spanish breastplates?
They believed that the crosses
represented an arrow through a sapling,
the sign that would mark the return of
Quetzalcoatl.
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Reviewing Key Facts
Geography At what altitude did the
Inca build Cuzco?
It was built at 11,000 feet (3,353 m).
Click the mouse button or press the
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Critical Thinking
Evaluating How are the houses of the
North American peoples a reflection of
the geography of their regions?
They used what they had at hand, and
what they had at hand depended on the
geography. The Inuit used stone and
turf since they lived in the treeless
tundra; Plains peoples used buffalo
skins for tepees on the relatively
treeless Plains; the Eastern Woodlands
had plentiful forests, so wood was
available for longhouses; and the desert
was hot and dry, so stone and adobe
were used.
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Critical Thinking
Drawing Conclusions Why did Incan
rulers insist that all conquered peoples
be taught the Quechua language?
It was a means of unifying their
territories by making it easier to
communicate.
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Analyzing Maps and Charts
European visitors were amazed by the buildings and
monuments of the Incan capital at Cuzco. Use the map
below to answer the questions on the following slides.
Analyzing Maps and Charts
Approximately
how long was the
city of Cuzco?
It was less than 2
miles (3.2 km) long.
Click the mouse button or press the
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Analyzing Maps and Charts
What natural
boundaries
surround Cuzco?
Where did the Inca
build boundaries?
Why were manmade boundaries
needed?
Ridges were the
natural boundaries.
The Inca built boundaries around city
boundaries where no natural borders
exist. There were no natural boundaries.
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Analyzing Maps and Charts
The Inca developed
a vast road system.
What do you notice
about the roads
leading out of
Cuzco?
They lead out in
all directions.
Click the mouse button or press the
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Analyzing Maps and Charts
How might
geographical
factors have
influenced the
placement of
buildings in Cuzco?
Builders would
need to plan for
level terrain.
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Standardized Test Practice
Directions: Choose the best answer to the following
question.
The League of Iroquois was important because it
A protected the Aztec from Hernán Cortés.
B was created by Deganawida and Hiawatha.
C was an early American form of the democratic assembly.
D established the Mayan calendar.
Test-Taking Tip Some answer choices are better than
others. Be sure you have read all the choices carefully
before you pick your answer.
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the answer.
Explore online information about the topics
introduced in this chapter.
Click on the Connect button to launch your browser and go to
the Glencoe World History Web site. At this site, you will find
interactive activities, current events information, and Web sites
correlated with the chapters and units in the textbook. When
you finish exploring, exit the browser program to return to this
presentation. If you experience difficulty connecting to the Web
site, manually launch your Web browser and go to
http://wh.glencoe.com
Science
Economics
Click on a hyperlink to view the corresponding slide.
Science The Aztec built their empire on a highly
effective system of agriculture. The limited available
farmland was intensively cultivated, and it was
supplemented by an elaborate system of reclaimed
swampland. This highly effective agricultural
system, which produced abundant food, was just
one of the many scientific achievements developed
by a Mesoamerican civilization. Research and write
a brief essay in which you summarize the ideas in
astronomy, mathematics, and architectural
engineering that developed in Mesoamerica.
Economics Mayan farmers produced large surplus
crops of maize that they brought to market to trade
for other goods made by craftspeople. Similarly, the
Aztec economy was not based on money, but rather
merchants bartered for goods and crafts. Compare
the Mayan and Aztec economic systems with the
American economic system.
Hieroglyphics The word “hieroglyphics” means
sacred writing. Hieroglyphics use pictures rather
than words to represent objects. The complex
Mayan writing system contained about 800
characters, including phonetic, ideographic, and
hieroglyphic symbols. Do you think that if the
Spanish had realized the significance of the Mayan
hieroglyphic records, they would have treated
Mayan books with more respect?
By about 5000 B.C., a group of hunter-gatherers in
a highland area of present-day Mexico discovered
that the seeds of native plants could be planted and
harvested, providing a reliable source of food. This
discovery led to the first permanent villages in the
Americas.
Analyzing Primary and
Secondary Sources
Why Learn This Skill?
Suppose for a moment that a devastating tornado has
struck a nearby town. On television that night, you watch
an interview with an eyewitness. The eyewitness begins to
cry as she describes the destruction of her own home and
neighborhood. The next day, you read a newspaper
account that describes the tornado’s path. Is one of these
accounts of the same event more accurate than the other?
This feature can be found on page 351 of your textbook.
Analyzing Primary and
Secondary Sources
Learning the Skill
To determine the accuracy of an account, you must analyze
its source. There are two main types of sources–primary
and secondary. 
Primary sources are produced by eyewitnesses to events.
Diaries, letters, autobiographies, interviews, artifacts, and
paintings are primary sources. Because primary sources
convey personal experiences, they often include the
emotions and opinions of participants in an event.
This feature can be found on page 351 of your textbook.
Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.
Analyzing Primary and
Secondary Sources
Learning the Skill
Secondary sources use information gathered from others.
Newspapers, textbooks, and biographies are secondary
sources. Secondary sources, written later, help us to
understand events in a larger context or time frame. 
To determine reliability of a source, consider the type of
source you are using. For a primary source, determine who
the author is and when the material was written. An account
written during or immediately after an event is often more
reliable than one written years later. For a secondary source,
look for good documentation. Researchers should cite their
sources in footnotes and bibliographies.
This feature can be found on page 351 of your textbook.
Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.
Analyzing Primary and
Secondary Sources
Learning the Skill
For both types of sources you also need to evaluate the
author. Is this author biased? What background and authority
does he or she have? Finally, compare two accounts of the
same event. If they disagree, you should question the
reliability of the material and conduct further research to
determine which can be corroborated with other reliable
sources.
This feature can be found on page 351 of your textbook.
Analyzing Primary and
Secondary Sources
Practicing the Skill
Read the excerpts and answer questions that follow:
“Finally the two groups met. . . . When all was ready
Montezuma placed his feet, shod in gold-soled, gemstudded sandals, on the carpeted pavement and . . .
advanced to an encounter that would shape both his own
destiny and that of his nation. . . . Montezuma had servants
bring forward two necklaces of red shells hung with life-size
shrimps made of gold. These he placed around Cortés’s
neck.”
–from Cortés by William Weber Johnson, 1975
This feature can be found on page 351 of your textbook.
Analyzing Primary and
Secondary Sources
Practicing the Skill
“When we had arrived at a place not far from the town, the
monarch raised himself in his sedan. . . . Montezuma
himself was sumptuously attired, had on a species of half
boot, richly set with jewels, and whose soles were made of
solid gold. . . .
Montezuma came up to Cortés, and hung about his neck a
chaste necklace of gold, most curiously worked with figures
all representing crabs.”
–from an account by Conquistador Bernal Díaz del
Castillo, 1519
This feature can be found on page 351 of your textbook.
Analyzing Primary and
Secondary Sources
Practicing the Skill
What is the general topic of the two sources?
The meeting between Cortés and Montezuma
is the general topic.
This feature can be found on page 351 of your textbook.
Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.
Analyzing Primary and
Secondary Sources
Practicing the Skill
Identify the primary source.
The account by Bernal Díaz del Castillo is the
primary source.
This feature can be found on page 351 of your textbook.
Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.
Analyzing Primary and
Secondary Sources
Practicing the Skill
Is one account more reliable than the other?
If so, why? How do you know?
Possible answer: Bernal Díaz del Castillo’s
account may have been an eyewitness account.
Even if his account was not an eyewitness
account, he accompanied Cortés, whereas the
historian Johnson definitely was not there and
must base his version on available
documentation–which in this case is probably
limited to Díaz’s account.
This feature can be found on page 351 of your textbook.
Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.
Mask of an Aztec god
Read Two Cultures Collide on page 346 of your
textbook. Then answer the questions on the following
slides.
This feature can be found on page 346 of your textbook.
Why were the Spanish surprised when they
found cities and towns in Mexico?
They expected to find only primitive people.
This feature can be found on page 346 of your textbook.
Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.
What was the reaction of the Aztec to the
Spanish army?
They were terrified.
This feature can be found on page 346 of your textbook.
Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.
What did the Spanish do to the cities they found?
They destroyed them.
This feature can be found on page 346 of your textbook.
Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.
Click the image on the
right to listen to an
excerpt from page 363
of your textbook. Read
the information on
page 363 of your
textbook. Then answer
the questions on the
following slides.
This feature can be found on page 363 of your textbook.
Click the Speaker button to listen to the audio again.
What did the quipu record? What was it unable
to record?
The quipu was used to record anything that
could be numbered. It was not used to record
things that could not be counted. It could not
record the purpose and meaning of events,
nor could it provide descriptions.
This feature can be found on page 363 of your textbook.
Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.
In what other ways and from what other sources
was the history of the Inca preserved?
Incan history was recorded through
memorization, then passed down from one
generation to another orally, as stories or
poems.
This feature can be found on page 363 of your textbook.
Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.
The Deadly Games of Central America
Mayan cities contained ball courts. Usually
a court consisted of a rectangular space
surrounded by walls with highly decorated
stone rings. The walls were covered with
images of war and sacrificial victims. The
contestants tried to drive a solid rubber ball
through these rings. Ball players, usually two
or three on a team, used their hips to propel
the ball (they were not allowed to use hands
or feet). Players donned helmets, gloves,
and knee and hip protectors made of hide to
protect themselves against the hard rubber
balls.
Read the excerpt on pages 354–355 of your
textbook and answer the questions on the
following slides.
This feature can be found on pages 354–355 of your textbook.
Summarizing Why was great skill required of
the athletes who played the Mayan ball game?
Players were not allowed to use either their
hands or feet. Members of the losing side
were sacrificed after the game.
This feature can be found on pages 354–355 of your textbook.
Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.
Describing Explain the symbolism of the Mayan
ball game.
The ball court was symbolic of the world, and
the ball represented the sun and the moon.
This feature can be found on pages 354–355 of your textbook.
Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.
Writing about History What other sporting
events have you read about that could result
in the death of the losing participant?
Contests between gladiators in ancient Rome
could result in the death of the losing
participant.
This feature can be found on pages 354–355 of your textbook.
Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.
Mesoamerican Civilizations
Objectives
After viewing “Mesoamerican Civilizations,” you should: 
• Know that the Maya and Aztec established civilizations in
what is now Mexico and Central America long before
Europeans came to the Western Hemisphere. 
• Appreciate the culture, science,
and architecture of the
Mesoamerican civilizations. 
• Recognize that the ruins of Aztec
and Mayan cities offer mute
testimony to their greatness
even today.
Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.
Click in the window above to view a preview of the World History video.
Mesoamerican Civilizations
Why did the Maya practice human sacrifice?
They practiced human sacrifice to reflect their
understanding of the cycle of life and death in
the natural world and to please their gods.
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the answer.
Mesoamerican Civilizations
What are some theories about why the Maya
evacuated their great cities?
They may have left for religious reasons, their
soil may have failed to support them, or they
may have been wiped out by disease.
Click the mouse button or press the
Space Bar to display the answer.
by geographic
area
foods eaten,
clothing, housing,
hunting vs. farming
Arctic
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Southwest,
Great Plains
3
18
15
9
3; 10
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Space Bar to display the answers.
to keep a common
language
loyalty to the Incan ruler
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Space Bar to display the answers.
divided into four
quarters, each of
which was
divided into
provinces
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