Chapter 5 – Lesson 2
Vocabulary
Creating a Mexican Culture
• A culture that has a complex economic,
governing, and social system.
• More advanced in technology
civilization
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Olmecs were the earliest civilization in Mexico.
They lived in small houses made of reeds and straw.
The people fished and farmed near the rivers.
They developed a calendar and a counting system to keep track of the
flood season.
They used picture writing.
They are best known for their carvings and artwork.
Their most important god was the jaguar that they believed brought
rain.
They moved giant stones 50 miles without modern technology.
Olmecs
•
•
•
•
They farmed in the rain forests.
Their largest city was called Tikal.
They borrowed the jaguar symbol from the Olmecs.
They created a 365 day calendar to keep tracking of
planting, harvesting, and flooding.
• They developed a number system, including a symbol for
the number zero.
• They used picture writing.
Maya
• They had an accurate calendar and used mathematics to
help grow their crops.
• They developed a system of writing.
• Their largest city was called Tenochtitlan.
• Their empire was made up of over 5 million people.
• Their descendants speak their native language today
called Nahuatl.
• Many of their foods are now traditional foods of the
people of Mexico. For example, their cornmeal pancake
is called a tortilla today.
Aztecs
• Hernando Cortes conquered the Aztec empire and
claimed the land for Spain.
• Mexico City was built on the ruins of Tenochtitlan.
• Mexico remained a Spanish colony for 300 years.
• Spanish is the official language of Mexico today.
• The majority of Mexicans are Roman Catholic as that is
the primary religion in Spain.
• Many of the churches in Mexico are built the same way
as Roman Catholic churches in Spain.
The Spanish
• New ways of doing things.
innovation
• Taken back
reclaim
• Religious teachers that came to Mexico to
teach the Roman Catholic religion.
missionary
• Festival
fiesta
• A person of European and American Indian
descent, living in the Spanish colonies.
mestizo