The Maya
The Big Idea
The Maya developed an advanced civilization that thrived in
Mesoamerica from about 250 until the 900s.
Main Ideas
• Geography helped shape the lives of the early Maya in
Mesoamerica.
• During the Classic Age, the Maya built great cities linked by
trade.
• Maya culture was influenced by social structure, religion, and
achievements in science and the arts.
• The decline of Maya civilization began in the 900s, for reasons
that are still unclear.
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Main Idea 1:
Geography helped shape the lives of the
early Maya in Mesoamerica.
• The Maya civilization developed in Mesoamerica.
• Thick forests covered the area, so people had to clear the land
for farming.
– The Maya grew a variety of crops, including beans, squash,
and maize, or corn.
– The forests also brought valuable resources, such as animals
to use for food and trees for building materials.
• The Maya lived in small villages that traded with each other.
• As trade grew, villages grew.
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Main Idea 2:
During the Classic Age, the Maya built
great cities linked by trade.
• The Maya civilization reached its height in a period called the
Classic Age.
• During this period, the civilization spread to the Yucatan
Peninsula. It included more than 40 cities of 5,000 to 50,000
people each.
• Cities were really city-states, each with its own government and
king.
• No single ruler ever united the many cities into one empire.
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Maya Classic Age
Trade
• The Maya cities in the
highlands traded with those
in the lowlands.
• People could get things they
did not have nearby.
• People traded items like
cacao beans, obsidian, jade,
bird feathers, and supplies
for construction.
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Cities
• The Maya built grand
buildings, some of which
honored Maya kings such
as Pacal.
• They also built structures
such as canals, ball courts,
and large plazas.
Main Idea 3:
Maya culture was influenced by social
structure, religion, and achievements
in science and the arts.
• Social structure and religion heavily influenced the everyday
lives of the Maya.
• Maya worshipped many gods who controlled a different part of
daily life.
– Gods could be helpful or harmful, so the Maya tried to please
the gods.
– The Maya believed the gods needed blood to prevent
disasters, so they offered their blood from piercings or
sometimes used human sacrifices.
• Maya achievements included advances in astronomy and writing.
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Maya Social Structure
King
Held the highest position in Maya society. He
was believed to be related to the gods.
Upper Class
Priests, merchants, and noble warriors.
Together with the king, they held all the
power in Maya society.
Lower Class
Most Maya fell into this group, made up of
farming families who lived outside the cities.
They also had to “pay” rulers with crops or
goods and helped construct buildings.
Slaves
Usually men captured in battle or those who
worked for farmers and the upper class.
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Maya Achievements
Science
Writing
• Built observatories,
buildings from which
people could study
the sky
• Had a writing
system similar
to Egyptian
hieroglyphics
• Created a 365-day
calendar for planting
and a 260-day one
for religious events
• Wrote on
stone tablets,
bark paper
books, and
passed down
stories orally
• Created a number
system that included
zero
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Art
• Created exceptional jade and
gold jewelry
• Architecture
included huge
templepyramids.
• The Maya often
decorated their
buildings with
paintings.
Main Idea 4:
The decline of Maya civilization began in the
900s, for reasons that are still unclear.
• Historians are not sure why Maya civilization collapsed.
• One theory is that increased warfare over food may have
destroyed the Maya.
• Another theory is that people may have rebelled against the
kings, who demanded too much of them.
• A long period of droughts may have played a role.
• Most scientists agree that it was a combination of causes.
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The Aztec
The Big Idea
The strong Aztec Empire, founded in central Mexico in 1325, lasted
until the Spanish conquest in 1521.
Main Ideas
• The Aztecs built a rich and powerful empire in central Mexico.
• Life in the empire was shaped by social structure, religion, and
warfare.
• Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec Empire in 1521.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 1:
The Aztecs built a rich and powerful
empire in central Mexico.
• The first Aztecs were farmers, but when they arrived in Central
America, all the good farmland was taken.
• They settled on a swampy island in the middle of Lake Texcoco,
built a capital, and started to conquer nearby towns.
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The Aztecs’ Rise to Power
• War was the key factor in the Aztecs’ rise to power.
• The Aztecs built alliances, or partnerships, to build their empire.
• The Aztecs made the people they conquered pay tribute, or give
them cotton, gold, or food.
• The Aztecs controlled a huge trade network. Markets drew
buyers and sellers from all over the Aztec Empire.
• By the early 1500s the Aztecs had the most powerful state in
Mesoamerica.
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Tenochtitlán
• Tenochtitlán was the capital of the Aztec Empire. It was built on
an island in the middle of a lake.
• The Aztecs built causeways, or raised roads across water or wet
ground, so people could access the city.
• The Aztecs built stone canals to bring water to the city and
floating gardens to raise food and flowers.
• The city had huge temples, a busy market, clean streets, and
magnificent palaces.
• It was the greatest city in the Americas during the time of the
Aztecs.
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Main Idea 2:
Life in the empire was shaped by social
structure, religion, and warfare.
• The Aztecs had a complex social structure, a demanding religion,
and a rich culture.
• The Aztecs worshipped many gods and regularly made human
sacrifices to please the gods.
– Sacrifices were often battle captives. Aztec warriors waged
frequent battles with neighboring people to supply enough
victims.
• Aztecs valued art and architecture.
• They studied astronomy and devised a calendar like the Maya
did.
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Classes of Aztec Society:
Kings and Nobles
• The king was the most powerful person in Aztec society.
• The king was in charge of law, trade and tribute, and warfare.
• The king had nobles to help him manage the kingdom.
• The nobles were tax collectors and judges and performed other
jobs as well. They passed their titles down from father to son.
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Classes of Aztec Society:
Warriors and Priests
• The priests had a great deal of influence over the lives of the
Aztecs.
• The priests had many duties, including keeping calendars to
decide when to plant crops and holding religious ceremonies.
• Aztec warriors also had many duties. They fought to capture
victims for religious sacrifices. They also brought great wealth to
the empire.
• The warriors were very well respected by the Aztecs.
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Classes of Aztec Society:
Merchants and Artisans
• Merchants gathered goods from all over the empire and sold
them in the main market.
• Many merchants were very wealthy and used their money to
build large houses and send their sons to private schools.
• Artisans were also rich and were important to the Aztecs. They
made gold jewelry and elaborate headdresses.
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Classes of Aztec Society:
Farmers and Slaves
• Farmers and slaves made up the lowest class of Aztec society.
• Most of the people who lived in the empire were farmers who
grew maize, beans, and a few other crops.
• Farmers were very poor and did not own their own land.
• Slaves were people who had been captured in battle or who
could not pay their debts. They were laborers, and if they did not
obey, they were sacrificed to the gods.
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Main Idea 3:
Hernán Cortés conquered the
Aztec Empire in 1521.
In the late 1400s Spanish explorers and soldiers arrived in the
Americas. The Spanish conquerors, or conquistadors, came to
explore new lands, search for gold, and spread the Catholic religion.
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Cortés and Moctezuma
• A small group of conquistadors led by Cortés reached Mexico in
1519.
• Moctezuma II, the leader of the Aztec, believed that Cortés was
a god.
• Moctezuma sent Cortés gifts, including gold. Cortés wanted more
gold, so he went to Moctezuma.
• Cortés took Moctezuma prisoner. The other Aztecs attacked
Cortés and his men. The Spanish were driven out, but
Moctezuma was killed.
• Cortés returned with many Indian allies, and in 1521 they
defeated the Aztecs and ended their empire.
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Causes of the Defeat of the Aztecs
• Alliances The Spanish had help from other Indians in the region
who resented the Aztecs’ harsh rule.
• Weapons The Spanish had better weapons than the Aztecs.
They had cannons, armor, swords, and horses that the Aztecs
did not have.
• Disease The Spanish had unknowingly brought deadly diseases
such as smallpox to the Americas. These diseases killed the
Aztecs, who had never been exposed to such diseases.
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The Incas
The Big Idea
The Incas controlled a huge empire in South America,
but it was conquered by the Spanish.
Main Ideas
• The Incas created an empire with a strong central government in
South America.
• Life in the Inca Empire was influenced by social structure,
religion, and the Incas’ cultural achievements.
• Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas and took control of the
region in 1537.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 1:
The Incas created an empire with a strong
central government in South America.
In South America, a great empire arose. The Inca Empire began as
a small tribe in the Andes, but it later stretched from modern
Ecuador to central Chile.
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Foundations for the Inca Empire
• Pre-Incan civilization began to develop in what is now Peru. Four
major cultures developed and built some of South America’s first
cities.
• The early Incas began as a small tribe in the Andes Mountains. A
ruler named Pachacuti led the Incas to expand their territory
through agreements with, or conquests of, other tribes.
• Later Incan rulers continued to expand their territory. By the
1500s the Inca Empire was huge and had 12 million people.
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The Incan Government
• As the Incas conquered more people, they had to devise a way to
control them.
• They made the conquered leaders move out of their villages and
move in with leaders who were loyal to the Incan government.
• The Inca made the children of the conquered leaders come to the
Incan capital to learn about Incan ways.
• The Incas established an official language, Quechua.
• They controlled the economy by having the Inca pay a tax with
their labor.
• There were no markets or merchants. Instead, the government
would distribute goods. Leftover goods were stored in the capital
for emergencies.
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Main Idea 2:
Life in the Inca Empire was influenced by
social structure, religion, and the
Incas’ cultural achievements.
• Rulers controlled Incan society very closely but protected the
general welfare of all the empire.
• Common people had little freedom, and not everyone was
treated equally.
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Society and Daily Life
Upper Class
• Kings, priests, and
government officials made
up the Incan upper class.
• Men worked for the
government, and women
had household duties.
• Sons went to school.
• Upper-class families had
many privileges, such as
private schools, stone
houses, and the best
clothes.
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Lower Class
• The lower class was made
up of farmers, artisans,
and servants. There were
no slaves in Incan society.
• They worked on
government farms, served
in the army, worked in
mines, or built roads.
• Most children did not go to
school but instead learned
to farm.
Religion in the Inca Empire
• The Inca Empire had an official religion.
• When they conquered new regions, they taught this religion to
the conquered people.
• They allowed the conquered people to worship their own gods as
well.
• The god of the sun was the most important god to the Incas.
They believed their kings were related to the sun god.
• The Incas rarely sacrificed humans. Instead, they sacrificed
llamas, cloth, or food.
Holt McDougal,
Incan Contributions to Culture
• The Inca were known for their massive buildings and forts made
of huge stone blocks. Blocks were cut so precisely that even
today it is nearly impossible to fit a knife blade between the
stones.
• The Inca also built a system of roads that connected all parts of
the empire.
• The Incan artisans made jewelry of silver and gold.
• Oral literature was made up of storytelling and songs. The Inca
also passed down their songs, dances, and religious practices.
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Main Idea 3:
Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas and
took control of the region in 1537.
A civil war began in the Inca Empire between the two sons of the
king, Atahualpa and Huáscar. Atahualpa eventually won the war,
but he was captured by the Spanish soon after.
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The Fall of the Incas
• Although Atahualpa had won the war, the infighting had
weakened the empire.
• A group of conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro arrived in the
empire.
• When Atahualpa came to meet the Spanish, they attacked and
captured him.
• The Incas tried to free Atahualpa by offering the Spanish a
roomful of gold and silver, but the Spanish killed Atahualpa
anyway.
• The Spanish defeated the last of the Incas, and the empire fell in
1537.
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