By: Emily Eagleston and Holly Gilson
Standards
• 5.2 Identify the three major pre-Columbian civilizations
that existed in Central and South America (Maya, Aztec,
and Inca) and their locations. Describe their political
structures, religious practices, and use of slaves.
• 5.4 Explain why the Aztec and Inca civilizations declined
in the 16th century.
• A. the encounters between Cortez and Montezuma
• B. the encounters between Pizarro and the Incas
• C. the goals of the Spanish conquistadors
• D. the effects of European diseases, particularly
smallpox, throughout the Western hemisphere
• The Aztecs lived in Central
Mexico.
• A Spanish explorer and
conquistador called Cortez
conquered the Aztecs in
Tenochtitlan and it was built in
the middle of a lake.
• The leader of the Aztec tribe
was Montezuma that
welcomed Cortez because
they thought that he was their
god Quetzalcoatl.
• The Aztecs used other and
some of theirs for human
sacrifice.
• Aztecs believed in many gods
so they were polytheistic.
delange.org
http://www.wku.edu
http://www.adishakti.org
• The Mayas also lived in
Mexico on the coast in
Yucatan Peninsula.
• They were polytheistic (
believed in many gods)
• They had slaves that
could sometimes gain
them freedom.
• Mayas didn’t contain that
much gold.
http://hss.fullerton.edu
• The Incas were located in the
Andes Mountains in Peru,
South America
• The Capital was Cuzco.
• The Incas also were
polytheistic.
• They did animal sacrifice and
on special occasions they did
human sacrifice (children).
• They had a spoken language
but not written.
• The Incas civilization was
gigantic.
• Cortez was a paled skin
Spanish explorer and
conquistador.
• He traveled to Mexico
with 500 men and 16
horses in his boat.
• Cortez kidnapped the
emperor Montezuma and
kept him as a hostage.
• Montezuma was killed in
the following battle and
the Spanish defeated the
Aztecs.
http://www.amersol.edu
http://www.renatica.org
amersol.edu.pe
• Pizarro was a Spanish
explorer and conquistador.
• Pizarro traveled with 180 men
and 27 horses into Peru to
conquer the Incas.
• The Inca civilization had
around 20 million people and
they lived on the west side of
the Andes Mountains.
• The Incas were taken over by
Pizarro easily in 1531 because
they were fitting a civil war (a
war that people in the same
country fight against each
other) and Atahualpa the Inca
emperor was held for ransom
• How did the Spanish explorers and
conquistadors change Central and South
America forever?
• The Spanish explores and conquistador
changed Central and South America
forever by making people do a new realign
like not believing in many gods and the
Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas have
disappeared with their realign and culture.