Latin America – Early Civilizations of Middle AmericaMaya – Aztec – Inca

The Mayan Civilization

lasted from A.D. 250 – 900.

Copan is a Mayan city now located in present day Honduras. Tikal is also a

former Mayan city, which is now located in present day Guatemala.

The Mayan form of writing was known as hieroglyphics.

This is a form of graphic writing, using signs and symbols instead of

letters, as we do.

Although the Mayan farmer grew a variety of crops, corn, known as

maize was its most important crop.

The AztecEmpire

The Aztec Civilization began in the Valley of Mexico.

They settled on an island in Lake Texcoco, in 1325. It took time to

develop, but lasted through the early

1500s.

The Aztec people were able to change a swampy lake into a

great city, which was called Tenochtitlan

which was its capital city.

By 1521, the Aztecs were defeated by

Cortes

Although the Spanish had fewer men than the Aztec, they had horses and

superior weapons. They brought disease to America, which the Native

Americans had never experienced. Within the first 50 years of Spanish colonization, the Native American

population went from approximately 25,000,000 to 3,000,000.

The Incas - People of the Sun!

Descendants of the Incans can be found today along the west coast of South America

in:

Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile and

Columbia.

Peru

Ecuador

Columbia

Bolivia

CHILE

South America

A Census is an official count of all people living in an area. Quipu was a knotted string used by the Incas as a method of keeping records

_____

3,643

The Incan government was

able to take census and collect taxes

because of the large scale

road system that they built.

Another great achievement of the Incas was a series of canals and pipes known as aqueducts. They would bring water

to dry land.