Mexico

Facts:

• Capital city: Mexico City.– also called “Distrito Federal” (federal district)

as it is the seat of the country’s government.– Officially known as the United Mexican States– Borders:

• North: United States• South: Belize, Guatemala & Caribbean Sea• East: Gulf of Mexico• West: Pacific Ocean

Facts:

• Independence Day: • Sept. 16, 1810. From Spain

• Cinco de Mayo:• Commemorates the unlikely victory over French

forces at the Battle of Puebla in 1862

• Treaty of Hidalgo:• Mexican American War (1846-1848) giving all

lands north of the Rio Grande to the United States

Peoples

• Olmec (1500BC)• Toltec (800 BC)• Zapotec (600BC)• Maya (2000 BC but reached their height in

250 AD)• Aztecs (1200 AD)• Europeans (1521 – first conquered)

The Maya & the Yucatan Peninsula

• 1: Uxmal• 2: Chichen Itza• 3: Tulum• 4: Tikal• 5: Palenque• 6: Copan

• Tulum

• Chichen Itza

• Tikal

• Palenque

• Copan

Maya

• Other Mayan civilizations found in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala & Belize

• AD 250-900 the Maya flourished

• Incredible skills in Mathematics & Astronomy were used to build monuments and temples, calculate time and record historic events.

• Advanced system of roads, resevoirs, aqueducts and bridges

Maya Math

• First culture to discover zero• Wrote their numbers vertically• Based on a number system of 20• Only 3 symbols: beans, sticks, shells

– 5 beans = one stick– shell = zero

» Math sheet

Mayan Glyphs

• Most advanced system of written language of all the native American groups.

• Picture writing: Hieroglyphics in which symbols represented objects, actions, ideas or syllables. Complete sentences.

• Books: Codices (only 3 have survived)

Mayan Games & Rituals

• Pelota

The Aztecs

• Teotihuacan• Tenochtitlan• Tula

Legend

• Human sacrifice to their Gods– Quetzelcoatl

• Wanted to expand their territory (Conquerors)

• A shaman provided specific instructions:– Build your empire where you see an Eagle

sitting on a cactus eating a snake….

Tenochtitlan

• They built their city on Lake Texcoco

• a chinampa that is 8x200 m took about 8 days for four to six men

• First, posts were driven into the lake bottom. • Between the posts branches were woven together to

create an enclosure. • The enclosure was then filled with soil from the lake

bottom. Willow trees were planted along the edges to anchor the chinampa more securely

Aztec Calendar

• 8ftX5ft stone calendar discovered in 1790• Covered with carved geometric symbols• The center features a human like face with a

knife blade for a tongue• Sometimes called “Stone of the Sun”• 20 day cycle

– Aztecs believed there had been four suns “ages” and that they were living in the 5th sun (age): the sun god in center: He is surrounded by the symbols of destruction: jaguars, winds, fires and rains of previous ages

Aztec Games & Rituals

• Voladores

Discover and Conquer

• Cortes came to “Hispaniola” • Took part in conquest of Cuba before being sent

to conquer Mexico.

• Founded the city of Veracruz• Encountered the Aztec in 1521• Aztecs believed he was a god so they welcomed

him (discovery streaming video)

• http://www.reuters.com/article/video/idUSN2742810220071228?videoId=73465 (pyramid under DF)

Today

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