Mesoamerica
What does Meso mean?
Middle (Mesoamerica is in the middle of North and South America).
What was the famous Maya ball game called?
Ball Game (or sometimes called Pok-o-tok)
How did the Aztec honor their gods?
By human, animal, and/or plant sacrifices.
How did the Maya end?
It is a mystery how they ended. Either they got sick, moved elsewhere, didn't have enough food to feed their population or simply died out.
What crop was sacred to the Maya?
Maize (corn)
What bodies of water surround Mesoamerica?
Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico
How did the Maya believe their civilization started?
The gods mixed their own blood with maize flour.
How did the Aztec civilization start?
Their leader was told by their gods to search until they found a bird, sitting on a cactus, eating a snake. They found this in the middle of the swampy lands in Lake Texcoco. There, they built their empire.
How did the Aztec end?
The Spanish Conquerors came and overthrew the Aztec empire.
What did the Maya use as a form of currency?
Cacao
What country is north, above Mesoamerica?
United States of America (USA)
They were polytheistic, believing in many gods. They believed the gods controlled all aspects of their life (positive and negative).
What was the name of the city where the Aztec empire was built?
Tenochtitlan
Spanish conquerors arrived in Aztec empire?
Hernan Cortes
Describe how the Aztec built chinampas.
They raised the soil level by piling up dirt until it was above the water level. They created rows of dirt, planted seeds, and traveled in canoes to maintain the crops.
What is the most southern country in Mesoamerica?
Describe the Maya social structure.
The Maya used a hierarchical social structure system. The king was at the top, then priests, then warriors, then common people (artisans/merchants), then farmers and slaves.
Describe why warriors were important for the Aztec people.
They were important for many reasons: 1: They were the only group that could climb the social class pyramid. 2: They could help conquer new lands, expand their empire and gain new slaves. 3: They were collecting new tributes (taxes or $) from other cities or being paid to protect other cities.
What was the name of the last leader of the Aztec empire?
Moctezuma II
How were the Maya and Aztec cities different?
The Maya had many city-states, while the Aztec had one very large empire with a Templo Mayor in the middle.
What countries are included in Mesoamerica?
Mexico, Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua & Northern Costa Rica
List and describe at least three Maya legacies.
Writing: glyphs and codex
Math: number system using shells, dots, and lines
Astronomy: Studying planets, stars, and moons. Built observatories & pyramids to study stars
Calendar: Complex calendar, very similar to ours (365 days)
List and describe at least three Aztec legacies.
1: Pyramids and temples: built to honor the gods, human sacrifices, or religious ceremonies.
2: Chinampas: unique farming techniques used to grow food and feed the population.
3: Complex calendar: created to track seasons for religious ceremonies after studying the stars.
4: Created their own number sytem and writing system.
Why did the Aztec turn on their leader?
They believed he was selfish, a bad leader, wasted money, and also believed the Spanish could be their god, returning in human form.
Describe why the Spanish believed the Aztec empire was the most beautiful sight they had ever seen.
They had never seen a city with a large temple in the middle, many smaller temples throughout the empire, 4 main causeways (rivers) in the middle, people traveling in canoes, and food growing in rows along the water.