mexico. facts: capital city: mexico city. –also called “distrito federal” (federal district)...
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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)