The 5 W’s of Maya, Inca and Aztec

Who were the Mayans?

Who were the Mysterious Mayans?

A long time ago, around 2500 BCE, an ancient tribe of Central American Indians called the Olmecs settled in the rainforests of the Yucatan Peninsula of Central America.

About two thousand years later, around 400 BCE, a new people suddenly appeared. These people were called the Maya. No one knows where they came from, but they arrived with amazing skills. They were an advanced civilization. They soon took over the Yucatan Peninsula of Central America.

The Maya were very clever people. Their system of mathematics was among the most sophisticated in the ancient world.

Like the ancient Romans, the Mayas were master builders.

Unlike the ancient Romans, the ancient Mayas did not have metal tools. Their tools were made of stone, bone, and wood. Yet they built beautiful structures, huge cities, and excellent roads - roads that connected the many hundreds of cities that made up the Maya world.

Around 900 CE, the Maya cities were abandoned. A few people continued to live in the cities, but mostly, the cities were empty. The people had, for the most part, disappeared, gone somewhere else. Those who remained were unable or unwilling to repair the magnificent roads and buildings. The great Maya cities fell into ruin.

To this day, nobody knows where the Maya people came from before they arrived in the Yucatan Peninsula, and nobody knows why they left or where they went when most of the Maya people abandoned their cities and disappeared from the Yucatan Peninsula. That's why the Maya are sometimes referred to as "the mysterious Mayas".

During the 1500 years or so that the Maya Indians made their home in Central America, they build hundreds of religious centers, each filled with huge pyramids and elaborate temples. There was at least one ball court in every city. Excellent roads ran for miles through the jungles and swamps, linking these centers of religion and learning.

Today, archaeologists remain very curious about these ancient people. Archaeologists face many dangers to hunt for the ruins of the ancient Maya cities hidden deep in the jungles of Central America.

There are not many, but there are some Maya people still living in Central America, descendants of the ancient Mayas who remained behind in the nearly deserted cities. Still today, their crafts are amongst the most beautiful in the world.

Who are the Incredible Incas?

A Little History: At first, the Incas were simply a small tribe that lived in the city of Cuzco. They worshiped gods of nature. They believed in omens and dreams. Around 1430 C.E, a neighboring tribe attacked the Incas. The Incas won! That was the beginning of the Inca Empire.

Since the Incas never developed a system of writing, archaeologists must study myths and legends and the artifacts they left behind for clues about the ancient Inca civilization.

Incan Tall Tales: The Incas loved stories. Special "wise men" created stories that were told over and over. They loved tall tales. Their emperors always did amazing things. Their battles were always bigger than life. The Incas believed in many gods. Some of their stories were about the wondrous feats of their gods. One Incan myth refers to an old man with long white hair, who was really a god. This god lived in a coal sack (the Milky Way). He created the Incan people.

Size of the Inca Empire: Over the next 100 years, the Inca Empire grew into a vast empire. The Incas were able to build a vast empire by demanding loyalty from conquered people. At the height of their power, the Inca Empire was 2,500 miles long, 500 miles wide, and home to 12 million people. These people called themselves "the Children of the Sun".

Land of the Four Quarters: The land the Incas ruled became known as "the land of the four quarters". It was named that because the Inca Empire was divided into four parts for ruling purposes. Cuzco was still the capital.

Religion: The Incas believed that their ruler was the direct descendant of the sun god, Inti. Their ruler was a god. The Incas believed in many gods. They believed in the god of nature, the moon, of weather, of rainbows, and of planets. Every mountaintop was a god. All Incas had little statues in their homes that were the homes of little spirits. Anything might house a god. Just to be safe, they prayed to all their gods every day.

Every month, the Incas held a huge and public religious

festival honoring one of their major gods. At the festival, there was dancing and feasting and sacrifice. Mostly, the Incas sacrificed animals. Sometimes, if something really important was going on, they sacrificed people.

Fall of the Inca Empire: The Spanish conquered the Incan civilization. Francisco Pizarro led the Spanish invaders. After a series of fierce battles, the Incas were defeated in 1531. The ancestors of the Incas still live in the modern day country of Peru today.

Who are the Awesome Aztecs

Around 1300 CE, a wandering tribe of Indians wandered into the Valley of Mexico. These people were called the Aztecs.

When the Aztecs arrived in the Valley of Mexico, other tribes were already in residence. They had already taken the best land. The Aztecs had to make due with the swampy shores of Lake Texcoco.

But this did not bother the Aztecs. Not only were they very clever people, but they had every faith that their main god had sent them to the swampy shores of Lake Texcoco, so obviously this They adapted to their environment.

They built canoes, so they could fish and hunt birds that lived near the water. They created floating gardens for growing food. They created more land for agriculture by filling in the marshes. They built dikes to hold back the water.

After they settled in, they began to conquer the neighboring tribes. They conquered first one tribe, and then another, and then another.

Each conquered tribe had to pay tribute to the Aztecs in the form of food, clothing, jewels, and of course, captives to feed the hungry gods. That made the Aztecs very happy and very rich.

The Aztecs expanded and expanded until they had built an empire.

One day, around 1500 CE, Spanish soldiers arrived in the Valley of Mexico. They were amazed at what they saw.

One soldier said, “There were soldiers among us who had been in many parts of the world, in Constantinople and Rome and all over Italy, who said that they had never before seen a market place so large and so filled with people.”

The Spanish conquered the Aztecs. The arrival of the Spanish brought guns, horses, huge fighting dogs, and disease. Because the Aztecs were such fierce warriors, they might have had a slim chance of survival against guns and horses and huge fighting dogs. But they had no defense against disease. They had never been exposed to childhood diseases like measles. Many became ill once the Spanish arrived; many died.

The Spanish also received help from the other tribes in the area. These tribes saw a chance to get even, and perhaps even to rid themselves of the feared and hated Aztecs. These tribes did not expect to be conquered themselves, which they were. Nor did they know how harshly the Spanish would rule their people.

By the mid-1500’s, the Aztec Empire had collapsed, and the Spanish had taken over the entire region.

Today, there are around 1,000,000 (one million) descendants of the ancient Aztecs living and working in Mexico. Human sacrifice is no longer part of their festivals. But the beautiful art and clever games the Aztecs created are still enjoyed today.

Location, Location, Location!

What Words You Should Know!

Maya

• Maya: people of Mexico and Central America starting around 2500 B.C.

• Mayan Calendar: a sacred almanac of 260 days used to predict good or bad luck based on a combination of gods, goddesses, and numbers.

• Stelae: large stone monuments sculpted with hieroglyphics depicting important events in the lives of rulers and their families.

Inca

• Allyu: a group of extended family members

• Coya: a divine ruler’s empress

• Inca: South America civilization, flourishing around 1438.

• Francisco Pizarro: Spanish leader who defeated Inca leaders and took over their empire.

Aztec• Aztec: people who ruled most of Mexico during the 1400s and

early 1500s

• Codic: books made from tree bark used to record hieroglyphics

• Hernando Cortes: Spanish conqueror of the Aztec empire.

• Stone of the Sun: giant circular stone calendar elaborately carved with Aztec symbols

• Tenochtitlan: capital of the Aztec empire, which is now present day Mexico City

• Tianquiztli: a marketplace where bartering of goods took place.

What are they known for? And why do we still know about them?

Mayan Inventions The Maya invented the most advanced form of writing in the

ancient Americas. They used hieroglyphics. The Mayas used about 700 symbols or glyphs. A glyph is a picture or a symbol used to represent a sound, a word, or perhaps a syllable.

Hieroglyphics covered their stelas, the big stone slabs they built to tell the story of special occasions and events. Hieroglyphics were used on temple walls and pillars. The Mayas wrote everything down

The Maya wrote books about their gods, their leaders, their daily life, and their special events. They were not like the books we have today. Maya books were made of soft bark and were folded like a fan. The reader had to unfold them to read them.

The Mayans had a number system consisting of shells, dots, and lines. You could write up to 19 with just these symbols. The Maya were one of the only ancient civilizations that understood the concept of zero. This allowed them to write very large numbers.

Means zero

Means one

Means five

Mayas developed a 364 day calendar based upon movements of the sun.

Inca Inventions

The Incas loved music. They invented many wind and percussion instruments. Drums and flutes were very popular. The panpipe was the most popular. A panpipe is a group of single pipes tied together in a row. Each pipe in the row makes a different sound, and the pipes are arranged very carefully. Panpipes are still played in the Andes Mountains today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5WKgLTUNPg&feature=related

Using a base of ten, the quipus had a main string about two feet long. Many additional colored strings were tied to the main string. Each string had knots in it. The color of the strings and the distance between knots all had meaning to the ancient Incas. The quipus allowed messages to be carried by the Inca runners from one end of the empire to the other. Some people believe the Incas could even tell stories with the intricate knots of the quipus.

It took training to read the quipus. Only a few

people could write and read their secret messages.

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Aztec Inventions

The ancient Aztecs invented a game called Volador, the flying bird game. Wearing costumes designed with beaks and feathers, Aztec athletes would complete to see who could complete the round trip with the most style and speed. The game went something like this - First, all the players climbed a 60-90 foot pole. After they reached the top, they each tied a rope to the top of the pole. Hanging on tightly with their legs, they spread their arms wide, kicked off, and sailed around the pole like eagles until they reached the ground again. In olden times, many spectators gathered to watch the flying birds. It was a very dangerous sport. Still today, well-trained Mexican acrobats perform this wonderful spectacle.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dES93smMNrk&feature=related

As the Aztec population grew, more food was needed. To solve this problem, Aztec engineers created “floating” gardens. First, they built a series of rafts and anchored each to the lakebed. Vegetation and reeds were piled on top of a raft. Then, they piled on enough dirt to be able to grow crops.

To further secure the floating gardens, mud retaining walls were built up around the raft to hold it in place. These also acted as walkways that connected the many floating gardens of the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan.

The floating gardens were quite successful. The Aztecs used the gardens to grow chili peppers, squash, corn, tomatoes, and beans.

Resources

http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112511/mayan_number.htm