Aztecs Welcome to the Aztecs

1
ALL ABOUT AZTECS
Your goal today is to be able to define Aztecs,
Tenochtitlan, Hernan Cortes, and Montezuma. You
should also be able to describe the encounter and
consequences of the conflict between the Spanish
and the Aztecs. Finally, you will be required to
describe the Aztec culture and tell how Cortes
and Montezuma affected the Aztecs.
2
WELCOME TO THE AZTECS
3
THEIR LOCATION
The Aztecs were a great nation of nomadic
warriors who traveled Mexico about 700 years ago
in search of a land to call their own.
4
THE EAGLE AND THE SNAKE

• The Aztec chief had a dream in which their God
  appeared to him and declared that the Aztecs
  would build a great nation where the Eagle with a
  snake in its talons lands on a cactus.

5
THE ISLAND IN THE LAKE

• The warriors searched for many days and came upon
  a lake. They were tired and hungry. They gazed
  out upon the lake and guess what they saw.
  Exactly!! A huge eagle swooped down and grabbed a
  snake in its talons and landed on a cactus that
  was on an island in the middle of the lake.

6
GREAT BUILDERS

• The Aztecs began to build a great nation in the
  middle of a huge lake. They named their city,
  Tenochtitlan. It has been likened to Venice
  because of its great gardens and streams. They
  traveled by boat much like in Venice. It was a
  city built of gold.

7
THE AZTEC EDUCATION

• The Aztecs were very educated. They were the
  first to create an advanced calendar that is more
  accurate than our own. They performed brain
  surgery. They were great in mathematics,
  architecture, building, astronomy, medicine,
  surgery, and farming.

8
THE AZTEC RELIGION

• The Aztecs were very religious people. They
  worshipped many gods. They had a god for almost
  everything. The Aztecs believed that the moon and
  the sun were gods. They thought that the moon and
  the sun did battle every night and day.

9
THE AZTECS GODS

• The Aztecs believed that in order to give the Sun
  power to defeat the moon and rise each morning,
  the Sun must have a blood sacrifice. They
  believed they must sacrifice a beating heart
  everyday.

10
THE AZTEC SACRIFICES

• The Aztecs were forced to be at constant war to
  obtain prisoners to sacrifice. They captured them
  and held them for daily sacrifice. They were
  placed on a bench and their heart was cut out and
  placed in a stone statue of Chac-mool.

11
THE AZTEC WARFARE

• The Aztecs were feared and hated by all of the
  other Indian tribes of Mexico.

12
THE ARRIVAL OF THE SPANISH

• A man by the name of Hernán Cortez had heard of
  the infamous Aztecs. The Spanish were
  experiencing gold fever and Hernán Cortez agreed
  to come to the Americas and conquer the Aztecs
  and steal their gold.

13
THE CONQUEST OF THE AZTECS

• The Spanish conquistadors landed in Mexico with
  approximately 300 men and 40 horses. They
  traveled Mexico and met with the Indians. Upon
  hearing how fierce the Aztecs were, Cortez men
  became scared and wished to return to Spain.
  Cortez became more greedy and burned his ships.
  This forced his men to fight or die.

14
THE AZTEC TRAITOR

• Another Indian tribe gave Cortez a woman slave
  by the name of Malinche. She had been captured as
  a child by the Mayas. She was an Aztec and spoke
  many different languages because she had been
  traded by many different Indian tribes.

15
THE COMING OF THE AZTEC GOD

• Malinche became infatuated with Cortez because
  he was the first person to treat her nicely in
  many years. She told Cortez that the Aztecs were
  awaiting their god, Quetzalcoatl, to return this
  year.

16
THE MEETING

• According to Aztec legend, a tall white man had
  appeared and ruled and left the Aztecs after
  promising to return in 100 years to rule them
  again. Hernán Cortez was Spanish. He was a tall
  white man and he came to Tenochtitlan that exact
  year.

17
MONTEZUMA

• Hernán Cortez presented himself to the Aztec
  leader, Montezuma, and claimed to be their
  returning God.

18
THE END OF THE AZTECS

• Montezuma gave the Spaniards gifts of gold and
  welcomed them to his city. The Aztecs had never
  before seen horses and guns and wept with fear.
  They believed Hernán Cortez to be their long lost
  god.

19
HERNAN CORTEZ

• Hernan Cortez and his men killed Montezuma. The
  Aztecs were horrified. They had given an enemy a
  key to the city. As they debated on whether
  Hernan was actually a god, disease spread
  throughout Tenochtitlan. One third of the Indians
  were stricken and died of small pox. The great
  Indian nation was weakened by disease and without
  a leader.

20
THE GREAT BATTLE

• The Aztecs decided to kill the Spaniards
  however, they were sick with disease and without
  a leader. Still the Spaniards were out numbered
  one thousand to one. The Spanish then sent out
  messages to the other Indian tribes who hated the
  Aztecs, telling them that they had conquered the
  city and killed the leader. The other Indian
  tribes saw this as an opportunity to be rid of
  the Aztecs and came to help.

21
WHAT TO DO WITH THE GOLD?

• The Aztecs quickly realized that they had no
  leadership. They were becoming sick with small
  pox and more and more other Indian tribes were
  coming to help the Spanish. While some were
  fighting the Spaniards, the Aztec people, men,
  women, and children worked and gathered up the
  gold throughout the city and piled it into boats.
  One by one they sunk those boats into the lake.

22
MEXICO CITY

• The bulk of the Aztec gold was lost to the world.
  The great Aztec Empire fell. Mexico then built a
  great city on the site which used to be
  Tenochtitlan. Mexico City stands where the great
  Aztec city once lay. The gold is underneath
  Mexico City, which is currently the largest city
  in the world. The Aztec symbol is proudly flown
  on the Mexican flag and today the Mexican people
  view the Aztecs and not Cortez as national
  heroes.

23
CLOSING ACTIVITY

• Throughout todays lesson you learned of the
  origin and the destruction of the Aztec people.
  How do you feel after listening to the story of
  how the Aztecs were conquered? How do you feel
  about the methods used by Cortes and his
  followers? Explain your answer.

24
All About the Incas

• Your goal today is to be able to define the
  following key concepts Incas, Francisco Pizzaro,
  and Atahualpa. You should be able to describe the
  encounter and consequences of the conflict
  between the Spanish and the Incas.

25
Who were the Inca?

• The Inca built their empire
• in South America.
• They started out as a small
• clan that conquered nearby peoples.
• Cuzco became their capital city
• around the year 1200 CE.
• After a series of emperors, the Inca
• expanded throughout the Andes Mountain region.
• They had an empire of over 12 million people
  living in present day Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia,
  Chile, Colombia, and Argentina.
• The Inca originally did not have written records.
  Their history was passed down orally until the
  Spanish conquest.

26
Making a Living

• The Inca economy was based on agriculture.
• Most Inca were farmers.
• They cultivated crops of corn, potatoes, squash,
  tomatoes, chili peppers, and cotton.
• The Inca also raised animals such as dogs, guinea
  pigs, and alpacas.

27
Incan Social Structure

• The Inca had a rigid social structure.
• They were divided into two main classes nobles
  and farmers.
• The farmers were the common people and were
  divide into ayullu. The ayullu were groups of
  families that lived together and shared crops,
  animals, and land. The Inca stayed in the ayullu
  for life.

28
Incan Government

• The Inca government was very developed.
• At the top was the emperor, who was believed to
  be a descendant of the sun god.
• The emperor ruled with the help of bureaucrats,
  people who carried out orders. Many nobles worked
  with the emperor to carry out military and
  religious matters. Their government system also
  included governors and district governors.

29
The Conquest of the Incas

• 10 years after conquest of Aztecs, Francisco
  Pizzaro led expedition to Peru
• Pizzaro heard of fabulous wealth of Inca Empire
  hoped to win wealth for himself
• Inca Empire already weakened by smallpox many
  killed, including emperor
• Civil war had also broken out

• 1532, new ruler, Atahualpa, agreed to meet with
  Spanish
• Pizarro demanded Atahualpa accept Christianity,
  AND hand over the empire to Spain
• Atahualpa refused
• Spanish killed Atahualpa, destroyed Inca army,
  and took over the Inca empire

30
Correction and Addition

• PopulationOver!!! 10 million
• Aztec pyramids were used as temples

31
The Colombian Exchange
32
Columbian ExchangeWhat was it????

• The widespread exchange of plants, animals, food,
  humans, disease and ideas.
• Began with European arrival to the Western
  Hemisphere.

33
Columbian Exchange

• Europe
• Wheat
• Rice
• Sugar
• Bananas
• Pigs
• Horses
• Cattle
• God
• diseases

• Americas
• Potatoes
• Beans
• Maize (corn)
• Tomatoes
• turkeys

34
Animal Exchange

• L.A. had no large domesticated animals
• except for llamas.
• UNTIL THIS TIME, THERE WERE NO HORSES IN THE
  AMERICAS.

35
Animal Exchange

• Big impact on land use, economies and lifestyles.
• The imported animals became the center of Latin
  America livestock industry.

36
SLAVERY COMES TO AMERICA

• European officials governed American holdings.
• Disease and mistreatment reduced the native
  population.
• Reformers recommended replacing Native American
  laborers with imported African slaves.

37
African Slavery

• Spain took slaves to the Caribbean.
• Portugal took slaves to Brazil.
• Cultural Influence (voodoo religion, mulattos,
  music, dance and art.