Latin America Past & Present. The Maya Central America Tikal – city in modern Guatemala Pyramid...
-
Upload
lesley-lawson -
Category
Documents
-
view
218 -
download
0
Transcript of Latin America Past & Present. The Maya Central America Tikal – city in modern Guatemala Pyramid...
Latin America
Past & Present
The Maya
• Central America
• Tikal – city in modern Guatemala
• Pyramid shaped temples
• Written language
• Skilled in mathematics
• Developed concept of zero
• Calendar – based on orbit of the earth & sun (365 ¼ day calendar)
• Invented game that is a cross between basketball & soccer
Pictures of Ball courts
The Maya … continued…
Aztecs
• Capital of Tenochtitlan on an island in the middle of a lake (modern day Mexico City is built on top)
• Advanced farming – Chinampas –
floating artificial islands built on large rafts covered with mud.
Aztecs
• Complex political system with an emperor
• Worshipped many gods & goddesses ceremonies with prisoner sacrifices
• Hernan Cortes – conquistador from Spain, conquered the Aztecs
• People of the Andes Mountains
• Capital is Cuzco in Peru
• Political system with an emperor
• Terrace farming – cut into the side of mountains
• Domesticated the alpaca & llama
The Incas
• Quipu = a rope with knotted cords of various lengths and colors, used to keep records and send messages
• Machu Picchu – “Lost city of the Inca”
The Incas
• Did not have a written language; however their language of Quechua survives to this day.
The Incas
Spanish Conquistadors
Hernan Cortes & the Spanish Conquest of Mexico• Conquered the Aztecs• Spanish conquest:
1519-1521• Last Aztec Emperor:
Montezuma II• Built Mexico City on top
of Tenochtitlan
Pizarro & the Conquest of the Incas
• Conquest of the Inca Empire: 1531-1533
• Last Inca Emperor: Atahualpa
• Spanish used horses, guns, & swords
Culture Changing Events
• Columbian Exchange: Movement of people, plants, and animals.
• New crops came to the Americas as well as Europe.
• Horse: Allowed Native Americans to hunt over large areas
African Slavery
• Direct result of the Columbian Exchange
• Sugarcane farming• Saint Domingue:
the wealthiest colony in the Americas
Haitian Revolution
• Toussaint L’Ouverture• Fought against the
French• Haitian Revolution
sparked other independence movements in Latin America
• Independence from European powers ended slavery
South American Independence
• Simon Bolivar• George Washington
of South America• Bolivia, Colombia,
Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Venezuela gained independence
• Led to rule by the oligarchy and military juntas
Mexican Independence
• Miguel Hidalgo• Mexican independence
from Spain• Mexico gains
independence after 300 years of Spanish rule.
Latin America Today
• Federal, presidential democracies; with the exception of Cuba.
• Fidel Castro created a communist dictatorship after taking over in 1959.
U.S. Relationship with Cuba
• One time trade partners: U.S. has had an embargo on Cuba since the 1960’s
• Cuban Missile Crisis: Cuba gives the Soviet Union permission to build nuclear weapons in Cuba