mesoamerica
Storyboard Text
- Geography and climate of Mesoamerica
- Thousands of years ago, advanced civilizations arose in Mesoamerica, which stretches from Southern Mexico into part of Central America. The region's climate and fertile land helped the civilizations thrive.
- The Olmec were the first major civilization Mexico. The olmec built courts where athleats played a game like soccer and basketball. Workers, including those who hauled the rocks for the stone sculptures, and farmers made up most of olmec society. Around 400 b.c, the Olmec civilization disappeared.
- olmec
- The olmec first emerged on the floodplains of rivers.
- Zapotec
- The zapotec people would build one of the first major cities in Mesoamerica, but there beginnings were humble. They developed their society in the Oaxaca Valley, a large, open area where three smaller valleys meet. For centuries, the Zapotec lived in a farming villages located throughout the Oaxac valley. In 500b.c the Zapotec built a city called Monte Alban high up at the mountains, and the location helped them be protected from their enimes. Around a.d. 750, Monte Alban's power began to weaken and by 900, the city Monte Alban's disappeared.
- Maya
- Aztec
- cortez and the end of Aztec empire
- With the help of the Aztecs' native rivals, Cortesmounted an offensive against Tenochtitlan, finally defeating Cuauhtemoc's resistance. The conquest eneded with a great siege of Tenochtitlan in 1521. The spanish surrounded and sysematically destroyed the great city. They rebuilt the ruins, and that city became present day Mexico city.
- The Maya emerged around the same time as the Zapotec. Like Olmec farmers, maya farmers developed successful agriculture practices. The development of Maya cities produced class system with four main classes. Class determined were people lived. The Maya city had to come to an end, it may have weakened by war, food shortages, or overcrowding . For whatever reasons, by a.d.900 the Maya had abanded many of their cities.
- The aztec adopted local ways, and served powerful kings as farmers and warriors. The aztec built Tenochtitlan on two islands in a swamp in the western part of Lake Texcoco. To feed their growing population, they constructed artifical feilds called chirampas. There were remarkable feilds that prouduced many crops and the aztec population thrived. Most Aztec belonged to the commoner class, which included merchants and artisans, farmers, and soilders.
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