Mesoamerican Civilizations
Jordyn Rideout
Mayans
The Mayans are from the highlands and lowlands of Mesoamerica. To be more specific, Southern Mexico, Belize, and Guatamala. They built murals and constructed pyramids. Their staple crop would be corn. They thought that if they got close enough to god, they were made out of corn. The Mayans discovered chocolate. To grow their crops, they believed in the, "Slash and Burn" method. This method, as they believe, gives them fertile soil. They cut down grasses and then they burn them to get their fertile soil. They invented many inventions. Such as, the system of mathematics. Their number system was based on 20. They were the ones that had discovered, "0." They also created an accurate calendar. They had 4 social classes with kings that ruled. In their social classes, the priests were very important.
Incas
The Incas were from Peru. They are in the Andes Mountain Range. In Peru there are tons of different ecosystems. Mostly, it was mountains. They built their terraces for their crops. They built many roads, and sometimes their roads were their streams. They built murals, unlike the Mayans they made their murals mostly out of gold. In order to have gold, they had to have goldsmiths. The Incas didn't have a writing system so they created a system called, "quipu." Quipu is knots tied to a colored rope of varied sizes. It was used to tell stories. An example would be the longest rope would be about their bridges. Maybe the shortest would be about their roads. In the Incas social classes, the Nobles ran the government and the army. The Incas were the 1st people to do brain surgery and blood transfusions. They also built many roadways. Their farming methods are unlike the Mayans. Since the Incas have mostly mountains in their ecosystems, they had to cut terraces into sides of mountains to get the most out of their land. They usually grew corn, potatoes, and raised their sacred animals. Their sacred animals included, the llamas, and alpacas.
Aztecs
The Aztecs are from Mexico. They are the largest city in the world. The Aztecs have almost the same inventions as the Mayans because they were very close. Some of their inventions included, floating gardens, books, and different calendars. They built calendars based on religion and family. They also used a lot of leather and made different things out of pottery. Their language and writing included different types of hieroglyphics. The social classes were broken up into 3 groups, the Nobles, Intermediate, and Commoners. They farmed lots of things that we have today. They farmed corn, chocolate, and popcorn. They farmed using "Chinampas." Chinampas are "floating gardens." Their gardens didn't float in the air, they made rafts that floated on the surface of the river. These were called "floating gardens.