The Rise of Mesoamerican Empires: Aztec and Incan Empires Before 1500
Time Frame: 1 week
Scope / Text
- The rise of Mesoamerican empires: Aztec and Incan empires before 1500
- Human and physical geography
- Organizational structure
- Contributions
- Trade
Themes
- Economic Systems: Why was agriculture important to Mesoamerican civilizations?
- Belief systems: What significance did religion have in the empires of the Americas?
- Government: what types of governments allowed Mesoamerican societies to rule large areas?
- Culture and Intellectual Life: What were the accomplishments and advances of Mesoamerican civilizations?
Key Questions
- How do physical and human geography affect people, places and regions?
- Why do civilizations rise and fall?•
- What impact do regional and global trade networks have on world cultures?•
- After it falls, what impact does a civilization have on history?
Vocabulary and Key People
- Mesoamerica
- pre-Columbian
- Maya
- Aztec
- Inca
- Mayan calendar
- concept of zero
- glyphs
- floating gardens
- Tenochtitlan
- terracing
- foot bridges
- quipu
- mita
- Machu Pichu
- Andes Mountains
- Incan Road system
- Incan farming system
- pampas
- Atahualpa
- Montezuma
Focus Questions
- In what ways did physical geography lead to the development of sedentary, semi-sedentary, and non-sedentary settlements in the Americas?
- How did sedentary, semi-sedentary, and non-sedentary cultures differ?
- Why were Europeans attacked by sedentary cultures?
- To what extent can Mesoamerican empires be compared to classical civilizations in Afroeurasia? In contemporary 15thcentury Afro-Eurasia?
- What were some of the technological advances of these Mesoamerican empires?
- What evidence is there of environmental damage in the Americas prior to the arrival of Columbus?
- What were the roles and status of women in the Aztec and Incan empires?
Primary Sources/Resources
- Aztec Sun Stone Original stone on display in the National Museum of Anthropology and History.
- Plan of Teotihuacan:
- Raising Children Within the Family
- La Mezcla: Spanish Church On Inca Temple
- Aztec Culture
- Aztec Trade, Economy, and Merchants
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Timeline of Art History
Teacher Created Lesson Plans/Lesson Ideas
Population and Settlement Patterns of the Americas During the Pre-encounter Period
Available inPDF,HTML,WORD
Handout 1 ,Handout 2
Handout 3a,Handout 3b
Handout 4,Handout 5
Assessments
NYS Thematic:
Geography & Society 06.02 – Terrace Farming, Incan Roads
Geography 01.02 – Andes Mountains / NYS DBQ: / Other: