Mari's+Americas+Exhibit

Incan mask
This is an Incan mask made out of gold. They made many things out of gold, including statues, masks, and jewelry. They made many trinkets of things such as llamas and people, like the one below. 

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SOUTH AMERICAN SOCIETY

 The Incan people lived in the Andes mountains. They conquered many other societies to get more land. The Incan empire at its height had about 12 million people. They had a ruler, the Sapa Inca. The emperor owned all of the land and only he could distribute and divide it up for other people to use. The nobles made sure the empire ran smoothly by taking care of problems having to do with the government. The Inca used a census which counted all of the people in their empire. This helped to make sure everyone paid taxes. The Incan people did not have a written language, but they spoke Quechua. They used quipus to keep track of many things including deaths, births, harvests, and many more. The Inca had many paved roads and bridges. They also used a lot of stone, and built large building with the stone. For farming the Inca built terraces and aqueducts. The Inca were conquered by the Spanish people when a conquistador captured the emperor and killed all of his men.

 The Mayan people lived in the Yucatan peninsula. Mayan life was based on farming. They used slash and burn agriculture as their farming technique. Mayans grew beans, squash, peppers, papayas, avocados, and corn. Corn was their most common crop. a different ruler commanded each city. Each city held a lot of religious events. the very important events took place at the pyramids. The mayans developed a calendar. They also created a system of writing called hieroglyphics. They played a game called pok-ta-tok for fun and it was a game taht was like soccer and basketball combined.

 The Aztec people lived in the Valley of Mexico in the middle of a lake. Their capital was called Tenochtitlan. They had one emperor. The sons of the nobles got to attend school. They made many causeways to connect the city to other land. They built many aqueducts. The Aztecs created more farmland by making chinampas which were island gardens in the shallow lakes near their capital. The Aztecs held ceremonies that would try and do things like bring good harvest. The Aztecs had a calendar that was based on the Mayan calendar to schedule religious festivals and farming cycles. The Aztecs had a strict class structure. Here is the class order from highest to lowest: emperor, royal family, priests, nobles, military leaders, soldiers, artisans, merchants, farmers (the largest group), and lastly, the slaves. Most young men over 15 served as soldiers for a while. war was a very large part of life in Aztec society. Women were not allowed to work as soldiers or military leaders, but they were allowed to be priestesses. most women had to be skilled weavers because they made all of the clothing for themselves and to trade.

CURRENT EVENTS
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