Guided Reading Lesson 2 Life in the Americas ESSENTIAL QUESTION What makes a culture unique? The Maya Identifying Answer these questions about the Maya. 1. Where was the Maya civilization located? 2. From what two sources did the Maya get fresh water? 3. Who led each Maya city-state? 4. Who was Pacal II? 5. Complete this pyramid diagram to reflect the class structure of Maya society.
6. Why did the Maya prefer to capture people rather than take land when they fought wars? 7. What role did women play in Maya society? 8. What were some achievements of the Maya? 9. What are two possible causes of the collapse of Maya civilization? 10. Problem-Solving Historians do not know exactly why the Maya civilization collapsed. Think of three possible breakthroughs that might help historians discover the answer to this mystery. Possible Breakthroughs
The Aztec Distinguishing Fact from Opinion The first column contains statements about the Aztec. In the next column, indicate if the statement is a fact or an opinion. Statement 11. The Aztec came to power in central Mexico during the a.d. 1300s. 12. The Aztec city of Tenochtitlán was one of the greatest cities ever built. 13. Aztec rulers claimed to be descended from the gods. 14. Montezuma I ruled the Aztec from a.d. 1440 to a.d. 1469. 15. Montezuma I was the best Aztec ruler. 16. There were four classes of people under the emperor: nobles, commoners, unskilled workers, and enslaved people. 17. Aztec civilization was more advanced than Maya civilization. 18. Priests recorded Aztec knowledge in books known as codices. 19. Priests played an important role in Aztec society. Fact or Opinion? 20. Recognizing Bias Rewrite each of the opinion statements from the chart above so that it is a statement of fact.
The Inca Stating Fill in the blanks. The Inca settled in the valleys of the (1). They built their capital, (2), high in the mountains. Strong emperors helped build the Inca Empire. The first of these rulers was (3). Inca rulers built a strong central (4). They set up legal (5), tax bureaus, and military posts. Inca rulers required everyone to learn (6), the language of the Inca. People also had to work for the (7) for a certain period every year. One project people had to work on was a system of (8). These helped connect all parts of the (9). The Inca had little flat land for farming. They built steplike areas called (10). They grew potatoes and (11), a grain rich in protein. When harvests were good, the government would collect and (12) the extra food. In years when the (13) were poor, they would distribute the extra food from previous years. The Inca believed their rulers had the protection of the (14). Inca emperors controlled the lives of their subjects. They owned all the (15). They set rules for growing (16).
The Inca Empire was built on (17) young men had to serve in the (18).. All The Inca developed a method for doing (19). They used a rope with knotted cords of different lengths and colors called a (20). 21. Assessing Identify three ways in which the Inca emperor controlled the lives of his subjects.
North American Peoples Differentiating Each statement below is true of one or more of the native North American groups. At the bottom of the page, write the numbers of the statements that are true for that group of people. Inuit 1. adapted to the environment they lived in 2. settled along the coasts of the tundra, the treeless plain south of the Arctic 3. built homes of stone and blocks of earth 4. were skilled hunters 5. used fat from seals and whales as food and as oil for lamps 6. built wooden houses and canoes 7. built homes from adobe, bricks made of sun-dried mud 8. grew corn 9. grew beans and squash 10. built square wood homes called hogans 11. were nomads who set up temporary villages 12. lived in cone-shaped tents called tepees 13. hunted buffalo on the grasslands 14. hunted deer, bears, rabbits, and beavers 15. set up federations, or governments that connected several groups 16. created a constitution, or plan of government Chinook Hopi, Acoma, Zuni Navajo People of the Great Plains People of the Eastern Woodlands
Speculating Why do you think corn became the major crop of Native American people living in different environments?