Ms. Diane Nicoll 7th Grade History Unit 5: Lesson 2 

Name: Josh Lipman

Date:

Class: 7th Grade - Medieval World History

 
Slides and Notes 
Slide Student Notes

Title  ☆ MesoAmerican Geography ☆

Study the locations, landforms, and climates of
Mexico, Central America, and South America and their
Goal 
effects on Mayan, Aztec, and Incan economies, trade,
and development of urban societies.

Define: 
The complex societies of Middle and South America
MesoAmerican
that developed before the arrival of Europeans .
Civilizations

The Mayans  
Jungles  Tropical rainforests of the Yucatan Peninsula.

Food?
● Oceans provide food for the Mayans

Cenotes?
● Cenotes are a natural water sinkhole
● Sometimes used by the ancient Maya for
Food and Water 
sacrificial offerings,

What did the cenotes mean to Mayans?

● The cenotes were very spiritual to the Mayans
● Mayans make sacrifices at the cenotes

Isolated urban centers called, city states.

Isolated 
Why was this area isolated?
● Jungles - Geography

 
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Ms. Diane Nicoll 7th Grade History Unit 5: Lesson 2 

The Aztecs  
● Wide, high valley in the mountains of Central
Mexico.
● Called themselves the Mexica.
Mexico  ● Mountains protected them.
● 1345-1521 CE in the Mexican Basin
● Lived near the basin
● Centralized government

Why is agriculture important?

● Gaved lots of good food
●
Fertile Soil 
What are Chinampas?

● Floating gardens

Lakes?
● Salty
● Gave great agriculture
Natural Defenses  ● Water source for manny plants
Mountains?
● Gave great defense
○ Nobody could get over the mountains

The Incas  
Which mountain range?
● Andes mountains
● Aqueducts transported water
● Lived on top of steep hills
● Created highway system- Machu Picchu
● Centralized government
● Agriculture gave food surplus
High Mountains 
○ Settle
South America 
○ Time - Building
○ Population growth
● Terraces- Descending circles
○ Help agriculture
○ Stair-ish
○ So plants don't fall of the steep mountains

 
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Ms. Diane Nicoll 7th Grade History Unit 5: Lesson 2 

Why defensible?
● Very steep mountains, hard to get up
Defenses 
● Kick someone off a mountain-fall and die
○ Because very deep

Human ingenuity created roads, _________, and

terraces to solve problems.
Terraces 
Roads solved the problem of communication.
Aqueducts solved the problem of irrigation.
Terraces solved the problem of agriculture.

Video 

Video Summary Paragraph Starter:

The Mayan, Aztec, and Incan civilizations shared

values of education, engineering, and creative
MesoAmerica 
thinking. For example...
Geography​ Video 

 
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