Students compare and contrast the geographic, political, economics. Religious, and social structures of the Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations. 

Study the roles of people in each society, including class structures, family life, warfare, religious beliefs and practices, and slavery. 

Explain how and where each empire arose and how the Aztecs and Incan Empires were defeated by the Spanish.

Describe the artistic and oral traditions and architecture in the three civilization.
SS.7.7.5

Describe the Meso-American achievements in astronomy and mathematics including the development of the calendar and the Meso-American knowledge of seasonal changes to the civilizations’ agricultural systems.

Mesoamerica- a region that includes the southern part of what is now Mexico and parts of the northern countries of Central America

Maize- corn 

The Olmec- formed the First urban civilizations in Mesoamerica around 1200 AD

Chavin- a number of small civilizations developed in South America and the Andes

 15.1 The Aztec empire
Causeways- raised roads across water or wet ground-to connect the island to the shore

Conquistadors- Spanish soldiers who came to explore new lands, search for gold, and spread Catholicism

Hernan Cortes- lead a small group of conquistadors, and reached Mexico in 1519

Moctezuma II- the Aztec emperor, and believed Cortes to be a god
15.2 Aztec life and Society
Calpullis- was a community of families that shared land, schools, and a temple

Huitzilopochtli- the war god who Aztecs made their sacrifices to 

Tlaloc- the rain god 

Codex-  is an ancient book where they kept written historical records in books made of separate pages