Deep in the rainforest of Central America, tall stone pyramids rise above the trees. Some are carved with rows of pictures and signs: the writing of the Maya. For a long time nobody could read it, but since the 1950s scholars have learned to read most of it, and now we know the names of Maya kings and the dates of their reigns.
Key idea
| Maya | Aztecs | Incas | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where | Central America, southern Mexico | central Mexico | the Andes of South America |
| Great city | Tikal and many others | Tenochtitlan, built on a lake | Cusco |
| Known for | writing, a calendar, a symbol for zero | floating gardens, markets | roads and rope bridges, knotted cords (quipu) for records |
The Aztecs founded Tenochtitlan in 1325 on an island in a lake. They built causeways to the shore and farmed on chinampas, garden beds built up in the shallow water. The Incas ruled an empire thousands of miles long, joined by about 25,000 miles of roads. Runners carried messages from station to station, and records were kept on knotted strings called quipu.
In 1519, Spanish soldiers led by Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico, and by 1521 the Aztec capital had fallen. In 1532 Francisco Pizarro began the conquest of the Incas. Sickness the Europeans carried, such as smallpox, which the people of the Americas had never met, killed far more people than the fighting did.
Worked example: Maya numbers
- 13 = 5 + 5 + 3.
- That is two bars and three dots.
Answer: Two bars and three dots.
Common mistake
Try it at home
- Write numbers the Maya way, with dots (1) and bars (5): try 7, 11 and 19. (Each level only goes up to 19.)
- Look for foods from the Americas in your kitchen: corn, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash, peanuts and chocolate.