Teachers recommend solving Kerala Syllabus Plus One History Previous Year Question Papers and Answers Pdf March 2020 to improve time management during exams.
Kerala Plus One History Previous Year Question Paper March 2020
Time : 2 1/2 Hours
Total Scores : 80
Question 1.
Match column ‘A’ with appropriates itmes from column’B’. (4 × 1 = 4)
| A | B |
| a) W.E.H. Stanner | Why Weren’t We Told |
| b) Andreew Jackson | The problem of Indian Administration |
| c) Hendry Reynolds | The Great Austrialian Silence |
| d) Lewis Maeriam | Presidenetof U.S.A. |
Answer:
| A | B |
| a) W.E.H. Stanner | The Great Austrialian Silence |
| b) Andreew Jackson | Presidenetof U.S.A. |
| c) Hendry Reynolds | Why Weren’t We Told |
| d) Lewis Maeriam | The problem of Indian Administration |
Question 2.
Choose the correct asnwer from the given altematices: (4 × 1 = 4)
i) The person wto propagated the protestant ideas in Switzerland:
Answer:
a) Martin Luther
b) Ignatius Loyola
c) Uinch Swingly
d) Erasmus
Answer:
c) Uinch Swingly
ii) The sculptor who made The Pieta
Answer:
a) Donatello
b) Michelangelo
c) Giotto
d) Francesco Barbaro
Answer:
b) Michelangelo
iii) Who was the first to dissect the human body?
a) Andreas Vesalius
b) IbnSina
c) Cicero
d) Filippo Brunelleschi
Answer:
a) Andreas Vesalius
iv) The author of ‘On Pleasure’:
a) Dante
b) Cassandra Fidle
c) Thomas More
d) LOrenzo valla
Answer:
d) LOrenzo valla
Question 3.
Arrange the following in chronological Oder:
• Cortes defeated the Aztees
• Cabral reached Brazil
• Eric Williams Published ‘Capitalism and Salvery’
• Columbus reached Bahamas.
Answer:
Columbus reached Bahamas – 1492
Cabral reached Brazil – 1500
Cortes defeated the Aztecs – 1521
Eric Williams published ’Capitalism and Slaveryl – 1940
Question 4.
Find out the relation between two parts of item ’a’ and fill in the blacks of item ‘b’ accordingly:
a) Chaghtai – Transoxiana
b) Jo Chi – ______
Answer:
Russian Steppes
ii) a) Quriltai – Assembly
b) Yasa – ______
Answer:
Code of Law
iii) a) Tama – Military contingent
b) Noyan – ______
Answer:
Army Captain
iv) a) Qubcur – Tax
b) Yam – ______
Answer:
Courier System
Question 5.
Mark the following places on the outline map of the world provided:
• Mecca
• Baghdad
• Damascus
• Cairo
Answer:
- Mecca
- Bagdad
- Damascus
- Cairo
Answer all questions from 6 to 9. Each carries 2 scores. (4 × 2 = 8)
Question 6.
Point out the differences between the Roman Empire and the Iranian Empire.
Answer:
The majority of the Iran people belonged to iranianrace. But in the Roman Empire, there were many regions and different cultures. In the Roman Empire many different kinds of people stayed together under one common government. In the Roman Empire, there was also much diversity in languages. The Iranians used Aramaic language. But in the Roman Empire there were different languages. Latin and Greek were the administrative languages. The upper classes in the Eastern part of the Empire used Greek wheas those in the Western part used Latin In their writing. Different from Iran, all the people who lived in the Roman Emeire were the subjects of a single Emperor.
Question 7.
Write any two reforms of Abd-al-Malik.
Answer:
- The Arabic and Islamic identities were strongly emphasised during his regin.
- The adoption of Arbic as the language of administration and the introduction of an Islamic coinage. The gold coin (dinar) and silver coin (dirham).
- He built the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.
Question 8.
The Aztecs gave importance to education.’ Substantiate.
Answer:
Aztecs had given great importance to education. They made sure that all children attended schools. The schools where the children of the nobles were studying were called Calmecac. Here they got training to be army leaders and religious leaders. Other students studied at the schools called Telpochcalli. Here they studied things like history, myths, traditional and ritualistic songs. Boys were given military and agricultural training. They were also trained in other professions. Girls were given training to do household jobs.
Question 9.
Write a short note on Long March.
Answer:
In 1934, Mao and his followers left their camps to escape from the attacks by Kuomintang. Their destination was Yanan, 6000 miles away. This march became a historical event and is called the Long March. The Communists who reached Yanan formulated their plans. They gave importance to suppress the war lords, bring land reforms and fight against the foreign imperial powers. This helped them to make a strong social base.
Answer all questions from 10 to 11. Each carries 3 scores. (2 × 3 = 6)
Question 10.
List out of the achievements made by the Mesopotamian people in the field of time reckoning.
Answer:
The Mesopotamians have made great contributions in calendar-making, to fix time of things, and mathematics. In Mathematics they discovered multiplication, division, square, square root and compound interest. Some clay slates where these things are recorded have been discovered. The square root they discovered differs only very slightly from the actual one. Based on the rotation of the moon around the earth, a year was divided into 12 months, a month was divided into 4 weeks, and a day was divided into 24 hours, and an hour was divided into 60 minutes. This was a Mesopotamian discovery. Thus the calendar which was based on the lunar movement has been approved and accepted by the whole world.
Question 11.
Point out the three principles of Sun Yat-Sen.
Answer:
Sun Yat-sen was worried about China’s fate. For the reconstruction of the country, he prepared a scheme. This is called “Three Principles” or San-Min Doctrine orTridemism. The three principles are nationalism, democracy and socialism.
Nationalism meant driving away the Manchus and other imperialists. Democracy meant establishing a democratic government. Socialism meant controlling capital and bringing equality in land ownership.
Answer any 5 questions from 12 to 17. Each carries 3 scores. (5 × 4 = 20)
Question 12.
How did the early humans obtain their food?
Answer:
The early people got their food by gathering, hunting, taking the flesh from dead animals and fishing. They gathered vegetarian products like seeds, kernel of nuts, fruits and roots. Some people believe that they stored food but for this there is no clear proof. Although there are many fossils of bones, the fossils of vegetarian stuff have been rare. Remnants of plants and trees that have been burned down by sudden fire last for quite a long time, but archaeologists have not yet found such fossils. It is natural that the early people collected the flesh of dead animals or the remnants of animals killed by carnivorous beasts. Early hominids ate mammals like rats and squirrels, birds and their eggs, crawling creatures and even insects like termites.
Question 13.
Compare the features of Australo pithecus and Homo.
Answer:
Australopithecus
- Smaller brain
- Larger back teeth
- Heavierjaws
Homo
- Larger brain
- Samallerteeth
- Jaws with a reduced outward protrusion.
Question 14.
Explain briefly about the Mesopotamian city life.
Answer:
Narrow winding streets indicate that wheeled carts could not have reached many homes. Narrow winding streets and the irregular shape of house plots indicate an absence of town planning in Ur. There were no street drains. Drains and clay pipes were instead, found in the inner courtyards of the ur houses. House roofs sloped inwards and rain water was channelled via the drainpipes into sumps in the inner courtyards. Lights came into the rooms not from windows but from doorways opening into the courtyards. This would also have given families their privacy. There were superstitions about houses. There was a town cemetery in Ur in which the graves of royalty and commoners have been found.
Question 15.
Examine the causes of Crusades.
Answer:
The main goal of the Crusades was recapturing Jerusalem which is the holy land of the Christians. Christians believe that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus took place here. Thus Jerusalem is their most holy land. Jerusalem was once part of the Byzantine Empire. In 638, the Arabs captured it. But the Christians were given full protection by them. There was no ban on visiting places including Jerusalem by Christian merchants, pilgrims, diplomats, and travellers. But in 1076, Seljuk Turks captured Jerusalem and from then they started persecuting the Christians there. This increased the enmity of Christians towards Muslims.
Many Normans, Hungarians and Slavs became Christians around this time. Muslims were the only rivals of Christians. The Peace of God movement in Europe also made the circumstances rife for the Crusades. This Movement recognized and encouraged the fight against the enemies of the Christian God and non-believers in Christianity.
The Crusaders gradually lost their zeal. They gave themselves to a life of luxury. Moreover Christian rulers began to fight among themselves to get more territory. In the meantime Salah ad-din (Saladin) built an Egyptian-Syrian Empire and gave a call for Jihad (holy war) against Christians. In 1187 he defeated the Crusaders and recaptured Jerusalem. The harsher attitude of the muslim state towards its Christian subject. The greater influence of Italian mercantile communities i nthe trade between the east and the west.
Question 16.
Analyse the concept of a ’Fourth order’ in Medieval Europe.
Answer:
By the 11th century, the cities began to grow again. The reason for this was the surplus agricultural production. As the farmers began to produce enough grain to sustain the people in the cities, – the cities began to grow. The farmers who had surpluses needed centres where they could sell their surplus, and where they could buy their work tools and clothes. This caused the growth of small markets and centres for selling things. Slowly they began to show features of cities.
There was a square area, a church inside, roads alang which there were shops and homes of merchants and an office where the administrators of the area met. Some cities grew around forts, estates of bishops and big churches. The majority of the city people were independent farmers or escaped serfs. These serfs did most of the unskilled jobs. There were different kinds of shops, big and small, and traders in the city. Gradually the cities needed specialized people like bankers and solicitors. In big cities the population could be as many as 30,00ti. These cities were called the 4th order.
Question 17.
What was ’Gold Rush’? Analyse its impact in America.
Answer:
There was always the hope there were gold deposits in North America. In the 1840s, in California, some gold deposits were discovered. This led to the Gold Rush. In the hope of reaping fortunes, many Europeans went to America. This caused railways to be built across the American mainland. Using thousands of Chinese labourers, America completed the work of the railways in 1870. In 1885, the railway network in Canada was also completed.
Answer any 2 questions from 18 to 20.Each carries 5 scores. (2 × 5 = 10)
Question 18.
Analyse the role of nobility in the medieval European Society.
Answer:
The Nobles were the second order. They had a central role in social process. It was their control over the land that placed the lords in the central point. This control resulted from vassalage. In the feudal system, the entire land belonged to the king. The king distributed the land among the nobles. Thus the nobles became huge landlords. They became the vassals of the king. The nobles gave their land to the peasants for cultivation. Thus the nobles became lords or masters and the peasants became dependents or serfs.
The nobles enjoyed a privileged status and had absolute control over their property. They could raise droops. They were the lord of all the people settled on their land. They owned vast tracts of lands which contained their own dwellings, their private fields and pastures and the homes and fields of their tenant- peasants. Their home was called Manor. A noble (lord) has his own manorial house. He was the one who controlled the villages around him. Some nobles controlled hundreds of villages. Peasants lived in villages. In asmall manorial estate there would be 12 families. But in big manorial estates there could be 50 or 60 families.
The manorial estate had all the things necessary for daily life. From the farms they got grain. Carpenters and ironsmiths repaired and maintained the farming implements and also arms. There were masons to repair the mansion of the lord. Women wove clothes. Children worked in the vineries of the lord. There the lords used to go for hunting. In the grasslands of the estate the herds and flocks grazed. There was a church in the estate and also a fort for defence.
From the 9th century onwards, there used to be regional wars in Europe. The peasant soldiers were not competent enough to win these battles. There was a need for a good cavalry. This need resulted in the formation of a new group of people known as knights. The knights were soldiers or warriors. They were related to the nobles. The noble gave the knight an area of land called fief and the knight pledged to protect it. Fief could be transferred hereditarily. A fief could be anything between 1000 to 2000 acres.
It had a house in which the knight and family could live, a church, a watermill and a vinery. The land was used by the knight and he promised to fight for the noble. To maintain their physical fitness the knights engaged in different kinds of training and sports. A knight.could serve more than one noble. But his real loyalty was to his particular noble who had given him his fief.
Question 19.
Artists used art and architecture as a way to express humanism.’ Substantiate.
Answer:
Realism was the most important feature of Renaissance Art. Renaissance Artists tried to picture the human body exactly as it is. The studies of the scientists helped them to do it. To learn about the structure of the skeleton, artists visited laboratories in medical schools. It was Andreas Vesalius who for the first time examined the human body by cutting it into pieces. Andreas Vesalius was a Belgian who was a Professor in the Padua University. This greatly helped the modern anatomical studies. Renaissance Artists wanted to present things as they were.
In the Renaissance period, there lived some geniuses who were equally proficient in painting, sculpture and architecture. The most important among them was Michelangelo (1475-1564). The pictures he drew on the ceiling of Sistine Chapel, the sculpture of Pieta, and the dome of the St. Peter’s Basilica which he planned, etc. made him immortal. Another person who was a genius in sculpture and architecture was Filippo Brunelleschi. It was he who drew the plan for the exceptional dome of the Florence Cathedral. There was a significant change at this time. Until now, an artist was known as a member of some guild of artists. But from the Renaissance Period, they were known by their personal names.
Question 20.
Explain the major reforms of the Meiji Government in the fields of education and economy.
Answer:
In 1868 there was an open revolt against the Shoguns. The revolutionaries drove away the Shogun from Edo and brought the emperor there. Edo was renamed Tokyo (Capital of the East) and was declared as the capital of the nation. The new emperor took the title Meiji or Enlightened and became the official ruler of the country. This revolution of 1868 was known as the Meiji Restoration. A slogan that summed up the ideals of the Meiji Era was Fukoku Kyohei, meaning enriching the Country and Strengthening the Army or Rich Country and Strong Army.
It became the principle that led to the modernization and transformation of Japan. Japan realized that a strong economy and a strong army were needed to resist the foreigners. The administrative system of Japan was reorganized. The new government tried to formulate a system called the Emperor System. It was a system that followed the European model. They sent officials to Europe to study about it thoroughly and then only they implemented it. In its education system it followed the European model. In the 1870s, stress was laid on the studies of Japanese history so that students could develop loyalty to their nation. The Educational Ministry strictly controlled the curriculum. It chose the text books and gave training to teachers.
Education also stressed developing a moral culture in the students. The children were asked to respect and show loyalty to their nation and become good citizens. To unify the country, the Meiji administration brought a new administrative system. The old boundaries of villages were changed. Each administrative unit had to run schools and give health facilities to its people.
It also worked as an agency for the recruitment of soldiers to the army. Everyone who had passed 20 years of age had to do compulsory military service for a fixed minimum period. Japan organized a strong army. The army started demanding a more aggressive foreign policy to conquer new regions. This led to wars with both Russia and China and in both the wars Japan came out victorious. The demand of people for greater democracy was against the aggressive policy of the government. Japan developed economically and built an empire, suppressing democracy at home.
Answer any 2 questions from 21 to 24. Each carries 8 scores. (2 × 8 = 16)
Question 21.
Analyse the development of writing system in ancient Mesopotamia.
• Development of writing
• The system of writing
• Literacy
• The uses of writing
Answer:
a) The development of writing: All societies have languages. Certain sounds in the language give certain meanings. This is a verbal exchange. When speech sounds are represented in visible forms, we have writing or script. Mesopotamians wrote on clay slates. The writer kneads clay and makes it into a size that he can hold in one hand. The surface would be smoothened. Using a special kind of sharp stiletto he makes wedge-shaped letter marks on the smooth surface. This is called cuneiform writing. After that the clay slate is dried in the sun. This way the clay slates become permanent like clay pots. These slates bouldn’t be used again for writing other things.
b) System of Writing : A cuneiform symbol does not represent a mere consonant or vowel sound, but a number of letters. Therefore a Mesopotamian script writer had to learn hundreds of symbols. He should have had the competence to handle a wet clay slate and write on it before it goes dry. Thus writing on the clay slate was a highly skilled job. It was an intellectual exercise which translated the sound system of a language into a visible format.
c) Uses of Writing : Writing has given man invaluable contributions. There was a close tie between the writing of Mesopotamia and its urban life and trade. It was the kings that linked writing with trade. Writing was used to store information and to exchange messages.
Many saw Mesopotamian writing as a sign proclaiming the dominance of Mesopotamian urban culture. The writing helped in communicating with other regions culturally and economically and to do the buying and selling on the basis of written agreements. In short, writing made trading easier. Writing helped in maintaining accounts and in keeping laws recorded. It was also useful for literary creations.
Question 22.
Critically evaluate the economic and social condi-tions of ancient Roman Society:
Hints :
• Economic expansion
• Controlling workers
• Social hierarchies
Answer:
In the Roman Empire there were many ports, mines, quarries, brick-making kilns, factories producing olive oil etc. Things like wheat, wine, olive oil etc. were manufactured in large scale. But they also got more from outside. They imported them from Spain, the Gallic provinces, North Africa, Egypt and Italy. Wines and olive oil were brought in huge amphorae (tall jar or jug). Plenty of broken pieces of these jars and jugs have been found by archaeologists.
In the Roman Empire trade in Spanish olive oil had achieved great progress. In the 140-160 period the trade had reached its peak. During this period the Spanish olive oil was taken in jars called Dressel 20. From the Mediterranean sites plenty of such jars have been found. It shows that Spanish olive oil was much traded. Evidence shows that the Spanish producers of olive oil were able to capture the market from Italian competitors. They succeeded as they gave high quality olive oil at cheaper prices.
The success the Spanish producers of olive gained in the olive oil market was repeated by North African producers of olive oil. In the 3rd and 4th centuries the olive oil market was under the control of the olive estates of this region. But in the 5th and 6th centuries – the monopoly of the North African producers was lost. Oriental countries like Egypt, Southern Asia Minor (Turkey), Syria and Palestine captured the olive oil and wine markets.
In the Roman Empire there were extraordinarily fertile places. Strabo and Pliny point out that Compania (Italy), Cicily, Faiyum (Egypt), Galilee, .Byzantia (Tunisia), Southern Gaul and Baetica (Southern Spain) were very rich and they had dense populations. The best wine came from Compania. Cicily and Byzantia exported wheat to Rome in large quantities. People cultivated every inch of land in Galilee. Spanish olive oil came mainly from the estates in southern Spain. Romans were much advanced in technology. They developed the technology to use water power to work mills. They also developed the water energy technique to mine gold and Silver in the mines of Spain.
Roman Empire also had an organized commercial banking chain. Cash was extensively used. All these are proofs of the strength of Roman economy. There were also problems like exploitation of workers and use of slaves. Slavery was a very deep rooted evil system that was prevalent in the ancient times. In the Mediterranean region and in the Near East, slavery had deep roots. Even Christianity did not challenge slavery. But it is wrong to assume that all the work in the Roman Economic System was carried out by slaves.
During the Republican times, in most of the areas of Italy, slaves were made to do all the work. Under Augustus there were 3 million slaves. In those days the Italian population was only 7.5 million. But slaves were not used in all areas of the Empire. In many places work was got done by giving wages to people. Slaves were considered an investment. The upper classes of the Roman society did not show any mercy to the slaves.
For managing labour, agricultural writers and owners gave much attention. They gave the greatest importance to supervision. The owners of land believed that unless the workers are supervised nothing would work out properly. Writer like Columella, wrote handbooks on farming practice. To make the supervision on the paid workers and slaves, they were divided into smaller teams called gangs. Columella recommended that workers should be divided into teams of 10. If you divided them into smaller teams, it would be easy to find out who are really working and who are not. It shows a lot of importance was given to the management of labour.
Pliny the elder, the author of Natural history condemned the use of slave gangs as the worst method of organising production, mainly because slaves who worked in gangs were usually chained together by their feet. He also described the condition of workers in the Frankin cense factories of Alexandria. In the Roman society there were different social groups. Historian Tacitus divides the main social groups into 5:
a) The Senators (Paters)
b) The top class cavalry men (Equites)
c) The Respectable Middle Class
d) The Lower Class people who were interested in circus and colourful shows (Plebs sordida or humiliores).
e) Slaves
During the late empire, the first two categories mentioned by Tacitus had merged into a unified and expanded aristocracy. The middle class now consisted of the considerable mass of persons connected with imperial service in the bureaucracy and army. But also the prosperous merchants and farmers in the eastern provinces. Below them the vast mass of lower classes known as humiliores. They were rural labourers, workers in industrial and mining establishments, migrant workers, self employed artisans, casual labourers and slaves.
Question 23.
Analyse the major discoveries and changes that brought by the Industrial Revolution in the following fields:
Answer:
Coal and Iron
Coal and iron ore which were essential for the manufacture of machines were plenty in England. Materials like black lead, copper and white lead which were extensively used in industries were also plenty in the country. But until the 18th century there was a shortage of “usable iron”. Iron was made by melting iron ore into a liquid state and then separating the pure iron from it. To melt iron ore charcoal was used. There were many problems with this. Since charcoal was brittle, it was difficult to transport charcoal to faraway places. Because of the impurities in it, the iron produced this way was not of high quality. Moreover charcoal could not produce high heat. Because of large scale deforestation, there was a shortage of charcoal.
The solution to this problem was found by the Darby family of Shropshire. In 50 years, three generations of this family (grandfather, father and son) brought a revolution in the refining of iron. In 1709, Abraham Darby (1677-1717)developed the first blast furnace which could maintain very high degree of heat. In it coke could be used. Coke was made by removing the sulphur and other impurities from coal. With this there was no need for charcoal. The iron that was made from the blast furnace of Darby was strong and of a higher quality.
Darby II (1711-1768) made cast iron from iron. This would not break easily. Henry Cort (1740-1823) made two important discoveries – the puddling furnace to remove impurities from pig iron and the rolling mill to produce rails. These discoveries helped in producing many different kinds of iron products.
Cotton spinning and weaving
a) In 1773, John Kay invented the flying shuttle. Using this, the speed in weaving clothes was increased. One worker could now do the work of two. Since spinning (thread-making) was a slow process, enough thread was not available for weaving clothes. This problem was solved by Hargreaves.
b) In 1765 James Hargreaves had invented”the spinning jenny. This jenny could produce many strands of threads at the same time. But the strands were not sufficiently strong.
c) In 1769 Richard Arkwright invented a new spinning machine called water frame. This machine could produce strong threads. The production capacity of the spinners increased 7 times.
d) In 1779, Samuel Crompton invented the machine called mule. With this a spinner could make 250 strands of thread simultaneously.
e) In 1787 Edmund Cartwright invented power loom. This machine worked with mechanical energy and it drastically increased the speed of weaving. It was easy to work with it. If the thread broke, it would stop automatically. Anything could be woven in this loom.
Steam Power
In 1698, Thomas Savery invented a pump that worked on steam power. It was used to drain water from mines. It was called Miner’s Friend. It worked very slowly. Moreover when the pressure increased the boiler burst. In 1712, Thomas Newcomen invented another steam engine. This helped in draining water from the mines in a better way. But the steaming chamber became cold too soon and thus energy was lost and this was a defect of this machine.
In 1769, James Watt developed his steam engine. Until then all the steam machines were used only in the mines. From mere pumps, James Watt changed steam engines to a driving force. His steam engines were suitable for different industries. In 1775, with the help of his friend Mathew Bouton, James Watt established a factory in Birmingham for producing steam engines. This factory produced steam engines one after the other. By the end 18th century, stream energy of Watt replaced water power.
Canal and Railways
An important thing that took place during the Industrial Revolution was the changes in the modes of travel. These changes were first visible in the construction of canals and railways. Canals were first made to transport coal to the cities. Taking coal by road was expensive and slow. Since a lot of coal was needed, there was a great need for canals. The most famous of the early canals was Worsley Canal built by James Brindley (1716-72). Transporting coal to the city was its aim. When the canal was completed, the price of coal was reduced to half.
Question 24.
Explain the features of the Central and South American civilisations.
Areas to be considered :
• The Aztecs
• The Mayas
• The Incas
Answer:
In Central and South America there were some famous civilizations. The most noteworthy of them were the Aztec and Mayan culture of Central America and the Inca culture of South America. They were highly organized nations. These urban civilizations were made possible because of the surplus production of corn. The huge architectural marvels built by the Aztec, Mayan and Inca cultures still make us stare at them in awe and wonder.
The Aztecs: Aztec culture is centred round Mexico. In the 12th century, the Aztecs from the north migrated to the main valley of Mexico. By defeating the various tribes there, they built a large empire. From the defeated people they also collected tributes. The Aztec society was hierarchical. There were different classes in the society. The most important of them were the nobles or lords. Priests and other high officials belonged to this class.
Hereditary nobles were a small minority. They occupied the highest posts in the government, army and priesthood. The nobles chose an able man from among themselves as their leader and he continued to be the king till he died. The king was supposed to be representative of the sun on earth.
Warriors and priests were the most respected people in the society. Merchants were given a lot of concessions. Skilled and competent workers, doctors and intelligent teachers were also respected. Since the land was limited, the Aztecs tried to make it as fertile as they could. They also built artificial islands (Chinampas) by weaving mats from bamboo and covering them with earth for cultivating plants. In between these fertile islands they built canals. In 1325, the Aztecs built their capital city Tenochtitlan in the middle of a lake. There were palaces and pyramids there. Since the Aztecs were often engaged in battle, their temples were dedicated to war gods and sun-god.
The Mayans : The Mayan culture of Mexico developed between 11 and 14th centuries. In the 16th century, the Mayans were politically less powerful than the Aztecs. The centre point of Mayan culture was corn cultivation. When corn was planted, when it was growing, and when harvested there were different religious rituals connected with it. The Mayans had surplus crops. The extra income they had helped the administrators, priests and chiefs to invest and develop architecture, astronomy and mathematics.
The Mayans have given great contributions in writing, architecture, mathematics and astronomy. They had formed a picture script. Scholars could read their picture-script writing only partially. The Incas of Pern: Among the local civilizations of South America, the biggest and the best is the Inca culture of Peru. The Incas belong to a class called Quechua. Their language is also Quechua. Inca means the emperor who rules of the land. The capital, of Inca was a city named Cuzco. In the 12th century, the first emperor Manco Capac founded that city. The expansion of the empire began during the period of the 9th Inca. The empire spread from Ecuador to Chile, some 3000 miles.
The Inca Empire was highly centralized. The source of authority was the emperor. Newly defeated tribes were successfully-integrated with the empire. Each subject was to speak the language of the royal court, Quechua. The tribal administration was done by a Council or Elders. The Tribes owed their loyalty to the rulers.
Regional rulers gave the emperor military help. For this cooperation they were adequately rewarded. The basis of Inca culture was agriculture. Since the soil was less fertile, they made layers on the sides of hills and developed irrigation facilities. The Incas cultivated on a large scale. In 1500 they had more cultivation than Vvhat they have today. Their main crops were corn and potatoes. Another important occupation of the Incas was animal husbandry. They grew a special kind of goats called lama goats which they used for meat as well as for work.