Maya, Aztec and Inca Compared

Read about each civilization before filling in its column of the comparison chart. Have students use a ruler and the scale bar on the Inca map, and label the Tenochtitlan plan with the text open beside it.

Chart the capitals and farming of the Maya, Aztec and Inca, then compare tribute and labor. The directions on the page read: Read about the three civilizations. Then complete the chart and answer the questions on page 2. An answer key is included.

Yes, both. We made it for 6th Grade Ancient History, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with Maya, Aztec and Inca. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

The Maya had no single capital, and each city-state had its own king. The Aztec lived in the Valley of Mexico under an emperor, and conquered peoples paid tribute. The Inca ruled along the Andes from Cusco, under a ruler called the Sapa Inca, and people paid taxes through labor.

Their number system used a dot for 1, a bar for 5 and a shell for zero. The Maya were among the first people in the world to use a symbol for zero, and The Maya sheet asks students to read a numeral.

Runners called chasquis carried messages along the roads in relays, and a message could travel about 240 kilometers in a day. The Inca had no written alphabet, so they kept records on quipus, cords with knots of different kinds and colors.