Social Studies For Ecuador 9th Grade PDF

ACTIVITIES 1. What makes one society easier to conquer than another? Explain. (Intrapersonal, linguistic) Answers may vary. Have your students understand that societies like any other living organism, have their ups and downs and vulnerabilities. For example, when the Spanish arrived in Pe...

ACTIVITIES 1. What makes one society easier to conquer than another? Explain. (Intrapersonal, linguistic) Answers may vary. Have your students understand that societies like any other living organism, have their ups and downs and vulnerabilities. For example, when the Spanish arrived in Peru the huge Inca Empire was involved in a civil war that was causing confusion and with the unknown (to the Inca) factors of illnesses, guns and horses, the powerful Inca were conquered by a handful of Spaniards. 2. Look for images of Manco Capac and draw what he looked like here. What do his clothes tell you? (Visual, corporal) Answers will vary but I have included one artists interpretation below. Notice the distinctive use of feathers, the fine weavings of alpaca wool and dyed cotton and gold or wooden ear spools among other things. 36 SOCIAL STUDIES FOR ECUADOR 9 Artie: You said that the Incas were one of knot communication system, and their the largest civilizations in South American complex calendar, that not everyone history? farmed all day. Inti: Yes! At the time, they were the largest Artie: Wait a minute, what was that empire ever to exist in South America. communication system? Artie: How many people lived in their Inti: The Inca used strings with knots tied in empire? them called quipus, mainly to keep track of numbers. They might have even used it Inti: It is quite uncertain how many people as a written language, but that still hasn’t were a part of the Inca empire. Some been proven! It was quite a cool system! historians guess that in their greatest expansion they had a population of Artie: So they were one of the great between six and twelve million inhabitants. civilizations that didn’t have a written language? Artie: There is quite a difference between those two numbers, Artie. Why is that? Inti: So far, it seems that way. Another thing about the Incas is that they believed Inti: It is hard to determine what exactly in many gods and they practiced many of was part of the Tahuantinsuyo and how their religious activities around agriculture. many people lived there. We know Their main god of agriculture was the sun that they all spoke the same language, god, Inti. We both share the same name. Kichwa, which is why so many Andean countries still use it today. Artie: That makes your name very special, then! Artie: What types of food did they eat? Inti: It does. Inti was a very powerful god, Inti: The Inca ate a mostly vegetarian diet though not their main god. Their main god from a wide variety of crops, including was Viracocha, who created humanity potatoes, maiz, legumes, fruit and and walked the earth as a man doing quinoa. They also occasionally ate llama good deeds. It is said that he sailed west and cuy meat. Many families grew food out of present day Manta saying that he for themselves, though the road systems would come back and was never to be were used to send different food items all seen again! across the empire. Artie: Wow! They were very nature based Artie: It sounds like they were very in their beliefs, right? How does that relate productive in their different activities. to what you do now? Inti: They absolutely were. Some people Inti: Well, in many countries there are still look back on ancient civilizations and people who celebrate the same festivities think that life was just survival and hard that the Incas did. Inti Raymi, for example, work. The way I look at it, is that ancient is the celebration of the summer solstice civilizations like the Inca certainly had to and giving gratitude for corn, the growth of work hard, but not all of it was for survival. crops and the harvest. I have participated We know, from the systems that the in many Inti Raymi celebrations. I love all Incas used, like the quipu, or string and the traditional games! SOCIAL STUDIES FOR ECUADOR 9 37