Lost Civilizations

We took a theme based approach , where kids divided between themselves different civilization and came back to present. Great information was shared and some amazing facts came out.

Angkor

The Angkor Civilization was an important civilization of southeast Asia. It included all of Cambodia, southeastern Thailand, and northern Vietnam. It lasted roughly from 800 to 1300 A.D. It is said to have been largely influenced by the Hindu traders from India.

Angkor civilization was the capital city of Khmer empire. The city and empire flourished from approximately the 9th to the 15th centuries. They were known for their trading network: including rare woods, elephant tusks, cardamom and other spices, wax, gold, silver, and silk from China; and for their engineering capacity in water control. The city houses the magnificent Angkor Wat, one of Cambodia’s most popular tourist attractions.

Constructed in the early 12th century, Angkor Wat is considered to be the largest religious monument in the world. Though despite being the largest, Cambodia still didn’t make the cut as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World elected by a vote on July 7, 2007. Today, Angkor Wat is one of the most famous and immediately recognizable ruins in the world. About 2.6 million tourists visit it every year. The site suffered from decades of unregulated tourism and looting; many ancient statues have been decapitated and their heads sold to private collectors. An international collaborative effort has helped to slowly restore sites and prevent further collapse of unstable structures.

In 2007, an international team of researchers using satellite photographs and other modern techniques concluded that Angkor had been the largest pre-industrial city in the world, with an elaborate infrastructure system connecting an urban sprawl of at least 1,000 square kilometres to the well-known temples at its core. Angkor is considered to be a “hydraulic city” because it had a complicated water management network, which was used for systematically stabilizing, storing, and dispersing water throughout the area. This network is believed to have been used for irrigation in order to offset the unpredictable monsoon season and to also support the increasing population.

The Incan Civilization

It was the Western Hemisphere’s largest empire ever, with a population of nearly 10 million subjects. Over and area of more than 9,00,000 square kilometers, its people built massive administrative centers, temples, extensive roads, and canal systems. They did so in an inhospitable, extreme terrain, all without the use of horses, iron, or even written language. Yet, within 100 years of its rise in the 15th century, the Inca Empire would be no more.

According to legend, the ancestors of the rulers were created, by the sun god “Inti”, and they emerged from a cave called, “Tambo Toco”. Leading Leading four brothers and four sisters, was Ayar Manco, who carried a golden staff with instructions, to find the place where it would sink into the ground, showing fertile soil. After a lot of wandering, they reached “the Cuzco Valley”, where the staff pierced the ground. Soon, they founded their capital , and Ayar Manco, became Manco Capac, the 1st Inca king.

It is said that the Incas first settled in the Cuzco Valley around 1200 CE. In 1438, they were nearly overrun by the neighboring chanka Tribe. The king at that time, Viracocha, and his designated their fled. His other son, fought with those people. Because of his military skills, he became the 9th ruler, and he was named Pachacuti, or Cataclysm. He expanded territory, and reorganized it as Tahuantinsuyu, or 4 quarters.

His son, Topa Inca, continued the expansion, and his son, Huayna Capac, succeeded him. Soon he and his son fell ill and died, because of the Spanish people who brought a disease. There raged a civil war between his other 2 sons, Atahualpa and Huascar. Atahualpa won the civil war. Much later, they encountered the Europeans invaders. Fransisco Pizzaro, and his small group of conquistadors, captured Atahualpa and killed him a year later.