History · Unit 7
The Ancient Americas
Maya, Aztec and Inca civilizations
The Maya, Aztec and Inca built cities, road networks, astronomy and mathematics with no draft animals, no iron and, in the Inca case, no writing system of the usual kind.
The unit takes each in turn and pays attention to the achievements that are genuinely hard to explain: Maya calendrical astronomy, Aztec agriculture on a lake, and Inca administration of an empire spanning thousands of miles of mountains using knotted cords.
This unit breaks down into 20 short steps and 120 questions, starting at difficulty 1 and building to 3. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.
- Steps
- 20
- Questions
- 120
- Difficulty
- 1-3
What this unit covers
- The Inca
- The Maya
- Achievements
- The Aztec
- Daily Life
Where this fits
Independent of the other ancient units. It connects forward to The Age of Exploration, which is where these civilisations meet Europe.
Where people slip
These three were not contemporaries. Classic Maya civilisation had already declined centuries before the Aztec empire existed, so treating them as one period gets the story badly wrong.
How the unit is structured
The Ancient Americas runs as 20 short steps that unlock in order. 15 are practice rounds and 5 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 1 and climb to 3 as you progress.
Challenge rounds
Example questions
30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 120 in the unit altogether.
Achievements
- Fill the blankLevel 1
1. The peoples of the ancient Americas were skilled at working ____ into fine jewellery and masks.
- goldcorrect
- plastic
- steel
- glass
Aztec and Inca craftworkers were famous for shaping gold into beautiful jewellery and objects.
- Build the sentenceLevel 2
2. Build the sentence about the Olmec giant heads.
Answer: The Olmec carved giant heads from volcanic basalt
The Olmec carved their colossal heads from heavy blocks of volcanic basalt.
- Choose all that applyLevel 2
3. Which of these were real achievements of the ancient American civilizations? Choose all that are true.
- Studying astronomy and the starscorrect
- Building with carefully fitted stonecorrect
- Making fine gold and metal workcorrect
- Inventing gunpowder
They studied astronomy, built with carefully fitted stone, and crafted fine gold work; gunpowder was invented in China, not the Americas.
- Match the pairsLevel 2
4. Match each word from the ancient Americas to what it means.
Answer: Quipu = Knotted cords for records; Chinampa = Floating garden; Maize = Corn; Glyph = A picture-writing symbol
Quipu were knotted record cords, chinampas were floating gardens, maize is corn, and a glyph is a picture-writing symbol.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
5. Inca builders fitted huge stones together so tightly that they needed no what?
- Mortar or cementcorrect
- Iron nails
- Wooden pegs
- Glue
Inca stonemasons shaped blocks to fit so exactly that they used no mortar or cement between them.
- Guess the numberLevel 3
6. Around which year did the city of Cahokia reach the height of its size and power?
Answer: 1100 CE
Cahokia grew into a large city around 1050 to 1200 CE, then slowly declined and was largely abandoned before Europeans arrived.
Daily Life
- Build the sentenceLevel 1
7. Build the sentence about where the Inca lived.
Answer: The Inca lived in the Andes mountains
The Inca lived high in the Andes mountains of South America.
- Fact or fibLevel 1
8. Chocolate was first made from the cacao plant grown in the ancient Americas.
Answer: True
Chocolate comes from cacao beans, which the Maya and Aztec grew and made into a bitter drink.
- Choose all that applyLevel 2
9. The 'Three Sisters' were three crops often grown together across the Americas. Which three? Select all that apply.
- Maizecorrect
- Beanscorrect
- Squashcorrect
- Rice
Maize, beans and squash were planted together so the tall maize supported the beans, the beans enriched the soil, and the squash shaded out weeds; rice is an Old World crop.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
10. In busy Aztec markets, which beans were sometimes used like money?
- Cacao (cocoa) beanscorrect
- Coffee beans
- Soy beans
- Jelly beans
Cacao beans, the source of chocolate, were valuable enough to be used as a form of money in Aztec markets.
- Fill the blankLevel 3
11. The Ancestral Puebloans built stone villages tucked under cliffs, such as the well-known dwellings at Mesa ____ in Colorado.
- Verdecorrect
- Nazca
- Grande
- Roja
At Mesa Verde, the Ancestral Puebloans built cliff dwellings of stone and mortar, sheltered beneath overhanging rock ledges.
- Odd one outLevel 3
12. Three of these animals were kept by Andean people before Europeans arrived. Which one reached the Americas only when the Spanish brought it?
- Horsecorrect
- Llama
- Alpaca
- Guinea pig
Llamas, alpacas and guinea pigs were long domesticated in the Andes, but horses arrived with the Spanish; the lack of large draft animals is one reason Andean peoples used no wheeled transport.
The Aztec
- Multiple choiceLevel 1
13. What was the capital city of the Aztec empire?
- Tenochtitlancorrect
- Cusco
- Athens
- Cairo
The Aztec capital was Tenochtitlan, built on an island in a lake in what is now Mexico.
- Picture questionLevel 1
14. 🦅 According to legend, the Aztec built their capital where they saw an eagle perched on a ____.
- cactuscorrect
- oak tree
- mountain top
- pyramid
Legend says the Aztec settled where they saw an eagle on a cactus - an image still shown on the flag of Mexico.
- Fill the blankLevel 2
15. The Aztec capital Tenochtitlan stood where ____ City stands today.
- Mexicocorrect
- New York
- London
- Lima
Modern Mexico City was built on top of the ruins of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan.
- Guess the numberLevel 2
16. In about which year did the Aztec found their capital, Tenochtitlan?
Answer: 1325 CE
According to tradition, the Aztec founded Tenochtitlan in 1325 CE.
- Odd one outLevel 2
17. Three of these everyday words came into English from Nahuatl, the Aztec language. Which one did NOT?
- Bananacorrect
- Chocolate
- Tomato
- Avocado
Chocolate, tomato and avocado all derive from Nahuatl words, while 'banana' came into European languages from West Africa.
- Choose all that applyLevel 3
18. The Aztec Empire was run by the Triple Alliance. Which three city-states formed it? Select all that apply.
- Tenochtitlancorrect
- Texcococorrect
- Tlacopancorrect
- Cusco
From 1428 the alliance of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and Tlacopan dominated central Mexico; Cusco was the far-off capital of the Inca.
The Inca
- Fact or fibLevel 1
19. The Inca cut flat steps called terraces into steep mountainsides to grow crops.
Answer: True
The Inca built terraces on the mountain slopes so they could farm crops like potatoes and maize.
- Fill the blankLevel 1
20. The capital of the Inca empire was the city of ____.
- Cuscocorrect
- Tikal
- Sparta
- Baghdad
Cusco, in Peru, was the capital and sacred centre of the Inca empire.
- Multiple choiceLevel 1
21. The Inca were famous for building a huge network of what?
- Roadscorrect
- Canals across the sea
- Railways
- Glass towers
The Inca built thousands of kilometres of roads that connected their mountain empire.
- Spell itLevel 2
22. Spell the name of the famous Inca city built high in the mountains of Peru.
Answer: Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu is a well-preserved Inca city set high on a mountain ridge in Peru.
- Guess the numberLevel 3
23. In what year did Francisco Pizarro's forces capture the Inca ruler Atahualpa at Cajamarca?
Answer: 1532 CE
The capture of Atahualpa in 1532 removed the empire's ruler and began the rapid Spanish conquest of the Inca.
- Put in orderLevel 3
24. Put these events around the fall of the Inca Empire in the order they happened.
Answer: Civil war breaks out between Atahualpa and Huascar -> Atahualpa defeats Huascar -> Pizarro's Spanish expedition reaches the Andes -> Atahualpa is captured at Cajamarca
A war of succession between the brothers Atahualpa and Huascar had just ended when Pizarro's small force arrived and seized Atahualpa at Cajamarca in 1532.
The Maya
- Fill the blankLevel 1
25. The Maya created a very accurate ____ to track days and years.
- calendarcorrect
- spaceship
- alphabet
- coin
The Maya were skilled astronomers and kept a very accurate calendar.
- Multiple choiceLevel 1
26. In which region did the Maya civilization live?
- Central Americacorrect
- Northern Europe
- Central Africa
- Australia
The Maya lived in Central America, across what is now southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras.
- Fact or fibLevel 2
27. The Maya independently worked out the mathematical idea of zero.
Answer: True
The Maya developed the concept of zero on their own, one of only a few peoples in history to do so.
- Odd one outLevel 2
28. Three of these were ancient Maya cities. Which one is the odd one out?
- Cuscocorrect
- Tikal
- Palenque
- Copan
Cusco was the Inca capital in Peru; Tikal, Palenque and Copan were all Maya cities.
- Choose all that applyLevel 3
29. Which of these are among the causes historians propose for the Classic Maya collapse? Select all that apply.
- Severe multi-year droughtscorrect
- Warfare between rival city-statescorrect
- Overpopulation and environmental straincorrect
- Invasion by Spanish conquistadors
Scholars debate a mix of prolonged drought, warfare between rival city-states and environmental strain from overpopulation; the Spanish arrived roughly six centuries later.
- Match the pairsLevel 3
30. Match each Maya time cycle to how long it lasts.
Answer: Tzolk'in = 260 days; Haab' = 365 days; Calendar Round = 52 years; B'ak'tun = 144000 days
The 260-day Tzolk'in and 365-day Haab' meshed into the 52-year Calendar Round, while the much longer b'ak'tun of the Long Count spanned 144000 days.
Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.
How you practise
This unit mixes 17 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.
- Build the sentence
- Choose all that apply
- Fact or fib
- Fill the blank
- Guess the number
- Listen and choose
- Match the pairs
- Multiple choice
- Odd one out
- Picture question
- Put in order
- Sequence recall
- Sort into groups
- Spell it
- Tap the pairs
- True or false
- Type the answer
Practise The Ancient Americas
120 questions across 20 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.
Play this unitRead about The Ancient Americas
Explainers from our blog on what this unit covers. Each one ends with real questions from the bank.
- What Is Machu Picchu? An Inca Estate the Spanish Never FoundMachu Picchu is a fifteenth-century Inca royal estate on a ridge above the Urubamba, left within a century and unknown outside Peru until 1911. What it was for.September 15, 2026 · 5 min read
- How Quipu Helped the Inca Record InformationThe Inca used knotted cords called quipu to organise numerical information across a vast empire. Their colours, positions and knots supported administration without an alphabetic writing system.July 29, 2026 · 5 min read
- How the Aztec Empire Rose and Fell in Under Two CenturiesThe Mexica built a city on a lake, an empire of tribute across central Mexico, and a capital larger than any in Europe, then lost it all in two years.September 14, 2026 · 5 min read
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