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heliocentrism is the theory that the Sun is at the center of the Universe.

Aristarchus's 3rd century BC calculations on the relative sizes of the Earth, Sun and Moon, from a 10th century AD Greek copy

In the 17th century AD Galileo Galilei opposed the Roman Catholic Church by his strong support for heliocentrism

The first attempt to explore western South America was undertaken in 1522 by Pascual de Andagoya. The native South Americans he encountered told him about a gold-rich territory called Virú, which was on a river called Pirú (later corrupted to Perú) and from which they came. These reports were related by the Spanish-Inca mestizo writer Garcilaso de la Vega in his famous Comentarios Reales de los Incas (1609).

Two common observations were believed to support the idea that the Earth is in the center of the Universe: The first observation is that the stars, sun, and planets appear to revolve around the Earth each day, with the stars circling around the pole and those stars nearer the equator rising and setting each day and circling back to their rising point.[2]; the second is the common sense perception that the Earth is solid and stable it is not moving—but is at rest.

the second is the common sense perception that as the Earth is solid and stable it is not moving—but is at rest.

Claudius Ptolemy

Pages from 1550 SACROBOSCO "Tractatus de Sphaera" with the Ptolemaic system.

This drawing from an Icelandic manuscript dated around 1750 illustrates the geocentric model.

Phases of Venus

The capital of the Aztec empire was Tenochtitlan, built on raised island in Lake Texcoco.

The Aztecs' legendary home was Aztlan, a Nahuatl word likely meaning "place of the heron". It is generally thought that Aztlan was somewhere to the north of the Valley of Mexico; some experts have placed it as far north as Northwestern Mexico and the US Southwest, while others suggest is a mythical place, since Aztlan can also be translated as "the place of the origin".

In common with the other Mesoamerican civilizations, the Maya used a base 20 (vigesimal) and base 5 numbering system (see Maya numerals). Also, the preclassic Maya and their neighbors independently developed the concept of zero by 36 BC. Inscriptions show them on occasion working with sums up to the hundreds of millions and dates so large it would take several lines just to represent it. They produced extremely accurate astronomical observations; their charts of the movements of the moon and planets are equal or superior to those of any other civilization working from naked eye observation.[citation needed]

Christopher Columbus (disambiguation).

Early life

The Inca civilization began as a tribe in the Cuzco area,

Pizarro met with the Inca, who had brought only a small retinue. Through interpreters, Pizarro requested the new Inca ruler convert to Christianity. A disputed legend claims that Atahualpa was handed a Bible and threw it on the floor. The Spanish supposedly interpreted this action as reason for war. Though some chroniclers suggest that Atahualpa simply did not understand the notion of a book, others portray Atahualpa as being genuinely curious and inquisitive in the situation. Regardless, the Spanish attacked the Inca's retinue, capturing Atahualpa.

The Inca Empire was separated into four sections together known as 'Ttahuantin-suyu' or "land of the four sections" each ruled by a governor or viceroy called 'Apu-cuna' under the leadership on the central 'Sapa Inca'. Cuzco was the central capital of the Inca Empire from which where the Sapa Inca ruled from. According to the oral traditions of the Inca the empire was ruled by 14 kings in succession. The earliest kings are likely either local leaders of ayllus around Cuzco or possibly mythical figures.

The geocentric model of the cosmos is a paradigm which places the Earth at the center of the universe. Common in ancient Greece, it was believed by both Aristotle and Ptolemy. Most Greeks assumed that the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets orbit Earth

The phases of Venus, observed by Galileo in 1610

A replica of the earliest surviving telescope attributed to Galileo Galilei, on display at the Griffith Observatory.

Dome of the cathedral of Pisa with the "lamp of Galileo"

Martin Luther (German pronunciation: [ˈmaʁtin ˈlʊtɐ] 1483 – 1546)

In contrast, the impact of Gutenberg's printing press in Europe was comparable to the development of writing, the invention of the alphabet or the Internet, as far as its effects on society. Just as writing did not replace speaking, printing did not achieve a position of total dominance. Handwritten manuscripts continued to be produced, and the different graphic modes of communication continued to influence each other

These civilizations are credited with many inventions and advancements including pyramid-temples, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and theology.

In 1428, the Aztecs led a war of liberation against their rulers from the city of Azcapotzalco,

In 1616, on the orders of the then pope, Paul V, Cardinal Bellarmine summoned Galileo Galilei, notified him of a forthcoming decree of the Congregation of the Index condemning the Copernican doctrine of the mobility of the Earth and the immobility of the Sun, and ordered him to abandon it.[2] Galileo agreed. When Galileo later complained of rumors to the effect that he had been forced to abjure and do penance, Bellarmine wrote out a certificate denying the rumors, stating that Galileo had merely been notified of the decree and informed that, as a consequence of it, the Copernican doctrine could not be "defended or held".[3] (In 1633 Galileo would again be called before the Inquisition in this matter.)