an earlier type of tomb called a mastaba.
Mastabas were rectangular tombs with
flat tops. In about 2650 BC King Djoser
had his architect, Imhotep, build a new
Young children file past a statue of North
Korea’s first leader, Kim Il-sung, in the city
of Pyongyang.
The pyramids of Giza were one of the
Seven Wonders of the World in ancient
times. They are the only one of the seven
still standing.
170 Pyramid BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
type of tomb. Imhotep stacked six stone
mastabas, each smaller than the one
beneath it. The result was a pyramid with
a stepped design. Less than 100 years
later King Snefru built the first pyramid
with smooth, sloped sides.
The Great Pyramid was built for King
Khufu in about 2550 BC. It sits in a
group with two smaller pyramids in
Giza, Egypt. About 100,000 workers
spent about 20 years building the Great
Pyramid. They stacked about 2.3 million
blocks of stone to a height of 471
feet (143 meters). Each of the blocks
weighed about 2.5 tons. The workers
probably hauled them up a dirt ramp.
The Americas
Many ancient peoples of Mexico and
Central and South America built pyramids.
They usually used dirt and stone.
These pyramids typically have a stepped
form with a temple or platform on top.
The Maya built a famous pyramid called
the Castillo in what is now southeastern
Mexico. The people of the ancient city
of Teotihuacan, in central Mexico, built
the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid
of the Moon.
#More to explore
Egypt, Ancient • Maya
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees mountain chain forms a
high, rugged barrier between Spain and
France. The mountains stretch for 270
miles (430 kilometers) from the Mediterranean
Sea in the east to the Atlantic
Ocean in the west.
Many of the mountains in the Pyrenees
are more than 9,000 feet (2,740 meters)
tall. The highest peak is Pico de Aneto,
which rises 11,169 feet (3,404 meters).
Snow covers many of the peaks yearround,
especially those in the center
section of the chain. Ancient glaciers, or
moving sheets of ice, carved valleys
throughout the Pyrenees. There are also
many mountain lakes and some of the
highest waterfalls in Europe. Forests
cover the mountain slopes in the west.
Fewer trees and other plants grow in the
east, which is much drier.
Few people live at the Pyrenees’ highest
elevations. However, the tiny country of
Cows graze in the Pyrenees in Spain.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Pyrenees 171
Andorra is nestled among peaks near the
eastern end of the chain.
Farmers and ranchers tend crops and
raise animals in the valleys and on the
slopes of the Pyrenees. Major crops
include corn, potatoes, fruits, hay, olives,
grapes, and cereals. Animals include beef
cattle, sheep, and goats. Visitors come to
the mountains for their hot springs, as
well as for winter sports, hunting, fishing,
and hiking.
Throughout history the Pyrenees have
separated Spain from the rest of Europe.
The mountains made it difficult to
travel between the two by land. No one
made good maps of the Pyrenees until
the 1800s. For this reason the Spanish
became excellent sailors. They also
developed ties with North Africa, which
is separated from Spain by only a short
stretch of the Mediterranean Sea.
#More to explore
Andorra • Mountain
Python
Pythons are giant snakes of Africa, Australia,
South and Southeast Asia, and the
Pacific islands. Pythons are constrictors.
This means that they kill their prey by
wrapping themselves around it and
squeezing it until it dies. Boas also constrict,
but pythons and boas are different
kinds of snakes.
There are about 28 species, or types, of
python. They live in a variety of habitats,
from forests to open, rocky areas.
Many species live near water.
One type, the reticulated python, is the
world’s longest known snake. It reaches
a length of up to 32 feet (10 meters).
Smaller pythons include the ball, or
royal, python, which generally reaches a
length of only about 6 feet (2 meters).
Pythons tend to strike their prey
suddenly from a hidden position. They
grasp the prey in their teeth and then
kill the animal by squeezing it to death.
Large pythons generally eat small
mammals and birds. Smaller pythons
also eat amphibians and reptiles. After
eating a large meal, a python may not
need to eat again for weeks or even
months.
Like most other snakes, pythons reproduce
by laying eggs. After the female
lays her eggs she coils herself around
them until they hatch about two or
three months later.
#More to explore
Boa Constrictor • Snake
A green tree python coils around a tree
branch in Indonesia.
172 Python BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
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2010 Britannica Student Encyclopedia
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