1. Copyright 2007, Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman
*AP and Advanced Placement are registered trademarks of The College Entrance Examination Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product.
Copyright 2007, Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman

2. I. Postclassic Mesoamerica, 1000-1500 C. E. II
I. Postclassic Mesoamerica, C.E. II. Aztec Society in Transition III. Twantinsuyu: World of the Incas IV. The Other Peoples of the Americas

3. Central Mexico and Lake Texcoco
I. Postclassic Mesoamerica, C.E. Teotihuacan Collapses, 700s
Toltecs
Empire in central Mexico
Capital at Tula, c. 968
A. The Toltec Heritage
Rule extended to Yucatan, Maya lands, c. 1000
Commercial influence to American Southwest
Possibly Mississippi, Ohio valleys
B. The Aztec Rise to Power
Toltec collapse, c. 1150
The Toltec Empire lasted until the 12th century, when it was destroyed by the Chitimecs and other attacking groups. The Toltec people were absorbed by the conquerors and in the south they became assimilated with the Maya, subordinates to the people they once conquered. After the fall of the Toltecs, central Mexico fell into a period of chaos and warfare without any single ruling group for the next 200 years, when the Aztecs gained control.
Center moves to Mexico valley
Lakes used for fishing, farming, transportation
Aztecs in, early 14th century
Begin as mercenaries, allies
1325, found Tenochtitlan
Dominate by 1434
Central Mexico and Lake Texcoco
The Aztects built the city, Tenochtitlan, on an island in the middle of the lake. They put up efforts to control the flooding but this led to most of the lake being drained, leaving a much smaller lake Texcoco west of the city.
Lake Texcoco was part of the Valley of Mexico. The Valley of Mexico was consisted of 5 interconnected major and smaller lakes.

4. I. Postclassic Mesoamerica, 1000-1500 C.E.
C. The Aztec Social Contract
Transformation to hierarchical society
Service of gods pre-eminent
Sacrifice increased
Source of political power
Moctezuma II
Head of state and religion
Moctezuma II changed the previous meritocratic system of social hierarchy and widened the divide between the nobles (pipiltin) and the commoners (macehualtin) by prohibiting commoners from working in the royal palaces.
Moctezuma is seen in history as the ruler of a defeated nation. He is known as weak-willed and indecisive in most cases by historians.
The sacrifices were always increasing because the Aztecs thought that the sun god needed more human blood to come up and fight against darkness and save them for that one day. So every day they sacrificed and when it was not a sunny day they continued to sacrifice humans so that they appease the sun god and the day would turn out better and it would be sunny.
Moctezuma II was the 9th leader of Tenochtitlan. The first contact between Indigenous civilizations of Mesoamerica and Europeans took place during his reign, and he was killed during the initial stages of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, when Conquistador Hernan Cortes and his men fought to escape from the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan.
During Moctezuma’s reign, the Aztec Empire reached its maximal size. Through warfare, he expanded his territory as far south as Xoconosco in Chiapas and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

5. I. Postclassic Mesoamerica, 1000-1500 C.E.
D. Religion and the Ideology of Conquest
Spiritual and natural world seamless
Hundreds of deities
Three groups
Fertility, agriculture, water
Creator gods
Warfare, sacrifice
e.g. Huitzilopochtli
Aztec tribal god
Identified with sun god
Sacrifice
The Aztecs were motivated to sacrifice through terror. They were scared that the sun would not come up if they did not sacrifice to the sun god. Sacrifice and Death in Mesoamerica were seen as necessary in order for the world to function and for the continued existence of the world. The Aztecs fought in wars to capture men to sacrifice to their gods. They sacrificed men from other societies or communities instead of their own. On God’s Feast Day, they sacrificed their slaves for their gods, and human sacrifices were offerings to the sun and earth so that the food will grow.
Female form for all gods
Yearly festivals/ceremonies
Expansive calendar
Sacrifice – To energize the sun god, they sacrificed humans to appease the gods. They believed that the sun fought darkness every night and rose to save mankind and that they had to feed humans to make the sun rise again for that day. They had many beliefs.
Types and frequency/degree changed with Aztecs – borrowed from Toltec religious conviction vs. political control
Religious questions – afterlife, good life, do gods exist
Art has flowers/birds/song and blood Tenochtitlan: The Foundation of Heaven
Metropois – central zone of palaces/whitewashed temples Adobe brick residential districts Larger houses for nobility Zoos, gardens for king
Geographically connected to island by four causeways. The Calpulli ruled the neighborhoods.
The Aztecs believed in cycles and they were very into calendars. The Aztec calendar wheels have been a source of fascination for centuries.  It wasn't just a way to keep time - it was a complete philosophy of time.  The Aztecs felt that there was religious significance in every day.  They also believed that time went in cycles - ultimately in the repeated destruction and recreation of the world.

6. Postclassic Mesoamerica, 1000-1500 C.E.
Feeding the People: The Economy of the Empire
Agriculture
Chinampas, man-made floating islands
20,000 acres
high crop yields, 4 times a year, corn/maize
Mass population needed to be fed
Trade
Regular intervals to market
Barter or cacao beans/gold for currency
Pochteca – long distance trade
State controlled distribution of tribute
Primarily redistributed to nobility
Markets
Daily market at Tlatelolco
Controlled by pochteca, merchant class
Regulated by state

7. II. Aztec Society in Transition
Society increasingly hierarchical
Widening Social Gulf
Life based on calpulli (neighborhood) groups
Governed by council of family heads
Nobility came from heads of calpullis
Military leaders based on success in taking captivesa. Ritual warfare – uniforms
As society grew, widening social disparity – no longer egalitarian
Scribes, artisans, healers between peasants and nobility
But…competition not between social classes, but between corporate groups
Calpulli
Transformed from clans to groupings by residence
Distribute land, labor
Maintain temples, schools
Basis of military organization
Noble class develops from some calpulli
Military virtues give them status
Serf-like workers on their lands
Social gaps widen
Imperial family at head of pipiltin
Calpulli of merchants

8. II. Aztec Society in Transition B
II. Aztec Society in Transition B. Overcoming Technological Constraints Role of women – relatively equal, but subordinate to men
Peasant women – fields, child-rearing
Revered as weavers
Polygamy among nobility, monogamy among poor
Could inherit property
Limits of technology
Women – six hours a day grinding corn/maize
Couldn’t be freed from hours of preparing food
Controlled vast number of people amazingly
C. A Tribute Empire Most power in hands of Aztec ruler and chief advisor
“elected” from best siblings of royal family
ritual sacrifice/military dominated all elements of life
City-states – as long as they made tribute – they could have autonomy
Weaknesses
Rise of nobles altered dynamics
Society based on system of terror
By 1500, Aztec society was in the down, military period – height far earlier
Great Speaker
Rules Tenochtitlan
Prime Minister powerful
Subjugated states could remain autonomous
Owe tribute, labor

9. III. Twantinsuyu: World of the Incas
Tihuanaco, Huari (c C.E.)
After 1000, smaller regional states
Chimor ( )
North coast of Peru Irrigated Agriculture
The Inca Rise to Power
1. Inca “ruler” – military alliances and campaigns to take over
2. Subsequent rulers with names you’ll never remember expanded and consolidated land
Cuzco area
Quechua-speaking clans (ayllus)
Huari
Control regions by 1438, under Pachacuti
Topac Yupanqui
Son of Pachacuti
Conquered Chimor
Rule extended to Ecuador, Chile
Huayna Capac
Furthers conquests of Topac Yupanqui
1527, death
Twantinsuyu (empire)
From Colombia to Chile To Bolivia, Argentina
Inca Expansion

10. Conquest
Cult of the Ancestors – Incas believed that their dead ancestors had the power to communicate with the gods.
"Split inheritance” – deceased rulers would give all of their political power and titles to their successor, but all of their material wealth and palaces went to their male descendants so that the Cult could use them to worship the ruler for eternity.
Political power to successor
Wealth, land, and palaces to male descendants to support the Cult
Result is continual conquest because the successor had to obtain new lands on which to build their kingdom.

11. The Sun was the highest deity
Religion
Incas were deeply influenced by religion.
Sun god supreme
The Sun was the highest deity
Incas believed that they were the sun’s representative on earth
Temple of the Sun at Cuzco
Center of the state religion
Contained the mummies of the past Incas
Incas did not prohibit the worship of local gods
Huacas – holy shrines where prayers were offered and sacrifices were made.

13. The Ancient Cities of Peru
The Techniques of Inca Imperial Rule
Cooperation or Subordination
The Inca rules from his court at Cuzco
The Inca empire was divided into four provinces each with a governor at the head
Incas created a bureaucracy that almost all nobles participated in.
Local rulers (curacas) could maintain their powers in return for their loyalty to Inca.
Unification
Incas spread the Quechua language to give the people a common language.
Incas would force conquered people to a new home or move their own Quechua-speaking people to a conquered area to provide the conquered people with an example of ideal individuals.
The Ancient Cities of Peru

14. Inca's senior wife links state to moon
Unification
Complex systems of roads, bridges, way stations (tambos), and storehouses were built. Inca armies rested at tambos as they traveled.
Inca State could benefit all
Redistributive economy allowed even the conquered population to receive goods not previously available to them.
Building and irrigation projects that were previously impossible could now be achieved with help from new conquests.
Gender Cooperation
Gender roles were considered equal and interdependent.
Incas emphasized military virtues, which created more inequality between men and women.
Gender Cooperation was also seen in cosmology
Inca's senior wife links state to moon

15. Comparing Incas and Aztecs
Inca Cultural Achievements
Metallurgy – one of the most advanced metalworking civilizations in the Americas.
Made weapons and tools and worked with gold, bronze, copper, and silver.
Knotted strings (quipu) – used to record numerical information, similar to abacus.
Used in accounting. Incas took censuses and recorded financial information.
Monumental architecture – created complex irrigation technology and extensive road systems.
Inca stone cutting was extremely accurate and fitted together like puzzle pieces.
Comparing Incas and Aztecs
Similarities
Built on earlier empires
Excellent organizers
Intensive agriculture under state that controlled the redistribution and circulation of goods.
Kinship-based institutions transformed into a hierarchy with a predominant nobility.
Ethnic groups were allowed to survive as long as they acknowledged the sovereignty of the empire and paid tribute.
Differences
Aztecs have more developed trade and markets.
Slightly different cultures

16. The Other Peoples of the Americas
Great variety elsewhere
Not all in the Neolithic pattern
Some use irrigation for agriculture
Some formed no states
A. How Many People?
Very difficult to determine the exact population because of extermination from European invaders and varied accounts.
B. Differing Cultural Patterns
Arawaks on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola were farmers organized into a hierarchy.
Some similar to Polynesian chiefdom-level societies.
World Population, c. 1500

17. The Other Peoples of the Americas
By 1500…
There were 200 languages in North America
The Mississippian mounds had been abandoned
There were two great imperial systems, the Aztecs and Incas
Anasazi descendants resided in the adobe pueblos along the Rio Grande.
American Indian Diversity in World Context
Mesoamerica and the Andes weakened by Europeans
Technologically behind Europeans; appeared to be backwards.