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The Aztec and Inca Empires
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General Info Aztecs = in Mexico and Central America ( chinampas, causeways, canals along Lake Texcoco to form Tenochtitlan) Incas = in South America (suspension bridges and roads will connect Central Ecuador to the tip of Peru) Both will engage in expert engineering despite geographic adversity Both will collect tribute (Inca mita system, Aztec militaristic tribute often for human sacrifice) Both polytheistic( monumental architecture) Both lacked: large work animals, metal tools, wheels Both still developed: centralized governments ( although Aztecs will provide more autonomy for its empire) & armies and both conquered other empires Both ended when: conquered by the Spanish ( guns, germs, steel… and horses too) Both will have much of their history told by the Spaniards (who were looking for Gold and Glory and looking to convert to Roman Catholicism: God)
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Illustration Friday: Similarities and Differences-key vocabulary
Social: Cappuli vs Alluyu, Gender parallelism, tribute(Mita vs Goods) Political: Centralized vs Decentralized, role of tribute, military, Infrastructure, Religion, Tenochtitlan vs Cusco Interaction between Humans and Environment: Chinampas, vs Terrace farming, bridges, roads, canals, temples Cultural: Polytheism, human sacrifice, calendar, ceremonies and temples, role of religion and state Nahuatls vs Quechua, Multi-Cultural Empires Economic- tribute, Mita System, Gender parallelism, warriors, trading items or goods produced, labor specialization Technology- Causeways, suspension bridges, Hieroglyphs vs Quipus, terrace farming, Chinampas, lack of large beasts of burden, connection to large interregional trade network, advanced metallurgy
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Aztec Empire
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Inca Empire
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Aztec Empire Capital = Tenochtitlan (modern-day Mexico City)
Agricultural center and marketplace
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Aztec Empire Built chinampas = artificial islands used for farming made by piling mud from the lake onto rafts floating gardens As population grew, Aztecs expanded outside of the city built canals and bridges to connect the mainland to the island where the capital was
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The Empire Stretched from Mexico to the border of Guatemala
Stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean Conquered people had to pay tribute (taxes) in the form of: food, clothing, raw materials, prisoners for sacrifice, jewelry, military supplies, rubber balls, etc.
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The Empire Aztec civilization organized as a hierarchy
At the top = the emperor Classes = nobility, commoners, serfs, slaves Land owned by: nobility and commoners Commoners = priests, merchants, artisans, farmers Serfs = farm workers tied to noble lands Lowest class = slaves = prisoners of war; criminals; debtors – often sacrificed
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God of dying & resurrection
Religion & the Arts Religion moved them to engage in war and sacrifice Live human sacrifices were needed to keep the gods happy Aztec artists decorated temple-pyramids with scenes of gods or battles Writers glorified Aztec victories in their works Quetzalcoatl God of dying & resurrection
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The Inca Empire Lived in the Andes Mountains in South America
Empire stretched about 2500 miles along the Andes Capital = Cuzco
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The Inca Empire Raided other tribes and slowly built a large empire
Strong central government local rulers had to report to Inca emperor Unlike the Aztec Empire, which had no centralized government or complex administration
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The Inca Empire Emperor closely controlled the lives of common people
Owned all land and carefully regulated the growing & distribution of food Farmers used step terraces on hillsides Part of all crops after every harvest went to emperor as taxes
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The Inca Empire Work crews built roads & bridges to link different regions of the empire Gods pleased with food, animal, and human sacrifices Not even close to the scale of the Aztecs No writing system used quipus to record information = ropes with knotted cords of different lengths
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The Inca Empire Mita = labor service used
Required periodically of every household Required to work for the state Examples: farming, herding, mining, crafting manufactured goods, construction In return: state provided elaborate feasts for the people
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“Gender Parallelism” Both the Aztec and Inca Empires used this system with men and women Separate spheres and responsibilities, but each one equally valuable Each had autonomy in its own sphere Did NOT mean total gender equality
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Comparing Aztecs and Incas
Similarities Differences Overcame geographic adversity (built roads) Polytheistic Tribute (how is different) North/South Migrations Lacked major metallurgy Lacked large draft animals Trade was limited ( lacked immunity to Afro Eurasian diseases) Division of labor based on kin/clan Religion influenced building monumental architecture Multi-ethnic empires Militaristic One unifying language Gender parallelism Terrace farming or Chinamapas Blood tribute or mita Emperor son of sun God (Inti) or priest kings Inti or Huitzitipotchli Highlands or lowlands Quipus or glyphs Centralized or decentralized Quechua or Nahuatl Cusco or Tenochtitlan Suspension bridges or causeways State-sponsorship of work projects or local tribute
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Two Worlds Collide: What would a meeting of an Aztec and Inca have looked like?
Although they had no contact with each other due to North/South migratory patterns and geographic obstacles, they had much in common. Would they meet in the lowlands or highlands? Would they speak Nahuatl or Quechua? Would it be peaceful or violent? Would they use tribute in goods or in labor. Both would appreciate their abilities to engineer and overcome tremendous geographic obstacles. Using your notes on similarities and difference illustrate a interaction between the two: Formats: Songs, Poems, Skits, Interpretive dance, Pow Wow ( gathering of the tribes) tweets, peace negotiations, declarations of war, epic rap battle, meme, etc.
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Theses From both the Inca and Aztec Empires would flourish engineering great monumental irrigation projects (Chinampas, Waru waru Farming and strong fortresses and temples) despite the geographic adversity of their respective regions, both would collect respective tribute in labor or goods to maintain the stability of the empires, however the Aztecs would maintain a written glyph system while the Incas only form of communication would be the knotted string Quipus. The Aztec and Incas would both have limited contact with regional trading networks and, thus, have limited exposure to the Afro-Eurasian diseases which would wipe them out, both would innovate methods of irrigation to develop surplus crop yields, yet the system of Mita in the Inca capital of Cusco suggests a far more centralized method of control than the tribute system of the Aztecs which left far more autonomy of their surrounding regions around Tenochtitlan. The Aztecs and Inca Empires adapted to a vastly different topography with the Aztecs in the central valley of Mexico with chinampas as the Incas adapted terrace farming in the Mountains of the Andes. They also appeased their polytheistic deities in a varying degree with human sacrifice in the Aztecs and animal and agricultural appeasement in the Incas. Both Empires would erect monumental architecture to honor their various deities arguably the most important being that of the sun (Huitzitipotchtli/Inti)
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From both the Inca and Aztec Empires would flourish engineering great monumental irrigation projects (Chinampas, Waru waru Farming and strong fortresses and temples) despite the geographic adversity of their respective regions, both would collect respective tribute in labor or goods to maintain the stability of the empires, however the Aztecs would maintain a written glyph system while the Incas only form of communication would be the knotted string Quipus. Despite their geographic limitations, the Aztec and Inca would engineer under great geographic adversity to flourish with an abundance of crops like corns, beans, squash and potatoes. Aztecs and Inca both collected tribute in the form of goods and labor to maintain the strong economies of their respective empires. The written language of the Aztecs was adopted and adapted from the Toltecs and Mayas and was utilized for a variety of religious and economic purpose while the quipus didn't indicate a form of writing but , rather a, a mnemonic device Engineering utilizing terrace farming and chinampas sought to overcome difficulties traditionally associated with the swampy lowlands of Mexico and the highlands of the Andes The mita system provided labor tribute for the Inca to build roads and temples while the militaristic collection of tribute by the Aztecs would bring vital resources in Tenochtitlan The questionable nature of “civilization” requires a written language for political and administrative purposes like the Aztecs while the quipu would have had to have specialized translators to determine its use for trade and services.
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