1. The Aztec and Inca Empires

2. 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)

3. 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

4. Aztec Empire

5. Inca Empire

6. Aztec Empire Capital = Tenochtitlan (modern-day Mexico City)
Agricultural center and marketplace

7. 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

9. 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.

10. 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

12. 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

13. The Inca Empire Lived in the Andes Mountains in South America
Empire stretched about 2500 miles along the Andes
Capital = Cuzco

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. “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

20. 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

21. 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.

22. 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)

23. 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.