1. A city of 200,000 people. Center of city the Great Pyramid and palaces made of stone.

2. Commoners belonged to a “calpulli” (city neighborhood ).Commoners belonged to a “calpulli” (city neighborhood ).

3. Religion: Polytheistic religion. Believed that the gods had sacrificed themselves to create the world, so human sacrifice and bloodletting was a repayment for life. Also had a political component. We are in charge!

4. Had a 365 day calendar adopted from the Mayans.

5. Had a system of writing similar to Mayan ideographs.

6. Agriculture based economy. Trade network united Mesoamerica.

7. Social stratification. Emperor Moctezuma I maintained and enforced social distinctions in Aztec society by regulations on clothing and accessories for each class.

8. According Diego Duran (Catholic Priest) a person could fall into slavery in Aztec society by failing to pay debts or punishment for a crime. But a person could raise their social position in Aztec society by performing great acts in war.

9. Women played an important role in the tribute system. Wove cloth local rulers demanded as tribute. Husband might obtain more than one wife in order to be able to pay the tribute. Women became priestesses, midwives, healers, or merchants. Women could exercise political authority.

10. Incan founder took title, Pachacuti, which means “transformer” or “shaker” of the earth.

11. Inca means “people of the sun.” Inti, the sun god, most important. Rulers considered to be Inti’s representatives on earth.

12. Both empires started out as marginalized peoples who conquered and absorbed older cultures. Unlike the Aztecs, the Inca Empire built an elaborate bureaucracy to integrate and control its subjects

13. Empire split into four provinces. They [the Incas] never divested the natural chieftains of their power. Conquered leaders who were loyal kept authority. Subject to the mita system, mandatory public service. Men 15-50 provided labor. Construction of roads.

14. Conquered peoples had to adopt Inca culture. Schools taught Quechua, the Inca language, as well as religion and history. Conquered people were moved to new lands.

15. During an Incan civil war (1532), Francisco Pizarro arrived bringing diseases and superior weapons. Replaced emperor Huayna Capac as ruler of Inca Empire.

16. Developed agricultural terrace systems. Terraces used a technique called waru waru, raised beds with channels that captured and redirected rain.

17. Religion: Practiced “royal ancestor worship”. Mummified rulers continued to rule as they had in life Retained ownership of their servants, possessions, and property.

18. Followed 30 day calendar. Priest predicted the outcome of battles, and solved crimes. Human sacrifices on serious occasions.

19. Animism, the physical world could have supernatural powers. These huaca, could be a river, a stone, or a bridge.

20. Developed the “quipu”, a system of knotted strings used to record numerical information and messages.

21. Structures made from a mortarless technique of precise- fitted stones.

22. Constructing a massive roadway system called the Carpa Nan, with 25,000 miles of roads.

23. Few market towns and little trade conducted by individuals. Agriculture based economy. People required to turn over part of crops to their local rulers. Crops stored in warehouses and given out during famines or to the poor.

24. Social Stratification

25. Just like Aztecs, Inca women could exercise political authority. The Inca and Aztec empires practiced similar gender-based systems in which women and men operated in two separate but equivalent spheres, a system that scholars call gender parallelism.

26. That concludes the Americas.