The Aztecs and The Incas

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Aztec Background

• Originally named Mexica

• Located in what is now central Mexico

• The empire lasted during the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries CE

http://www.geocities.com/kimmykim7072003/aztec_empire.jpg

Background

• Tenochtitlan was the capital city and is located in what is now present day Mexico city

• The Aztec empire caused the biggest demographic explosion in Mesoamerican history

http://www.mte.asd103.org/art/images/Aztec.jpg

Government

• The Aztecs founded the city of Tenochtitlan in 1325

• Empire began in 1434• Aztec kings represented civil power and served

as a representative of the gods on Earth• City-states were individually ruled by speakers

that were chosen by the noble class

Social Structure

• The Aztec society was divided into three socal classes: the macehualli (people) or peasantry, the pochteca or merchants and traders, and the pilli or nobility

• Slaves or tlacotin consisted as a large part of the Aztec society

• Though people were born into a certain class it was possible to move up the ranks within a life time

Religion

• Main deity in the Aztec religion was known as both the sun god and war god

• Human sacrifice was practiced heavily in the Aztec religion

• The Aztecs believed that by performing these sacrifices that it gave power to the gods which in turn would insure the survival of the Aztec universe

Religion

• War captives were used in the sacrifices and in times of peace the Aztec would have to resort to ritualistic warfare or flower war

• In the year 1487 the Aztecs reported killing 84,400 war prisoners in four days at the great pyramid of Tenochtitlan

• After a town was conquered the inhabitants where no longer eligible for sacrifice and became Aztec citizens

Art

• The favored form of art in the Aztec empire was sculpture

• Most Sculptures were made from limestone, which is still abundant in Mexico today

• Aztec sculpture was like most other Mesoamerican cultures and was mostly directly related to religion

http://library.thinkquest.org/16325/y-art.html

Art

• The Aztecs also made other religious and non-religious artifacts such as jade masks

• Clothing was also a popular art form and women from around the empire would use bead, flower, and metal decorations

• These artifacts were sold in markets by visiting merchants

www.latinamericanstudies.org/.../aztec-mask.gif

Architecture• There where three main types of architecture in

the Aztec society: sacrificial temples, emperors temple, and different shrines of the gods

http://library.thinkquest.org/10098/aztec.html

Tenochtitlan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec

The Inca

• Starting around 1438 the Incan leader, Pachacuti, began building the largest ancient empire in the Americas

• The Inca’s developed the land of present day Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia etc.

• The most famous Inca site is called Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

Religion

• The Inca were Polytheistic (they believed in many Gods)

• The Sun God was the primary God

• The Incas considered mountains and rivers their holy shrines

Inca Economy

• Unlike the Aztecs, the Incas did not do a lot of trading, they tried to be self-sufficient

• Primarily their success was based on agriculture- they used terrace farming and complex irrigation

• The Incas grew over 200 types of potatoes• They used forced labor for massive

projects• They colonized their conquered areas

Inca Society

• The Inca emphasized their military strength

• They built a complex system of roads and bridges (over 2,500 miles of roads)

• The Inca used a system of runners to carry messages throughout the empire

• They made beautiful pottery, cloth and metalworking

Hernan Cortes

• Hernan Cortes was a Spanish solider who lived in the 1500’s

• The Spanish king asked Cortes to find and conquer new people who could serve Spain

• In June 1521, the Spanish attacked the Aztec people and defeated the emperor Montezuma

Pizzaro• The riches of the Aztec Empire led

other Spanish conquerors to seek their fortunes in South America

• In 1533 Francisco Pizarro ordered an attack on the Incas and seized their emperor

• Pizarro charged the emperor with many crimes and a military court sentenced him to death

• To reward Pizarro the Spanish king made him governor of Peru

• The Spanish conquerors were able to defeat the Aztec and the Inca by using horses and guns

http://library.thinkquest.org/16325/y-art.html