Transcript Aztecs and Incans

1325-1520
Originally, they were called
the “Mexica” people
1200: Built Tenochitlan
- On Lake Texcoco
- Founders saw an eagle
standing on a cactus
- Saw it as a “sign” =
The Promised Land
Largest cities: Tenochitlan & Tlaxcala
 1428, Triple Alliance = Aztecs merged with
Texcoco & Tlacopan
 By the early 1500’s, their empire covered
80,000 miles from central Mexico to the Pacific
Ocean
 38 provinces paid tribute to the Aztec ruler
 Population estimate = 5-15 million
• Centralized government
• Semi-independent territories
• Ruler had divine right to reign
• Mercenaries
Priests, Nobles and Council of Advisors
Emperor
Merchants
Peasants
Slaves
Warriors
Warriors
Women
• not equal
• own property
• enter into contracts
• Rigid class
system
• Patriarchy
• Most Aztecs were Farmers
• Chinampas = “Floating farm plots” = built on the marshy
fringes of the lake
Ancient Aztecs tending to chinampas
Thriving Trade
Received Tribute
from its provinces
• Polytheistic
• Good vs. Evil
• Huitzilopochtli = Sun god of
War
• Practiced human sacrifices to
appease Huitzilopochtli
• Quetzalcoatl = Feathered
Serpent
What are
they
doing?
God of rain & fertility
God of chocolate
Aztec Sunstone
13 feet in diameter
 Located in Tenochitlan’s
ceremonial plaza
Contains information about
Aztec days, months, and gods
Each month is divided into
20 days
Each day had its own symbol
Artist rendition of the
Sunstone’s inner circle
 The god Tonatiuh is in
the center
 4 squares = 4 eras that
preceded the Aztec Age:
Tiger, Water, Wind, & Rain
1. Strong military, complex society
2. Vast empire: Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific
3. Huge trade network
4. Pyramids, temples, apartments, chinampas
5. Writing = pictographic
6. Astronomy = calendar
7. Mathematics
8. Medicine
9. Human sacrifice on a massive scale
Pictographic – images
represented things on
the calendar
 1519 – Hernan Cortes
landed at Veracruz
 Allied with the Tlaxcala
& other tribes tired of
paying tribute
 Cortes
 ignored King
Montezuma’s welcome
 Took Montezuma
hostage
 pillaged Tenochitlan
 Enslaved the Aztecs
Diego Rivera, 1951, Palacio Nacional in Ciudad de Mexico
 Legend said that
Quetzalcoatl would return
 Montezuma, believed
Cortez was Quetzalcoatl
 Showered him with gold
 Gave him a palace
•Aztecs revolted
•Many Spanish killed
•Cortes was reinforced by tributary allies
•80% Aztecs died of smallpox & disease – no immunity
The Aztec, with bronze
and copper shields,
stone knives, and
woven-cloth armor, were
no match for them
Rulers were descended from Inti = Sun god
Only men from 1 of 11 noble families could rule
“Land of the 4 Quarters”
Tributary states
Complex road system linked empire
Complex communications system
Single language = Quechua
Capital city = Cuzco
 Public Works System
 Vast road system with bridges,
rest areas, & dams
 Mita = government service
 All citizens required to work
for the state annually
 Forced labor
 Worked on bridges, walls,
dams, roads, in the salt
mines, in the warehouses
• Government warehouses
• Stored food for
emergencies
• Chuno = freeze-dried
potatoes
Postal Service
 Chaski = messengers kept
rulers informed
 2,500 mile runner system
The stones are so
close that a knife
blade won’t fit
between them
Government kept records
on the Quipu
 knotted strings
 knot’s position =
level of importance
 colors represented
information categories
Nobles
Coya = Queen
Sapa =King
Council
Warriors
Peasants
• Rigid Class System
• Textile quality = social status
Ayllu
Extended family
Helped complete
community public works
projects
Planted common fields
Built dams, warehouses,
canals, roads…
 Maintained emergency
food warehouses
School system
•No writing system
•Taught students how to use the
quipu
•Memorized history and literature
Women
Cared for the home and family
Planted the crops, tended the fields
Wove clothing, fabrics
Mamakuna = young women who
dedicated themselves to the
community as teachers, weavers, or
to religious duties
Men
Warriors, priests, recordkeepers, and farmers
Yamacuna = young men who
performed religious duties fulltime
Quetchua flute player at the Inca ruins of Pisac
Inti = Sun god
Cuzco’s Temple of the Sun
• Most sacred temple
• Heavily decorated in gold
• Gold = “sweat of the sun”
The Spanish destroyed temples, artwork, and something the Inca
held very sacred - the mummies of their previous rulers
Sacrificed llamas
The Spanish took control of
the capital .The Inca gave
Pizarro 24 tons of gold and
silver as a ransom for
Athualpa, but he was not
released. The Spanish later
tied him to a stake and
strangled him.
Pizarro decided that only a quick, brutal attack would give his troops an advantage over the thousands of Inca warriors. With this plan in mind,
he called for a meeting with Athualpa at Cajamarca on November 16, 1532. But Pizarro waited safely behind with his army and sent a Spanish
monk in his place. The monk offered Athualpa a Bible and told the chief that he should give up his Inca beliefs. Athualpa was outraged and threw
the Bible to the ground saying, "I will be no man's slave. I am greater than any prince upon the earth…. As for my faith, I will not change it."
When the monk reported that the Inca chief could not be converted, Pizarro and his troops came out of hiding , killing more than 5,000 Inca.
Athualpa was taken prisoner.
But the Inca failed because most supplies had been used up in
civil war. Manco Inca retreated with his army into the Andes
Mountains. There they continued to fight the Spanish until
1572, when the Spanish finally defeated them.
Quipu record system
Vast empire, strong military
Meta forced labor requirement
Emergency food stockpiles
Complex public works: roads, bridges, pyramids
Communications network
Educational system
Astronomy, science
Medicine: mummies & surgery