Download Aztecs and Incas pow..

Major Pre-Colombian Empires
of the New World:
The Aztecs and The Incas
I.
The Aztec Empire
Basic Information:
• Height = ca. 1325 – 1519 CE
• Location = Central Mexico
• Capital city-state = Tenochtitlan (Mexico
City is now on top of it)
– Other major city-states = Texcoco and
Tlacopan (with Tenochtitlan were called the
“Triple Alliance”)
I.
The Aztec Empire
Government:
• Basic Structure
– Emperor – ruled empire from Tenochtitlan
• Elected from one royal family by all of the rulers of all Aztec citystates
• Advised by other members of the nobility who served in various
councils
– Each Aztec city-state ruled by a hereditary ruler
– Cities divided into clan-based neighborhoods called calpulli,
each was
• ruled by a hereditary “chief”
• had its own local temple and school
• Tribute
– Conquered city-states were allowed to keep their own
ruler/government, as long as they paid their tribute
– Commoners of the empire were also required to pay tribute
(taxes) to the nobles of their city-state
I.
The Aztec Empire
Social Systems:
• Social Classes
– Nobility
• “Rulers” = leaders of city-states of the empire
• “Chiefs” = ruled over districts within cities and served in high
positions in army and government
• “sons of nobles” = served in lower army and government
posts and also as priests
– Non-noble elites
• Pochteca – hereditary merchant/spy class
• Artisans who made luxury items
– Commoners
• “free commoners” – farmers, artisans
• “rural tenants” – who lived on/worked nobles’ lands
– slaves
I.
The Aztec Empire
Subsistence Strategies:
• Food Crops = Corn, beans, squash,
amaranth, chia, tomatoes, peppers
• Other Crops
– cacao – beans used as money and to make a
drink for high status people called xocolatl
– cotton – for clothing
• Domesticated Animals = dog, turkey
• Hunting/fishing still done
• Chinampas
I.
The Aztec Empire
Economic Systems:
• Craft production
– Artisans lived in major cities and had guild-like organizations
– Each guild usually had their own neighborhood (calpulli) within
cities
• Trade
– Pochteca
– Long-distance trade over land and water
• Tributary State Relationships
– Aztecs conquered outlying peoples and forced tribute out of
them
– Pochteca collected tribute and brought stuff back to major cities
for storage and distribution
• All cities had marketplaces for buying/selling of goods
I.
The Aztec Empire
Religion:
• Polytheistic Belief System (close to 1000 gods)
– Each calpulli had a patron god/goddess
– Some of the Major Deities:
•
•
•
•
Huitzilopochtli – sun god
Quetzalcoatl – feathered serpent and ancestor of royal family
Tlaloc – rain god
Xipe Totec – “Our Lord the Flayed One”
• Human Sacrifice
– Mostly Killing of POWs
– Done to “feed” the sun god
– Sometimes involved ritual cannibalism
• Priestly Class – performed ceremonies and sacrifices
– Women could be priestesses
– Performed Auto-sacrifice
• Center of cities were ceremonial districts with pyramid
temples and courtyard groupings
Tzompantli (“skull rack”)
I.
The Aztec Empire
Record Keeping:
• Spoken language is called Nahuatl
• Some basic symbols (mostly related to
numbers and dates)
• But, no fully-developed system of writing
I.
The Aztec Empire
Science/Technology:
• Calendar system
– 260 day ceremonial calendar
– 365 day solar calendar
• Basic medical care
I.
The Aztec Empire
Art/Architecture:
• Monumental Architecture =
Pyramid/courtyard complexes
• Art – codex “books”, sculpture
I.
The Aztec Empire
Collapse:
• By about 1500, many tributary states were
unhappy and planning rebellion
• Conquest by the Spanish in 1519
– “The Prophesy” of Quetalcoatl
• Hernán Cortéz
– Execution of last Emperor, Montezuma II
II. The Inca Empire
Basic Information:
• Height = 1438 – 1532 CE
• Location = Western South America (from
modern day Ecuador to Chile and
Argentina)
• Capital = Cuzco
II. The Inca Empire
Government:
• Structure of Twantinsuyu
– Emperor (called the “Inca”) – ruled from the capital
– Imperial divisions (a HUGE bureaucracy):
• Empire divided into 4 quarters or suyus, each ruled by a governor
who was one of the Emperor’s relatives
• Each suyu was further divided into 10 districts, each ruled by an
appointed noble governor
– A district roughly = 10,000 peasants
• Each district was divided into waranqa (villages/small towns), each
ruled by a noble village leader
– roughly = 1000 peasants (usually related to one another)
• Each waranqa was divided into units of 100 peasants, each
overseen by another low-level noble
• Each unit of 100 was further divided into a unit of 10 peasants
overseen by a low-level noble
• Taxes = both resource and labor (called Mita system)
• Mitmaq system = resettlement of people throughout
empire to minimize rebellion
II. The Inca Empire
Social Systems:
• Social Classes
– Nobility
• Royal Family – said to be descendents of the Sun God, Inti
• Aristocracy – served in highest levels of government, military
and priesthood
– Commoners
• Artisans, farmers, merchants
• Divided up into ayllus – each was clan-based and totally selfsupporting (in terms of agriculture and craft production)
• Some boys and girls were selected and trained in special
schools for a lifetime of service for the nobility
– Slaves
II. The Inca Empire
Subsistence Strategies:
• Food Crops = potatoes, corn, beans,
peppers, squash, peanuts, cassava,
quinoa
• Domesticated Animals = llama, alpaca,
vicuña, guinea pig, ducks, dogs
• Terraced Fields
II. The Inca Empire
Economic Systems:
• Craft production
– Artisans
– Gold and Silversmiths lived in special ayllus and were
tax-exempt
• Trade System
– Complex system of roads and rope suspension
bridges linked cities
– tambos – structures along road system used as rest
stops and storage of goods
– “Vertical trade system”
• Marketplaces in cities and villages
II. The Inca Empire
Religion:
• Polytheistic Belief System
– Main god = Inti (the sun god and ancestor of the royal
family)
– Huacas – places (both natural and man-made) with
spiritual significance
– Ancestral worship
• Sacrifices – mostly animal (but in some cases
human, if the situation was serious)
• Priestly Class – huge class (mostly from nobility)
who carried out ceremonies and were healers,
too
– Women could be priests of Inti (“virgins of the sun”)
II. The Inca Empire
Record Keeping:
• Spoken language is called Quechua
• No system of writing at all
• The Quipu
II. The Inca Empire
Science/Technology:
• Medicine
– Bone graphs
– Trepanning
• Lunar calendar
II. The Inca Empire
Art/Architecture:
• Monumental Architecture
– Masonry without mortar!
• Art – textiles, metalworking, pottery
II. The Inca Empire
Collapse:
• 1525 - Civil war over the throne between 2 sons of the
recently dead emperor
– Atahualpa won and became the emperor in 1532
• 1532 – Francisco Pizarro and 180 Spanish soldiers
arrived
– Incas thought that he was Viracocha (the creator god)
– Spanish attacked and took Atahualpa Captive
• 1533 – Spanish kill Atahualpa and place Manco Capac II
on the throne as a puppet emperor
• 1536 – Manco Capac II escaped to city of Vilcabamba
and led revolt against the Spanish
• 1572 – Spanish capture Vilcabamba and execute the
last Inca Emperor, Tupac Amaru
Tupac Amaru
Not this one…
…THIS one!