Download Chapter 20 I. Aztecs - Liberty Union High School District

Mexica (Mesheeka) (later called Aztecs)
name from Aztec orig home from folklore Aztlan
13th cent: in cent Mexico, migrated for 100yrs
Aztecs disliked by other groups, but respected for
milit skills
Mexican Flag
Chapter 11
• I. Aztecs
• A. The Americas remained
separate from the Old World (Af,
Asia, Europe, Mid East)
• B. 1345: settled on island in the
middle of Lake Texcoco & founded
Tenochtitlan (Mex City), 3,000 sq
miles, 400 under H2O
• C. Chinampas: fertile muck from
lake bottom, could grow 4
crops/yr
• D. Lake Texcoco
• 1. provided H2O for crops, &
made it easy to transport crops to
mkt
• 2. provided natural defense for
Tenoch
• E. govt: city-states
Mesoamerica
B. Aztec Empire
• 1. Conquests
• a. 15th cent: conq neighbors,
expanded empire
• b. allied w/Texcoco & Tlacopan to
rule 21 mill ppl by early 1400s
• c. Tenochtitlan: By 1519 had 150K
ppl, divided into 60 wards
• d. expansionmore social
stratification (emph on class
differences)
2.Tribute (more import in
Mesoam than territ gain)
• a. amt of tribute charged
depended on whether or not
conq ppl rebelled ag Aztecs
• b. usually pd in food, slaves,
products, or “victims.”
• c. territories who pd tribute were
able to rule selves
• d. merchants traded tribute
goods in distant lands
• e. by 16th cent: almost 500
conq territories pd tribute to
Tenochtitlan (rich capital
w/150K ppl, divided into 60
wards controlled by kinship
groups)
3. Calpullis: local govt
• a. started out as familiies
(7), later became local govts
(20)
• b. ran schools, temple,
divided the land
Tenochtitlan
(Aztec capital)
Tenochtitlan
Tenochtitlan
The Mexican city of Tenochtitlan as it looked in 1519. The temple precinct, an area
about 500 square yards, contained more than eighty structures, pyramids, pools, and
homes of gods and of the men and women who served them. Accustomed to the clutter
and filth of Spanish cities, the Spaniards were amazed at the elegance and cleanliness of
Tenochtitlan when they entered the city (which they called Mexico City) in November
of 1519.
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Aztec youth
Aztec youth
As shown in this codex, Aztec society had basic learning
requirements for each age (indicated by dots) of childhood and
youth. In the upper panel, boys of age 13 gather firewood and
collect reeds and herbs in a boat, while girls learn to make tortillas
on a terra-cotta grill. At the age of 14 (lower panel), boys learn to
fish from a boat, and girls are taught to weave.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
4. Warriors
• a. considered most honorable
in society
• b. mostly nobles (received
best training), but open to
talented commoners
• c. received land grants &
tribute, best food & clothes
The Maya people of Central America believed
that the souls of the dead went to an
underworld known as Xibalba. To escape and
go to heaven, the souls had to trick the
underworld gods. Among the Aztecs of
Mexico, slain warriors, merchants killed
during a journey, and women who died in
childbirth joined the sun in the heavens. The
ordinary dead spent four years traveling
through the nine layers of an underworld
called Mictlan and then vanished on reaching
the ninth level.
5. Women
• a. had no public role, wkd in
fields & home
• b. emph on children,
cooking & weaving
• c. women spent 6hrs/day
grinding corn on stone
• 6. Mexica Religion
• a. adopted traditions of Mayans,
Toltecs
• b. 128 gods w/female counterparts, 3
types (fertility, creation, war &
sacrifice)
• c. gods of rain, fire, sky, sun, cities,
ethnic groups, occupations
• d. Tezcatlipoca: giver & taker of life,
god of warriors
• e. Quetzalcoatl (feathered serpent):
god of arts & agriculture
Ballgame
Ballgame
Mesoamerican people used rubber for many, varied purposes, and codex
drawings depict rubber offering balls in the hands of gods and officiating
priests. The ritual ballgame, too, has strong religious connotations and
was practiced by various Mesoamerican societies. In this rolled-out
version of a Maya cylinder vessel, two elaborately outfitted players are
captured in mid-volley in this extraordinary ballgame scene. To the right
of the first player is a feathered shield, probably a movable ballcourt
marker.
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f. Human sacrifice
• 1. important to survival
• 2. humans must give “life” to the gods
in order to receive sun, rain, etc
• 3. Huitzilopochtil: God of warriors
(most sacred); must sacrifice in his
honor (more milt successmore
sacrifice)
• 4. NOT entertainment, necessary for
survival & to avoid destruction of wld
Inca Empire
II. Incas (S. America)
• A. 1250s: Incas settle around
Lake Titicaca
• 1. w/in 100 yrs: empire
expanded to include 2,500
miles of S Am coast
• 2. rulers consolidated lands,
suppressed rebellions, sent out
colonists & developed
centralized state
• 3. Took hostages from ruling
classes of conquered states
• 4. Between 9 & 13 mill ppl live
under Inca rule
• 5. Quipu: system of cords &
knots kept financial & historical
records
Macchu Picchu
8,000 ft above sea level
B. Inca Society
• 1. Technology
• a. no wheel, no written lang (unlike
Aztecs) , no domes animals, or heavy
plow
• b. great land & H2O mgmt, public
bldgs, rds, architecture
• c. terraced the steep slopes of Andes
• d. rope suspension bridges over rivers
• e. tambos: way stations along roads
2. The Inca
• a. considered almost a god
• b. owned all, had absolute power
• c. split inheritance: Inca does not
inherit land (bros get it), has to
conquer his own (led to more
conquest & expansion)
• d. common ppl: parallel
inheritance: father-son,
motherdaughter
3. Conq ppls
• a. rulers could stay in power if they
were loyal to Incas
• b. sons of conq chiefs taken to
Cuzco (capital) for education
• c. conq ppl resettled to other lands
• d. access to more goods, irrigation &
rds
• e. tribute pd in labor (called “mita”)
for state & church projects, import pt
of Inca control
Pachacuti Inca, from de Ayala
Pachacuti Inca, from de
Ayala
In this drawing from Nueva
Coronica y Buen Gobierno, by
Guaman Poma de Ayala, we
see Pachacuti Inca at the
height of his powers. Revered
as a great conqueror and
lawgiver, Pachacuti Inca here
wears the sacred fringed
headband symbolizing his
royal authority, and the large
earrings of the oregones
(nobility).
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C. Inca Religion
• 1. Inti: sun god, major god of
ruling class
• 2. viracocha: creator of the
universe
• 3. animal sacrifice
• 4. believed in life after death was
either punishment or reward