ChAPTER 16 The Americas on the Eve of

Thousands of peasants were at work.

The Aztec city-state of Tenochtitlan was established on an island in the midst of a large lake.

It was connected to the shores by causeways and had a population of over 150,000.
The canals were compared to Venice by early Spanish observers.

Tenochtitlan was the largest city in Europe when it was first seen by Europeans in 1520.

Europeans were amazed when they saw it.
They compared the city to Venice.

The foot soldier, usually given to plain speech, could not hide his admiration: gazing on such wonderful sights, we did not know what to say, or whether what appeared before us was real.

The palaces and temples, the two-storied homes of the nobles, the stuccoed buildings hung with garlands of flowers, the smell of the cedar wood beams, the zoo, the aviary, the rooftop gardens, and the bustling markets filled with everything from were described by the author.

He said that the hum of the crowd could be heard miles away.
He didn't know that each city ward was controlled by a kin group that cared for its temples, shrines, and palaces.
He found the purpose of temples to be appalling, but his overall impression was one of admiration and wonder.

Tenochtitlan was the largest of about 50 city-states that dotted central and southern Mexico.

They were the heirs of the long development of civilization in the Americas, a process that seems to have taken place in relative isolation from the other centers of world history.

The Misnomer was created by New World.

The term is misleading because it implies a common identity among the peoples, but it is derived from a mistake Columbus made when he thought he had reached the Indies.
The term has been used for a long time by many Native Americans.

There were many different peoples with different cultural achievements.

The variety of cultural patterns and ways of life of pre-Columbian civilizations makes it impossible to discuss each in detail, but we can focus on a few areas where major civilizations developed, based on earlier achievements.
The continuity of civilization in the Americas can be demonstrated by concentrating on these regions.
In this chapter, we look at central Mexico, as well as the Andean heartland.
When European expansion brought them into contact with the Old World, great imperial states were in place.

In central Mexico, people from the north took advantage of the politi 8th century.

The new cal vacuum will move into the richer lands.
The civilizations built on the capital at Tula were the work of the Toltecs.
The cult of sacrifice and war is often depicted in political art, but not in the traditional way.
The Aztecs had a memory of the military organization.

According to the archeological record, the accomplishments of the Toltecs were often confused with those of Teotihuacan in the memory of their successors.

Apparently, Topiltzin was involved in a large territory after 1000 c.e.

After 1200 c.e., Topiltzin and his followers lost.

The Chi religious leader and reformer of the chen Itza was conquered by the Turks in 1000 c.e., and several other cities were ruled by the Turks for a long time.

The obsidian was mined in northern Mexico.

turquoise may have been traded in the American Southwest.

There is a dispute over how far eastward the influence can spread.

Scholars disagree.
In the lower Mississippi valley from about 700 c.e., elements of the Hopewell culture seem to have been enriched by contact with Mexico.
The Mississippian culture was based on maize and bean culture that spread from Mexico.

There were stepped temples made of earth and large burial mounds in the towns that were located along the rivers.

Some of the burial sites include well-produced pottery and other goods, and some of the burials have been accompanied by ritual executions or sac rifices of servants or wives.
This shows how the society is divided.
More than 30,000 people are thought to have been in and around the center of Cahokia.
Its largest pyramid is 15 acres in size and is comparable to the largest pyramids of the classic period in Mexico.
Many of the cultural features suggest contact with Mexico.

The Aztec rise to Power columns that supported the roof of a great temple were supported by the huge statues of warriors shown here.

A rich aquatic environment was provided by these.

There were settlements and towns on the shores of the lakes.
400 square miles in the basin of the valley were under water.

In the postclassic period, the lakes became the cultural heartland and population center of Mexico.

The peoples and cities jockeyed for control of the lakes.
When they first emerged on the historical scene, they were the most unlikely candidates for power.

The Aztec rise to power and formation of an imperial state was amazing.

Some people want to claim a distinguished heritage.

The Aztecs are thought to have been one of the nomadic tribes that used the political anarchy after the fall of the Toltecs to penetrate the area of sedentary agricultural peoples.
Like the ancient Egyptians, the Aztecs rewrote history to suit their purposes.

The Aztecs were a group of about 10,000 people who migrated to the shores of Lake Texcoco in the central valley of Mexico around 1325.

The central valley was inhabited by a mixture of peoples, including Chichimec migrants from the northwest and sedentary farmers.
The area around the lake was dominated by several tribes.

The political units claimed authority because of their military power.

Many of the peoples spoke a language called Nahuatl.

The Aztecs' rise to power was made more acceptable by the fact that they spoke this language.

The Aztecs were allowed to wander around the shores of the lake for a while and then driven out by more powerful neighbors.

The Aztecs had a reputation for being tough warriors and sacrificers of their gods.

They were both valued and feared by this reputation.

The legends held that the wanderings would end when they saw an eagle with a serpent in its beak.

Culhuacan ity was brought to the Aztecs by their ruler and the warrior nobles, who took lands and tribute from conquered towns.

The Aztecs emerged as an independent power by 1428.
In 1434, Tenochtitlan formed an alliance with two other city-states that controlled most of the central plateau.
The Aztecs and Tenochtitlan dominated their allies and took the majority of the tribute and lands.

Aztec domination extended from the Tarascan frontier north to the Maya area.

People were forced to pay tribute, surrender lands, and sometimes do environment at the heart of the Aztec empire.

Aztec society changed in the process of conquest.

The Mexica were described as a group of people who were chosen to serve the gods.

The military class played a central role as suppliers of war captives to be used as Aztec power and joined with Tlacopan cial victims.
Some territories were left unconquered so that periodic "flower wars" could be staged in and Texcoco formed a triple which both sides could obtain captives for sacrifice.
The alliance that controlled most of the Aztec rulers used the cult as a means of political terror.

The political power of the ruler and the nobility made the cult of human sacrifice and conquest possible.

There was little distinction between the world of the gods and the natural world when it came to religion.

The gods of rain, fire, water, corn, the sky, and the sun were worshiped by the Aztecs as far back as the time of Teotihuacan.
Each deity had a male and female form, as in popular Hinduism, because a basic duality was recognized in all things.
The gods may have different manifesta tions than the Hindu deities.
Each god had at least five aspects, each associating with one of the directions and the center.
Certain gods were thought to be the patrons of certain groups.

Festivals and ceremonies were held every year to support the gods.

The great gods and goddesses who brought the universe into being were the creator deities.

The story of their actions was central to the Aztecs.
The Aztecs focused a lot on the theme of creation.

The Aztecs saw him as a warrior in the daytime sky fighting to give life and warmth to the world against the forces of the night.

The gods sacrificed themselves for humankind, and just as the sun needed strength to carry out that struggle, the gods needed human life in the form of hearts and blood.
The great temple of Tenochtitlan was dedicated to two people.
The deity of the Aztecs and the ancient agricultural god of the sedentary peoples of the region were united.

Human sacrifice has been a part of the religion of Mesoamericans for a long time.

The militaristic images of jaguars and eagles were characteristic of the art.
The Aztecs took an existing tendency and carried it further.

There was a sense of spiritual unity beneath the surface of this polytheism.

His conception of a kind of monotheism, much like the one in Egypt, was too abstract and never gained much popularity.

The Aztecs In the Beyond practice human sacrifice, but are we dead or did we expand it for political and religious reasons?

Since that, where is the source of light?

You are the only one who dominates The Giver of Life.

Aztec religious art and poetry are filled with images of flowers, birds, and song, all of which the Aztecs greatly admired, as well as human hearts and blood, the "precious water" needed to sustain the gods.

Modern observers can't appreciate the symbolism of Aztec religion because of this mixture of images.

Aztec religion depended on a complex mythology that explained the birth and history of the gods and their relationship to peoples, and on a religious symbolism that infused all aspects of life.

The calendar system was religious and many ceremonies coincide with certain points in the calendar cycle.
The Aztec stone calendar is 12 feet across and 4 feet thick and has been destroyed four times.
It weighs about 24 tons.

Traditional forms of agriculture and innovations developed by the Aztecs helped to feed the great population of Tenochtitlan and the Aztec confederation.

Food was sometimes demanded as a tribute to the lands of conquered peoples.
The beds of aquatic weeds, mud, and earth were placed in frames made of cane and roots to the lake floor.
Artificial floating islands were made of cane and were about 17 feet long.
The narrow construction allowed the water to reach all the plants, and to create "floating islands."
System willow trees were planted at intervals to give shade and help fix the roots.
More than 20,000 Aztecs lived in the southern end of the lake, which was the origin of much of the land utilized by Tenochtitlan.

Four corn crops a year were possible from chinampa agriculture.

A rise in the level of the lakes made it impossible for this system of irrigation to continue.
The Aztecs carried out chinampa construction on a grand scale after 1200 when water levels were lowered again.

Basic foods were provided by the Aztec peasantry.

Some of the lands were set aside for support of the temples and the state.
Private estates may have been worked by slaves from conquered peoples.
Every 5 and 13 days, a wide variety of goods were exchanged at the periodic markets in each community.
Cacao beans and gold dust were used as barter.
The markets were under the control of the merchant class in Aztec society.
Despite the importance of markets, this was not a market economy that specialized in long-distance trade.

The state redistributed a lot of tribute received from the peoples who were below them.

Political and economic ends were served by tribute payments.
Each year tens of thousands of cotton cloth mantles were collected and sent to Tenochtitlan.
These goods were redistributed by the Aztec state.
The commoners received less than the nobility after the original conquests.

Aztec society experienced changes over time.

The Mexica was based on the peoples who spoke the Nahuatl language who occupied the region of central Mexico.
As hunters and gatherers they emerged as a dominant power and their rise disappeared.
There were opportunities for some groups and a loss of status for others.
Aztec society faced technological sway over the 50 or so political units of the central valley of Mexico.
The priests and the cults of the temples were able to maintain a large population in society because of the religious basis for expansion that made it difficult for the warriors.
The support of these sectors of society allowed the ruler to govern.

The nature of Aztec society was changed by these policies.

The calpulli did not include residential groups that included neighbors, allies, distributed land and provided labor and dependants.

The calpulli was an important part of Aztec local life.

Calpulli were governed by a council of family heads, but not all families were equal.

The calpulli was the basic building block of Aztec society.

In the ori gins of Aztec society every person, noble, and commoner had belonged to a calpul i but as Aztec power increased, the calpulli had been transformed and other forms of social stratification had emerged.

A class of nobility emerged as the empire grew.

This group of nobles accumulated high offices, private lands, and other advantages from their ancestors.
The military and administrative nobility of the Aztec state overshadowed the most prominent families in the calpulli, who had dominated leadership roles and formed a kind of local nobility.

Most nobles were born into the class, even though some commoners might be promoted to noble status.

The military leadership was controlled by Nobles.
The military was organized according to experience and success in taking captives.

Military virtues were used to justify the nobility's status because of the cult of sacrifice.

The "flowery death," or death while taking prisoners for the sacrifice knife, was the fitting end to a noble life and ensured eternity in the highest heaven--a reward also promised to women who died in childbirth.
The military was ritualized.
The Jaguar and Eagle "Knights" were ordered to fight together as a unit.
Banners, cloaks, and other insignia are marked off the military ranks.

The warring Germanic tribes of early medieval Europe abolisheditarian principles that may have existed in Aztec life.

The imperial family was the most distinguished of the families.

As the nobility broke free from their old calpulli and gained private lands, a new class of workers was created to serve as laborers.

The workers did not control the land but worked at the will of others.
Their status was not as high as that of the slaves, who might have been war captives, criminals, or people who had sold themselves into bondage to escape hunger.
There were other groups.
In the larger cities, the sholders, artisans, and healers were part of an intermediate group.
The long-distance merchants had their own gods, privileges, and internal divisions.
They served as spies for the Aztec military, but were subject to restrictions that made it hard for them to compete with the nobility.

It is possible to see an emerging conflict between the nobility and the commoners and to interpret that as a class struggle, but some specialists say that to interpret Aztec society on that basis is to impose Western concepts on a different reality.

The calpulli, temple main tenance associations, and occupational groups were important in Aztec life.
Competition between corporate groups was more violent than between social classes.

The calpul i or a specific social class were used to define membership in society.

It was defined by gender roles.

Aztec women were in a variety of roles.
The primary domain of Peasant women was the household, where child rearing and cooking took up a lot of time.
The weaving skill was highly regarded.
Older women were responsible for training young girls.

They Polygamy existed among the nobility, but peasants gained rank and respect by sacrificing their enemies.

Aztec women could inherit property and give it to the defeated captives as a sign of military success.

Aztec women's rights seem to have been recognized, but their role in politics and social life was not as important as that of men.

The technology of the Americas limited social development.

Although similar hand techniques were used in ancient Egypt, they were replaced by animal- or water-powered mills that turned wheat into flour.

The work of hundreds of women could be done by the baker of Rome.
Maize was one of the simplest and most productive cereals to grow.
Without the wheel or suitable animals for power, the Indian civilizations were unable to free women from the 30 to 40 hours a week that went into preparing the basic food.

The size of the population of the Aztec state must be considered.

He makes the earth rumble, he implants culture, and he terrifies with his gaze.
He wanted to learn how he spreads fear.

The noble's parents are a mother and father.

He looks like his parents.
The Aztec good noble is obedient, cooperative, a follower of his parents' ways, and attentive.
He follows culture.
Even though this work successor is his father's days before the European arrival, he assumes his lot because he resembles his father.

The Aztecs are deserving of gratitude for how he speaks and how he is soft-spoken.

He is gentle of word and noble of heart.

He scratched the earth with a thorn.

He gives sustenance to others.

One's father is the source of ancestry.

He gives comfort.
He is a belittler father who cares for himself.
He praises others.
He is a mourner for the person in charge of his household.
He rears, he teaches the dead, a doer of penances, a gracious speaker, and admonishes one.

The bad noble is a debaser and saves for others.

He is thrifty and contemptuous of others.
He distributes with care, creates disorder, and praises his own virtues.

The father is unreliable.

The mature woman is candid.

Not one to fail, sincere, vigilant, lute, persevering.

She is long-suffering, she is flexible, and she is an energetic worker.
She is attentive to people.
She takes courage.
She is intent.
She gives of herself.

She is in humility.

The bad woman is thin, weak and lazy.

She is unfriendly.
She is a fool, a deceiver, a shame, and a squanderer.
She becomes impatient, she loses hope, and she loses things through neglect or anger.

She lives in shame.

She is careless and disrespectful.

She talks about nonconformity and shows the way to disobedience.

She works with thread.

The ruler is a renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned, renowned,

One who carries his subjects dexterously is a good ruler.

She weaves designs.

She forms borders.

She forms the neck.

The bad weaver of designs is uneducated and foolish, and he bears them in his arms.

He is a servant, ignorant and stupid.
There is recourse for him as a shelter.

In what ways do the expectations for men and women differ in these, the physician is a knower of herbs, roots, trees, and stones.

She cures people, she provides them health, and she bleeds them.

The population of central Mexico under Aztec control reached over 20 million, according to some historical demographers.

The Aztec state has the ability to intimidate and control so many people.

The speaker of each city-state was chosen from the nobility.

The ruler of Tenochtitlan was the Great Speaker.
He was considered a living god because of his private wealth and public power.
His court was grand and full of rituals.
The people who approached him were required to throw dirt on their heads as a sign of humility.
His election was actually a choice between siblings of the same royal family.
The prime minister was a close relative of the ruler and held a position of tremendous power.
In theory, the rulers of the other cities in the alliance had a say in government, but in reality, most power was in the hands of the Aztec ruler and his chief advisor.

After 1426, a social and political transforma tion took place during the century of greatest Aztec expansion.

The position and nature of the old calpulli clans had changed, and a new nobility with a deified and nearly absolute ruler had emerged.
The cult of military virtues had been elevated to a supreme position as the religion of the state, and the double purpose of securing tribute for the state and obtaining victims for Huitzilopochtli drove further Aztec conquests.

Local rulers stayed in place to act as tribute collectors for the Aztec overlords, even though the empire was never integrated.

The Aztec empire was an expansion of long-existing concepts and institutions of government, and it was not unlike the subject city-states over which it gained control.
If these city-states recognized Aztec supremacy, they would be left unchanged.
The Aztec capital had both an economic and political function.
The large number of offerings and objects that came from the farthest ends of the empire have impressed the archeologists.
At the frontiers, neighboring states such as that of the Tarascans of Michoacan in West Central Mexico preserved their freedom, while within the empire enclaves of independent kingdoms such as Tlaxcala maintained a fierce opposition to the Aztecs.
The Aztecs put down many revolts against their rule.

The Aztec system was a success because it was able to exert political domination and not direct administrative or territorial control.

The Aztec empire's collapse was caused by internal weaknesses that were created by the rise of the nobles and the system of terror and tribute.

The Aztecs were a continuation of the long process of civilization.

The civiliza tions of the classic era did not simply disappear in central Mexico, but they were adapted to new political and social realities.
Europeans assumed that the culmination of Indian civilization was what they found when they arrived in Mexico.

Many aspects of previous Andean cultures were fused together by the Inka empire.

With a genius for state organization and bureaucratic control over peoples of different cultures and languages, it achieved a level of integration and domination previously unknown in the Americas.

In the Andean zone, large states continued to be important despite the breakdown of power that took place in postclassic Mesoamerica.

A series of military of war between rival local chiefdoms and small states was launched during this period and is an example of an Andean parallel to the campaigns that gave incas control of the post-Toltec militaristic era.

The most powerful state was the coastal kingdom of Chimor, which centered the region from Cuzco to the shores on its capital of Chan-Chan.

The inca rise to Power some form of kinship; traced descent from some common, sometimes, while Chimor spread its control over 600 miles of the coast.

They emerged from caves in the region and were taken to Cuzco by a mythical leader.

By 1438 they had defeated their neighbors.

From what is now Columbia to Chile and eastward across Lake Titicaca to northern Argentina.

The empire was expanded by each ruler.

In order to increase wealth and political control, the cult of the ancestors was important.

The Chimu kingdom is thought to have originated the system of split inheritance.

10 rulers' names were recorded.

There are 10 large walled structures at Chan-Chan.

Archeologists believe that each of these palatial compounds was a different king's residence and that each became a mausoleum for his mummy upon his death.

More than 2 square miles was covered by Chan-Chan.

The greater the number of past rulers, the greater the number of royal courts to support, and the greater the demand for labor, lands, and tribute.

The system created a self-perpetuating need for land remained in the hands of male expansion, as well as tensions between descendants for support of the cult of dead inca's mummy.

The cult of the dead was very heavy on the living.

Political and social life in the Inka was infused with religious meaning.

The Aztecs held the sun to be the highest deity and considered the Inca to be the sun's representative on earth.

The state religion of the empire was the cult of the sun, but the mummies of the past did not prohibit worship of local gods.

The state religion worshiped other deities.

The creator god, Viracocha, was important to the people of the area.
Many natural phenomena were endowed with spiritual power by popular belief.
Animals, goods, and humans were sacrificed at these places.
In the Cuzco area, imaginary lines ran from the Temple of the Sun to organize the huacas into groups.
The priests and women of the temples prepared cloth and food for sacrifice.
The priests of the temple were mainly responsible for the great festivals and celebrations.

The techniques of inca imperial rule as inns and storehouses allowed them to control their vast empire by using techniques and practices that ensured coop centers for inca armies on the move.

The empire was ruled by the Inka, who was considered a god.
He used to carry things.

The lands were divided again after labor was taken for them.

Most of the nobles played a role in the state bureaucracy.

An essential and smaller number of households to mobilize taxes and labor is one aspect of inca imperial control.

The curacas received labor or produce from those under their control.

The Quechua was spread as a means of integrating the empire.

Runners carried messages throughout the empire.

Inca probably had more than 10,000 tambos.

Land and labor were taken from the subject populations.

Tilcara received goods from new conquests.

The Incas wanted loyalty and tribute.

All resources were redistributed by 400 KILOMETERS.

The Postclassical Period, 600-1450: New Faith and New Commerce and practices that shocked Christian observers, as well as aspects of the past that clashed with European of the past, has caught the imagination of histo.

The general public and reli rians influenced those sensibilities.
It makes us wonder how civiliza gious and political considerations are.
Many of the people who are most advanced could engage in a practice so cruel and reprehensible that it's morally reprehensible.
The rulers tried to justify European conquest and appreciation of the American civilization more than the exten control, mass violence, and theft on a continental scale.
There was evidence of ritual torture and human sacrifice heard among European voices.
After the Spanish con, the Aztecs reached staggering proportions.
In the 16th century, Indian rights came forward to argue with defenders who were slain, usually by having their hearts ripped out.

The record of morality, politics, religion, and self-perception in the past and present cultures seem to us to be strange.

Aztec human sacrifice is considered to be reality.
Such practices were found among the ancient for Chinese, Persian, or any other culture trying to understand another.

The Old Testament story of Still, and the message against sacrifice by the American civilization, has caused Western society to be troubled by Abraham and Isaac.

In the past, this fice was practiced in India.

It may have been exaggerated by Spanish authors, but the British colonial authorities saw the rule of the Inka as unjust.

The Aztecs were a kind of utopia.
After the conquest of Peru, there were other people taking human life as a religious ritual.
Whatever our de la Vega, the son of a Spaniard and an Indian noblewoman, moral judgments about such customs, it remains the historian's wrote a glowing history of his mother's people in which he pre responsibility to understand them in the context of their own sented an image of

Some defenders of Aztec culture have seen it.

There was some truth in this view, but it was downplayed by the Spanish for some aspects of exploitation.
Many scholars have seen it as a religious act socialists, faced with underdevelopment and social inequality in central to the Aztec belief that humans must sacrifice that which their country, to receive the sun.
Their interpretation of the gods makes life possible.
The Aztec practice was seen as an intentional manipulation of the expan hierarchy in the Inka empire and the state's use of labor and goods from the subject communities to support the many American people was ignored by historians.

These debates raise important questions for political purposes, to intimidate their neighbors, and to subdue the role of moral judgments in historical analysis.

A demographic explanation is possible.

We can't and may not have been able to control the population.

Other interpretations have been even more shocking.

A view was created for a purpose.

Each household was required to produce cloth, but the wool was provided by the Incas.

The political and religious significance of inca cloth was described by Spanish authors.

The so-called Virgins of the of the inca empire were selected as servants at the temples, and some women were taken as society as a type of utopia.
The Inca had an overall imperial system, but remained sensitive to local variations, so that every application accommodated regional and ethnic differences.

Each community depended on the state for goods to the whole.

The majority of the men were peasants and herders.

The women worked in the fields, wove cloth, and cared for the household.
Roles and obligations were gender specific and interdependent.
Property rights within the ayllus and among the nobility were granted in both the male and female lines.
Women gave rights and property to their children.
Women may have served as leaders of ayllus in the pre-Inca era, but it seems to have been uncommon.
The inequality of men and women was reinforced by the emphasis on military virtues.

The concept of close cooperation between men and women was reflected in the view of the universe.

The fertility deities of the moon and the earth, as well as the Gods and goddesses, were worshiped by both men and women.
The senior wife of the Inca was seen as a link to the moon.
She was the queen and sister of the sun.
The gender hierarchy created by the practice of the Inka state paralleled the dominance of the state over the subject peoples.
The power of the empire over local ethnic groups is demonstrated by the ability of the Incas to choose the most beautiful young women to serve them.

The integration of imperial policy with regional and ethnic diversity was a political achievement.

The administrators were drawn from the nobility of Cuzco.

Andean groups were characterized by hierarchy and reciprocity as they came under the rule of the Incas.
Hard-to-get goods could be provided by the state.
Maize was important as a ritual crop and was usually grown on irrigated land.
State-sponsored irrigation helped it grow.
The idea of reciprocity was manipulated by the state and it dealt harshly with resistance and revolt.

The nobility were drawn from the 10 royal ayllus.

The nobles were distinguished by their clothing.

The merchant class was not present in most of the empire.
The emphasis on self sufficiency and state regulation of production and surplus limited trade was different to that of Mesoamerica, where long-distance trade was so important.
In the northern areas of the empire, the last region brought under the control of the Incas, there was a specialized class of traders.

The Inca imperial system, which controlled an area of almost 3000 miles, was a stunning achievement of statecraft, but like all other empires, it lasted only as long as it could control its subject populations and its own mechanisms of government.

Rival claims for power and the possibility of civil war were created by a system of royal multiple marriages.
The Europeans arrived in the 1520s.
The empire of the Spanish was weakened by civil unrest when they first arrived.

The pottery and cloth were in specialized workshops.

Inca artisans worked gold and silver with great skill, and they were among the most advanced in the Americas.
The Incas used copper and bronze in their weapons and tools.
Unlike the Mesoamerican peoples, who had a system of writing, the Incas didn't have one.
The Incas kept financial records and took censuses with it.
One of the "chosen women," who served as concubines to the inca for numerical order, is depicted in a gold sculpture.
Her cloak is made of wool.

They used a complex technology of irrigation to water their crops on agricultural terraces on information for censuses and the steep slopes of the Andes.

The best build ings were built of large fitted stones without the use of mortar.

Some of the buildings were large.

These structures, the large agricultural terraces and irrigation projects, and the extensive system of roads were among the greatest achievements of the Instrues.

Both cultures represented the success of imperial and military organization, despite the fact that earlier peoples had surpassed their accomplishments.

Both empires were based on intensive agriculture and a state that accumulated surplus and then control the circulation of goods and their redistribution to groups or social classes.
The calpul i and the ayl U were transformed by the social hierarchy in which the nobility was more prominent.
The state organization was almost an image of society because these nobles were the personnel of the state.

The Aztecs did not integrate their empire as a unit, but they did recognize local ethnic groups and political leaders, as long as they were recognized as Aztecs.

The Aztecs and the Incas found that their military power was not effective against nomadic peoples who lived on their frontiers.
Empires were created by the conquest of sedentary agricultural peoples and the removal of tribute and labor from them.

We can't ignore the differences between the Aztecs and the Quechuas in terms of geography and climate.

In the Aztec empire, trade and markets were more developed than in the Andean world.
There were differences in social definition and hierarchy.
Within the context of world civilization, it is probably best to view these two empires and the cultural areas they represent as variations of similar patterns and processes of whichedentary agriculture is the most important.
There are similarities between the systems of belief and the variations in social structure.
It's not clear whether the similarities between the areas are due to similar origins, direct or indirect contact, or parallel development.
The American Indian civilization's isolation from external cultural and biological influences gave them their peculiar character and vulnerability.
Their ability to survive the shock of conquest and contribute to the formation of societies shows much of their strength.
The peoples of the Andes and Mexico continued to draw on their cultural traditions after the Aztec and Inca empires ceased to exist.

Rather than seeing a division between "primitive" and "civilized" peoples in the Americas, it is more useful to consider the different cultures of the Americas.

There are many things in common with the tribal peoples of the Amazon basin, such as the division into clans or who lived in different ways, that is, a division of vil ages or communities into two major groupings.
The diversity of ancient America forces us to to simple kin-based bands of reconsidering ideas of human development based on Old World examples.

Some groups of fishers and hunters and gatherers, such as the peoples of the northwest coast of the United States and British Columbia, are part of a complex hierarchical society.

The Pimas of Colorado and some of the chiefdoms of South America, who did not develop states, provided exceptions to theories based on Old World evidence for those who see control of water for agriculture as the starting point for political authority and the state.
Archaeological finds in the Amazon suggest that pottery and agriculture may have developed there before it did in the Andean region.

The question of population size has fascinated students of the Americas for hundreds of years.

The early descriptions of large and dense Indian populations were overstated by conquerors and missionaries who wanted to make their own exploits seem more impressive.
In the early 20th century, the most repeated estimate of the Native American population was about 8 million, of which 4 million were in Mexico.
New archeological discoveries, a better understanding of the impact of disease on indigenous populations, new historical and demographic studies, and improved estimates of agricultural techniques and productivity have led to major revi sions.
Some estimates went as high as 112 million at the time of contact.

Most scholars agree that the Andes supported the largest populations.

Some scholars are unconvinced by the estimates.

In a global context, these figures should be considered.

The root crop is called manioc.

The spread of agriculture was widespread in the Americas by 1500.

Brazil has agriculture, hunting and fishing.

The Americas didn't have nomadic herders like Europe, Asia, and Africa.

North America has more Native American diversity than anywhere else.

As many as 200 languages were spoken by the year 1500, and a variety of cultures reflected Indian adaptation to different ecological situ ations.

Descendants of the Anasazi Societies of the Americas and other cliff dwellers took up residence in the adobe pueblos along the Rio Grande, where they practiced terracing and irrigation to support their agriculture.
Their artistic ceramic and weaving traditions reflected their own historical traditions.

In North America, most groups were hunters and gatherers and combined those activities with some agriculture.

Complex social organization and artistic specialization could be developed without an agricultural base if the environment was rich.
Indians on the northwest coast depended on the rich resources of the sea.
Technology was a limiting factor in some cases.

Before Europeans introduced the horse, the buffalo could not be hunted effectively without metal plows.

The Great Plains were mostly empty.

Most Indian societies were kin-based, with the exception of the state systems.

Communal action and ownership of resources, such as land and hunting grounds, were emphasized, and material wealth was often placed in a ritual or religious context.
The ranking of these societies was not based on wealth.
Women in some societies held important political and social roles and played a central role in crop production.
Indians tended to view themselves as part of the ecological system and not in control of it.
Many contemporary European and Asian civilizations had similar attitudes.

The foothills of New Mexico are now home to the Taos Pueblo.

The two major centers of civilization in Mesoamerica are based on agriculture and the concentration of population in urban areas.

This showed a part of the world.
Both empires were built on the achievements of their predeces number of the traditions of the older Native American cultures of the sors, and both reflected a militaristic phase in their area's development.

These empires were weakened by internal strains and conflicts that were limited by their technological superiority.

The Aztec empire was one end of a continuum of cultures that went from the simplest to the most complex in the Americas.

Religion played a major role in defining the relationship between people and their environment in many societies.
The development of these societies and the American civilization's continued isolation remain intriguing questions.
The first European observers were shocked by theprimitive tribespeople and amazed by the wealth and accomplishments of the Aztecs.
Europeans saw the Indians as backward.
Without the wheel, large domesticated animals, the plow, and to a large extent metal tools and written languages, the Americas did seem strange compared to Europe and Asia.
The end of the Americas' isolation in 1492 resulted in disastrous results.

The impor Afro-Eurasia must be stated carefully because of the absence of several features that had become normal.

The lack of economic, cultural, and political achievements of the key connections in the Americas should not detract from the tance of global connections in Afro-Eurasia.
The ability of American Indian civilizations to sustain dense populations is demonstrated by the absence of key Mesoamerica.
The heritage of these societies should not be obscured by technologies like ironworking and the wheel.
Contacts were available to easily transmit.
When the Americas were forced into new global domesticated animals, Ameri comparative distinctions that resulted from lack of wider contact can be seen as isolation.
It would show in the absence of connections after 1492.

It shows the rise of civilization in both areas.

The literature on the Aztecs is growing fast.

Our understanding of the Inka society is being deepened by Ber ethnohistory.

Good overviews are given before, during and after the rise of the Inka.

More similarities can be found by the authors.

On the question of the populations.

Rebecca Stone Miller wants to establish the populations when post-1492 contact took place.

What were the major differences between the two cultures?