1.4 State Building in the Americas

How were the Maya organized politically?

As roughly 40 independent city-states, each ruled by its own king, with no central government over all Maya lands.

Why did Maya city-states go to war?

Rarely for territory. Usually for tribute payments and for captives used in religious sacrifice.

Name the Maya intellectual achievements.

The concept of zero in their number system, the most sophisticated writing system in the Americas, rubber, and pyramid-top observatories producing a calendar more accurate than any then used in Europe.

Mexica or Aztec — what is the difference?

None. The Mexica were the ethnic group who founded the Aztec Empire. Same people, two names.

Describe Tenochtitlan.

The Aztec capital, built on an island in a lake for defense. It grew to roughly 200,000 people, with aqueducts, vast marketplaces, palaces, and a 150-foot pyramid.

How did the Aztec tribute system work?

Power was decentralized. Conquered peoples paid regular tribute in food, cloth, and luxury goods, and local rulers stayed in place as tribute collectors — dominance without direct administration.

Why did Aztec wars of expansion have a religious motive as well as a political one?

The sun god required blood, so human sacrifice remained a key motivator for extending power over more and more states. Conquest supplied both tribute and sacrifice victims.

What was the Great Speaker?

The Aztec emperor — both political ruler and divine representative of the gods, making the government a theocracy. Land-owning nobles ranked next and led the military.

Why did the Aztec Empire decline?

Extracting tribute and sacrifice victims bred resentment rather than loyalty. Many subject peoples were ready to rebel — an opening the Spanish exploited after 1519.

How was Inca power structured differently from Aztec power?

The Aztecs were decentralized and relied on tribute. The Inca centralized through a massive bureaucracy across four provinces and required labor instead.

What was the mit'a system?

The Inca requirement of mandatory public labor. Men roughly 15 to 50 worked each year on state projects — roads, mining, military service — rather than paying tribute goods.

What was the Carpa Nan?

The Inca road network — some 25,000 miles, built with captive labor and used mainly by government and military. Bridges mattered enormously in mountainous terrain.

Describe Inca religion.

Inti, the sun god, was chief; Inca means “people of the sun.” Rulers were his representatives on earth, and the Temple of the Sun in Cuzco was the core.

What was the Mississippian culture?

The first large-scale civilization in North America, in the Mississippi River Valley. Known for enormous earthen mounds, the largest at Cahokia. Towns were ruled by a chief called the Great Sun.

What was the quipu?

An Inca system of knotted strings used to record numerical information for trade and engineering, and to carry messages across the empire.

Chaco and Mesa Verde — what distinguishes them?

Both in the dry southwestern United States. Chaco built large housing from stone and clay, some with hundreds of rooms. Mesa Verde built multi-story homes into cliff faces. Both declined in the late 13th century as the climate dried.

What were chinampas?

Floating gardens the Aztecs built on Lake Texcoco to expand the land available for growing food.

What was Incan royal ancestor veneration, and what did it cause?

Dead rulers were mummified and kept “ruling” — retaining ownership of their servants, possessions, and property. So a new ruler inherited nothing and had to conquer new territory to build his own wealth. It drove constant expansion.

What did it mean that Mississippian society was matrilineal?

Social standing passed through the mother's side. When the Great Sun died, his title went to a sister's son, not his own son.

Maya (older) state structure

a decentralized collection of city-states, frequently at war. Conquered cities became tributary states— they stayed locally independent but sent payments.

Religion required?

human sacrifice— blood to keep the sun moving.

continuity with the Maya (older civilization)?

decentralized rule, tribute payments, and human sacrifice — now a political motivator too.

Tenochtitlan

Aztec (Mexica) capital. massive marketplaces, palaces, and temples. Its huge marketplaces show the economy was commercialized, like Song China.