Tenochtitlán and Cuzco- Lecture 2

The Mexica Overview

More commonly known as the Aztecs

• part of a larger ethnic group, the Nahua, who spoke Nahuatl

Site/ Location

Tenochtitlan

Mexico City, Mexico

chinampa

A Mexican artificial meadow or garden reclaimed from a lake or pond by piling soil dredged from the bottom onto a mat of twigs and planting thereon

The Inka (Inca) overview

• expanded by “more or less peacefully assimilating” neighboring areas into their regime, offering stability and inclusion in exchange for services.

• ruler was divine

tambo

Inca structure built for administrative and military purposes

chaskiz

short-distance relay runners who delivered official messages

quipu

system of recordkeeping consisting of knotted cotton and alpaca fiber twisted into strings, which hung vertically from a single horizontal string or wooden bar

Site/ Location

Cuzco (Qosqo)

Cuzco, Peru

Site/ Location

Manchu Pichu

Cuzco, Peru

Identify the Image+ Image Caption

Templo Mayor Complex, Tenochtitlan

The complex served as the religious center of the Aztec capital. The main temple was Temple Mayor, where offerings would be received. It was raised in four platforms to represent celestial levels of the cosmos. There are two temples on top one for Tlaloc a god of rain, lightning and agriculture and the other for Huitzilopochtli the Aztec deity go sun, war, and conquest. The Temple of Quetzalcoatl almost across from it was used for ritual and sacrificial ceremonies.

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Cuzco (Qosqo), Peru

The image depicts the historical capital of the Inca Empire. The city forms the body of a puma or jaguar; main features depicted are the heart (Plaza of Cusipata, the tail by the two rivers. The shape symbolizes strength and power according to Inca mythology. The city had no defensive wall but the head seems to imply the existence of a fortress. Water features and drainage were formed with great care to create a ceremonial series of waterspouts and channels. The structure is an atonement to the Inca’s advanced engineering skills and planification.

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Tenochtitlan

The city was founded by the Mexica who lived in the western swamps of Lake Texcoco. The people developed a system of canals for transportation and aqueducts for fresh water. They were also known for the chinampas, an artificial form of agriculture used to feed the people on a large scale. In the center of the city Templo Mayor was placed to honor their gods. This city was the Aztec's’ successful attempt at establishing a great empire.

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The site is known for its history of self-sustainment as it contained an artesian spring that supplied the inhabitants with water in abundance. It also contained a sector for cultivation that had a complex system of irrigation. In the east were the main buildings and single-room dwellings. The structure is renowned for its stone masonry and careful construction planning along the existing landscape’s plains. There were also existing temples to the southwestern edge of the saddle, one dedicated to the sun. The site is the only well-preserved Inca architectural structure that suggests the spiritual, royal and scared history of those who built then settled it.