aztec + inca

Aztecs

Mesoamerican people who built an empire in central Mexico that flourished from 1428 to 1519 C.E.

Tenochtitlan

the capital city of the Aztec Empire

Alliance

a union or association formed for mutual benefit, especially between countries or organizations.

Plaza

a public square or open area in a city where people gather (Aztecs)

Causeway

 a solid earthen roadway built across water or low ground

Mercenary

professional soldier who is paid to fight for another country or group

Conformity

uniform behavior according to a set of social or cultural rules or beliefs

Teotihuacáns

• Aztecs use their feathered serpent god

• Took inspo from them

Toltecs

Influenced the Aztecś ancestry (Aztecs married the surviving Toltec royal line)

Building of Tenochtitlan

• Saw eagle with snake on top of a cactus

• Had good city-like structures

Chinampas

• Timbers as walls, mud/boulders to fill in gap (to reclaim land from the lake)

• Created small islands, or chinampas

• Created by Aztec’s

Causeways

• Strong earthen roadways built across water or low land

• 25-30 ft wide, wooden bridges to let boats in, protect the city 

• Created by Aztec’s

Aqueducts

• Carried fresh water for irrigation, created by Aztec’s

Role of Warfare (Aztecs)

• Empire’s most vital business

• The Aztecs received tribute (things that they wanted - materials, soldiers) from conquered people to support their empire

Aztec Warfare

• Aztecs usually won

• Declaration of War 

 - Aztecs asked a city to join the empire, waited 60 days

- Then consisted of usually one battle 

- Then people paid tribute, honor the god Huizilopochtli, promise obedience to the Aztec Ruler

Ayllu

An Incan clan (a group of related families), the basic unit of Incan society

Communal

Shared by a community or group

Incas

civilization in the Andes Mountains of South America that arose in the 1400s CE & lasted until 1532

Oracle

A person through whom a god or spirit is believed to speak about the future

Adapted

To change to fit a new situation

Hereditary

Passed on from parent to child; inherited

Ward

A political unit within a city, often a neighborhood

Semidivine

Half human & half god

Marriage, Family life, Religious practices, Markets (Aztecs)

- Men were allowed to practice polgamy, but only one wife was considered primary

- Divorce was allowed by the man or women, but remarriage was encouraged if any side abused power

- Most men married around 20, women 16

- The man’s family chose the bride

- Matchmaker was hired by the groom’s family, and set up the marriage, and carried the bride to the ceremony

Family life (Aztecs)

• The father was the master of the house

• Commoner men could farm or craft / women made food, looked after livestock, gardened, children

• Parents trained kids at a young age: boys fetched water + wood, & older boys fished * handled a canoe

• Girls worked at home cleaning the house + grinding maize, and at around 7, learned how to weave

• Commoner boys went to the telpochalli at 6 part-time, mainly to train as soldiers, but sons of nobles went to the calmecac to become priests, gvmt. officials or military commanders

• Older women could do matchmaking or midwifery (taking care of kids, assisting while birth)

• Women’s role of giving birth was honored by the Aztecs as the man’s role of being a soldier

Markets (aztec)

• Merchants sold many things (luxury goods or necessities)

Religious practice (Aztec)

• Inside their plaza, had a Great Temple

• Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc

• Terrace Farming

Steps in the mountains to plants a variety of crops

Also did freeze-dried foods (stomping, and then dry) (Incas)

Class structure (Inca)

The Emperor (Sapa Inca) / True Man

• Believed that he was descended from Inti

• Everything in the empire belonged to him

• Practiced polgamy (Coya - primary)

• Emperor owned land but the gvmt. Loaned the land to each ayllu

         Nobles

• Nobles did not pay taxes

• Capac Incas (highest- considered relatives of the emperor)

• Hahua Incas (middle) - Incas by privilege 

• Curacas (last) were leaders of local groups conquered by the Incas - collected taxes or inspectors, managed ayllus

Commoners 

Biggest class

• Were usually farmers or herders

• Incas did not practice traditional slavery, but required commoners to do certain things

• Potatoes were the most important crop to the Incas

Religion (Inca)

• Inti (sun god) - god of agriculture and the emperor descended from him

• Relations with other people. (Inca)

• Sapa Inca would send a delegate to the tribe, if refused would result in battle

• Leaders of groups that become part of the Inca empire had to build a sun temple and study the Incan laws

• Rise of the Inca Empire

- Height of their power was in the early 1500s

- Moches and Chimus influenced the Incas (earlier culture)

Believed that Inti commanded his son to rise from Lake Titicaca, who founded the Inca tribe

• Family life (inca)

• Ayllu members grew crops and produced goods

• Mit’a was a public duty tax paid by men in some type of labor for government projects annually

• Sons of nobles had amautas, or tutors, while children of commoners learned skills by their elders