20.1 - MesoAmerica (The Aztecs)
Introduction
This is an aerial view of what Tenochtitlan was thought to have looked like. What is beneficial about this set up?
The geographic makeup surrounding Lake Texcoco provided some protection and isolation for the Aztecs.
Causeways made it difficult for any invading tribes to reach the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
- Nobles
- Temple School
- Commoners, Indentured Servants, Slaves
- Calpullis
Gender
- Rigid / stratified roles
- Men - warriors
- Women - domestic
- Women could serve in priesthood
- Women could own / inherit property
- More legal rights than women in some traditional Old World Civilizations
- Arranged marriages
- Polygamy
- Adultery punishable by death
- Used stone and soft metals (gold and silver)
- Used a system of writing (Nahuatl script)
- Pyramid type structures
- Roads, aqueducts, causeways
- Chinampas
Economic
22.2 - The Incas
Overview - Inca Empire
- Set in the Andes Mountains…modern day Peru
- Expansionist in nature
- At its height, it controlled almost 2000 miles of coastline in South America
- Controlled large area with a professional army
- They had an established bureaucracy
- They had a unified language - Quechua [kech-wah]
- Complex system of roads and tunnels
Pachacuti
- 1438-1471
- First inca, or ruler
- Formed military alliances to control area from Cuzco to Lake Titicaca
- Created a new religion that focused on a “mummy cult”
- Centered on the importance of ancestors and their ability to rule from “beyond”
Women
- Women
- Expected to help in the fields
- Weave cloth
- Care for the household
- Could pass property on to their daughters
- Played a role in religion
- Prepared cloth and food for sacrifice
- Wife of the Inca (usually his sister) was seen as the imperial authority to all women
Political
- Sapa Inca
- Ruler was viewed as a divine descendant
- The Inca was the sun’s representative on earth
- Ruler was thought to own everything
- Concept of private property did not exist with the people
Split Inheritance
- All the political power and titles of the ruler went to the successor
- All of the palaces, wealth, land, and possessions were passed on to the male descendants
- Each new leader needed to conquer new land, b/c the old land went to the Cult of the Ancestor
- Constant need for expansion
- Military was key to success of ruler
- Rulers were judged to be successful by the amount of new lands that they conquered
Inca State
- Divided into four main provinces
- Each had a governor
- Local rulers, curacas, were allowed to maintain their positions and were given privileges by the Inca in return for their loyalty
- State was run by a bureaucracy
- Manned by the nobility
- Easily traveled around because of the complex system of roads
- Tambos (way stations) were placed about a days walk from each other to serve as inns, storehouses, supply centers, and relay points for messengers
- Incas sometimes moved conquered people to new lands to ensure subjugation
- Conquered people were also placed in the Incan armies
- Incas demanded loyalty and tribute from those they conquered
Mita System
- State owned all resources
- Conquered subjects would have to take turns (mita) working on state and church lands building projects or mining
- They would give wool to each household, who would be responsible for making their own cloth
- State still honored local variations to ensure imperial stability, and accommodated ethnic and regional differences
Religion
- Polytheistic society
- Sun god was the main god and the center of the state religion
- Though local gods were also allowed to be worshipped
- Incas practiced human sacrifice, but in smaller numbers than that of the Aztecs
- Usually sacrificed material goods or animals
- Religion had a strong moral quality
- Emphasized rewards for good behavior and punishment for bad
Cult of the Ancestors
- Incan rulers were mummified after death and became intermediaries between the gods and the people
- Bodies were paraded through public festivals
- Consulted on important matters by special oracles
- Cuzco (Temple of the Sun)
- Major temples were built here
- Center of the state religion
- Held the mummies of the past Incas
- Huacas
- Mountains, stones, rivers, caves, tombs, and temples were considered to be holy shrines
- Machu Picchu
- No one knows what it was used for or why those who were there left
Intellectual
- Beautiful pottery and cloth
- Inca metalworking was among the most advanced in the Americas
- Gold and silver
- Copper and bronze weapons and tools
- No system of writing, unlike the Aztecs
- Kept census records and did accounting on harvests on quipu - set of knotted strings
Technological
- Easily traveled around because of the complex system of roads
- Tambos (way stations) were placed about a days walk from each other to serve as inns, storehouses, supply centers, and relay points for messengers
- Incas built many irrigation projects
- Amazing land and water development, statecraft, and architecture and public buildings
- Agricultural terraces were built in the Andes Mountains
- Built rope suspension bridges
Economy
- No large animals to be used as beasts of burden (did have the llama)
- Primary source of labor was human
- Large portion of the population was peasants
- Worked the land or on construction projects
- They were expected to give a large portion of their harvest to the ruling classes
- No distinct merchant class
- No long-distance trade
- They focused on self-sufficiency
- State control of surplus limited trade