Aim: How should the Aztecs and Inca be remembered in history?

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Aim How should the Aztecs and Inca be remembered
in history?

• Periods 3 - 4

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Recall the Previous Mesoamerican Civilizations

• CIVILIZATION
• The Olmecs c. 1200 BCE 400 BCE
• Teotihuacan 1st-7th centuries CE
• Maya in the Yucatan
• Classical Period 250 900 CE

• ACHIEVEMENT
• Colossal heads
• Planned city
• Many temples
• Planned cities
• Many temples
• Hieroglyphics

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I Who were the Aztecs?

• The Aztecs were nomads from Northern Mexico.
• 1200s CE they moved south to Lake Texcoco and
  conquered the natives. They built their capital
  city Tenochtitlan on the lake, connected by
  bridges and tunnels.

The Aztec Origin Myth The Gods told the Aztecs
to search for an eagle perched atop a cactus
holding a snake in its beak. Their God
Huitzilopochtli guided them to Lake Texcoco.
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Reconstruction of Tenochtitlan
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The Aztecs Continued

• C) Tenochtitlan formed an alliance with 2 other
  cities, Texcoco Tlacopan. Tenochtitlan soon
  became the most powerful city of the alliance
  this allowed it to become the center of the Aztec
  empire. The empire expanded by conquering more
  cities. Some became part of the empire, others
  were forced to pay tribute (goods and/or
  sacrificial victims).

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The Aztecs Continued

• D) The bulk of Aztec armies were made up of
  commoners required to serve time in compulsory
  military service. Every Aztec male was a warrior
  and received basic military training from a young
  age, whether trader, craftsman or farmer. In
  fact, military achievement, particularly the
  taking of prisoners, was the only vehicle for
  upward social movement available for commoners.
  The Aztecs didnt know how to forge metals so
  they constructed weapons out of wood, stone and
  Obsidian. Their signature weapon was the atlatl
  a spear thrower.

Eagle Jaguar Warriors
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The Aztecs Continued

• E) Like the Mayans, the Aztecs used cacao beans
  as currency. There were organized marketplaces.
  Despite not having the wheel or using pack
  animals, the Aztecs practiced long-distance
  trade!

On reaching the market-place... we were
astounded at the great number of people and the
quantities of merchandise, and at the orderliness
and good arrangements that prevailed, for we had
never seen such a thing before. The chieftains
who accompanied us pointed everything out. Every
kind of merchandise was kept separate and had as
fixed place marked for it Bernal Díaz del
Castillo, in The Conquest of New Spain (circa
1568)
The Aztecs mixed chocolate with maize (corn) and
chili peppers. They did not use sugar. The
mixture was drunk.
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The Aztecs Continued

• F) Chinampas were artificial floating islands
  anchored to the bottom of the lake. Crops were
  transported to market by the canals.

A modern day chinampa!
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The Aztecs Continued

• G) The Aztec religion was polytheistic. Their
  pantheon included over 200 gods and goddesses.
  Like the Mayans, they believed that the sun
  fought darkness every night and needed human
  sacrifice to rise in the morning. If a person
  died a normal death, his or her soul would have
  to pass through the nine lives of the underworld
  before reaching Mictlan, the realm of the dead. A
  warrior who died in battle or a woman that died
  in childbirth would go straight to the sun god in
  the sky. Priests sacrificed up to 20,000 people a
  year on top of their temples. The victims heart
  was cut out while still alive and held up to the
  sun. During times of peace, Aztecs had flower
  wars in order to obtain sacrificial victims.
  Like the Mayans, the Aztces also played the
  ritual ball game (historians are still unsure if
  the winners or losers were sacrificed).

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The Aztecs Continued
Tlaloc (pronounced Tlá-loc) was the rain god and
one of the most ancient deities in all
Mesoamerica. His origins can be traced back to
Teotihuacan, the Olmec and the Maya. He is
associated with fertility and agriculture. His
shrine on the Templo Mayor was decorated with
blue bands representing rain and water. The
Aztecs believed that the cries and tears of
newborn children were sacred to the god, and,
therefore, many ceremonies for Tlaloc involved
the sacrifice of children.
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The Aztecs Continued
Huitzilopochtli (pronounced Weetz-ee-loh-POCHT-lee
) was the patron god of the Aztecs. He was the
god that, during their migration, indicated them
the place to found their capital Tenochtitlan.
His name means Hummimngbird of the left and he
was the patron of war and sacrifice. His shrine,
on top of the pyramid of the Templo Mayor, was
decorated with skulls and colored in red for
blood.
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The Aztecs Continued

• Tonatiuh (pronounced Toh-nah-tee-uh) was the sun
  god. He was a nourishing god who provided warmth
  and fertility. In order to do so, he needed
  sacrificial blood. He governed the era under
  which the Aztec believed to live, the era of the
  Fifth Sun.

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The Aztecs Continued

• Quetzalcoatl (pronounced Keh-tzal-coh-atl), the
  Feathered Serpent, is probably the most famous
  Aztec deity and was known in many other
  Mesoamerican cultures such as Teotihuacan and the
  Maya. He was patron of knowledge and learning.
  The fame of Quetzalcoatl is linked to the idea
  that the last Aztec emperor, Moctezuma II,
  supposedly believed that the arrival of Cortes
  was the fulfilling of a prophecy about the return
  of the god. However, many scholar now consider
  this myth as a creation of the Franciscan friars
  during the post-Conquest period.

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Aztec Pyramid of the Moon
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Aztec Human Sacrifice
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The Aztecs Continued

• H) Similar to the Mayans, the Aztecs had multiple
  calendars based on their study of astronomy. They
  had 2 main ones
• 1. 1st was 365 days. Used to plan farming.
• 2. The 2nd was a sacred calendar that determined
  the dates of rituals.
• Every 52 years, the 2 calendars would align.
  Aztecs feared the world could end. To prevent
  disaster, they had a New Fire Festival.
• Aztecs invented hieroglyphics for their
  language, Nahuatl. Made books of tree bark called
  codices.
• J) Aztecs built aqueducts to supply their cities
  with fresh water.

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The Aztecs Continued
Above is an Aztec sun calendar. Notice the Sun
God Tonatiuh in the center. His tongue is waiting
sacrificial human blood.
An Aztec Codex
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The Aztecs Continued

• K) Aztec society was stratified into classes. At
  the very top of Aztec society were the rulers of
  the cities and towns. Living in palaces and
  wearing distinctive clothing, the rulers ensured
  that tribute payments were made at all of the
  appropriate levels of the imperial
  administration. Just below the rulers were the
  nobles which was a hereditary class. Most Aztecs
  were commoners who worked the lands of the big
  houses and paid tribute to the upper classes.
  The big house was a group of families who had
  been related by kinship or proximity over a
  fairly long period of time. This group was a
  land-holding corporation with ritual functions
  in other words, the group owned its own land and
  worshipped its own gods. The Aztec state
  maintained control over the commoners and tribute
  was in the form of service labor on public works
  and/or as soldiers in the army...

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The Aztecs Continued

• At the bottom of Aztec society were the serfs who
  worked on the noble estates. Serfs were menial
  laborers and were not allowed to leave the lands
  to which they were attached. Some scholars have
  estimated that perhaps as many as 30 of the
  Aztecs were serfs. About 1/3 of the produce of
  the serfs went to the nobles. At the bottom of
  Aztec society were slaves (most became slaves due
  to debt). Under Aztec law, slaves could not be
  sold without their consent. Slaves could choose
  their marriage partners and their children were
  not slaves. long-distance merchants (pochteca).
  They were treated like royalty and reported
  directly to the royal palace. These merchants
  travelled hundreds of miles into foreign
  territories and were able to obtain luxury goods
  such as quetzal feathers and amber for the
  emperor. Membership in this merchant class was
  hereditary. While the long-distance merchants
  could become very wealthy, there were
  restrictions on them flaunting their wealth

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The Aztecs Continued

• Long distance merchants were a special class!
  Being a long-distance merchant was a dangerous
  job and many died while travelling. Disease,
  accidents, and being killed by unfriendly people
  were among the job hazards. To ensure their
  safety and wellbeing, the merchants had their own
  gods! If they were to die while traveling, the
  soul would go directly to the paradise of the Sun
  God!
• Women often were able to run business out of
  their homes, and had a lot of influence in the
  family and the raising of children. Polygamy
  (multiple wives) was legal, but adultery was
  punished by death. In divorce property was
  divided equally.

Most Aztec houses (including those of the
commoners) had an attached sauna for steam
bathing!
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Aztecs Cannibalism Confirmed?

• By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News Jan. 25,
  2005
• New finds from an archaeological site near Mexico
  City support certain written and pictorial
  evidence concerning Aztec human sacrifice that
  historians previously doubted because the
  accounts seemed too exaggerated to be true
  Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés (1485-1547),
  whose men conquered the Aztecs in 1519, wrote in
  a letter that his soldiers had captured an Aztec
  man who had roasted a baby at breakfast time.
  While it probably would be impossible to validate
  that specific account, the Aztec site at
  Ecatepec, north of Mexico City, has just yielded
  the remains of eight children whom the Aztecs
  likely sacrificed. Archaeologist Nadia Velez
  Saldana discovered the remains. She told the
  Associated Press, "The sacrifice involved burning
  or partially burning victims. We found a burial
  pit with the skeletal remains of four children
  who were partially burned, and the remains of
  four other children that were completely
  carbonized."

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Aztecs Cannibalism Confirmed?

• Luis Manuel Gamboa, another archaeologist,
  described pictorials showing human body parts
  contained in cooking vessels surrounded by
  diners Based on the drawn images, historians
  believe that the Aztecs conducted some human
  sacrifice to appease their god of death. Disease,
  warfare, food shortages and other problems meant
  that the Aztecs continuously faced reminders of
  death. Aztec expert Leonardo Lopez Lujan
  recently revealed the results of chemical tests
  conducted on the residue found on the stucco
  floors of some Aztec temples. The residue
  contained iron, albumen, and genetic matter
  suggestive of human blood. "We now have the
  physical evidence to corroborate the written and
  pictorial record," Lopez Lujan said

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Recall the South American Civilizations that
Preceded the Inca!

• CIVILIZATION
• The Chavin c. 900 BCE 200 CE
• The Moche 200 600 CE

• ACHIEVMENTS
• Temple complex at Chavin de Huantar
• Skilled artists and potters

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II The Inca 1200 1535 CE

1. Geography The Inca empire stretched 2,500 miles
   along the Andes mountains in western South
   America. Altitudes up to 22,000 feet! The Inca
   chewed coca leaves to help acclimate to the lower
   oxygen. Lake Titicaca is the highest elevated
   lake in the world!

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The Inca Continued

• The legendary founders of the Inca dynasty, Manco
  Capac and Mama Ocllo, were sent down to Earth by
  the Sun and emerged from the depths of Lake
  Titicaca to found their empire.

Today some Incan descendants still live on
floating mats of dried reeds, and fish from boats
also made of the same reeds.
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The Inca Continued

• B) The Incan empire was an absolute monarchy led
  by the Sapa Inca whose powers were not limited by
  law. The royal council helped him rule and was
  made up mostly of royalty or close family
  members, high priests and generals. The capital
  was Cuzco. The empire was divided into 4 large
  districts, each with its own hierarchical
  government and bureaucracy (but still under the
  control of the Sapa Inca). The government was
  highly organized without the benefits of a
  writing system! In order to control the
  population of such a vast territory laws were
  rigidly enforced by appointed officials in each
  territory. Crimes against the state were
  considered crimes against the Sapa Inca.
• C) The Incas conquered a vast territory using
  reciprocity or alliances. When the Inca won new
  territories they moved

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The Inca Continued

• groups of leaders around to ensure loyalty. A
  trusted leader, most likely a close relative of
  the Sapa Inca, would be relocated to a newly
  conquered territory. The Inca collected taxes
  from all its conquered territories. In order to
  keep in touch with all the corners of the empire
  the Inca Empire had a network of messengers. The
  messengers were able to travel quickly due to the
  extensive Incan road system. The road system
  included 25,000 miles of roads, bridges, tunnels
  and causeways. Road construction began in the
  mid-fifteenth century when the Inca gained
  control over its neighbors and started expanding
  its empire it ended abruptly 125 years later
  when the Spanish arrived in Peru. As a contrast,
  the Roman Empire built twice as many miles of
  road, but it took them 600 years. Like the
  Aztecs, the Inca did not use the wheel.

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Incan Roads and Bridges
Incan bridges had a pair of stone anchors on each
side of the canyon with cables of woven grass
linking these two pylons together.
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The Inca Continued

• C) The Incan religion (like the Aztecs) had a
  pantheon of gods. The Inca also venerated
  countless huacas minor spirits that inhabited
  places, things and sometimes people. The Inca
  considered the royal family to be semi-divine,
  descended from the Sun. Of the major gods, Inti,
  the Sun God took the form of a man his wife was
  the Moon. The Inca Sun god was not destructive or
  violent like the Aztec sun god Tonatiuh . He only
  showed his wrath when there was an eclipse, at
  which point the Inca priests would sacrifice
  people and animals to appease him.

Inti, the Incan Sun God
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The Inca Continued

• There were 2 types of Incan mummies
• Emperors were mummified due to the belief that
  their soul comes back to the body. These mummies
  were paraded around, clothed and even fed!
• 2. Young girls were left to die in the Andes as
  sacrificial victims. Due to the dry climate, they
  became well preserved.
• Unfortunately the Spanish conquistadors destroyed
  most of the Emperor mummies.

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Final Moments of Incan Child Mummies' Lives
Revealed Jul 29, 2013 by Joseph Castro,
LiveScience

• Three Incan children who were sacrificed 500
  years ago were regularly given drugs and alcohol
  in their final months to make them more compliant
  in the ritual that ultimately killed them, new
  research suggests. Archaeologists analyzed hair
  samples from the frozen mummies of the three
  children, who were discovered in 1999, entombed
  within a shrine near the 22,100-foot summit of
  the Argentinian volcano Llullaillaco. The samples
  revealed that all three children consistently
  consumed coca leaves (from which cocaine is
  derived) and alcoholic beverages, but the oldest
  child, the famed "Maiden," ingested markedly more
  of the substances The evidence, combined with
  other archaeological and radiological data,
  suggests that the Maiden was treated very
  differently from the other two children After
  being selected for the deadly rite, the Maiden
  likely underwent a type of status change,
  becoming an important figure to the empire the
  other two children may have served as her
  attendants In a 2007 study, Wilson and his
  colleagues analyzed the child mummies' hair to
  understand how their diets changed over time.
  They found that the children came from a peasant
  background, as their diet consisted mainly of
  common vegetables, potatoes in particular. But in
  the year leading up to their deaths, they ate
  "elite" food, including maize and dried llama
  meat, and appeared to have been fattened up in
  preparation for the sacrifice. Additionally, the
  13-year-old Maiden consumed more of the elite
  food than the Llullaillaco Boy and Lightning
  Girl, who were both 4 to 5 years old

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The Inca Continued

• D) Unlike the Aztecs, the Inca used llamas and
  their extensive roads to facilitate long-distance
  trade.
• E) Their main cultivated crops were potatoes,
  coca leaves, corn (made into an alcoholic
  beverage chicha), quinoa (a high protein grain).
  Domesticated animals included the alpaca, llama,
  and guinea pig. Due to the Andes mountains, the
  Inca practiced Terrace farming (cut steps into
  the mountains).

Roasted guinea pig is a delicacy!
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The Inca Continued
A modern Incan woman grinding corn into chicha
(an alcoholic beverage).
Incan terrace farming
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The Inca Continued

• F) Incan society was divided in four social
  classes. At the top was the Sapa Inca, the most
  powerful person in the empire. Below was the
  royal family. The third social class included
  nobles and priests. At the bottom were the ayllu
  (the majority of the population). Incan society
  was built around the ayllu. All its members
  believed they were descendants of a common
  ancestor. Ayllu members were obliged to work and
  contribute to the mita or tax. In exchange the
  Inca would secure food throughout the year,
  provide agricultural products not produced in the
  area, education and health care.
• G) Once an Incan girl reached puberty she was
  declared a woman. She could then go to school to
  study domestic skills and Incan theology. She
  could then choose to become a Virgin of the Sun
  (a servant at a temple), or she could marry.
  Marriages were typically based on social class.
  One could not expect to marry above ones
  station. The only divorces allowed after this
  time were of childless women. Once married, a
  woman was expected to care for the children,
  gather food, cook, tend to

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The Inca Continued

• the animals, go to the market, and weave. Weaving
  was an important aspect of Incan economy, and at
  one point women were required to weave cloth for
  the court and religious purposes. Despite the
  patriarchal placement of females in society, they
  were highly revered, seen in the Inca religion.
  Cooperation between gods and goddesses honored
  the importance of females.
• H) Quipu were knotted colored strings that were
  used as a counting system.

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III Machu Pichu

• Machu Pichu is tangible evidence of the urban
  Inca Empire at the peak of its power and
  achievementa citadel of cut stone fit together
  without mortar so tightly that its cracks still
  cant be penetrated by a knife blade. The complex
  of palaces and plazas, temples and homes may have
  been built as a ceremonial site, a military
  stronghold, or a retreat for ruling elitesits
  dramatic location is certainly well suited for
  any of those purposes. The ruins lie on a high
  ridge, surrounded on three sides by the Urubamba
  River some 2,000 feet below The Inca had no
  written language, so they left no record of why
  they built the site or how they used it before it
  was abandoned in the early 16th century The
  700-plus terraces limited erosion on the steep
  slopes The Incas achievements and skills are
  all the more impressive in light of the knowledge
  they lacked. When Machu Picchu was built some 500
  years ago the Inca had no iron, no steel, and no
  wheels. Their tremendous effort apparently
  benefited relatively few peoplesome experts
  maintain that fewer than a thousand individuals
  lived here. In 1911 a Peruvian guide led Yale
  professor Hiram Bingham up a steep mountainside
  and into the history books as the first Western
  scholar to lay eyes on the lost city of Machu
  Picchu. While indigenous peoples knew of the
  site, Perus Spanish conquerors never dida fact
  which aided Machu Picchus isolation, and
  preservation, over the centuries. - natgeo.com

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HW Questions

1. Fill in your Period 3 chart for the Aztecs and
   Inca.
2. Did geography help or hurt the Aztecs and Inca?
3. What is the evidence for cannibalism in Aztec
   society?
4. How were Incan mummies similar or different to
   ancient Egyptian mummies?
5. How should we remember the Aztecs and Inca? At
   least 2 paragraphs. Use specific evidence.

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Key Vocabulary

• Ayllu
• Aztecs
• Chinampas
• Coca leaves
• Codices
• Cuzco
• Flower wars
• Huacas
• Huitzilopochtli
• Inca

Inti Lake Texcoco Lake Titicaca Machu
Pichu Quetzalcoatl Quipu Sapa Inca Tenochitlan Tla
loc Yucatan