Characteristics Of The Aztec And Incas

In history we the people have found to realize that the Maya, Aztec, and Inca culture was one of the most incredible findings of their accomplishments. The Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations were really smart in topics of engineering, writing, agriculture and astronomy. Also all three had their beliefs, and good with agriculture. All three cultures used great technologies in their agriculture like slash and burn, terrace farming. They all hunted for religion, they had a huge belief with the people spread throughout each region. They all had a lot of interest in the use of chocolate in the region, and cultivation. They all were pretty much the same just different beliefs.

The Aztec and Incan empires both had strong armies. In the Aztec empire by the early fifteenth century the Aztecs were powerful enough to overcome their immediate neighbors and demand tribute. During the middle decades of the fifteenth century, the military elite that ruled much of Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs launched ambitious campaigns of imperial expansion. Know as “the Obsidian Serpent” Itzcoatl and Motecuzoma advanced first to Oaxaca in southwestern Mexico. After capturing Oaxaca and slaying

groups and political leaders and allowed variation from one group to another. As long as Inca or

The Incas and the Aztecs Before the Spanish and Portuguese "discovered" the New World, there

The author argues that the Spanish were completely at fault for the total destruction of the Aztec Empire. In Broken spears, the author explains how many factors other than Spanish power contributed to the downfall of the Aztecs. Not only did the Spanish have many advantages over the Aztecs, but also they also exploited them and took advantage of the cultural difference. The main key aspects to the Spanish victory, is that the Spanish were viewed as gods at first because of their appearance, the Aztecs welcomed the Spanish with gifts and festivities, which showed the Spanish had total control of people. The Aztecs also held a ritual ceremony for the arrival of the “god” that included a human

Miguel Leon-Portilla author of Broken Spears- The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico, tells the story of the Spanish conquest over the Aztecs from the Aztec point of view. It is more familiar in history that the Spanish led by Hernan Cortez defeated the Aztecs with a powerful army and established an easy victory all while having intentions to gain power and greed. However, Leon-Portilla focuses on the Aztec Empire and their story. Leon-Portilla does a great job giving readers the real occurrences and events from Aztec members. This paper argues that history must be told from all sides. It is more common to hear about the Spanish conquest

The ancient Aztec civilization is usually thought of as a barbaric, unintelligent people throughout modern society. This could be an ideal carried down from the Spaniards that concord the native lands or even something as simple as today’s society creating overblown stereotypes because of conjoined lack of understanding and overall knowledge. But, because of the extensive research and studies done by Miguel León-Portilla we are able to discover the true nature of the Aztec peoples way of life. Within the book “Aztec Thought and Culture” the author explains the develop of the Aztec civilization through education and philosophy as well as describing the Aztec people as an advanced society rather than the popular belief of a savage people and culture.

The Aztec Empire was very successful during their time in power. Before settling Lake Texcoco, they were believed to be nomads. According to legend, Huitzilopochtli (god of sun and war) told them to go where they was an eagle sitting on a cactus with a snake in it’s mouth. Although, historians believe that other more powerful tribes had settled around Lake Texcoco. The Aztecs had no choice but to settle where they did. Overall the Aztec Empire was very powerful, and successful. Mainly they should be known for their innovations. Politically, through lightning quick attacks, chinampas, and emperors being chosen on merit. Economically, innovations such as chinampas, causeways/raised roads, and canals. Lastly, innovations were used socially through calpullis, aqueducts, and Calmecacs.

The Aztec and Incan empire in Mesoamerica and the Andean Regions differed in their religious, cultural, and political traditions. Although both empires were located in the area of Mesoamerica, they were only similar in few ways. These two cultures were very influential to the nurturing of Mesoamerica and the Andean Regions.

The Aztecs were warrior people who lived in the Valley of Mexico, with the capital at Tenochtitlan, during the 1400s. Under their authoritarian state, the Aztecs worshipped their patron god, Huitzilopochtli, among other deities. Despite their warrior tactics and developed belief system, the Spaniards conquered them in 1519. The Incas (or Inkas) were the people who lived throughout the Andes Mountains from southern Peru to central Chile. With a society based on agriculture, the Incas farmed the terrain of the Andes Mountains west of their capital at Cuzco. The Incas suffered a fall to the Spaniards in 1532. The Aztecs from the Valley of Mexico in the 1400s and the Incas from throughout the Andes Mountains during the 1400s are similar and different because of their ideological and intellectual values, their rise and fall by conquest of their empires, and the way they applied the characteristics of their economies to their lifestyles.

When the Spaniards came to conquer the Aztecs in central Mexico, it was not their first encounter with civilization living in the American Continent. They meet before other indigenous groups with lees degree of development. We have to remember that the Aztecs Empire was on its majestic years. "Tenochtitlan", was the capital of the empire with economic, religious power like no other, the conquerors were impressed by the city’s cleanliness and organization. Bernals was perhaps most impressed by its system of public latrines, the city and its people were immaculately clean, the paths and squares swept regularly; as he described on The True History of the Conquest of New Spain. Bernal is our best source of information about the Spanish an Aztec

The Aztec civilization during its peak was the strongest civilization in the western hemisphere. When the Spaniards first set foot in the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, they could not believe that a civilization so primitive in their minds could have been so culturally developed and powerful. However, before making it to Tenochtitlan, they had discovered that all was not well in the Aztec empire. From many native Indians that had tension with the Aztecs, they learned of internal and pre-existing problems that existed. This investigation examines to what extent where those internal and pre-existing factors to blame for the downfall of the Aztec Empire. The investigation was undertaken using some of the only primary

In 1906 a horrible Earthquake in San Francisco took the lives of “3,000 people and left 400,000 people without homes” (McGowan). A little over a decade ago we couldn’t save thousands of homes but the people of ancient civilizations: Mayans, Incas, and Aztecs still have buildings that were built and standing dated back in 100 A.D. During this time wars and plagues were taking over the rest of the world except for Mexico and part of South America, here engineers were coming up with intricate buildings that are standing today because of how they were built, unique features that would make these areas thrive and create meaning behind each building! Centuries before us, the Mayans, Incas and Aztecs were building famous, perplex and unique buildings and structures like Tenochtitlan out of rocks that were used for religious meaning, sacrifice and palaces that are now turned into “the most advanced buildings of that era!,”(BBC).

Their practice of human sacrifice was brutal at the very least, but served a purpose in the grand scheme of their hegemony. They dominated neighboring nations and sacrificed prisoners of war, believing that “the source of all life, the sun, would die unless it were fed with human blood” (xxxviii-xxxix). A strong component of the Nahua identity was this status as a military power in present-day central Mexico, reinforced by an education system in which fathers vowed to send their sons to school to be taught “the fundamentals of religion and ethics, and were also trained in the arts of war” (xlv). This identity was challenged when the Spaniards arrived with alien technology such as metal armor, cannons, and arquebuses. The Aztec Empire exhibited a class system consisting of land-owning nobles, the middle class divided into familial clans, a class of slaves and indentured servants, and a body of wise men who served as religious scholars (xlii).

In my opinion I would rather live in the Aztec civilization over the Inca’s or Maya’s. The Aztec people, who were previously hunters and gatherers among parts of northern Mexico, had more of a dominating role among the other Mesoamerican Civilizations. Also their convenient location is hard to beat. The Aztec civilization was set in the islands of Lake Texcoco which later founded the great city of Tenochtitlan. Not only were the Aztecs known for their location and dominance, they were known for their outstanding architecture abilities. Some of the buildings that were located on the Aztec civilization would today require the help of heavy machinery such as cranes. The people of the Aztec community were also very well educated and known for their