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

Periods 3 - 4

Recall the Previous Mesoamerican Civilizations

CIVILIZATIONThe Olmecs: c. 1200 BCE – 400 BCE

Teotihuacan: 1st-7th centuries CE

Maya in the YucatanClassical Period: 250 – 900 CE

ACHIEVEMENTColossal heads

Planned cityMany temples

Planned citiesMany templesHieroglyphics

I Who were the Aztecs?A) The Aztecs were nomads from Northern Mexico. B) 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.

Reconstruction of Tenochtitlan

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).

The Aztecs Continued…D) Every Aztec male was a warrior and received basic military training from a young age, whether trader, craftsman or farmer. Military achievement, particularly the taking of prisoners, was the only vehicle for upward social movement available for commoners. The Aztecs didn’t 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

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!

The Aztecs mixed chocolate with maize (corn) and chili peppers. They did not use

sugar. The mixture was drunk.

“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 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!

The Aztecs Continued…G) The Aztec religion was polytheistic with over 200 gods and goddesses. Like the Mayans, they believed that the sun needed human blood 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 victim’s 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).

The Aztecs Continued…Tlaloc 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.

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.

The Aztecs Continued…Tonatiuh was the sun 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.

The Aztecs Continued…Quetzalcoatl, “the Feathered Serpent”, was known by Teotihuacan and the Maya. He was patron of knowledge and learning. 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 scholars now consider this myth as a creation of the Franciscan friars during the post-Conquest period.

Aztec Pyramid of the Moon

Aztec Human Sacrifice

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.I) 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.

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

The Aztecs Continued…K) Aztec society was stratified into classes. At the very top of Aztec society were the rulers. 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 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. At the bottom of Aztec society were the serfs who worked on the noble estates. Serfs were peasant farmers who were not allowed to leave the lands to which they were attached. At the bottom of Aztec society were slaves (mostly due to debt). Slaves could not be sold without their consent. Slaves could choose their marriage partners and their children were not slaves. Long-distance merchants 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...

The Aztecs Continued……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!

Aztecs… Cannibalism Confirmed?By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News Jan. 25, 2005

New finds from an archaeological site near Mexico City support… 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."

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

II The Inca 1200 – 1535 CEA) 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.

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.

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 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, laws were rigidly enforced by appointed officials in each territory, and taxes collected. C) When the Inca won new territories they moved 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 had a network of messengers who traveled quickly due to the extensive Incan road system (25,000 miles of roads, bridges, and tunnels). As a contrast, the Roman Empire built twice as many miles of road, but it took them 600 instead of 125 years. Like the Aztecs, the Inca did not use the wheel.

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.

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

The Inca Continued…There were 2 types of Incan mummies:1. 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.

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…”

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!

The Inca Continued…

A modern Incan woman grinding corn into chicha (an alcoholic

beverage).

Incan terrace farming

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 one’s 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

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.

III Machu Pichu“Machu Pichu is tangible evidence of the urban Inca Empire at the peak of its power and achievement—a citadel of cut stone fit together without mortar so tightly that its cracks still can’t 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 elites—its 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 Inca’s 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 people—some 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, Peru’s Spanish conquerors never did—a fact which aided Machu Picchu’s isolation, and preservation, over the centuries.” - natgeo.com

HW Questions1. 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.

Key VocabularyAylluAztecsChinampasCoca leavesCodicesCuzcoFlower warsHuacasHuitzilopochtliInca

Inti

Lake Texcoco

Lake Titicaca

Machu Pichu

Quetzalcoatl

Quipu

Sapa Inca

Tenochitlan

Tlaloc

Yucatan