Aztec, Inca, And Maya Flashcards
Aztec Geography and Adaptation
Founded city Tenochtitlan in the middle of Texcoco (modern day Mexico City). Mesoamérica. Built raised roads over water. Chinampas were floating gardens. Created canals for transportation and irrigation.
Tenochtitlan Achievments
Contained 80-250 thousand people
Canals served as road and routes of trade
Markets with 60,000 daily visitors
Huge pyramids sometimes lined with skulls
Aztec Warriors
Aztecs called themselves Mexica
One ruler
Under monteczuma they expanded 1/3 of southern Mexico
25 million population peak
Tribute— made other neighboring tribes pay them in exchange for mercy
Aztec Religion
Polytheistic
Gods of sun, moon, rain, etc.
Predicted that Quetzalcoatl (serpent god of creation) would return in the early 1500s
Attempted to please gods by human sacrifice, which wads intimidating to other tribes, most sacrifical tribe
Aztec famine and sacrifice
In 1450, a famine struck due to poor weather and bad farming conditions
Priests began making sacrifices which helped the famine, but nobody knows why
Aztec social structure
Royal family
Nobles - priests, military officers, govt. leaders
Merchants
Commoners
Slaves
Hernan Cortes
Spanish conquistador who learned about Aztecs and their riches, and knew he had to conquer them to rule Mexico.
Other tribes joined him after being tired of tribute
He arrived in 1519 and Monteczuma thought he was Quetzalcoatl, but was jailed.
Aztecs left behind smallpox and in 1521 defeated the Aztecs.
Incan geography
Cuzco valley in the andes mountains, city of cuzco was the capital built in the shape of a puma from above, in modern Peru
Manchu Picchu
A Royal retreat for the inca rulers, built amid sacred mountain peaks. No tools or mortar, just perfectly fitting rocks.
Incan achievements
Roads that connected the whole empire, went from sea level to 12,000 ft elevation
Runners carried and relayed mail within days across the empire, 250 miles in a day
Incan were skilled at masonry- precisely cut blocks without tools, fit together perfectly.
Suspension bridges connected mountains
Incan language
Quechua. Was required for all business to be done spoken in Quechua.
History was only passed orally
Incan agriculture
Terraces to grow crops
Potatoes, beans, and maize
Vertical economy— animals at the top and crops at the bottom
Incan religion
Polytheism; sun, moons, animals, etc.
Pottery of golf and silver celebrating gods.
Incan social structure
King— believed they never really died, preserved as mummies in fine cloth and mummies were put close together to visit each other
Nobles— king relatives
Commoners— included slaves
Incan economy
Instead of taxes, Incans worked for the govt. (called mita.)
No merchants or markets— everything was evenly distributed
Mita jobs were farming, making cloth, and building bridges
Francisco pizzarro
Atahualpa heard the Spaniards arrival and was forced to convert to Christianity but refused. Pizzarro captured him and killed thousands of incans. Atahualpa gave 24 tons of gold to spare him and his people, but he was killed anyways. Incans were weakened by disease, and by 1537 the Spaniards controlled the whole thing.
Mayan geography
Yucatán peninsula
125,000 sq miles in the highland mountains and lowland valleys
200 CE villages become cities
Mayan cities / temples
Cities built around religious centers
Limestone pyramids topped with temples, where priest-kings had rituals.
Palenque major power city that bordered high and low lands.
Mayan economy
Based on agriculture
Terraces
Burned trees and plants to clear land for farming and dug water systems (irrigation)
Grew corn, beans, and squash
Traded between regions and received jade, feathers, and cacao beans.
Cacao beans used as money
Obsidian was also used as money
Mayan religion and leadership
Polytheistic
To prevent disaster, gods needed blood.
Priest-kings like Pacal killed animals and people as offerings
Pacal ruled for 68 years, was a priest and warrior.
Bloodletting
Palenque built a Temple for Pacal’s achievements
Maya Achievements (HAM)
Hieroglyphs, carved on stone columns and record books called a codex
Astronomy, knew exact moon phases, 365-day calendar, 120-day religious calendar
Mathematics, created numerous systems based on units of 20, used 0
Mayan ball game
Ollamalitzli
Represented fight between dark and light
Ball through a stone ring only hit by hips
1st to score wins
Anything could be Bet
Losers sacrificed and losing captain be headed
Mayan collapse
Unknown
Lasted 600 years
By 900 CE their city was abandoned
Possible reasons:
Too big population for farming system
Long periods of drought
Warfare
Invaders from central mexico
Trephination
Done by Incan priests, surgery in while a hole is made in the skull, considered to help injured and for most it did
Quipus
Incan knotted set of strings to record info and send messages
Triangular trade
Slaves from Africa to America, America to Europe, and goods from Europe to Africa
