The American Empires Of The Aztec And Inca Flashcards
Flag of Mexico
the coat of arms of
Mexico includes
Aztec/Mexica symbols
– the eagle perched on a
cactus eating a snake
marked the birthplace
of Huitzilipochtli, god of
war
– Aztecs built their
capital of Tenochtitlan
there
Early Sources for Aztec
History
Hernan Cortés’s (d. 1547) letters &
biography
– Bernal Diaz (d. 1584) True History
– Bernardino de Sahgun’s (d. 1590) 12 volume
Florentine Codex
– Diego Duran’s (d. 1588) works
– NOTE: All of these sources are Spanish
sources. Where are the Aztec sources?
Aztec or Mexica?
The term “Aztec” was coined by a European
ethnographer, so it’s Eurocentric to use it BUT
we’ve all been using it too long to change.
– The people known to us as “Aztecs” called
themselves “Mexica.”
– The name “Mexico” comes from “Mexica.”
– “Aztec” = “Mexica” for HIST 1010 purposes
Aztecs (sometimes “Mexica)
migrated from near modern US-Mexico
border southward ca
1275 CE
– spent roughly 200
years at bottom of
central Mexico social
order
– every male trained as fighter
– Aztecs served as
mercenaries for stronger
city-states
Tenochtitlan
– Aztec capital
– began as small island in shallow Lake
Texcoco
– used chinampa method to build up island
– eventually the island was large enough to
live on & eventually it became a city
– Tenochitlan had 600,000 inhabitants at one
time, making it one of the 5 largest cities in
the world ca 1450 CE
Aztec Society
– royal family
– nobility
– merchants (pochteca)
– commoners: farmers & craftsmen
– slaves
– every male learned to fight
– women ran the home economies AND did
most of the buying & selling in the markets
Aztec “Capitalism”
– pochteca: the traveling merchant caste lower
than royals & nobility but often much wealthier
– pochteca also conducted diplomacy &
commercial law
– pochteca self-regulated regional Aztec free trade
economy
– different market days for different cites =
widespread prosperity
– Aztec Empire was just as much trade empire as
military empire
Aztec Empire
– capital of
Mexica/Aztecs was
Tenochtitlan
– Aztecs ruled over as
many as 6 million
people in 4-500
smaller city-states/provinces
– Aztecs created
empire through
military power
Mexica/Aztec Religion
– polytheistic
– included human sacrifice
– operated on Mayan
calendric system
– some of the gods were:
– Tlaloc
– Huiztilopochtli
– Quetzalcoatl
– BUT what we know of it
comes mostly from hostile
Christian sources
Moctezuma II (Montezuma)
(d. 1520)
– last long-term Aztec
emperor
– probably came from
priestly elite rather than
warrior elite
– hostile expansion might
have made Aztec enemies
more likely to cooperate
with Spanish
– apparently did not know
what to make of the Spanish
or how to confront them
– killed in 1520
Inca Empire
– extended 2700+ miles
along the west coast of S. America
– roads linked town &
supply depots, which
made military
administration possible
– kept records with quipu/
khipu cords
– advanced stone work
survives to present in
places
Cuzco
capital city of Inca Empire
– fortress-palace-temple city famous for massive carved stone architecture
– began as village ca 500 BCE
– major city by 1200 CE
– city center was home to 40,000 people & ”suburbs” home to another 200,000 people at height
Pachacuti (d. 1472) and
Topa (Tupac) (d. 1493)
The Builders of the Inca Empire: Led expansion of empire out of Mountains
Inca Religion
there was an imperial
religion as well as local
variations of the same
polytheistic faith
– blend of Inca gods and
gods of subject peoples
– Inti, the Sun God,
was chief god
– at left: (possibly)
Viracocha, the creator
god & father of Inti
Machu Picchu
– at elevation of 7000+
feet
– probably a retreat/lodge of Inca royalty
– was abandoned mid- 1500s
– left largely intact & untouched
– remained secret from
Europeans until 20th
century
