Maya, Aztec, and Inca Civilizations

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Maya, Aztec, and Inca Civilizations

• Pre-Columbian Society in North and South America

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MesoAmerica

• Maya, then Aztecs dominant civilizations
• built on the foundation of earlier civilizations
  eg Olmec (the big head people)
• Maize
• Ball games
• Temple pyramids/ritual human sacrifice
• Astronomy/calendar

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Aztecs greenMaya - brown
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Maya

• Height 600CE-900CE
• Culturally united (NOT POLITICALLY)
• City-states
• Polytheistic
• Nobles/Priests elite class
• Innovative agriculture b/c of poor soil
  (chinampas, terraces, irrigation)
• Glyph writing/zero
• Downfall? Overtaxed environment, internal warfare

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Political Control in Maya City-States

• Political authority rested with Kings who were
  closely intertwined with priests and religion
• Blood-letting rituals were performed by Kings
  (believed to retain the city-states connection
  to the gods comparable with Chinas idea of the
  Emperor performing rituals for his ancestors)

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Maya Tikal
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Whats he up to?
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Theatre Statetallest building in the Americas
until the Flatiron Bldg. in1903
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Writing Styles
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Aztecs

• Height 1300CE-1500CE
• A true, united Empire
• Invading conquerors from N. Mexico
• Tenochtitlan capital w/Emperor
• Important families controlled outlying areas
• Conquered people had to give tribute
• Complex social hierarchy (nobles, priests, etc.)
• Blood-letting remained an important political
  ritual
• Human sacrifice, often used to control populace
  which had been conquered by this migratory group

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Inca 1400s-1500s

• South America (Andes Mts.)
• Also a true united empire
• Military expansionists
• Governed territory of over 2,500 miles
• Use the delightful Llama (pack animal only)
• Farmed potatoes on terraces
• God-kings intermediaries b/t heaven and earth

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Social Hierarchy

• Aristocrats lived privileged lives (fine foods,
  embroidered clothes, and large ears spools)
• Inca often integrated conquered elites into their
  empires elite to keep them happy

Inca ear spools
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Cuzco

• Capital city
• Connected to outlying areas by 16,000 miles of
  roads
• Royal family members ruled outlying areas
• Tribute state - to Cuzco, emperor ensured
  everyone had what they needed a redistributive
  economy
• Govt control trade, labor, detailed census,
  centralized econ, etc.

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• Taxes often paid in labor (called mita)
• Mita labor used to create huge terrace,
  irrigation, and water-control systems
• Labor groups
• allyu extended family organized groups (used
  b/c of crazy terrain)
• NO writing used qipus!

Labor and Taxes