Civilizations of the 15th Century The Americas

The Aztec Empire 1. Mexica Tribe from No. Mexico Settled on island= Lake Texcoco Built power through alliances/conquest/massive city Claimed descent from prestigious Toltecs

Tenochtitlan 2. Aztec Capital Large city ~200,000 Island in middle of lake Canals,causeways,markets,floating gardens

Conquest state 3. Tribute Required from conquered subjects Were market goods, luxury items and human slaves

Tlacaelel and Huitzilopochtli 4. Ideology of human sacrifice Common in Mesoamerica Tlacaelel prominent official who promoted idea ( ) H~ god who needed human blood to rebuild strength to defeat forces of darkness Massive ritual sacrifices impressed enemies

The Inca Empire 1. Empire 2,500 miles and 10,000,000 subjects Small marginal group who came to rule a large empire Used previous precedents to justify rule Much larger geographically than Aztec

Governing 2. Developed an invasive state bureaucracy Resettled large numbers of conquered people Encouraged use of single language (Quechua) Gender parallelism (not equality) - each had own tasks and each set of tasks were valued

Mita 3. Work tax known as mita Not human tribute for sacrifice Some women taken and raised as elites to be married to officials